Category Archives: Children

Thursday’s Children by Rumer Godden

Posted on April 13, 2013 | 10 Comments

Thursday's Children - Rumer GoddenThursday’s Children – Rumer Godden
Virago Modern Classics, April 2013 (First published 1984)
Buy: Amazon | Bookdepository *

Thursday’s Children is about the Penny family. Mother concentrates all her hopes on Crystal, the fifth child and longer-for girl after four boys. Crystal is to be a ballet dancer, groomed by her mother who was once a chorus girl and longs to see her former dreams realised through her only daughter. Doone, sixth child and clearly an “accident”, has to accompany his sister to ballet class when there is no one to watch over him at home. There, he secretly becomes fascinated by dancing, and he starts practising in the hallway so that no one will see him. Doone has his reasons to keep his dancing a secret. His mother would not understand, focused as her attention is on Crystal, who is her one and all. His father thinks dancing is not suitable for boys. And his brothers never really seem to bother much about him. Nevertheless, Doone is willing to do everything he can to become a ballet dancer.

As many of you predicted in the comments of my library loot post, I really really enjoyed Thursday’s Children. What’s not to love? There’s ballet! And a child overcoming obstacles! There’s heartfelt writing! And social commentary! Basically, I wanted to travel back in time while reading this, and push the book into the hands of my childhood self. The hours I spent dreaming of being a professional dancer back then! The hours I spent dancing in the living room, the bedroom, on the street while walking somewhere, even on my bike.. Godden does a really good job at capturing the fascination for music and movements, the emotions it can evoke, and all the romantic feelings associated with dance. But she also highlights the difficult aspects of pursuing a career in dance: the rivalry and ugliness between children and parents that are all part of this world as well.

However, if you do not care much for ballet yourself, I think this book might still be of interest. The thing is, it really is about pursuing the things you love, the sacrifices you have to make in the process, but also the importance of love and family relations.

I was reminded of Eva Ibbotson when I read Thursday’s Children, although perhaps they are not that much alike. Like Ibbotson, Godden highlights the ugliness of classicism through the interactions of, particularly mother and Crystal with other girls in class.  Perhaps more than Ibbotson, Godden portrays extremes of hurt and ugliness, particularly towards the end of Crystal’s storyline. And in Doone’s portrayal, the sympathy evoked for him, and the overall sympathetic outlook on the world, she occasionally seems to share Ibbotson’s rose-coloured glasses. I somehow feel I am being unfair to both authors by comparing their work, because I think the strength of their writing is that it is so recognisable and individual. I guess what I meant to say is that I felt the same warmth and feeling radiate from Thursday’s Children as I do in Ibbotson’s novels.

Most of all, I think Godden shines in portraying the family interactions between the Pennys. It is hurtful and difficult to read about the treatment of Doone sometimes. Godden walks a fine line between invoking stereotypes of parents pursuing their own hopes and dreams through their children and forgetting about the other children in the family. However, she manages to remain realistic, I think, and handles these storylines really well. Even more so because, especially towards the end, she manages to complicate them: she shows both the hurt and the love that is part of so many families, she shows how every family member might stand up for other things, fight for some while forgetting about others, and how in their effort to do right all of them make mistakes.

Colour me impressed. And a little regretful that I did not discover Rumer Godden earlier. So.. which book should I read next?

Other Opinions: Jenny’s Books, Yours?

* These are affiliate links. If you buy a product through either of them, I will receive a small percentage of the purchase price.

