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Sunday, October 26, 2008

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cover of Chronicles of Chrestomanci Volume 3

Two new installments set in the always-delightful many related worlds of Chrestomanci. If there's a common thread between these stories, it's the idea of talented young people learning to trust themselves and their own abilities, even if the adults around them underestimate them or don't believe in them. The title character of Conrad's Fate is a young man convinced by his uncle that he has a bad karma hanging over him because of something he failed to do in a past life-- at his uncle's insistence he takes a job as a servant at the Stallery mansion to take care of his undone karmic task before he's too late, but things don't go quite the way his uncle hoped. The Pinhoe Egg centers largely on Marianne, a young woman who is sort of the "heir apparent" to the old Gammer of her extended family, sort of the magical head of the clan. A rivalry with a neighboring magic-wielding family turns ugly, the Gammer seems to be going crazy, but no one besides Marianne seems to see what is going on. Both of these stories also feature current or future Chrestomancis that we've met in the other books in the series, and it is fun to see more of them.

Things are always shifting in Conrad's town. One day, suddenly, all the mailboxes might be blue instead of red (and most people don't seem to notice). Once or twice the series of books he is reading in his uncle's bookshop changes, so the new one he was planning to read has a different title or isn't there at all. His uncle explains that someone up at Stallery Mansion is "playing the possibilities", using magic to shift things to their own financial benefit without ano care for how the changes might affect anyone else. Conrad goes to work at the Mansion, and meets up with a youngish Christopher Chant, who is there looking for Millie. The two of them are chosen to be trained as valet for the next master of Stallery, which means they have to learn a bit of everything-- and this gives Christopher plenty of opportunity for wisecracks about the way things work in the big house, such as the seemingly infinite regression of groups of servants eating earlier so they can wait on the next, more important group. In the midst of all their training, Conrad and Christopher notice that something strange is going on-- it turns out that the whole castle is sitting on top of a probability fault, where things and people can suddenly shift from one version of reality to another. When they eventually find the place that's being used to try to harness the probability shifts for financial gain, there is a computer set up, which gives Jones the chance to present something I found particularly clever and amusing-- there is a "shift" key on the computer that actually does exactly what it says.

The Pinhoe Egg is set in the area around Chrestomanci Castle, and takes place when Christopher Chant is the current Chrestomanci and Cat lives there with them (sometime after the events of Nine Lives). Among other things, this book gives an idea what it might be like if we had cantankerous magic-users going senile (a frightening thought!). Because Gammer Pinhoe is unwell, the family has to move her out of her old house-- and she goes pretty unwillingly: she roots herself into her bed, she makes the huge old table go careering through the town, and generally makes things difficult. At some point, Cat meets Marianne and her brother Joe, and he is up in the attic of the old house. He is inexplicably drawn to something, what looks like a huge egg, and Marianne gives it to him. With Cat's special care and magic, the egg hatches and something rare and wonderful and delightful emerges (you think at first it might be a dragon-- that's close, but not quite right). But as Cat learns to care for and understand his new friend Klartch, he learns something about the strange silent woods where he has been riding his horse, and the sacred duty that the Pinhoe family have taken on themselves for generations, a duty of protection that got twisted into something else by the time and forgetfulness of generations.

This story highlights the many different kinds of magic and power - the "dwimmer" of Marianne's family, the mechanical cleverness of Joe and Roger, Cat's creature magic and connection with the horse Syracuse (while Christopher Chant can't stand horses), Jason's fascination with rare plants, Irene's artistic magic-infused patterns and designs, Marianne's magic being different because she is a sorceress in a family of witches, and even Janet's non-magical practicality.
Title:Chronicles of Chrestomanci, Volume 3 - consists of Conrad's Fate (2005) and The Pinhoe Egg (2006)
Author:Diana Wynne Jones
Date published:2008
Genre:Young Adult Fantasy
Series:Chrestomanci
Number of pages:688

