Blackwood – Gwenda Bond
Strange Chemistry, September 2012
Review copy from Netgalley
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When the Strange Chemistry imprint was announced, I started following its developments with interest. One of the reasons being that Amanda’s had been a blog I read fondly. Another that the imprint dedicates itself to science fiction and fantasy YA.
Blackwood is one of the first titles released by the imprint. And with that stunning cover, and the interesting plot summary, my expectations ran high.
In Blackwood, the history of Roanoke Island where 114 people disappeared from the Lost Colony hundreds of years ago, appears to be repeating itself. Miranda, a misfit girl whose family has always been called cursed by fellow inhabitants of the island, is helping out with a celebratory play to remember the disappearances of centuries past when she sees a mysterious ship arriving through the air. Except, no one else seems to have seen what she has seen. The next day, however, over a hundred people have disappeared from the island. Philips, a boy who was driven away from his home because of his ability to hear voices from the dead, returns home to help solve the mystery. Together, Miranda and Philips try to make sense of the disappearances, while trying to come to terms with their family lives and themselves, and dodging FBI agents in the process.
Sounds interesting, right? And I have to say that the overall plot, in itself, was interesting. Unfortunately, there were things in its execution that disrupted my enjoyment from time to time, and led me to feel, as Bart mentions in his review, that “it didn’t ‘flow’ quite right for me.”
Miranda and Philips are interesting characters. Miranda is a quirky and often misunderstood girl, who is nevertheless strong and fights to make a life for herself. Plus, she is geeky and owns DVDs of the Vampire Diaries [yes, this counts as a plus in my book]. Philips is a misfit in his own way, a popular boy but disturbed by his hearing voices. Even though their characters feel a little bit like tropes that can often be found in YA fiction -misunderstood but secretly beautiful girl meets popular boy carrying a secret- this did not bother me much.
While Miranda and Philips are interesting in and of themselves, it was the way they meshed together that didn’t really work for me. They suffer from a severe case of insta-love. Up to the point that while Philips hurt Miranda in the past, when he arrives back home he ditches his mother at the airport because he just had to see her. This confused me to no end for pages after I read this scene because I was puzzled if I had missed a big reveal why he felt he must do this. But I hadn’t. One could say it was revealed why he felt Miranda played a role in this mystery, but the ditching your mother at the airport stuff? I’m still not convinced. There are also the times when their unexplained draw to each other is inserted in scenes where moments before something of a magnitude happens that made me feel that these were not the times to contemplate the potential of kissing a boy you might like.
But more than this insta-love trope that did not feel natural, it was the language that felt a little clunky around some of their interactions. Dialogue that didn’t always flow, jokes that at times were more awkward than funny, etcetera. It made me feel that Miranda and Philips, as much as I liked them, as much as I even felt that they would be cute together, just didn’t work out during the story. Or not to their full potential anyway.
I don’t know, really. There were a lot of things to enjoy about Blackwood. I for one had not seen the suggested take on the Roanoke mystery coming, and there were quite a few surprising turns at the end of the story that made me enjoy it more. And yet, I cannot help but be left with the feeling that it has not fully realised its potential. The potential for a great story was certainly there, but it never really came out. Therefore, disappointment overruled most of the other feelings I might have had about the book.
I read Blackwood by Gwenda Bond as part of R.I.P. VII as hosted by Stainless Steel Droppings. Click over to the RIP Review Site for more reads with a autumnal feel.
Other Opinions: The Book Smugglers, Bart’s Bookshelf, Book Nook, Popcorn Reads, Stella Matutina, Books with Bite, creativity’s corner.
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Instalove is a really tough top to deal with because when you’re young, those kinds of connections seem easy to form and absolutely valid. Sometimes it feels like you’re invalidating the type of romance/connection that some people may feel by saying “hey, this didn’t really work for me, curse you, instalove!” Of course, I also think that this type of connection has been spoiled a bit by reincarnation stories where the two teens in love turn out to have known each other in a past life. That’s the kind I despise, forever and ever amen, and so now it makes me dubious of the trope whenever. Without the supernatural element, it gets more complicated. For me it comes down to an element of mutual curiosity, NOT mystery. You know, “hello, you are like me?” The best example is Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist which was pretty much ABOUT instalove and mutual curiosity and music and friendship.
I plan to read this book soon so I guess I’ll see.
Renay, thank you for your smart comment. I think you might be right, by regarding instalove as a trope and then invalidating that kind of connection by calling it a trope as if that is always wrong.. It’s not right, somehow. I’ve been a teenager, I’ve experienced “insta-love” (though I should add that in my particular case, the boy in question was the worst-boyfriend-ever). But yes, it can be very very real.
So accepting that point of criticism of my use of “insta-love” as something that made this book not work for me, I think I should explain why in this case it didn’t work. I really think that it has more to do with the way instalove is written than with the trope itself. Sometimes, insta-love can be described in a way that transports you back to that feeling of knowing you ahve found someone you’re interested in, knowing you have a connection “instantly”. I’ll go with the most often cited example of insta-love: Twilight. Reflecting on the book, I see all-that-can-be-considered-wrong, but the “insta-love” in itself is somehow a little believable because the whole fascination, feelings, everything, is explored in some detail.
