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What I’ve Just Finished Reading
Edwidge Danticat’s Claire of the Sea Light, which is not quite what I expected (in particular, I expected more Claire), but liked quite a bit nonetheless. It’s as much a series of interconnected short stories as a novel: each chapter focuses on the story of a different character (Claire’s father & Claire, the cloth-seller who Claire’s father wants to adapt Claire, a young man who worked at the radio when the cloth-seller’s husband was shot, etc. etc…), all working together to create a mosaic of life in Ville Rose, Haiti.
It’s a rather odd book. Most of the things that happen are sad, even grim, and many of the characters have done awful things - which is made harder, perhaps, because none of them are awful people usually. The two I’m thinking of are basically decent people who each did an awful, unforgivable thing in emotional extremis, and they don’t even seem to realize how awful their actions truly were.
But the overall effect of the book isn’t grim, and I’m not sure why that is. The language and the images are very precise, and there is something lovely in that precision. But I think it is more that Danticat loves all her characters. The book is full of mercy, or perhaps grace in a religious sense: Danticat offers understanding to all the characters, even the ones who don’t deserve it - even if they haven’t even begun to realize how much they need to repent. The understanding is there, if they ever grow strong enough to feel it.
I’ve also finally finished Rider on a White Horse! Which I have been nattering about reading on this meme for...an embarrassingly long time, I don’t even want to look. Anyway, it’s one of those Sutcliff books that takes a very long time to get started: I was about halfway through the book (and we’d already had two battles) before it really caught my interest, when Anne got captured by the Royalists. But that was very exciting! I always enjoy it when the characters are thrust into a situation like this, surrounded by enemies (even though, in this case, the enemies treat her quite well) and scraping by on wits and chutzpah.
What I’m Reading Now
Maureen Johnson’s The Name of the Star. So far, it’s mostly the story of Louisiana teenager Rory Deveaux acclimating to life at a London boarding school for her senior year of high school, and I’m enjoying that so much that I’m almost sorry that it’s soon going to switch gears for a murder mystery. Possibly a murder mystery with ghosts or time travel or maybe vampires? I’ll find out!
What I Plan to Read Next
Sarah Rees Brennan’s Unmade came out recently, but the library doesn’t have it yet. Come on, library! You can do it!
In the meantime, I have Marie Brennan’s A Natural History of Dragons, which looks like tons of fun. Emma recommended it to me, so hopefully I will like it.
Edwidge Danticat’s Claire of the Sea Light, which is not quite what I expected (in particular, I expected more Claire), but liked quite a bit nonetheless. It’s as much a series of interconnected short stories as a novel: each chapter focuses on the story of a different character (Claire’s father & Claire, the cloth-seller who Claire’s father wants to adapt Claire, a young man who worked at the radio when the cloth-seller’s husband was shot, etc. etc…), all working together to create a mosaic of life in Ville Rose, Haiti.
It’s a rather odd book. Most of the things that happen are sad, even grim, and many of the characters have done awful things - which is made harder, perhaps, because none of them are awful people usually. The two I’m thinking of are basically decent people who each did an awful, unforgivable thing in emotional extremis, and they don’t even seem to realize how awful their actions truly were.
But the overall effect of the book isn’t grim, and I’m not sure why that is. The language and the images are very precise, and there is something lovely in that precision. But I think it is more that Danticat loves all her characters. The book is full of mercy, or perhaps grace in a religious sense: Danticat offers understanding to all the characters, even the ones who don’t deserve it - even if they haven’t even begun to realize how much they need to repent. The understanding is there, if they ever grow strong enough to feel it.
I’ve also finally finished Rider on a White Horse! Which I have been nattering about reading on this meme for...an embarrassingly long time, I don’t even want to look. Anyway, it’s one of those Sutcliff books that takes a very long time to get started: I was about halfway through the book (and we’d already had two battles) before it really caught my interest, when Anne got captured by the Royalists. But that was very exciting! I always enjoy it when the characters are thrust into a situation like this, surrounded by enemies (even though, in this case, the enemies treat her quite well) and scraping by on wits and chutzpah.
What I’m Reading Now
Maureen Johnson’s The Name of the Star. So far, it’s mostly the story of Louisiana teenager Rory Deveaux acclimating to life at a London boarding school for her senior year of high school, and I’m enjoying that so much that I’m almost sorry that it’s soon going to switch gears for a murder mystery. Possibly a murder mystery with ghosts or time travel or maybe vampires? I’ll find out!
What I Plan to Read Next
Sarah Rees Brennan’s Unmade came out recently, but the library doesn’t have it yet. Come on, library! You can do it!
In the meantime, I have Marie Brennan’s A Natural History of Dragons, which looks like tons of fun. Emma recommended it to me, so hopefully I will like it.