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Comet in Moominland by Tove Jansson

Posted on January 21, 2013 | 12 Comments

Comet in Moominland - Tove JanssonComet in Moominland – Tove Jansson
Translated from the Swedish by Ernest Benn Limited
Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1990 (original: 1946)
Buy: Amazon | Bookdepository *

There is a reason why I love Tove Jansson’s fiction for children. It has to do with quotes such as the following, showing Moomintroll and Sniff returning from a day playing outside and meeting Moominmamma in the garden:

“We’ve had supper, ” she said. “You’d better see what you can find in the larder, my dears.”
Moomintroll was hopping with excitement. “We’ve been at least a hundred miles from here!” he said. “We followed a Mysterious Path, and I found something terribly valuable that begin with P and ends with L, but I can’t tell you what it is because I’m bound by a swear.”
“And I found something that beging with C and ends with E!” squeaked Sniff. “And somewhere in the middle there’s an A and a V- but I won’t say any more.”
“Well!” said Moominmamma. “Fancy that! Two big discoveries in one day! Now run and get your supper, dears. The soup is keeping hot on the stove. And don’t clatter about too much because pappa is writing.”

In short, it is in being able to capture the homey feel of a loving home in a short scene. It is the fact that Tove Jansson takes the characters who are children seriously. She does not explain their exxageration, or unnecessarily emphasises  it. She feels no need to explain it away or ridicule it. The parental figures take their child, and their (I guess?) adopted child (Sniff) seriously. They allow them to go on adventures, they allow explorations and questions and finding things out for yourself, they allow them to take risks, but they are also there as caregivers. Moominvalley feels like a utopian society in that way, but one that doesn’t come with a bitter unfolding. It is simply a world where people have different interests, they seek different forms of fulfillment, creatures are allowed to smile at that, but never to question those motives or to ridicule them. I rather like to find myself lost in a world such as that, knowing I will encounter a number of surprising and intriguing characters along the way.

In Comet in Moominland, Moominvalley is threatened by a comet. Sniff and Moomintroll set out on a journey to visit the observatory in the lonely mountains to learn more about the comet. Once there, they encounter a stock of interesting characters, but they also realise that they will do anything in their power to protect those they love.

Comet in Moominland is the second Moomin book I have read. The first I read a little over a year ago, Moominpappa’s Memoirs. The one thing I had to get used to in these books is how everything is presented as taken for granted. There is no “hello children, this is Moomin, he is a strange creature that we’re not familiar with, and he lives here and here, and he does this and this, and his parents are Moominpappa and Moominmamma, and his friends are..” (but perhaps that can be found in the first book of the series, The Moomins and the Great Flood?) Instead, Jansson throws you into this world as if it is an accepted thing, which I had to adjust to at first? although really, I much prefer it this way.

Actually, I would argue that the world and its creatures are presented as fact more than works, because it has that “fantasy which you know can’t be real but still feels real nonetheless” thing going for it. Perhaps an explanation for this can be found in the familiar settings? The homes, the weather, the sea, even the explanation of the comet once Moomintroll arrives at the observatory..

As always, Jansson writes in her quiet style, that is sparse but invites engagement and silent contemplation. Similar to the only adult book written by Jansson that I have read, The Summer Book, she does an incredibly job at describing the setting of this tale. But more than that, her writing just invokes the pleasure of knowing that Jansson must have loved these characters and this world.

I feel as if I could ramble on and on, but perhaps the only thing I really want to say is that this book made me glow a little inside, and made me want to have my very own Moomin to hug close (with preferably the same will of his or her own).

Actually, there is one more thing that I would like to mention. I am afraid that I might make this sound almost too idyllic and unreal, and because of that rather bland. The thing is, there are real treasures buried here. On their journey, Sniff and Moomintroll encounter dangers. Moreover, they are sometimes endangered because of their own mistakes. There are lessons buried in this book, even though they are luckily not -in your face-. Last but not least, this book, set at the time of a possible apocalypse, infers some interesting reflections on the different ways people deal with a threat to the only world they know. Again, all that is done in an open-minded, funny, and non-judgemental way, but one that at the same time foregrounds love, hospitality, and (extended) family. It might sound insipid and sugar-coated, but it does not feel that way when reading it. I, for one, only found Comet in Moominland endearing and surprisingly reflexive.

Other Opinions: Presenting Lenore,  utter randomonium, My Favourite Books, Yours?

* These are affiliate links. If you buy a product through either of them, I will receive a small percentage of the purchase price.

