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Feb. 25th, 2011 12:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsI cannot believe we are up to eight Jacky Faber books. This is ridiculous.
Anyway: The Wake of the Lorelei Lee! In which Jacky Faber, who has previously been a:
1. thief turned crossdressing cabin boy in the British navy (Bloody Jack)
2. boarding school student turned downstairs maid turned schoolgirl again, while also moonlighting as a fiddler, dancer and actress (Curse of the Blue Tattoo)
3. midshipman turned pirate turned merchant trader (Under the Jolly Roger)
4. boarding school student again turned leader of band of angry kidnapped schoolgirls (In the Belly of the Bloodhound)
5. owner and chief performer on a floating casino showboat (Mississippi Jack)
6. ballet-dancing spy turned crossdressing lieutenant in the French army (My Bonny Light Horseman)
7. deep-sea diver (Rapture of the Deep)
and all before reaching the age of seventeen, has become, in this latest book, a CONVICT on a FEMALE PRISON SHIP on her way to AUSTRALIA. I was looking forward to this one because my favorite Jacky books have always been the ones where she's surrounded by other girls, and also because the back cover mentioned Ching Shih, AWESOME CHINESE LADY PIRATE.
Sadly in many respects this, the eighth book, did not live up to my hopes; the other girls are not really fleshed out, and also there is a really really horribly problematic scene in India that I was cringing all the way through. And this would not be so bad except then Jacky problematically picks up a little kid from India during that episode, so I could not even forget that the whole thing had happened.
On the other hand, the section with Ching Shih is even MORE HILARIOUS than I'd hoped, involving as it does Ching Shih RECRUITING JACKY AS HER CONCUBINE HAHAHAHA. Jacky's reaction is pretty much, "Well, I'd kind of like to get back to my fiance one day . . . but on the other hand she's an even more badass lady pirate than me, and also really hot, and I always wanted to have adventures in this half the world, so I'm pretty cool with this too!" Canon bi has long been my suspicion for Jacky, but now it is officially confirmed. (I still ship Jacky/Clarissa Worthington-Howe more than anything else.)
On a less lulzy note, though, one of the things I've always loved about the Jacky books from the beginning is that Jacky is totally into her own sexuality. She basically collects pretty boys (and girls!) and flirts with everyone cute she comes across and is never punished for it; I've never seen a YA heroine who was allowed to embrace her sexuality that much. People complain about the fact that she cheats on her long-term love interest, but in this case I don't even care because a.) they were thirteen when they decided they were ~in love~ and ~engaged~, dudes, she is allowed to do what she wants and b.) come on, Jacky is in all respects a genderswapped picaresque hero, a lady Tom Jones! And that's what a picaresque hero does, they have lots of flings on the road while earnestly trying to get back to their noble and faithful girl who's waiting for them, except in this case it's the noble, faithful boy and I find that hilarious.
So I don't want to be bothered by Jacky's sexuality. I really don't. Except it's ramping up more and more, and in this book especially - and especially as Jacky remains somehow sixteen, which I'm pretty sure does not work with the chronology at all - all the performative sexuality is feeling much less like something that's about Jacky, and much more like fanservice. Before these past few books, I was never reminded so much that the author is a guy.
Anyway: The Wake of the Lorelei Lee! In which Jacky Faber, who has previously been a:
1. thief turned crossdressing cabin boy in the British navy (Bloody Jack)
2. boarding school student turned downstairs maid turned schoolgirl again, while also moonlighting as a fiddler, dancer and actress (Curse of the Blue Tattoo)
3. midshipman turned pirate turned merchant trader (Under the Jolly Roger)
4. boarding school student again turned leader of band of angry kidnapped schoolgirls (In the Belly of the Bloodhound)
5. owner and chief performer on a floating casino showboat (Mississippi Jack)
6. ballet-dancing spy turned crossdressing lieutenant in the French army (My Bonny Light Horseman)
7. deep-sea diver (Rapture of the Deep)
and all before reaching the age of seventeen, has become, in this latest book, a CONVICT on a FEMALE PRISON SHIP on her way to AUSTRALIA. I was looking forward to this one because my favorite Jacky books have always been the ones where she's surrounded by other girls, and also because the back cover mentioned Ching Shih, AWESOME CHINESE LADY PIRATE.
