(no subject)

[skygiants]

Last night I turned in my thesis draft as it currently stands! ("As it currently stands" involves several large [BRACKET] sections at the end, but.) I was supposed to have a meeting this morning, but it got cancelled because of the snow, so now I don't have anywhere to be until half past noon and IT'S LOVELY. Thank you, snow!

It also means that I actually have time to write up a book!

I knew about For Darkness Shows the Stars as "post-apocalyptic Persuasion," which made me super intrigued but also kind of wary. I mean, Persuasion is very much not an adventure story, and very much is a book about Regency social class, and how would you even do that . . .?

The answer, it turns out, is "worldbuilding!" I'm not going to provide you all the details of how Diana Peterfreund gets to something that approximates Regency class structure in such a way as to highlight the themes of Persuasion, because that's a lot of info-dumping and also I still don't know how I feel about some of it, but there were a couple things she did that I really liked:

- RESPONSIBILITY. You know how, in theory, estate ownership is supposed to be a model in which the owners earn their privilege by taking personal responsibility for the well-being of everyone on their estate? Of course our Anne Elliot equivalent (here called Elliot North) believes this, deeply, and acts in accordance with it. And then the model is problematized and called out by other people within the text, because obviously it's a problematic and paternalistic model -- but Elliot is a good person and a responsible person, and in her terms and her cultural worldview, this is what being a good person and a responsible person means. Peterfreund knows this doesn't really justify Elliot's privilege. But Elliot doesn't know that, because this is her culture. (In case this isn't clear: I really, really like Elliot.)

- SOCIAL CHANGE. The culture that Peterfreund sets up is a culture in flux, as all cultures are, eventually, in flux. And the protagonists are involved in that to a certain extent, but it's not like anybody's LEADING THE REVOLUTION here. They're pretty much just doing what they do, and dealing with their own problems, and their worldview shifts, and coping with how these changes affect them. And that's something I always want more of in science fiction -- cultures that aren't static, and the stories that happen within the context of that cultural change.


I mean, there were also some things I liked less -- someone remind me, was Wentworth such a dick to Anne in the early parts of Persuasion? Because Kai, the Wentworth-equivalent, is SUCH A DICK to Elliot in the early parts of this book -- and the ending is very have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too in a way that emotionally I'm fine with but intellectually I am a little dubious about given the rest of the themes of the book.

But overall I really, really liked it. Am I in for the sequel, which is reportedly based on a gender-swapped Scarlet Pimpernel? I'M SO IN!

Comments

[ceitfianna]

I've heard some really positive things about this book on the YA lit blogsphere and have been curious about it. Persuasion isn't my favorite of Austen's novels, so I've been wary.

Yay for a draft and snow!

[skygiants]

Hah, I might not be the person to ask then; I really like Persuasion, so I was happy about the ways this hewed to it!

[ceitfianna]

*nods* I also haven't read Persuasion in a while so maybe I'll pick it up when my to read pile shrinks slightly.

[jinian]

YEAH THESIS!

The book sounds good, I'll have to check it out. I'm starting to really like Peterfreund based on her murderous-unicorn books, which are imperfect but center on girls being badass in different ways.

[skygiants]

I haven't read the murderous-unicorn books, but I've been curious about them! There are a bunch of different kinds of ladies in this book, too, and none are really villainized -- even Elliot's Terrible Sister gets complicated, which I really respect.

[marginaliana]

Okay, you had me at murderous unicorn, I must go look into these now.

[qian]

I think Wentworth was a real dick to Anne in the beginning >:( so that is true to canon IMO!

This sounds really interesting. I shall check it out!

[skygiants]

I am intrigued by the range of dickishness opinions people seem to be expressing re: Wentworth here!

I will be curious what you think of it. :D

[thewickedlady]

Oooh! I had been curious about this one! It is for sure moving up the TO READ pile.

Wentworth is a bit of a dick? It's more, he does not address or communicate with Anne the whole first half but is CONSTANTLY AROUND. Just there, hanging out in people's houses with all his money, being single. Which, everyone interprets means he is courting one of the Musgroves, but you find out at the end that he was there to stare at Anne and angst. But, he was a bit of dick with his lack of talking.

[skygiants]

I was wondering whether you'd read it already!

From this description I think that Kai Wentforth is probably more actively dickish than Wentworth -- like, he goes out of his way to make pick fights with Elliot's friends and make Elliot feel like a terrible person. WAY TO GO, WENTFORTH!

[lunamystic]

Yeah, he was kind of a dick. The not talking to Anne, as Feather said, and the pointed comments about deeply respecting a woman who could make up her own mind... Granted, I am probably conflating the book and various adaptations.

That said, Wentforth (HAHAHAHA, his name is my favorite) comes across as a bigger one. I also find Elliot's reasons for her choice much more compelling. It was more than being persuaded by family and friends. There was more at stake. I liked that.

Did you pick up on where it takes place? Because I totally missed it, which is especially embarrassing for me. XD

Her next book riffs on The Scarlet Pimpernel. Same universe. I am excited! (Eta: which you totally already mentioned. This is what I get for reading on my phone!)