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Beauty by Robin McKinley

Posted on January 14, 2013 | 15 Comments

Beauty - Robin McKinleyBeauty – Robin McKinley
David Fickling Books, 2003
Originally published in 1978
Buy: Amazon | Bookdepository *

[note: this was written late at night, which shows. I hope it's not too difficult to navigate my meandering thoughts.]

I shall always have fond memories when it comes to the story of Beauty and the Beast. I know it might be considered sacrilege to some, but I was introduced to the fairy tale through Disney’s movie version of 1991. I was four, and it was the first movie I saw at the cinema. There I was, with my cousin and my aunt (who used to babysit me), and I remember sitting there, and that movie having such an impact. I don’t remember much of the theatre visit, except that the building was quite stately, and that there was a scene where (in my mind) Belle dances with the Beast in a yellow dress, in the library.

There is a reason why Belle has always been my “favourite princess”, if I were to choose one. It is her bookishness in that Disney movie. Her walking from her house, with a book in her hand and a blue dress on, dancing through the streets, being friendly to everyone, and snubbing Gaston (snubbing the annoying man who thinks he’s all that is an important part of my liking for Belle). I wanted to be her. That’s it, basically.

I was very happy to discover that Beauty, in this retelling of Beauty and the Beast by Robin McKinley (note that it was published many years before the Disney movie!) is also bookish. She is also, in her own estimation, not truly a beauty. It is a nickname given to her, her actual name is Honour (next to her sisters Grace and Hope). One of the wonderful things in this story is that the main character grows into both her nicknames, that she shows them to be a perfect fit, and that she slowly gains confidence about being worthy of them.

It is not that Beauty is not confident. It is her strength as a female character, that we perhaps do not associate with what we have learned to think of as “the princesses in fairy tales”, which, in part, makes this story so enjoyable. Beauty is willing to go against the grain. First, she devotes herself to studies and reading. Then, when the family has to move, she works around the house and does work that requires great physical strength. Then, when she meets the beast, she wonders, she is sometimes naive, but she also has a very strong will and she’s not unwilling to voice her own opinions. I liked her for that. Very much so.

Beauty is the kind of character that makes it easy to sympathise. Even if at times it becomes a little difficult to believe that she really wouldn’t have understood all those hints that are spoken at night, by invisible servants. Even if, having had people remark that she has grown into a great beauty, and that she does not see herself as others do, she struggles against the notion, and rejects the beautiful gowns laid out for her. Then, at the same time, I also appreciated her for that. I’d like a female fairy tale lead to reject dresses. I understand the notion of not feeling comfortable in your skin, or confident in whatever you have doubts about, despite being told otherwise. It is something many will empathise with. It is something I certainly emphasise with.

Robin McKinley does a wonderful job of setting the scenes. She spends a great deal of time describing scenery. She makes sure to evoke moods through that same scenery. She makes sure you know all the characters involved: Beauty’s father, her sisters, I could see faces accompanied with them all.

There is one thing though, that I wondered at while reading the book. For the first time while reading this, I realised how Beauty and the Beast is not just a romantic love story to swoon over (which happened, for me, here). But how there are some really problematic things going on in the relationship that is established. Sure, I loved Belle for rejecting Gaston in Disney’s version, but have I ever stopped to think that she fell in love with the person who captured her father, and then held her prisoner instead? In this story, there is the same kind of dynamic going on, to a certain extent. As The Literary Omnivore put it, it’s a little bit like Stockholm Syndrome.

