I was really concerned about this one, as there is so much problematic nonsense here, and the hero does act like a complete douche canoe. It did in theI was really concerned about this one, as there is so much problematic nonsense here, and the hero does act like a complete douche canoe. It did in the end won me over, because the intense self-hatred the hero was feeling was somehow made believable and explained his behaviour logically. And the heroine was a lot of fun to hang around with.
However, ladies, please, if you meet a man like that in real life - run. In real life you can't save a man like that from himself, no matter how hard you kiss him. Tell him to call you after he's done at least three years of therapy.
I can't seem to be able to stop reading romance novels these last two weeks. I have no idea what possessed me, but I have already downloaded another one. Please bear with. Your regular broadcast will resume shortly....more
Well, well, well, Barry... Didn鈥檛 think we would meet again after that ghastly horror that 鈥楾he Land of Marvels鈥� was. But this wasn鈥檛 half bad.
The boWell, well, well, Barry... Didn鈥檛 think we would meet again after that ghastly horror that 鈥楾he Land of Marvels鈥� was. But this wasn鈥檛 half bad.
The book takes place in late fourteenth century and tells the story of Nicholas, a fugitive monk ,who joins a travelling troupe. As the narrator says:
鈥淚t was a death that began it all and another death that led us on.鈥�
Now, writing a literary crime fiction novel revolving around medieval theatre is a very original concept in itself. Unsworth moves very well within the constraints of the world view of the times, and his characters are accurate representations of medieval mentality where fear is the most familiar feeling of all. In the world of war, feudalism, plague and the cruel God punishing you for all sorts of random things, there is indeed a lot to fear.
Unsworth brings the Middle Ages to life with its smells, sounds and sights 鈥� most of them aren鈥檛 pretty. The atmosphere is so real that you feel like you need a shower afterwards. While Unsworth paints the landscape masterfully, he is, sadly, not as skilled with portraits. The characters melt into one mass of a generic medieval man. This inability to create memorable characters was also my main complaint about 鈥楾he Land of Marvels鈥� and by 鈥榤emorable鈥� I mean that if you read their name of on the page, some image comes to your mind. To be honest, the characters remained strangers to me and if I passed them on the street I wouldn鈥檛 recognise them. In 鈥楳orality Play鈥� there was at least a pretty good story to back it up.
The troupe arrives in a small town where a twelve year boy was recently murdered allegedly by the Weaver鈥檚 daughter and she has already been sentenced and is now awaiting execution. When the troupe鈥檚 regular biblical plays fails to attract as much attention as they hoped for, Simon, unofficial leader of the group, has an idea to present a play that would depict the little boy鈥檚 murder. If you think that鈥檚 not a big deal, you obviously never lived in the Middle Ages. Back then you went to hell for things like that. You can鈥檛 just play out actual local events! It鈥檚 wrong and it鈥檚 a sin. Yet, the troupe鈥檚 bellies are empty and the promise of money together with a challenge that playing something new and original would present are enough to convince the players to give it a go.
Here is probably, where most of us will have to suspend our historical disbelief, for Martin and his troupe have just singlehandedly revolutionised the theatre. If they hadn鈥檛, there would be no story, so let鈥檚 cut Unsworth some slack. Obviously with the superiority of centuries of experience a modern reader can tell right away that the poor girl is innocent but the players don鈥檛 realise that until they start acting the whole murder out and things are just not quite right. And before they know it they are investigating a crime through a play.
鈥楳orality Play鈥� is what you call a cracking read, and would be a lot better if Unsworth didn鈥檛 constantly interrupt to drone on about how we all wear masks, and we get so into our roles that we forget that they are roles, and the world is a stage and we are all actors, and it is all so unbelievably revelatory, Barry. I am sure no one has ever thought of it before. Except for, maybe, Shakespeare. There really was a little too much heavy-handed symbolism made for eye-rolling only, because it didn鈥檛 enrich the story in any way.
All in all, I am not a Barry Unsworth convert. I still fail to see what the big deal about him is, but 鈥楳orality Play鈥� was fairly enjoyable and I would even recommend it. Especially to people who like short books, chop, chop, chop. ...more
This was me trying how a YA fantasy book would go down as an audiobook. As I mentioned previously I struggle with audiobooks because it drives me nutsThis was me trying how a YA fantasy book would go down as an audiobook. As I mentioned previously I struggle with audiobooks because it drives me nuts when narrators do 鈥榲oices鈥�. It鈥檚 completely unavoidable and maybe non-fiction is the only thing acceptable for me in that format.
This one was read by Tim Curry, and as long as he was doing villains or the creepy cat it worked wonderfully. But him doing trying to do a voice of an 18 year old girl was plain disturbing. Old dude with raspy voices can鈥檛 do voices of 18 year old girls and that鈥檚 that. (I鈥檝e just finished listening to a romance novel, where a lady with a delicate feminine voice was trying to do the voice of our sexy, brooding Scottish hero, resulting in him sounding like a horny 12 year old 鈥� with Scottish accent).
I wonder why I鈥檓 so bothered by all of this when it doesn鈥檛 seem to be a problem for most people. I鈥檝e thought about it a lot and decided it had to do with growing up in Poland. See, in Poland we don鈥檛 really have dubbing or subtitles in foreign movies when they are shown on the TV. What we have is called a lector ( and ) The entire dialogue in the movie is read in an even, monotonous voice of one person while you can still hear the original dialogue in the background. The idea is that in your head you mix it up 鈥� you take the meaning from the Polish voice-over and the 鈥渇eeling鈥� from the original seeping through. Anyone who wasn鈥檛 raised watching movies like this would find this absolutely maddening (in fact, after being away from Polish TV for 10 years now, I, too, find it difficult to watch) but I can鈥檛 really stomach dubbing. The voices never seem real. I remember Canal+ showing Friends, dubbed in Polish and watching Jennifer Aniston speaking in a weird Polish voice was just cringeworthy. Anyway, maybe this explains why I can鈥檛 take it when people do voices. Just read everything in your own voice for God鈥檚 sake, I will figure out who is talking!
Now, as for the actual book 鈥� apparently a classic of sorts but somehow passed me by entirely. We have two worlds separated by a border, one full magic, and the other one similar to the early 20th. A girl who belongs to the magic world, grows up in the regular one, until she is 鈥渃alled鈥�. So begins the usual fantasy quest 鈥� the girl must save her father, who is a necromancer. However, the quest is REALLY about the girl growing up and taking responsibilities she didn鈥檛 feel she was ready for, and basically taking over her dad鈥檚 business. All that while fighting and befriending various creatures in various stages of being dead or alive (which, of course, is not as binary as we believe it to be in our world).
She also manages to save herself a prince, but unlike fairy tale heroines she doesn鈥檛 do it via pureness of her love or some such, but with her mad necromancing skills.
This should be a good book and it is clearly beloved by some, but it didn鈥檛 do it for me. The stakes never felt high enough. Sabriel never seemed to really struggle with things, internally or externally. She was just a very mature, level-headed girl who did what had to be done, somehow always figuring out the right thing to do. We never really saw her in normal social settings, where she would get to be a person and we could see some character development. Romance came completely out of nowhere and it looked like something written by someone who has never read a romance book but nonetheless had formed a very strong opinion about how they are written. ...more
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