What Happened to me as I Read?
Prologue
The first thing I notice is the cursive-inspired font. I wonder why it has been used until page three when it’s revealed that the Prologue is meant to be a fragment of a greater work, The Book of the Realms. Right away, I’m in love with Goto’s use of language. Here is her explanation of human grand-scale suffering, “Without connections to Life, Spirit too shall pass away” (p. 2). Her writing is dramatic and wise. Clearly we readers are in for an epic journey.
Introduction
Again I’m struck by Goto’s use of langauge. There’s a filmic quality to the writing; it would translate well on-screen. The writing is descriptive, it is stylized, and it engages all my senses.
As soon as the action begins, I’m hooked. Utterly hooked. There’s a pregnant couple trying to run away from a gluey man with a creepy elongated tongue. Ewwww (and more, please).
There’s also dark comedy, which I love: The gluey man has caught the couple, who are pleading for their life. Here is his response to their pleas, “‘Maaaaaybeeee,’ he crooned in a childish voice, slumping his weight onto one hip. ‘Maybe not!’ he swung out his opposite hip. He began tossing his hips in time with his response. ‘Maybe, maybe not!” (p. 8).
Plus, it’s gory. How is this for a threat? “I will flay your lover every day and force him to eat his skin, for all eternity” (p. 9).
Chapter One
By the time we meet the protagonist, Melanie Tamaki, I’m already in love with Half World. I’m three levels in: I want to know more about the mythology, more about the pregnant couple and more about the gluey man. Then Vancouver (where I live) enters the scene.
Poor Melanie, she is hated to the point that an adult being nice to her means their “store would be vandalized on Halloween” (p. 13). She has a detached humour that I appreciate; it’s one of the things I like best about Jace from The Mortal Instruments too. Also, she loves Macleod’s books. Macleod’s books is awesome. It reminds me of the bookstore in the beginning of the movie The Neverending Story.
And Melanie loves crows. I love crows. (If you love crows, I recommend Clem Martini’s The Mob). Before this blog gets too fangirl for you, let me say there are small things I don’t like about Half World. At times, the writing uses clichés (for example, “The past three years her mother had turned to drink….”) (p. 17). The bullies are known as the Valkyries, which I know makes reference to mythology, but further reading reveals the reference is not used to its full advantage.
Chapter Two
Melanie’s mother is missing. The scene reminds me of the scene in City of Bones when Clary’s mother is abducted. Melanie calls her ‘mum’, which makes her sound British. Though the story is told in third person narration, the reader still has access to Melanie’s thoughts (“Shut up, she thought. Shut up and look!”) (p. 22), and bodily functions (“Hot tears swelled in the back of Melanie’s throat”) (p. 23). We are always in the moment with Melanie; her thoughts and feelings are rendered with immediacy.
Chapter Three
Mr. Glueskin (what a delightfully grotesque name!) has kidnapped Melanie’s mother. He phones and demands Melanie join him in Half World. She thinks, “he was bad” (p. 30). The simplicity of this sentiment contrasts with other more descriptive sentences and makes it seem more true. Dun dun dun… Melanie realizes she’s been using a disconnected phone.
Though she may not have peers, she does have an ally in Ms. Wei. Before leaving for Half World, which can be accessed via the Cassiar connector, she tells Ms Wei where she’s headed. Ms Wei is a bit of an odd duck too. She doesn’t use first or second person pronouns when speaking, which I find almost racist. Melanie, however finds it makes things “slightly more manageable” (p. 35). Ms Wei is a former archivist, Macleod’s customer, and owner of an old copy of theTibetan Book of the Dead. Tucked inside the book is a prophecy that Melanie reads, “So ends what should not be / when a child is born / impossibly / in the nether Realm of Half World” (p. 38). But when Ms Wei reads the prophecy, she sees something different.
Chapters Four and Five
Quirky and quirkier. Ms Wei accompanies Melanie to the entrance to Half World. She gives Melanie a rat amulet that I imagine is something more (I remember there is a lime green rat on the book cover). Before entering Half World, Melanie is approached by a raccoon who gives her a Magic 8 Ball (p. 51). Predictable 😉
The British feel of the language continues when Jade Rat comes to life and urges, “Haste!” (p. 53). Goto keeps balancing on the fine line between horror and humour when Melanie lists the school principal among horrors (p. 55).
Chapter Six
Melanie enters Half World and finds crows! They make this crow bridge for Melanie to cross between the worlds that glimmers with iridescence and sways precariously in my mind. For a moment, it looks like Melanie won’t make it across and Jade Rat abandons her. Melanie resents this. I am glad she does; it feels real.
This chapter is also when I realized the narrator is omniscient. “And for the first time in millennia, they flew back to aid someone who was meant to fall” (p. 62).
Chapter Seven and Eight
Melanie holds onto her grudge against the Jade Rat and gives into self pity. For a fantasy heroine Melanie is remarkably flawed. She’s not got the plucky get-it-done attitude I’d expected. I find her refreshing. There are also several references to how weary Melanie is and how she out of shape.