I remember, faintly, that there were moments when Beauty reflected on this herself. Or perhaps, I am editing them in, in my memory, in retrospect (but I think not? Help me out here, fellow readers!). Here is a man, or beast, who lives a life of luxury, even if it is established to be an isolated and sad one, and who can offer Beauty a lot of the things that she always wanted (hello magical library with all the books ever written and yet to be written!). There are moments when I felt that McKinley handled this situation really well, with the reflections, and  the response of Beauty’s family, and Beauty actually makes conscious decisions about staying or returning to the Beast, and she makes them repeatedly.. However, there are moments when they were less overt, or when I felt the tale overrode them, where I would have loved for more questions to have been raised (the ending, for example, and Beauty accepting “the dress” were such moments). But it is a fairy tale, and McKinley makes it easy to go along with these aspects of the story, even if she makes you wonder at the same time. I guess the quality of this story is, in part, that it made me reflect on such things, even if it may not have provided all the answers.¹

I fear I might sound much too critical. The thing is, I did very much enjoy this book. I wanted to keep on reading it. I wanted to hug it close at times. Beauty is a wonderful heroine. It is not that the story is lacking, or at fault. Perhaps it is more that it opened my eyes to the narratives inherent to the fairy tale as it has been told so many times. And that is what made me think. And then, reading this as a retelling, I might think that there were moments where there might have been more subversion, even if there are plenty of moments there. In itself, Beauty does a wonderful job of expanding the story, of giving us a very detailed setting, of offering us a picture of a supportive family and strong girls. In short, it is not my favourite-favourite fairy tale retelling (but who could top Tender Morsels?), but it was wonderful nonetheless. It is definitely going on the re-read pile.

I know there are many more Robin McKinley books out there. I have Deerskin on the shelves, and I cannot wait to get to it (I know it is supposed to be much darker than Beauty - not that that’s better per se, it’s just if people wanted to warn me). Are there any titles you particularly recommend? I think McKinley might very well turn out to be an author of whom I want to read many books.

Other Opinions: There are many.

¹ Can I give an example of such questions the story raised? I’m inserting them as a footnote, because I couldn’t help but ramble a little. Here it is. In her post, The Literary Omnivore also remarked that in Beauty, the Beast does not seem to overcome his nature through Beauty. Instead, he is as he has mostly been. I agree with her. Instead of the Beast (as in the Disney version, which is the only one I know, and I do not know it by heart) going from a more “beastly”, more aggressive, character, to one that is “humane”, tender, and awkward, through Belle’s intercession and for her, in Beauty the Beast is mostly as he has always been (while his beastly outside mostly leads to him becoming more isolated, which is his suffering). He is willing to hope at a better life, meeting Beauty. But a fundamental change? I have seen less of that.

However, after writing that down, there springs a new question to mind. Or really, two questions. One being that that story might be problematic in itself. Beauty might have had more agency in that the Beast not only changed her, but she also changed him (more expressly), and I would definitely cheer for that. But I wonder if in that version is captured the narrative of “if you are a lovely enough girl, you can change the bad boy for the better”, which is not one which can be retold without raising question marks (but which is also part of what I loved about the Disney version. Ugh, I both love and hate discovering problematic things in favourite stories). And then there’s question two, which is the prevailing idea that love will change you at your core. Now, I am a romantic, and I do believe love changes people. But I wonder if it is a good thing if it changed your very nature? Is that romance, or a little scary? Is it not another narrative we are so often told, but that raises complex issues? Should a change always be established through finding your “true love”? Should we think of natures of being “natures”, or “cores”? I hope not, not completely. I don’t know, perhaps this is what McKinley avoids in her tale, as she seems to emphasise that both Beauty and the Beast allow something to flower when they are together, something that was already there but that they could not see? And I like that (romanticised?) idea of love, but even so, I cannot help but wonder at this idea of change through another person too? So, as I said above, this book led me to ask a lot of questions. Questions that are not part of this book per se, that did not detract from my enjoyment, but which led me to wonder and rethink some things, and, as usual, leaving me without any answers (which I do not mind, but you might think I have just wasted your time in having you read this footnote).

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Posted in Books, Children, Fantasy/Science Fiction, Fiction, Young Adult

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The Mythosphere (Diana Wynne Jones’ The Game)

Posted on January 11, 2013 | 14 Comments

“This is the mythosphere. It’s made up of all the stories, theories and beliefs, legends, myths and hopes, that are generated here on Earth. As you can see, it’s constantly growing and moving as people invent new tales to tell or find new things to believe. The older strands move out to become these spirals, where things tend to become quite crude and dangerous. They’ve hardened off, you see”
“Are they real, the same as atoms and planets?” Heyley asked.
“Quite as real – even realler in some ways,” Grandpa replied.