Sadly in many respects this, the eighth book, did not live up to my hopes; the other girls are not really fleshed out, and also there is a really really horribly problematic scene in India that I was cringing all the way through. And this would not be so bad except then Jacky problematically picks up a little kid from India during that episode, so I could not even forget that the whole thing had happened.
On the other hand, the section with Ching Shih is even MORE HILARIOUS than I'd hoped, involving as it does Ching Shih RECRUITING JACKY AS HER CONCUBINE HAHAHAHA. Jacky's reaction is pretty much, "Well, I'd kind of like to get back to my fiance one day . . . but on the other hand she's an even more badass lady pirate than me, and also really hot, and I always wanted to have adventures in this half the world, so I'm pretty cool with this too!" Canon bi has long been my suspicion for Jacky, but now it is officially confirmed. (I still ship Jacky/Clarissa Worthington-Howe more than anything else.)
On a less lulzy note, though, one of the things I've always loved about the Jacky books from the beginning is that Jacky is totally into her own sexuality. She basically collects pretty boys (and girls!) and flirts with everyone cute she comes across and is never punished for it; I've never seen a YA heroine who was allowed to embrace her sexuality that much. People complain about the fact that she cheats on her long-term love interest, but in this case I don't even care because a.) they were thirteen when they decided they were ~in love~ and ~engaged~, dudes, she is allowed to do what she wants and b.) come on, Jacky is in all respects a genderswapped picaresque hero, a lady Tom Jones! And that's what a picaresque hero does, they have lots of flings on the road while earnestly trying to get back to their noble and faithful girl who's waiting for them, except in this case it's the noble, faithful boy and I find that hilarious.
So I don't want to be bothered by Jacky's sexuality. I really don't. Except it's ramping up more and more, and in this book especially - and especially as Jacky remains somehow sixteen, which I'm pretty sure does not work with the chronology at all - all the performative sexuality is feeling much less like something that's about Jacky, and much more like fanservice. Before these past few books, I was never reminded so much that the author is a guy.
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Date: 2011-02-25 05:53 pm (UTC)Meanwhile when the picaresque comes into its full fruition in the eighteenth century or so, it appears directly alongside the kind of novel about the pure (and usually sixteen-year-old) virgin maiden whose purity is in desperate danger: Fielding's Joseph Andrews is quite literally the brother of Richardson's Pamela. Joseph's objectification intentionally mirrors Pamela's, and both genres revel in exploitation and fanservice from their moments of origin.
That is to say, the description you're providing above looks exploitative and annoying... and perfectly in keeping with the source materials.
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Date: 2011-02-25 05:55 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2011-02-25 09:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-26 06:29 pm (UTC)D: D: D:
It is the one thing that is starting to really, really bug me. Like, I don't want to be one of those people who complains that she cheats on Jaimy, because I don't even like Jaimy that much, but... when the Jacky sexy stuff becomes total author fantasy and not about Jacky, it is then like she is cheating on him FOR NO REASON AT ALL, instead of like she is having flings with other people because... well, because anything, really. And that is when I start being like "Hey wait, aren't you supposed to be engaged? What are you DOING?"
I still want to read about her being a deep-sea diver and hanging with Ching Shih, though, so I will probably continue reading anyway.
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Date: 2011-02-26 09:31 pm (UTC)I really did enjoy reading about her being a deep-sea diver and hanging with Ching Shih, though! (Also, there is a hilarious bit where she has to fake marry Higgins. I LOL'D.) I mean, I still enjoy the books, it's just some things about them nag me more and more.
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