I wanted to like this book more than I did. Philomena, the mai character, is herself a trope and read like one, which made the reading tedious (becausI wanted to like this book more than I did. Philomena, the mai character, is herself a trope and read like one, which made the reading tedious (because she was so predictable) rather than intriguing (because she was nuanced). There were too many plot threads trying to be interwoven, which made me lose interest; I'd have preferred if this were a book solely about a Tempe-type character with a more believably naive protagonist. (It would have been a very different book.) As it stands, the book was *fine.* 2.5 stars. Bargain-book beach read for people who like thrillers....more
The Grace Year falls somewhere between two and three stars, but I'll round up because I did finish it and frankly haven't read anything that knocked mThe Grace Year falls somewhere between two and three stars, but I'll round up because I did finish it and frankly haven't read anything that knocked my socks off recently. The novel starts out like a derivative mashup of The Hunger Games and The Handmaid's Tale, where pubescent girls are fated to spend a year away from their misogynistic colony to "release their magic," and only some will return. When they get there, things proceed fairly predictably until the protagonist essentially escapes and is captured by (spoiler) a man who is supposed to her enemy but (double spoiler) turns out to be her love interest.
My two main problems with this book were (1) that it was very predictable and (2) the narrator felt SO derivative of other "strong female characters who don't fit into their oppressive society" that I was actually annoyed from the outset. The main saving grace was the world building, which kept me engaged enough to keep reading on, and probably a little nostalgia for my first experience of reading The Hunger Games, which was very enjoyable.
If you like dystopian feminist YA and don't mind a fairly predictable storyline, then by all means, pick up The Grace Year. But if I were to personally recommend something new in this overarching genre, I'd pick The Power by Naomi Alderman. ...more
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. "Western" isn't my typical genre, but it came recommended by not one but two friends, so I figured I'I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. "Western" isn't my typical genre, but it came recommended by not one but two friends, so I figured I'd give it a shot.
What I think this is is kind of a reverse Handmaid's Tale. It's another apocalyptic setting where fertility is an issue, except here fertile women aren't enslaved; it's the ones who can't have babies who are killed for being "witches" and the like.
In this instance, our barren heroine escapes such a fate by fleeing to the wilderness, where she meets up with an empowered band of misfit women who are determined to forge a Promised Land of their own.
North's rendering of the women as individuals while being part of a collective was well done, and her descriptions of nature and animals reveal a deep affection for living things. (I have to imagine she loves horses, or else she really did her research.) It went down very easy, and while there was a lot of plot, the characters did not get lost in the movement of the plot, which can easily happen with a book like this.
The main reason this book doesn't get a fifth star is probably because I wasn't struck by the "beauty of the language" per se. It's not a book "I wish I had written," but it's one I greatly appreciate having read. We need more uplifting feminist-inclined novels, and this was absolutely one. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it....more
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