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Feb. 4th, 2009 12:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsSo I have mildly conflicted feelings on Bernardine Evaristo's The Emperor's Babe.
On the one hand, I really enjoyed it! The book is a novel-in-verse, told by Zuleika, a Londinium girl and the daughter of Sudanese immigrants who is married off at an (extremely) young age to a wealthy Roman businessman. The voice is the strong point here; Zuleika is young, urban, and super-chic, and the author does a really good job of sliding in between historical fact and deliberate anachronism to get the feel across of a bustling and up-and-coming Londinium. It shouldn't work to have Zuleika tossing off references to her Armani togas, but it totally does because Evaristo is really smart about how and where she does it. The novel-in-verse thing works too because Zuleika is an aspiring poet, though it's never quite clear exactly how much talent she has (which, naturally, I love). And I appreciated that the most important relationship in the book, in the end, is between Zuleika and her best friend Alba as opposed to the Great Romance.
So why the conflicted feelings? Well, first of all, after seeing someone comment somewhere on the ridiculous number of books that are titled things like The _____'s Wife, I have a kneejerk reaction against the title despite the fact that otherwise I find it awesome! Also, for a book told by the female narrator and with several other strong female (or female-ish) characters, it really should not have been so hard for it to pass the Bechdel Test. (It does, eventually! It just . . . takes a while.)
However, it was definitely a fun read, and I think I want to try more books by this author!
IN OTHER NEWS: I am going to NY ComicCon on Saturday! \o/ (And possibly Sunday as well, we will see.) I am super excited! I mean, slightly unnerved, because, GIANT CON, but super excited also!
On the one hand, I really enjoyed it! The book is a novel-in-verse, told by Zuleika, a Londinium girl and the daughter of Sudanese immigrants who is married off at an (extremely) young age to a wealthy Roman businessman. The voice is the strong point here; Zuleika is young, urban, and super-chic, and the author does a really good job of sliding in between historical fact and deliberate anachronism to get the feel across of a bustling and up-and-coming Londinium. It shouldn't work to have Zuleika tossing off references to her Armani togas, but it totally does because Evaristo is really smart about how and where she does it. The novel-in-verse thing works too because Zuleika is an aspiring poet, though it's never quite clear exactly how much talent she has (which, naturally, I love). And I appreciated that the most important relationship in the book, in the end, is between Zuleika and her best friend Alba as opposed to the Great Romance.
So why the conflicted feelings? Well, first of all, after seeing someone comment somewhere on the ridiculous number of books that are titled things like The _____'s Wife, I have a kneejerk reaction against the title despite the fact that otherwise I find it awesome! Also, for a book told by the female narrator and with several other strong female (or female-ish) characters, it really should not have been so hard for it to pass the Bechdel Test. (It does, eventually! It just . . . takes a while.)
However, it was definitely a fun read, and I think I want to try more books by this author!
IN OTHER NEWS: I am going to NY ComicCon on Saturday! \o/ (And possibly Sunday as well, we will see.) I am super excited! I mean, slightly unnerved, because, GIANT CON, but super excited also!
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Date: 2009-02-04 06:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-04 06:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-04 06:24 pm (UTC)Sherri's working the con at one of the booths but otherwise, I'm free and clear to wander.
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Date: 2009-02-04 06:59 pm (UTC)I've barely even started checking out booths and panels and such. Too many options!
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Date: 2009-02-04 06:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-04 06:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-04 07:12 pm (UTC)And because i'm so excited about it and need to tell someone and well, it's one bookworm to another,
Read Coraline for the first time yesterday \o/ (Yeah!)
Finished it in a matter of hours \o/ (Yeah!)
Terribly excited for the movie on Friday \o/ (Yeah!)
Your thoughts?
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Date: 2009-02-04 07:53 pm (UTC)I loved Coraline but I read it long enough ago that I don't remember much except how wonderfully creepy it was. I am so very looking forward to the movie, though. I have to remember to make plans to see it!
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Date: 2009-02-05 04:15 pm (UTC)This book sounds iiiiiinteresting, though. I am intrigued!
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Date: 2009-02-05 04:33 pm (UTC)It is definitely an intriguing book. I mean, I tend to really like deliberate anachronism a lot, so I am biased in that way also, but I enjoyed it a lot! I am not sure whether you would like it - I mean, it does not shout to me 'Gen-Book!' the way some things do - but I think it is in general worth the read.
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Date: 2009-02-06 03:46 pm (UTC)Uh, which is to say, actually Londinium to me still says "Latin word for the town that became London!" without context, but a "young, urban, and super-chic daughter of Sudanese immigrants" puts it into the "London -- wait, did she misspell it?" category for me. So: NO YOU ARE WRONG SO THERE.
And iiiinteresting. I will have to seek it out sometime! Or forget to, but my intent at least is to seek it out!
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Date: 2009-02-06 03:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-06 05:06 pm (UTC)