I should point out that I'm not a zombie fan. I'm really not. I don't like decomposing body parts in my food or on my carpet. I know, I'm zombist.
So II should point out that I'm not a zombie fan. I'm really not. I don't like decomposing body parts in my food or on my carpet. I know, I'm zombist.
So I can understand if you really like zombies how you might not like this book because while there are zombies, they are not starring members of the cast.
I enjoyed this book. Yes, the plot is somewhat predictable, yes the mother/son relationship thing has been done before, but despite all that I found it to be a gripping read. What I particularly enjoyed was the subtle use of Maiden/Matron/Crone threesome. Both Briar and Zeke are believable and very real characters. This is even true of minor characters. I found the whole concept to be very real.
It also feels very much like a Western, which was very cool....more
This is really two stories and I found the one about Josephine to be far more interesting. Most likely because she was a more compelling character. WhThis is really two stories and I found the one about Josephine to be far more interesting. Most likely because she was a more compelling character. While it was nice touching place with people in Seattle, the story only really flowed when Josephine was on stage. She is an interesting character, and Priest does a good job of capturing conflicting loyalties. What makes Josephine cool is that she is a lady who can shot though her skirts....more
Honestly, I can't think of what else to say at this point, except the above statement because it is the simple truth.
InEveryone should read this book.
Honestly, I can't think of what else to say at this point, except the above statement because it is the simple truth.
In one book, Butler deals with slavery, the impact of slavery, relationships, family, life, love, writing. If Butler had only written this book, it alone would have assured her a place among the stars and poets....more
So let me say, I'm a Northerner. I'm from a long line of Northerners. Okay? I get the South feels differently about the Civil War. I get Sherman's MarSo let me say, I'm a Northerner. I'm from a long line of Northerners. Okay? I get the South feels differently about the Civil War. I get Sherman's March to the Sea isn't the March to the Sea if you are from the South.
I get it.
This book is for Southerners, not Northerners. The writing is good, but in close to half of the book all the stories about good soliders are all stories about the Greys. All the stories about bad soliders are about the Blues. There is some type of double standard going on here.
I love the work of L.B. Taylor Jr.. I think the man should be declared a National Treasure. And I have never felt this way about reading his work when it deals with the Civil War. I guess that's why I can't love this book....more
The stories are interesting but not wholly engrossing.
I have to ask though, does every single college have a story about a boy that was left outside oThe stories are interesting but not wholly engrossing.
I have to ask though, does every single college have a story about a boy that was left outside of the dorm by girls and froze to death? Gettysburg College has one, the college I went to has one, the community college where I work has one (which is strange because there are not dorms). And why is it always girls? I mean I can understand my old school, it was an all girls school at the time, but the others?...more
This is the second, and slightly weaker, novel in the Eden Moore series.
Eden's family is still present, and it is nice to see a central female charactThis is the second, and slightly weaker, novel in the Eden Moore series.
Eden's family is still present, and it is nice to see a central female character who also has friends, including female friends. Eden is a believable character.
However, the plot, while interesting, seems weak. There seems to be a slightly choppy feel to this installment....more
Recently I joined a historical fiction book club on Facebook. It used the word discerning in the name. It stated that part of the group was going to dRecently I joined a historical fiction book club on Facebook. It used the word discerning in the name. It stated that part of the group was going to do was to discuss or point out the historical errors in novels. Okay, so in my introduction post to the group, I wrote that Gone with the Wind was propaganda.
You would have thought I left dog poop in their cereal. The just fiction responses, including one who said that my clarification comment was too long (it was a short paragraph where I said I understood why people liked it and didn't think anything of anyone who did). Yet when another member called the moderator in because of the tone of the replies to my post, I was slapped on the hand as well.
In a discerning historical fiction group.
Here's the thing - I understand why people love GoWTW. I think I read like three times when I was in high school. I get it. I do. Several of my GR friends on here love it still, and I don't think anything about them. Mostly because they acknowledge the problematic issues of the novel. That Facebook group - nope.
GoWtW, both the movie and the book, has done so much to promote and keep in the minds of Americans the Romantic Old South. Scarlet's slaves stay with her after emancipation. The Klan is shown to be a good thing. All this, it is true, might be excused by the excuse "it is presented from a Southern woman's point of view" but that is undermined by the fact that the slaves stay and everyone, EVERYONE, seems to think the old ways (i.e. slavery) was better. But when was I pre -teen I read a Sunfire romance - historical romances for pre-teens - and one of those was told from the viewpoint of a Southern woman during the Civil War. She was not Scarlett and her plantation was not Tara. The former slaves left. Slavery was shown to be wrong. So it is possible to use that Southern woman's viewpoint and still acknowledge the hard truth.
It's not surprising because Mitchell was the product of DoC- Daughters of Confederacy and their miseducation campaign that reached into the Union states. There is a reason why they gave her an award.
The just fiction excuse to bypass the whole propaganda aspect of the novel is a weak one. I'm sorry but it is. Look, I don't think books should be banned. I think you should acknowledge what GoWTW is, but if you like the story aspect, than fine. But books are never just fiction. Fiction influences the way we look at things. It's the reason why some people want LGBTQIA books pulled. Once your child learns that LGBTQIA are people like everyone else, they will start asking pesky questions about all those other racist and sexist things you taught them. Studies have routinely proven that reading fiction makes a person more empathic. So, no, fiction isn't just fiction.
Historical fiction can be particularly dangerous because too often readers take the history presented in it as fact, no necessary making allowances for perspective (say Henry VIII swearing Anne of Cleves was a slut) or for choice (say Anne Boleyn sleeping with her brother in the Other Boleyn Girl). In some cases it might not matter much, Anne Boleyn and her offspring are long dead, but in other ways it does. Novels and stories that depicted all women as less than or sluts helped to keep women in what some saw as their proper place. Fictional tales about Africa allowed Europeans to their minds justify or excuse the colonization and enslavement of people. Fictional stories about Jewish citizens killing Christian babies to make bread - such as that which appears in Chaucer - are part of the reason why there was a Holocaust.
It can be little things as well. Heather Morris whose books about the Holocaust have gained much criticism not because of the bad style of writing, but because she blends reality and fiction too much. IT's a true story, but it isn't really. And the children of the people she writes about are still alive. Her manipulation of the truth can be seen as arbitrary - she excuses and downplays the bad behavior that some of her leads factually did for instance - but the people affected are still alive.
So of these points rest on the teacher using the text or the reader. For instance, if you are a teacher using the Boy in the Striped Pajamas to introduce your class to the Holocaust, you better make sure you point out the fable aspect of the novel and the inaccuracies. In the UK, a study relieved the British students believed that the novel truly showed what the camps were like and what the Germans knew.
There is a reason why that Chaucer tale about the child saint isn't taught until college.
Today, in America, you have politicians who can't even bring themselves to acknowledge that slavery was the reason for the Civil War because of the work of the DoC and because of the romance of the Old South Myth. A myth that GoWtW continues.
Too often on Facebook, in one historical fiction group or even in a general reader's group, I will see someone ask for books about the Civil War and the first response will be Gone with the Wind. It shouldn't be the first. And quite frankly, if you are going to suggest it, you should pair with The Wind Done Gone, say. The fact that this book is still first in Civil War reading for many people points to its power in upholding a myth that should have been laid to rest a long time ago. ...more
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