[skygiants]

Yeah, I really liked that we were encouraged to sympathize with and respect Elliot's choice -- like, she has that one line about how it was a choice between him and everyone else she knows, and of course everyone else won out, and that's a good thing. Because it is! Love is great but it's NOT EVERYTHING.

Hahaha, I totally didn't pick up on it until I read about it after. And, okay, this is embarrassing and totally speaks to my New York-centrism, but when they kept talking about islands, I was like ". . . Manhattan . . .?" OOPS.

SO EXCITED for the Scarlet Pimpernel book! \o/

[thewickedlady]

I am wondering if I am coloring Wentworth because that book has grown into my favorite Austin! I must reread!

I think he was less of a dick than Darcy, but more of a dick than Edward Farris who I always view as just a bit of a oron with people.

I must read ALL THE THINGS.

[holli]

Oh! I met Diana at Capclave and is she a fantastic person, so I am super excited that you liked her book.

...possibly this means I should be reading it as well.

[skygiants]

I heard her talk at a con a while back and was also impressed with her! It was part of the reason I decided to pick up the book. :)

[elsane]

(Huzzah for thesis! and also for snow, it's giving me a chance to try to unfry my brain.)

You keep posting all these wonderful tantalizing posts about books that would be fun to read in my negative spare time. I haven't even made it halfway through Les Misérables yet. /pouts, glares, writes down title, because: excellent thoughtful world building + Persuasion = *__*

[skygiants]

(I LOVE SNOW DAYS, they are the best!)

My goal in life is to make everyone's to-read lists grow to the length of my own. >:D YOU'RE WELCOME!

[lizbee]

I finished it going, "Yes, but Wentworth wasn't that much of a dick, was he?"

And then I re-read persuasion, and went, "HOLY GOD, WENTWORTH, YOU ARE SUCH A DOUCHEBAG! YOU ONLY DESERVE ANNE BECAUSE SHE HAS CONDESCENDED TO LOVE YOU."

I mean, there is something quite appealing about a character who, on being called out for his privilege -- to put it in modern terms -- goes, "Shit, you're right," and starts to change. (See also why I love Darcy.) But he's terribly cruel to Anne, not necessarily intentionally, but coming on top of the way her father and older sister treat her, it's quite unpleasant.

[skygiants]

All of the comments here are making me convinced I need to re-read Persuasion, if only to remember for myself how much of a dick Wentworth was! (I actually had vague plans to re-read Persuasion before this one, but then it was due back at the library, so the order got shifted around.)

[wakuchan]

Peterfreund is a pretty great author and Persuasion is my favorite Austen, so needless to say this was on my hold list at the library before I even finished reading.

Congrats on the thesis draft!

[skygiants]

Thank you! :D I am mostly excited because it means I can take this weekend OFF.

[bookblather]

I think, being a huge Persuasion fan and possessed of plans to rewrite it in modern times some day, I should read this book.

Also, Wentworth wasn't really that big a dick- he mostly just pretended they didn't know each other and he would like to keep it that way, and a couple of times he helped her out when she needed help. To me, he came across as rather understandably hurt and maybe a bit over the top huffy.

[skygiants]

Hee, in that case I would definitely recommend it! It's a really interesting take, while being very directly and recognizably Persuasion.

[gumbie_cat]

Very intrigued by this! Persuasion has gradually become my favourite Austen over the years, despite the fact that my 13 year old self didn't like it at all.

And yeah, Wentworth really is kind of a dick at the beginning.

[skygiants]

Hee, one that my thirteen-year-old self really didn't like was Mansfield Park -- I keep thinking I should give it another try to see if maybe I've grown up into it, but in a way it's more fun to be continually annoyed by it. >.>

[amoama]

Definitely going to check this out. Especially given the promise of Scarlet Pimpernel to come and Persuasion is my favourite Jane Austen novel.

I'm interested that this aspect of Anne/Elliot as a steward of the estate being emphasised, as it always seemed more backdrop/ "see what good sense Anne has" in Persuasion and I would have liked to have seen Anne do more of it. Her competence has so little space to shine I suppose and then so much kudos is given to Wentworth for recognising it at all.

I find it harder to tell about Wentworth's initial dickishness. Because we see it through Anne's eyes we can read into it whatever favourable/unfavourable motivations we want to. And Austen is quite generous in letting Wentworth pen his own expiation. Does Kai get the same advantage?

Sorry for throwing badly gathered thoughts at you. I'm intrigued to read this book though. <3

[skygiants]

Yeah, I really enjoyed that this was emphasized about Anne too -- that she has legitimate responsibilities, not just to herself but also to other people.

Kai does sort of get to pen his own expiation! But it is not reeeeeally expiating enough in my opinion; other people's minds may vary!

And never apologize for throwing thoughts my way, I do these posts because I love book talk. :D

[crossedwires]

This sounds really interesting! (but I'm not sure why Peterfreund's pinging my racism/problematic authors warning, though I could be mixing her up with someone else.)

[skygiants]

I don't remember hearing anything specific personally, but it is alas all too common . . . and, I mean, I will say that the setup of this book itself is not totally unproblematic, and there's some stuff I still don't know how I feel about it! But I liked a lot of what it did enough that I didn't mind. It's always a YMMV thing, though!