TWIB-II 40
Jul. 13th, 2008 11:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akujunkanKinda weird to think I'm approaching another TWIB anniversary. Anyway, five books this week, and the two English language ones were really good.
1) One More Year - Sana Krasikov
I always find it extremely difficult to write reviews of really good books, because what else can you say other than that it is a really good book, and be it characterization, prose, pacing, mood, you name it--the author does it really well.
Rest assured that One More Year is a really good book, and be it characterization, prose, pacing, mood, you name it--Krasikov does it all really, really well. I wish I had this kind of talent at 28.
Krasikov is an exceptionally insightful author whose writing cuts to the heart of her characters' desires, failings, and relationships. Her prose is spare and beautiful: she precisely delineates people and situations with a fraction of the verbiage it takes other authors. All of her characters are flawed, but humanly so, and readers can't help but identify with, and even recognize themselves in, the people who populate these eight stories, despite the fact that many of them--Georgian immigrants, Tashkenti Muslims, would-be Russian oligarchs--are most likely very unfamiliar archetypes to most American readers.
In short, Krasikov's short stories have done for the Russian/Eastern European experience what Mary Yukari Water's The Laws of Evening did for the Japanese experience (and for those of you unfamiliar with Waters, this is high praise indeed). I know I keep reiterating myself, but this is a seriously wonderful book; one of the best I've read this year. Do yourself a favor and read it. It will not disappoint.
2) The Heretic's Daughter - Kathleen Kent
You can pass a lot of stuff off as historical fiction. Many of the books listed under this genre title are imposters--novels in which the characters think in 21st century terms, behave in 21st century manners, and struggle with 21st century issues, all while wearing period costume.
The Heretic's Daughter is bona fide historical fiction. Kent's characters think, speak, and act in ways fully authentic to their time period. Better yet, Kent portrays them as entirely sympathetic and believable individuals whose motivations, thoughts, and feelings readers understand as if they were our own even despite the complete lack of anachronism. This is historical fiction as it should be written.
Which isn't to say that this novel doesn't tackle big or topical themes--it most certainly does. The ambitious story deftly portrays how difficult life in 17th century Massachusetts could be for intelligent, assertive, independent women, but through the power of its narrative, not by rubbing readers' noses in it. It also illuminates how faith in supposedly pious Puritan society often took a back seat to greed and spite, as "religion" is frequently called on to do today, nearly four centuries later.
Kent is to be applauded for her unusual approach to novelizing the Salem witch trials, not in the least for choosing a protagonist who didn't live in Salem town herself and wasn't Ann Putnam, Tituba, or Rebecca Nurse. She helps readers understand the slow and spotty transmission of news during those times, and more importantly, the way the misfortunes of, and injustices perpetrated against, others living a comfortable distance away easily took a back seat to the more immediate concerns of one's everyday life.
Although the social upheaval created by the trials allows Kent's characters explore big issues like love, loyalty, sacrifice, guilt, good governance, and the role of religion in public life, the story never becomes polemical for it. Too many authors of historical fiction create "iconoclastic" characters who are ahead of their time in seeing the need for separation of church and state, gender equality, democracy, or similar. The Heretic's Daughter is free of such cheap anachronisms; nevertheless, the narrative demonstrates how an event like the Salem witch trials could sew the first seeds of awareness of these issues in the populace.
Finally, the character development is excellent. Family ties, including disappointments and misunderstandings, are brilliantly rendered and developed for such a small page count: the relationships between the novel's characters are poignant and affecting. Read this book.
That will be all.
PS: The squirrels are back. Dammit.
1) One More Year - Sana Krasikov
I always find it extremely difficult to write reviews of really good books, because what else can you say other than that it is a really good book, and be it characterization, prose, pacing, mood, you name it--the author does it really well.
Rest assured that One More Year is a really good book, and be it characterization, prose, pacing, mood, you name it--Krasikov does it all really, really well. I wish I had this kind of talent at 28.
Krasikov is an exceptionally insightful author whose writing cuts to the heart of her characters' desires, failings, and relationships. Her prose is spare and beautiful: she precisely delineates people and situations with a fraction of the verbiage it takes other authors. All of her characters are flawed, but humanly so, and readers can't help but identify with, and even recognize themselves in, the people who populate these eight stories, despite the fact that many of them--Georgian immigrants, Tashkenti Muslims, would-be Russian oligarchs--are most likely very unfamiliar archetypes to most American readers.
In short, Krasikov's short stories have done for the Russian/Eastern European experience what Mary Yukari Water's The Laws of Evening did for the Japanese experience (and for those of you unfamiliar with Waters, this is high praise indeed). I know I keep reiterating myself, but this is a seriously wonderful book; one of the best I've read this year. Do yourself a favor and read it. It will not disappoint.
2) The Heretic's Daughter - Kathleen Kent
You can pass a lot of stuff off as historical fiction. Many of the books listed under this genre title are imposters--novels in which the characters think in 21st century terms, behave in 21st century manners, and struggle with 21st century issues, all while wearing period costume.
The Heretic's Daughter is bona fide historical fiction. Kent's characters think, speak, and act in ways fully authentic to their time period. Better yet, Kent portrays them as entirely sympathetic and believable individuals whose motivations, thoughts, and feelings readers understand as if they were our own even despite the complete lack of anachronism. This is historical fiction as it should be written.
Which isn't to say that this novel doesn't tackle big or topical themes--it most certainly does. The ambitious story deftly portrays how difficult life in 17th century Massachusetts could be for intelligent, assertive, independent women, but through the power of its narrative, not by rubbing readers' noses in it. It also illuminates how faith in supposedly pious Puritan society often took a back seat to greed and spite, as "religion" is frequently called on to do today, nearly four centuries later.
Kent is to be applauded for her unusual approach to novelizing the Salem witch trials, not in the least for choosing a protagonist who didn't live in Salem town herself and wasn't Ann Putnam, Tituba, or Rebecca Nurse. She helps readers understand the slow and spotty transmission of news during those times, and more importantly, the way the misfortunes of, and injustices perpetrated against, others living a comfortable distance away easily took a back seat to the more immediate concerns of one's everyday life.
Although the social upheaval created by the trials allows Kent's characters explore big issues like love, loyalty, sacrifice, guilt, good governance, and the role of religion in public life, the story never becomes polemical for it. Too many authors of historical fiction create "iconoclastic" characters who are ahead of their time in seeing the need for separation of church and state, gender equality, democracy, or similar. The Heretic's Daughter is free of such cheap anachronisms; nevertheless, the narrative demonstrates how an event like the Salem witch trials could sew the first seeds of awareness of these issues in the populace.
Finally, the character development is excellent. Family ties, including disappointments and misunderstandings, are brilliantly rendered and developed for such a small page count: the relationships between the novel's characters are poignant and affecting. Read this book.
That will be all.
PS: The squirrels are back. Dammit.