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Friday, October 17, 2008

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cover of Little, Big

A multi-generational tale of a family that is somehow connected to the world of Fairy. There's a family tree chart at the beginning, and I found myself referring to it frequently because I couldn't keep track of all the people. The book starts in the middle of the family's story (Daily Alice meeting and marrying Smoky and rescuing him from his anonymity), but then jumps backwards a few generations (Violet Bramble leaves England and her fairies behind, only to meet John Drinkwater and learn that the world of Fairy is somehow also close to the crazy multi-style, multi-fronted house he built), and then moves forward and follows some of their children. It's a strange book and I couldn't tell if I liked it even near the end-- the family all know (to varying degrees) that they are somehow "part of a Tale," and I found myself waiting for something to make sense of everything. The ending is pretty brilliant, and really works-- it's the kind of revelation that transforms the characters and the story, makes sense of some of the strangeness and raises a whole batch of new questions. The title comes from (I think) the notion of some of the family that the world of Fairy grows larger the further you go into it-- only the smaller parts of it overlap with our world, so we tend to only see little fairy beings.

Part of the reason I wasn't sure I liked the book, and didn't really enjoy it so much while I was reading it, was that the characters are all so unhappy and, to some extent, difficult to like or identify with. One young man in the family meets an odd bird-person and is granted the gift of being irresistible to women; what he doesn't learn until later that this is really a curse that makes it impossible to resist any woman-- he is consumed with love by each of the many women he is spending all his time and vital energies chasing around the country to be with. Another young couple in the city have a very strange relationship that seems unhealthy-- but when you know the end of their story it makes a great deal of sense, somehow. Another disconcerting thing I found, at least early on my reading, was that although the book is written in a style that reminded me of George MacDonald, there is quite a bit more nudity and sex than I would ever expect to find in a MacDonald story (not much by modern standards, I think it was that the style caught me off-guard).

Other strange and interesting characters-- a dead and ancient king brought back from the dead to become President and tyrant; a woman who is effectively a wizard, but her power stems from her mastery of the Art of Memory, her ability to make sense of things and let the things she knows infuse each other with meaning so her understanding grows and changes. A changeling child, stolen from her mother and brought up by the fairies apparently only with one rather small task.

There were hints of the ending of the story, and the ones I caught (or know now I failed to catch) were in the names. Auberon seemed like a family name, and I didn't really think about it (why it sounded vaguely familiar, how it could be pronounced). I was intrigued by the mention of a family nickname for the younger Auberon's lover, his "dark girl" Sylvie-- she mentions in passing that her family sometimes called her Tita, or Titania. But even with those clues, I'm not sure I could have guessed (still not sure I understand) the way the story ends. Some of the other parts of the story make me think I'm not quite as familiar with the characters and stories of Fairy as I ought to be, and maybe if I were these things would make more sense.

In a way, this book reminded me of The House of the Spirits and 100 Years of Solitude-- a multi-generational family with hints (and more than hints) of the supernatural, magical experiences woven into the every-day. It was the little moments like this that I loved, where you don't know quite whether or not to believe-- one of the cousins who can't sleep sees the Sandman in the room of the children, but is told he won't get any sleep. Or, the Christmas where they write letters to Santa and burn them in the fireplace (as per their tradition), and Santa shakes his head over what some of them ask for because he knows what it will cost in unhappiness, but the requests are, in a sense, fulfilled.

I hadn't heard of this book or John Crowley until I saw the title listed on Alan Jacob's syllabus for a "Modern Mythology" course somewhere online (that was over a year ago, and now I can't find it). It does seem like a book that would be interesting to discuss, and one I wouldn't mind having other people help me make sense of.

Title:Little, Big, or, The Fairies' Parliament
Author:John Crowley
Date published:1981
Genre:Contemporary Fantasy / Fairy Tale
Number of pages:538
Notes:recommended by Alan Jacobs (sort of)

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Wednesday, October 08, 2008

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Beth Cappadora, a mother of three, takes her children with her to her fifteenth high school reunion, excited to finally spend time with friends and get a break from being a mother. But everything changes in a moment .. she leaves her older son, Vincent, who is 5 holding Ben's hand, who is 3. A friend had already taken Kerry, the baby, upstairs to nap. When she returns from the front desk 5 minutes later Ben is nowhere to be found. Everyone searches, people ask questions, police come .. and her husband, Pat, arrives to participate in the search. At first the policemen are helpful and assuring her that they'll find him .. but as time continues, things become more serious.

