skygiants | (no subject)

So 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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Will be there! As will

sylveraven. There should be helloing.

Oooh, awesome! Absolutely there should be. :D My plan as of right now is mostly along the lines of "follow

ms_ntropy around like a slightly overwhelmed puppy", which makes me very flexible. *grins*

AHA! There will be a

ms_ntropy as well!

Sherri's working the con at one of the booths but otherwise, I'm free and clear to wander.

There will be! Which I am also super excited for of course. *gleeful*

I've barely even started checking out booths and panels and such. Too many options!

Ooo fancy you and your big comic cons~

Such are the benefits of living in NYC! *smugs about*

>3> Children who brag gain only swelled heads that forces them to walk sideways the rest of their days.

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?

Adults who brag, on the other hand, often get given important political positions! *serene*

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!

I know nothing about the book, so it took me a minute to realize that the typing of Londinium was entirely canonical and deliberate as per the Latin city, and not a mistake caused by too much Firefly-verse RP. *giggling*

This book sounds iiiiiinteresting, though. I am intrigued!

*laughing* I think it is you and not I who has been doing too much Firefly-verse RP, my friend!

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.

No, Becca, you are the demons!

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!

Londinium totally had Sudanese immigrants though! Bernardine Evaristo did research to prove it which is what started her writing the book! *lofty* AND THEY COULD HAVE BEEN SUPER-CHIC IF THEY WANTED TO BE.

I am unsurprised! But I had no idea whether it was called Sudan in those days. Was it?