The Game - Diana Wynne Jones

While Diana Wynne Jones’ The Game* was not my favourite book of hers that I have read to date, the concept of the mythosphere still fills me with so much joy. This idea, of a sort-of hidden world (or galaxy?) or stories, creating different strands each time someone invents a new tale, or builds upon an old one, is simply wonderful. Perhaps that was the very reason why the rest of  the book felt a little underdeveloped, because I was simply impatient for more about the mythosphere. Come to think of it, the characters and story were really quite lovely, just.. the mythosphere definitely took the prize for most wonderful thing in the book.

* These are affiliate links. If you buy a product through either of them, I will receive a small percentage of the purchase price.

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Catching Up #1 (2012 mini reviews)

Posted on December 8, 2012 | 13 Comments

And it’s suddenly December.. That time of year when you notice that you have a ton of books that you were going to review because they evoked questions, or tears, or ALL THE LOVE… By now I might have forgotten some of the details so in the following weeks I plan to just offer you a number of mini reviews with the promise that I plan to reread some of these books and offer you an extensive overview of thoughts and feelings someday, maybe.

O Pioneers! - Willa CatherO Pioneers! – Willa Cather
Girlebooks (originally published 1913)
Buy: Amazon | Bookdepository *
Or get a free ebook version from girlebooks

O Pioneers! is the story of a Swedish immigrant family who tries to make a life in rural Nebraska. The story centres on Alexandra Bergson who inherits the family farm and tries to make it prosper at a time when many immigrant families  give up and move away.

Last year I read My Antonia and I mentioned how I always felt a little distance when reading stories about the American frontier and how, even if fascinating, these stories never truly seemed to become real to me. I think the general consensus is that My Antonia is a better book than O Pioneers! However, I think I loved this particular book more. Oh, the prairie setting and frontier-feel still seem somewhat alien to me, but it also felt a lot more human in this particular book.

Perhaps the secret is that, as Dead White Guys says, it is a deceptively simply story that hides quite a lot beneath the surface. For me, it was its decidedly subversive character that attracted me. It´s not that Cather does not revert to the socially acceptable throughout her story, but she also leaves room to discuss things that one can imagine were not often openly acknowledged in this type of literature at the time: to have a woman inherit, make a success of a farm, and have so much agency throughout the story; to have an unhappy marriage openly discuss and to reveal the tragic consequences (as I said, there is an adherence to dominant morality in this story) of an affair, and yet to romanticise it at the same time (the white butterflies?). So yes, as much as I do not remember all the particular details, there are still, 11 months after reading this particular book, details that stand out in my mind. I think I can safely say that I enjoyed O Pioneers very much, even if I had not expected it before picking it up.

Other Opinions: Dead White Guys Lit, That’s What She Read, Fingers & Prose, Melody & Words,  Stephanie’s Books, 1morechapter, an adventure in reading, Joyfully Retired, Yours?

A Monster Calls - Patrick NessA Monster Calls – Patrick Ness
Illustrated by Jim Kay
Walker Books, 2011
Buy: Amazon | Bookdepository *

Sometimes you read a book and it is so perfect that you are at a loss for words that could possibly do it justice. That’s how I felt while I was reading, and once I had finished, A Monster Calls. That, and all the tears and gratefulness combined.

Patrick Ness is of course the king of tackling impossibly difficult subject, and although this is nothing like the Chaos Walking Trilogy, it is simultaneously just as good as that trilogy. The main difference is, perhaps, that this is a children’s book instead of a dystopian story for the slightly older, and that as such this book might have a more universal appeal.