As for Blackwood, the problem, for me, was that there was nothing like that. There was just this scene where the boy “knew” he had to see her, and so bailed on his mother who was waiting for him at the airport, stole her car, and drove over to the girl’s house. I don’t know. It was the weird set-up of the thing, the small amount of time the characters had to reflect on feelings, to even realise they had feelings.. Somehow it didn’t work for me.
Renay’s comment is super interesting and it made me think about WHY I react so negatively to insta-love stories. They can definitely be done right (says the girl who ADORES Before Sunrise/Sunset and really loved Nick and Norah), but yeah, it’s the implication that the instant connection is magic/fated/superior to anything else that REALLY rubs me the wrong way. Sometimes this isn’t even supernatural, but there’s still an element of magical thinking to it. Some of those stories frame things in a way that suggests that “true love” will be love at first sight; that when you meet “the one” you’ll instantly know it; that any other form of falling in love is just not the real thing. They play into a myth about romantic relationships that invalidates anything that doesn’t follow a narrowly defined script. And it’s this more than anything else that has ruined the trope for me.
As for this book, I also really wanted to like it but couldn’t get into it at all – something about the writing just really didn’t work for me. I ended up putting it aside, and between you and Ana and Thea I don’t think I’ll pick it up again.
Thinking about it some more, I guess another difference is that the stories that work for me (like the ones I mentioned above) SHOW me that instant attraction/connection in enough detail that I can actually feel it, and then give me a glimpse of how that spark can develop into actual intimacy. The ones that I tend to roll my eyes at just tell me the connection is there and expect me to believe it without any actual textual support. I’ve no doubt some readers are able to follow along and there’s nothing whatsoever wrong with that, but personally I just can’t suspend my disbelief :\
Anyway, I’ll shut up now and go finish unpacking
*waves from her new house*
I have been thinking about this, and this line: “the stories that work for me (like the ones I mentioned above) SHOW me that instant attraction/connection in enough detail that I can actually feel it, and then give me a glimpse of how that spark can develop into actual intimacy” I think really says it all. It’s even why I think the insta-love of Twilight works better than other cases I’ve encountered (even if there are other particular problems I have with that story).
I really think this discussion is very interesting. I agree with Renay, and I think we tend to forget by condeming “insta-love” so easily, that it can feel very real to teenagers. But I think it is appearing so often that, as you say, it seems to invalidate other forms of love as well.
Nick and Norah, yes, that one really worked!
As for this book. I agree with you about the writing. For me it was more the way in which, for example, the love story of Philips and Miranda was written and described that made me question it than the trope itself. The writing style just felt a little unfinished? at times.
Although I do see the point that Renay is trying to make and I can think of some examples where insta-love has worked (the ones that show me WHY). Another thing to consider is that insta-love is one thing – insta-attraction another. The former is complicated and hard to buy because how can you “love” someone instantly? The latter one is easier to buy into it, I think. That instant attraction that tells you that the other person might well become someone important to you, etc.
I liked this, Ana:
“The ones that I tend to roll my eyes at just tell me the connection is there and expect me to believe it without any actual textual support.”
It all comes down to the writing in the end doesn’t it?
That’s an interesting division and I think one that might really work. Insta-attraction, I like it
It would make stories more realistic too, I think, in most cases. Because it would necessitate a description of how and why someone (comes to) love(s) another.
It very much came down to the writing in case of Blackwood, I think. It was the writing, and the lack of detail in some cases, that made me unable to really “buy” this story, unfortunately.
Ha you mention Nick and Norah in the comments and I appear! I think what works for me about those kind of stories is a combo of what Renay and Ana are saying. If I see people fall into interest, curiosity, exploration which is coupled with attraction then I buy it, if I’m told ‘shebang and the love was there’ then I’m less likely to get it. Even insta love has to be a long, forever process of getting to know your partner for me it seems and if the groundwork for that kind of relationship is laid during the insta-love beginings then I’m generally happy.
That’s in a modern context anyway, I know Ana G and I talked a bit about buying into insta love in Shakespeare and eventually I’ve decided that’s all about different standards applying to different writing contexts. Shakespeare came before the era when extreme emotional realism became demanded of writers, so I hold it to different (not lower, contextually different) standards – fashion plays a big part in what we think of different tropes and fashions change.
Aw I’m sad to see this one didn’t appeal to a lot of people I know as I was looking forward to it. Still on the list, but probably a library pick now.
That’s another interesting point about tropes and fashions. I never really thought about insta-love in Shakespeare before (then again, I haven’t read that much Shakespeare). I think it’s true that stories from different periods should be held to different standards when it comes to such things. Not that you cannot prefer one type of story over another as a modern reader at the same time..
Insta-love, I love it! It’s perhaps as other commenters have already said: when you’re young, it is a very believable possibility
I only learned that there was a term for this trope a few months ago. Kind of fell in love with the word
I can understand your frustration at the insta-love, and that is one reason why some of the YA reads, and even adult reads don’t appeal to me. If you are having to flip back through your book to see if there is something that you missed, well then there is a problem, I think. I like that you gave this book serious consideration when reviewing it, and can see why it worked for you one some levels, but not others.
You are always so kind in your comments, Heather
Really, thank you for that.
Yes, the having to flip back through your book to find out if you missed some of the reasoning behind an event never bodes well, does it?
That’s a really well thought out review and it certainly sparked a lot of discussion. To be honest I’m never very keen on these insta-love themes – somehow it just doesn’t read true! Although the Shakespeare comment was interesting – nobody questions Romeo and Juliet’s love!
Lynn
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