Fast forward ten years or so .. and Ben shows up on their doorstep offering to mow their lawn. He lives two blocks down the street. But he isn't Ben any longer. He is Sam. And although they can piece together what happened and how, that doesn't mean Sam/Ben remembers any of it or wants to move in with his new/old family. A classmate stole him, and is in a mental institution, and Sam lives with his father who knows nothing about it. The only person they can blame is crazy and catatonic. What would it be like to live with the guilt that 'I caused this horrible event to happen' for ten years? Both Beth and Vincent live with this guilt. And even Pat, who wasn't there at the time. But they aren't able to talk about it, so each responds differently. Beth stops being a mother, stops caring about life, stops feeling anything. She figures that she was a mother to Ben and because of that he was hurt, so if she stops being a mother to her other two children they won't be hurt as badly. Pat retreats into his work, into dreaming up a new Italian wedding themed restaurant with his family that does brilliantly. Because he works in the restaurant business he is always working and always busy, and he is glad for that. Vincent, on the other hand, knows his mother both before and after .. and knows that she is nothing but a shell. He acts out, gets into fights, challenges everyone and everything. Nobody can make him stop, although his counselor, Tom, finally gets him to face facts and remember what happened and speak it out. At the end of the book it's revealed that Vincent considers it his job to protect his family in any way that he can .. growing up too quickly because his parents didn't really care for him as parents and he had to parent himself. A very interesting psychological story .. including the effects of what happens when Ben is reintroduced into the story. They can't just pick up where they left off .. so how do they pick up? Where do they begin? Can they deal with the new stress and the loss of old stress? And there's even a hopeful ending, which I was glad for :)

Title:The Deep End of the Ocean
Author: Jacquelyn Mitchard
Date published:1996
Genre: Fiction
Number of pages: 434
Notes: brought by sue

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Wednesday, October 01, 2008

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The story of a young woman (19 or so!) who leaves her home in Asheville to go teach at a school for children in an impoverished area in the hills of Tennessee at a mission. She has almost seventy students of various levels and must learn how to teach them all .. but she also must learn to understand and value their culture, and most importantly she learns what she really believes about God. Before she heard Dr. Ferrand speak about the mission work that was being done in the poorer, rural areas of Tennessee and various states, she had enjoyed life and known all the right words. But in this new place she is faced with hard truths and people who are desperately in need, and her faith is deeply challenged.

Alice Henderson is a gift to all those she interacts with. She has experienced deep pain, and has chosen hope and love and care even in harsh places. Even those of the Cove (where they work and live) who do not easily accept outsiders into their lives have accepted her and value her input and care. Many of the truths that are clearly spoken in this novel are spoken by Alice Henderson. She wants nothing to do with easy religion, or those who say the right words but do not act on them, or those who have some sort of intellectual faith but don't believe in the real power of God. And of course, there is a man. Actually two of them. Who both fall for Christy. Both handsome and good at what they do. But oh, so different. David is the preacher for the mission and has strong convictions and wants to fight the evil he sees even though he doesn't understand the culture very well just yet. He is funny and works hard and wants to make a difference. Dr. Neil MacNeill grew up in the cove and through the kindness of outsiders was able to go to medical school and get topnotch training. He chose to return to the Cove and help as he can. He travels often, works hard to improve the lives of those around him, believes in science and tradition, and has no use for a God who allows such pain in the world. Christy enjoys both men, and both learns from and challenges both of them. But in the end she makes the only choice possible. choosing the man who really loves her and not the one who simply wants somebody to be loved by.

Title:Christy
Author: Catherine Marshall
Date published:1967
Genre: fiction
Number of pages: 501
Notes: repeat reading

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