I’m a bit baffled by the questions Melanie asks the Magic 8 Ball and the answers she receives. I think I’m supposed to be, but the Magic 8 Ball still hasn’t paid off in the way I’d hoped when it first appeared. Then it begins crumbling, and becomes precious to Melanie (p. 79). I can give it one more chance.
I haven’t commented much on the villains in Half World. They are a good mix of menacing and grotesque. At times I’m reminded of the way I felt when watching The Shining and seeing the furry scene. Not that there’s any sexual scenes in Half World but I get the same sense of surreal dread from both.
Chapter Nine
The Shining feeling continues as we read a description of the hotel Melanie is in. Much like the Overlook hotel, I have no clear sense of what size or shape the hotel is. This increases my feelings of unease.
Melanie’s self-esteem is beginning to improve. She’s starting to trust in her own ideas. I find it surprising that Melanie doesn’t seem to have any sort of guide in Half World. “She [has] to explore, to figure out the rules of Half World” by herself (p. 90). In most books like this, there is a character who guides the protagonist filling in historical and cultural detail (like Jace in The Mortal Instruments). The sense that she’s disadvantaged because she doesn’t have a guide is sharpened when Melanie see the neon sign with missing letters (p.91). While it’s clear to the reader that the missing letters should spell Agamemnon, Melanie hasn’t been taught this yet.
In Chapter Nine, Melanie finally meets her father. He’s a drunk who doesn’t recognize her. He slurs, “You know, you knda look like a girlfriend I used to have a long time ago” (p. 94). How disappointing for Melanie. (As for me, I want to know what the intervening years between the Introduction and now were like for this poor man.)
Chapter Ten
Melanie is caught. In this chapter we get more of Gao Zhen Xi and Jade Rat’s history. It strongly reminds me of Voldemort’s horcruxes in Harry Potter. We also get more back story on Half World and the symbol found at the beginning of each chapter. Melanie again yearns for guidance (p. 108). The Magic 8 Ball just isn’t cutting it.
Chapter Eleven and Twelve
Melanie comes up with the idea of disguising herself as a cleaning lady to get access to Mr. Glueskin. The plan is pretty good for a heroine who, as we’re continually reminded, isn’t very clever. Then Melanie messes up her name. She introduces herself to Mr. Glueskin as Mavis when her nametag reads Gladys (p. 120). At first I thought (hoped) it was a continuity error or a typo. It wasn’t. Melanie finds her mother, Fumiko, with Mr. Glueskin. Mom rats Melanie out; she doesn’t appear to recognize her child. When Mr. Glueskin realizes Gladys/Mavis is actually Melanie he says “gently, ‘I’m so glad you could join us'” (p. 134). There’s something purely menacing in this false kindness. It’s beautiful. I love Goto’s writing. Love it.
Chapter Thirteen and Fourteen
Half World is in part a coming-of-age story. Now Melanie is coming to understand her own powers. Gao explains to Melanie why she must be the one to unite the realms and Melanie realizes she’s respected (p. 142-3). From that realization comes this knowledge: “No magic words, no cure-all potion, no ultimate key that unlocked the prize door, no sorcerer’s wand or special latent superpower inside her waiting to burst free […] Everything hinged on choices. Her choices” (p. 144).
When Melanie fights Mr. Glueskin, she does so with compassion (p. 149). Perhaps because Melanie is growing up and becoming a heroine, the prophecy has changed (p. 155). It is also revealed that Mr. Glueskin is illiterate (p. 156). I like this little detail; it gives an evil character depth.
Chapter Fifteen and Sixteen
Sometimes the simplest passages Goto writes are striking in their beauty. I love this line “Black, blackness, crows” (p. 163). Another good one is when Mr. Glueskin reclaims Fumiko, “Melanie located calm” (p. 167).
Melanie rather cleverly defeats Mr. Glueskin. “It was so horrible. It looked almost comic” (p. 174). Goto is exceptionally aware of the fine line between grotesquery and comedy.
Chapter Seventeen, Eighteen, and Nineteen
With Mr. Glueskin defeated, Melanie’s parents reunite. It’s touching and I cry. I defy you to read the words, “Shinobu clasped Fumiko’s hand so that wherever the darkness took them they would be together” (p. 183), and not do the same. Leaving Half World, Melanie pleas with the gatekeeper to be an active participant rather than a silent witness (p. 189). I think this passage has larger philosophical implications for the reader. It makes me wonder how and when I should have taken action but instead have stayed silent. If I were to teach Half World, this is definitely one of the passages I’d want to work with with a class.
Chapter Twenty, Twenty-One and Epilogue
I know there is a sequel to Half World, but to me Melanie’s story feels complete. While more detail could have been added about where life takes Ms Wei, Melanie, and Baby G next, I’m satisfied with the ending. Half World is a gorgeous novel; reading it I feel like I’ve discovered a world that nobody else knows about.
Image Sources (from top to bottom)
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