TWIB II-18: 01/28-02/03
Feb. 4th, 2008 10:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akujunkanAlmost, almost back on track. And hey, Monday's the new Sunday for these two books.
1) Black Ships – Jo Graham
A lot can go wrong in a work of historical fiction, all the more when it's based on a semi-mythological historical record. Since the story has already been plotted out in its entirety the author doesn't have to engage as deeply with her characters as if she'd invented them from nothing, with the result that many such endeavors simply go through the motions instead of truly telling a story. Similarly, the mythological origins of the work can tempt an author to rely on fantastic deus ex machina in lieu of moving the plot forward in a more considered, believable fashion.
Jo Graham's Black Ships retells the Aeneid from the point of view of Gull, a young Trojan captive of the Greek city of Pylos, while avoiding all of the pitfalls mentioned above. Graham is obviously not only a fan of Virgil's work, but of archeological research into the era in which it's set as well, and Black Ships seamlessly blends the mythological with the factual, making the epic poetry of the original work in modern English prose. By rooting her epic in the larger historical context of its time period, Graham adds valuable context and urgency to her narrative while avoiding having to put long expository passages into the mouths of her characters. While the underpinnings of Black Ships are reminiscent of similar novels that blend history with myth and fantasy, Graham approaches her story in a unique way that neither relies too heavily on the fantastic nor the scientific to explain its pivotal aspects. Indeed, her deft handling of historically troubling aspects of the Aeneid such as Aeneas' sojourn in Carthage and the rape of the Sabine women combine fact and spirituality in a way that often makes sense of the original while not sacrificing the otherworldly.
Similarly, Graham earns major kudos for returning the real world to the high adventure of the Aeneid. After all, heroic doings come with painful consequences that aren't as glamorous as the epics makes them seem. The characters of the Aeneid/Black Ships are young. They struggle with love, sexuality, and confusion over competing desires and loyalties; hunger, sickness, and physical insecurity, and their daring deeds are more frequently precipitated by necessity than the desire for valor. Yet although Graham definitely means to impress this point on her readers, she keeps it subtle and believable to the personalities and motivations of her characters. Furthermore, her handling of many aspects that trip up YA and adult authors alike (How do I make romance sensual without being overly crass or precious? How do I handle depictions of violence that stress its horrors without being too graphic?) is quite skillful.
Although I imagined that I would enjoy Black Ships, I wasn't sure if it could compare to old favorites like Megan Whalen Turner's Attolia series or Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon. Surprisingly, it does--not by slavishly emulating them, but by telling its own story. I cared deeply for all the characters and miss them now that the last page has been turned.
2) Beam Me Up, Jesus – Jim Gerard
Beam Me Up, Jesus bills itself as a “Heathen's Guide to the Rapture.” As someone who believes the Book of Revelations has no place in the bible, I was hoping I'd get something either along the lines of The Zombie Survival Guide for non-fundamentalists or a wacky Colbert Report-esque parody. Instead what I got was the equivalent of an extended LiveJournal post taking Rapture-is-Imminent! loonies to task for their, well, looniness. Gerard's writing is often amusing, but not moreso than anything currently available on certain Internet chat forums, which obviates the need to buy his book. It could still be a winning proposition, except that it was hastily written--as evidenced by Gerard's tendency to: quote Wikipedia as an authoritative source, misspell words and commit basic grammatical fouls, and flub his jokes. (Seriously, do not attempt an AYB reference unless you are, in fact, familiar with AYB.) Beam Me Up, Jesus does have a target audience and a corollary audience it's sure to piss off, but Gerard is surprisingly willing to take people from all ideological walks of life--feminists, alternakids, and dyed-in-the-wool liberals among them--to task for the inanity of their beliefs, making this book less an exercise in hating on a specific religion as opposed to hating on dogmatism in general. In sum, although Beam Me Up, Jesus might be worth signing out of your local library for three weeks' worth of bathroom reading, it's a fundamentally ho-hum literary experience.
