skygiants | (no subject)

Hm. Okay. The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making: I read the first chapter when it was posted online, realized I was never going to get around to contributing to the online donation thing it was meant for, and felt guilty enough about that that I waited to buy a copy for real when it was published in hardcover.

So by the time I actually got around to reading that copy, I was very well aware that The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland is a Child Meets Wacky Magic Land Book In The Vein Of Oz And The Phantom Tollbooth And Every Other Book You Loved As A Kid Except Also Responding To Those Books And Being Feminist.

And it . . . I mean, it does what it says on that label! I have no complaints with it! I guess -- well, early on, as one of those Things Narrators Say in Books Like This, the narrator explains to us that children's hearts grow at different rates, and some children have none, and some children have lots, and Our Heroine September is at the moment not Utterly but Somewhat Heartless.

And that sounds about right to me. The book was very entertaining, and did what it did very well, and it felt like it had approximately 40-50% of the proper level of heart. There were places that it made great leaps, and then I was like, oh, there, that's where your heart is! That's why I should care!

The part where September draws her mother's sword -- that was brilliant. And the reveal about the Marquess was clearly the emotional heart of the story, and packed the punch it should have.

On the other hand, September's relationship with her comrades the Wyvern and Saturday, I didn't feel it, and I sort of think I should have. Also apparently September and Saturday are destined to make babies, I guess? (That was a bit weird.)

Anyway, you'll know pretty easily I think whether you want to read this or not. There's a lot of Look How Clever I Am, which you should avoid if you'll find that frustrating; personally I think it's fine, it's appropriate for the kind of book this is. Shelve it next to Un Lun Dun on the "We're Fixing Our Fairyland Forebears" shelf and maybe they'll breed! Valente and Mieville probably would make very, very pretty if somewhat insufferable prose babies.

Crossposts: http://bookelfe.livejournal.com/291070.html

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

kate_nepveu

Oddly, I have read and really liked _The Orphan's Tales_, and the prose of this was like a wall. A really tall brick one.

From:

skygiants

I really really loved The Orphan's Tales, and everything I've read of Valente after that (which admittedly is . . . two books, so a pretty small sample size) has sort of read to me a bit like a less awesome version of The Orphan's Tales that's trying to do all the same things. Now I'm kind of afraid to go back and read The Orphan's Tales in case it also reads to me like a less awesome version of The Orphan's Tales.

From:

mneme

I think Deathless feels very different from Orphan's Tales.

No clue about the Prester John books, as I haven't read them.

From:

rymenhild

I do get the sub-Orphan's Tales feeling from the Prester John books. Habitation of the Blessed also has the added half-benefit-half-curse that I know much, much more about Cat's source materials in the Prester John books than I do in the Orphan's Tales so am saying "I see what you did there" just about every page.

Deathless is something new for Valente, I think, and I believe it's her best.

And my reading of Fairyland is almost exactly the same as yours. If I'd read it at ten I would have been enchanted forever. Now I'm enjoying the clever, with an occasional side-eye at the overly clever bits, and every so often I think something like, "Did the Marquess just quote Seanan McGuire's 'Wicked Girls'? Yes, she did, and there's no possible way it was an accident. And it works well, except... yeah, still overly clever."

From:

skygiants

I do mean to try Deathless! I keep waiting and wanting to read something by her that feels different from the Orphan's Tales thing, and I keep hoping each one will be it.

I would very much like to hear an actual ten-year-old's take. I need a sample audience!

From:

newredshoes

I have so many conflicting feelings about Cat Valente, which I feel like I have to air every time she comes up. :) She's very talented! I love the Prester John books; the first Fairyland book frustrated me immensely, precisely because it felt so precious and self-inserty and self-aware (I have next to no patience for people who have no use for Nebraska in storytelling and in real life). But yes, her mother's sword! The reveal! That was great. But I think it's a case where I can see too much of the author in the book, and I tend to be more interested in the author than her work, ultimately.

(I also found September's near-transformation deeply, deeply upsetting, in a way I hadn't in a book in a long time. I don't necessarily think that's a virtue, but I'm not entirely sure what to think of it.)

From:

skygiants

Hee, but I always hope you will show up to air your feelings about Cat Valente! (I couldn't remember whether this was one of the ones you liked or were frustrated by, either, and was super curious.)

But yeah, precious and self-inserty and self-aware are all accurate adjectives. It's one of those things where I feel like -- on the one hand, it should be self-aware and precious, because it's explicitly engaging with that kind of narrative, so it's hard to call those things flaws really, but on the other hand it makes it very distancing.

(You know, I found it intellectually upsetting, but again, I had a hard time finding it visceral -- and honestly, I should have! It's the kind of thing that usually deeply upsets me.)

From:

rymenhild

As far as the Marquess reveal:

I don't know whether it would have worked at all for me if I didn't have the reading background in Fairyland's intertexts.

Then again, if I didn't have the reading background in the intertexts here, I'd be an entirely different person. Oz, Narnia, The Phantom Tollbooth -- all of those originary texts were foundational for me, so I see the responses. The climax of Fairyland is about punching C.S. Lewis in the face, but requires working knowledge of Oz (especially the sequels about Ozma) and half a dozen other serieses to make sense.

From:

skygiants

Huh! That's really interesting, because I never even thought about whether it would have worked for me about the background, and maybe that's partly because the background is so very foundational for me as well.

I mean, I do think there is a lot of setup in September's initial <3__<3 reaction to Fairyland in and of itself to give the reveal its power, but then, everyone else spends a lot of time harping on about September's <3__<3 reaction and how she should maybe take it with a grain of salt from the beginning, which is also clearly an intertextual thing . . .

From:

izilen

"Valente and Mieville probably would make very, very pretty if somewhat insufferable prose babies."

HAHHHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHA.

I am actually not sure whether I would want to read this book or not. TELL ME MORE about the "I am so clever" bits, not because I dislike them, but because for me it depends on whether they are actually clever/what they refer to.

Also, what sort of stories would you say it is responding to? That matters to me since my exposition to stories is a bit less than Standard Anglosphere.

From:

skygiants

It is definitely a response to: Chronicles of Narnia, The Phantom Tollbooth, Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz and everything else by L. Frank Baum, and everything by E. Nesbit, and that's just off the top of my head. I'm sure there's more stuff in there, too. Basically any story about "I'm an ordinary child who has by happenstance gone through into a strange and magical other world!"

As far as the "I am so clever bits" -- well, the book is full of things like the heroine going somewhere on a Leopard, and then the narrative will go One can never see what happens after an exeunt on a Leopard. It is against the rules of theater. But cheating has always been the purview of fairies, and as we are about to enter their domain, we ought to act in accordance with local customs. For which the subtext is "look lulzy Shakespeare reference! AREN'T I CLEVER." It's not always that bad, but that's the sort of thing that may get on people's nerves.

From:

izilen

Ahhhh, I am more concerned that I would not Get It. I am sure I would enjoy the book, but seeing as I've only read a few of those stories and my Shakespeare is less than good (Hispanic education! We don't care that much about Shakespeare), etc, I don't think it would pack the punch it is intended to pack!

I AM INTERESTED THOUGH: punching C.S. Lewis in the face? I AM INTERESTED. (Never over Susan)

From:

skygiants

Well, I don't think you need to get all the references to enjoy the book, honestly; I'm pretty sure I didn't get all of them either. C.S. Lewis is probably the most important referent! (And the Susan Question is the biggest one.)

You can borrow my copy if you like, when you're here!