In A Monster Calls  Conor meets a monster during three subsequent nights. Conor has not been having an easy time: he is lonely and does not find comfort in school, his mother is suffering from cancer and asks her grandmother to help out, and Conor is frequently tormented by nightmares at night. However, this monster he now encounters is different from his previous nightmares. The monster tells him three stories, and after those three stories are finished, it asks Conor for his own story, and the monster won’t settle for anything less than the truth.

This is a book about cancer and how it impacts the lives of Conor’s mother, his grandmother, and most of all, his own. It is a story of loss and dealing with that loss. And it is unapologetic in discussing all the feelings involved in that process. It will make you cry, almost guaranteed. It was created with such love and honesty that even now, months after reading it, I cannot discuss it here without feeling the shivers of emotion creep up my spine. I cannot recommend this book enough, but I want to add the warning that even though I have seen the impact of cancer on the lives surrounding my nearest family, I have not closely encountered it myself. I am not sure when and how this book will be read, and what reactions it would evoke, if you are currently going through the sadness associated with this disease.

Other Opinions: too many to count. You can find a detailed list here. For any discussion of Patrick Ness’ work I would recommend the posts over at Things Mean a Lot, which also features a beautiful post on A Monster Calls.

Code Name Verity - Elizabeth WeinCode Name Verity – Elizabeth Wein
Electric Monkey, 2012
Buy: Amazon | Bookdepository *

This must have been the hit of the first half of 2012. And deservedly so (if you ask me). It is a clever story that is compelling for its execution but also for its themes of friendship, war, truth, and its emotional intensity.

The thing is, you cannot discuss what is so great about this book without giving anything away. And I want to avoid spoilers this time. So there you go. I will only give you the plot summary of the very beginning of this book:

When you open Code Name Verity you quickly discover that this is the story of a female British agent, Verity, who is captured by the Germans in France. During her imprisonment she has to write down her whole tale. She has two weeks to do this and at the end of those two weeks she will be shot.

Reading Verity’s story you find out that there is one person who is very important to her: her best friend Maddy who was a pilot for the British.

Code Name Verity is a story of friendship, as I mentioned before. And it is the friendship between Verity and Maddy that brings the emotional punch to this book. It is rare to find actual female best friends that do not hurt each other through jealousy or what-not in books, but it exists, for it is the very core of this book. This is why almost every review out there will quote the following to you. And yes, I need to do the same, because it is truly the best summary of this part of the novel:

“It’s like being in love, discovering your best friend.”

On top of this theme of friendship comes the fact that Maddy and Verity are both very strong women. It is impossible not to fall in love with their agency and decisiveness and, yes, I secretly wanted them to be real. It is difficult to imagine them as unreal, for Wein did such a stellar job with bringing them to life.

What makes this story so interesting besides these themes are the questions it constantly evokes. Truth is a large theme in the book, and you never quite know what the true story is in here. I am not going to go into detail here, but I need to tell you that Code Name Verity is divided into two parts, and the second part sheds light and illuminates many of the questions you are left with in the first part. This is where the astounding cleverness of the story comes in, for as convincing as the first part felt for me, it is the slower part of the story. During the second half, I could not stop reading. Moreover, while reading that second part I kept wanting to return to the first part, to see how everything fit.

For me, the drawback of this book might have been all the hype it had received., Believe me, I still loved it. But there was a certain scene that I had been anticipating, and that I had been promised would have me in tears. And perhaps exactly because of that promise it didn’t evoke quite that much feeling. More details on that can be found over at The Book Smugglers where Thea mentions the same experience. Overall though: Code Name Verity is utterly brilliant. Go read it.

Other Opinions: Things Mean A Lot, My Friend Amy, Chachic’s Book Nook, The Written World, Dear Author, The Book Smugglers, Presenting Lenore, Steph Su Reads, Rhapsody in Books, Book Addiction, You’ve Gotta Read This!, Books and Movies, Book Harbinger, Capricious Reader, Kristi Loves Books, Semicolon, Bookworm 1858, Yours?

* These are affiliate links. If you buy a product through either of them, I will receive a small percentage of the purchase price.

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