That will be all.
1) Black Ships – Jo Graham
A lot can go wrong in a work of historical fiction, all the more when it's based on a semi-mythological historical record. Since the story has already been plotted out in its entirety the author doesn't have to engage as deeply with her characters as if she'd invented them from nothing, with the result that many such endeavors simply go through the motions instead of truly telling a story. Similarly, the mythological origins of the work can tempt an author to rely on fantastic deus ex machina in lieu of moving the plot forward in a more considered, believable fashion.
Jo Graham's Black Ships retells the Aeneid from the point of view of Gull, a young Trojan captive of the Greek city of Pylos, while avoiding all of the pitfalls mentioned above. Graham is obviously not only a fan of Virgil's work, but of archeological research into the era in which it's set as well, and Black Ships seamlessly blends the mythological with the factual, making the epic poetry of the original work in modern English prose. By rooting her epic in the larger historical context of its time period, Graham adds valuable context and urgency to her narrative while avoiding having to put long expository passages into the mouths of her characters. While the underpinnings of Black Ships are reminiscent of similar novels that blend history with myth and fantasy, Graham approaches her story in a unique way that neither relies too heavily on the fantastic nor the scientific to explain its pivotal aspects. Indeed, her deft handling of historically troubling aspects of the Aeneid such as Aeneas' sojourn in Carthage and the rape of the Sabine women combine fact and spirituality in a way that often makes sense of the original while not sacrificing the otherworldly.
Similarly, Graham earns major kudos for returning the real world to the high adventure of the Aeneid. After all, heroic doings come with painful consequences that aren't as glamorous as the epics makes them seem. The characters of the Aeneid/Black Ships are young. They struggle with love, sexuality, and confusion over competing desires and loyalties; hunger, sickness, and physical insecurity, and their daring deeds are more frequently precipitated by necessity than the desire for valor. Yet although Graham definitely means to impress this point on her readers, she keeps it subtle and believable to the personalities and motivations of her characters. Furthermore, her handling of many aspects that trip up YA and adult authors alike (How do I make romance sensual without being overly crass or precious? How do I handle depictions of violence that stress its horrors without being too graphic?) is quite skillful.
Although I imagined that I would enjoy Black Ships, I wasn't sure if it could compare to old favorites like Megan Whalen Turner's Attolia series or Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon. Surprisingly, it does--not by slavishly emulating them, but by telling its own story. I cared deeply for all the characters and miss them now that the last page has been turned.
2) Beam Me Up, Jesus – Jim Gerard
Beam Me Up, Jesus bills itself as a “Heathen's Guide to the Rapture.” As someone who believes the Book of Revelations has no place in the bible, I was hoping I'd get something either along the lines of The Zombie Survival Guide for non-fundamentalists or a wacky Colbert Report-esque parody. Instead what I got was the equivalent of an extended LiveJournal post taking Rapture-is-Imminent! loonies to task for their, well, looniness. Gerard's writing is often amusing, but not moreso than anything currently available on certain Internet chat forums, which obviates the need to buy his book. It could still be a winning proposition, except that it was hastily written--as evidenced by Gerard's tendency to: quote Wikipedia as an authoritative source, misspell words and commit basic grammatical fouls, and flub his jokes. (Seriously, do not attempt an AYB reference unless you are, in fact, familiar with AYB.) Beam Me Up, Jesus does have a target audience and a corollary audience it's sure to piss off, but Gerard is surprisingly willing to take people from all ideological walks of life--feminists, alternakids, and dyed-in-the-wool liberals among them--to task for the inanity of their beliefs, making this book less an exercise in hating on a specific religion as opposed to hating on dogmatism in general. In sum, although Beam Me Up, Jesus might be worth signing out of your local library for three weeks' worth of bathroom reading, it's a fundamentally ho-hum literary experience.
That will be all.
rapture-itis
on 2008-02-12 11:55 pm (UTC)