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Book Review: The FitzOsbornes in Exile
Jul. 24th, 2011 05:57 pmI've just been reading the BEST book. It's The FitzOsbornes in Exile, the second book of Michelle Cooper's Montmaray Journals trilogy. The first book, A Brief History of Montmaray, was wonderful but flawed, but FitzOsbornes in Exile is a tour de force and I have every hope that the crowning book in the trilogy will be a blazing triumph.
When it comes out. Which it will not until, like, forever. HOW WILL I SURVIVE THE INTERIM???????
By trying to convince everyone within shouting distance that they should join me in my latest obsession, of course! So: Why should you read the Montmaray Journals?
Well, first, there's this:
Wouldn't you die to have a cover like that for your book?
Second. The narrator, Sophie, is a delight. At the beginning she bears a stunning resemblance to Cassandra in I Capture the Castle: charming, bookish, naive, with a sparkling voice and a questing curiosity about the world. As she grows (and the FitzOsbornes' situation becomes more desperate) her naivete and curiosity transform slowly into knowledge, competence, and compassion; as the world lurches toward World War II, she grows heartsick but not hard.
Which leads me to item the third, which is the brilliant grasp of historical detail in these books. Cooper clearly knows and loves her period. (I shrieked when Sophie met Kick Kennedy.) But she doesn't deluge the reader with all the fascinating details; rather, we learn about the political developments of the period as they become immediate and emotionally engaging to Sophie.
As Sophie and her family are the royal family of the tiny island kingdom of Montmaray, the political situation in Europe is of devastatingly personal importance to them.
Which leads me to item the fourth, which is that Cooper brilliantly portrays family dynamics and secondary characters. Every member of Sophie's family is memorable. Her little sister Henry, who wants desperately to be a boy. Her older brother Toby, who is charming, lazy, and totally unprepared to be king. Most of all, her brilliant, history-obsessed cousin Veronica, who plays the part of Madame Exposition with verve, passion, and socialist-atheist flare.
(Seriously. Veronica for Queen! She's brave, smart, practical, fiercely analytic, argumentative, capable of talking down obnoxious government officials. I love her.)
The first book, although always engaging, is flawed - the ending in particular is rushed - but the second book a million times makes up for such small problems. The writing is so fluid, and so reminiscent of British novels of the thirties and forties, and the plot flows at just the right pace, and characters far more secondary than Sophie's family members are lively and individual despite their brief appearances. It's wonderful!
When it comes out. Which it will not until, like, forever. HOW WILL I SURVIVE THE INTERIM???????
By trying to convince everyone within shouting distance that they should join me in my latest obsession, of course! So: Why should you read the Montmaray Journals?
Well, first, there's this:
Wouldn't you die to have a cover like that for your book?
Second. The narrator, Sophie, is a delight. At the beginning she bears a stunning resemblance to Cassandra in I Capture the Castle: charming, bookish, naive, with a sparkling voice and a questing curiosity about the world. As she grows (and the FitzOsbornes' situation becomes more desperate) her naivete and curiosity transform slowly into knowledge, competence, and compassion; as the world lurches toward World War II, she grows heartsick but not hard.
Which leads me to item the third, which is the brilliant grasp of historical detail in these books. Cooper clearly knows and loves her period. (I shrieked when Sophie met Kick Kennedy.) But she doesn't deluge the reader with all the fascinating details; rather, we learn about the political developments of the period as they become immediate and emotionally engaging to Sophie.
As Sophie and her family are the royal family of the tiny island kingdom of Montmaray, the political situation in Europe is of devastatingly personal importance to them.
Which leads me to item the fourth, which is that Cooper brilliantly portrays family dynamics and secondary characters. Every member of Sophie's family is memorable. Her little sister Henry, who wants desperately to be a boy. Her older brother Toby, who is charming, lazy, and totally unprepared to be king. Most of all, her brilliant, history-obsessed cousin Veronica, who plays the part of Madame Exposition with verve, passion, and socialist-atheist flare.
(Seriously. Veronica for Queen! She's brave, smart, practical, fiercely analytic, argumentative, capable of talking down obnoxious government officials. I love her.)
The first book, although always engaging, is flawed - the ending in particular is rushed - but the second book a million times makes up for such small problems. The writing is so fluid, and so reminiscent of British novels of the thirties and forties, and the plot flows at just the right pace, and characters far more secondary than Sophie's family members are lively and individual despite their brief appearances. It's wonderful!
