Half World: Reading Journal

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)

Warhammer Scenarios.net. Retrieved from http://warhammerscenarios.net/wp-content/uploads/Ancient-Book-300×188.jpg

DIYLOL. (2014). Maybe maybe not [Meme]. Retrieved from http://treasure.diylol.com/uploads/post/image/409523/resized_troll-face-meme-generator-maybe-maybe-not-e6c603.jpg

RJDJ. (2011). Rainbow Market [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://clippernolan.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/rainbow-market-new-westminster-bc.jpg

BC Translink. (2014). Cassiar Connector [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://images.drivebc.ca/bchighwaycam/pub/cameras/36.jpg?t=1407465817440

Bible is NOT a Magic 8 Ball [Photograph]. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.parable.co.za/?attachment_id=3476

Snowfall symphony adagio [Photograph]. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://i1124.photobucket.com/albums/l574/ReinardFox/crows_tb.jpg

 Kubrick, S. (1980). Furry [Motion Picture Still]. Retrieved from http://www.retrocrush.com/scary/furry2.jpg

SwarlsBarkley. (n.d.). Jace – Mortal Instruments [Drawing]. Retrieved from http://images2.fanpop.com/image/photos/8600000/Jace-Mortal-Instruments-mortal-instruments-8632162-452-500.jpg

HerMamas. (2013, February 20). To change or not to change your last name [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Uka-YyVyt1U/USRMwKKEyDI/AAAAAAAAMqk/8dmn3v–UM0/s1600/hello_nametag.jpg

EPA. (2008, August). A huge flock of crows [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/08/08/article-0-05ED63930000044D-927_468x494.jpg

Half World: Reading Journal Continued…

Why I Reacted to Half World as I did

I have a special fondness for teen fiction, especially dark teen fantasy.  One of my favourite reads from childhood is Michael Ende’s The Neverending Story about an outcast boy who enters a different realm, Fantasia, and changes history.  Half World reminds me of Ende’s novel in terms of the broad storyline.  I’m also a fan of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline (one of the most frightening works I’ve read to date) and China Mieville’s Un Lun Dun.  There are shades of both these works in Half World.  

While I love historical fiction, and have read a lot of it recently, I’ve been craving a more imagination-satisfying read.  Sitting on my bedside table (taunting me) are Cassandra Clare and Holly Black’s The Iron Trial, and the final book in Cassandra Clare’s The Mortal Instruments series, a series I love.  When I love a book it means that the book has bypassed my brain and entered my heart; it doesn’t mean the book is without flaws, just like the people I love are, like myself, flawed.  Half World is a book I love.

Responses Caused by the Reader’s Personal History

Paradise, right?

The setting of the book was exactly right for me.  I like my fantasy to have an urban homebase, like New York city in The Mortal Instruments series or London in Un Lun Dun.  That Goto used Vancouver as Melanie’s homebase made the story come alive for me more quickly.  As soon as she mentioned Macleod’s bookstore (an excellent place to lose yourself should you ever come to Vancouver) I was hooked.

In the beginning of the novel, Melanie reminded me strongly of Bastian in The Neverending Story in a few ways:  she is bullied, she hides in bookstores and she doesn’t believe in herself.  I didn’t mind that she didn’t remind me of a real character; she felt real, just like Bastian does.

Responses Caused by the Reader’s History as a Reader

The book very much followed by expectations of what a dark fantasy novel should be.  It began with both a Prologue and an Introduction; giving readers a fragment of both the three realms’ history, and the protagonist’s family history.  By the time Melanie is introduced to readers, we are already three levels into the story; we are immersed. Over the course of the story, Melanie learns that despite being ordinary, she has the capacity to be heroic.  She loses people of value to her, and carries on despite her loss.

Responses Caused by the Text Alone

Half World very much follows a traditional narrative arc: there is exposition in the prologue, introduction and early chapters (rising action), a climax, falling action, and a resolution.  The resolution is somewhat open-ended which I find satisfying.  If Half World had wrapped up too neatly, I would have liked it less.  

One unusual thing about the novel is the protagonist.  Melanie is flawed and ordinary.  Even when she acts heroically, it is the choices she makes rather than the essence of who she is that seems to matter.  You don’t see a lot of books like this.  In some ways she reminds me of Twilight‘s Bella (before she became a super-vampire, obviously).

My favourite part of Half World is the writing.  The book is written in a very descriptive, stylized way For example,  “They ran, breath choking their throats, pain stabbing their sides, emptiness yawning all around them. With each desperate step they took, the railless bridge undulated and wobbled, swayed and fluttered.” (p. 5).  In moments of heightened tension, sentence fragments are skillfully employed (“The terrifying plummet one misplaced foot away” (p. 6)).

Goto’s writing engages multiple senses, most noticeably smell and sound.  Mr. Glueskin, we are often told stinks of vinegar (p. 7).  He makes a range of easy to imagine sounds from the “squelching slurp” he uses to retract his tongue to the “wet giggling” of his laugh (p. 84).  

At times, there is a British flavour to the writing.  For example, “Her shrieks took ever so long to fade” sound British (p. 8).  I’m not sure what effect Goto was trying to achieve with this, but I liked it.

There are a number of moments of black comedy in Half World.  Sometimes they are explicitly acknowledged.  For example, “His head, flattened, looked so comical Melanie fought off the urge to giggle hysterically” (p. 111).  It’s like Goto is trying to reassure the reader that black humour is okay.

Illustrations

Jillian Tamaki did the illustrations for Half World.  They are black and white.  Some are full page and others are smaller.  The illustrations I liked best are the unsettling and often cryptic answers Melanie gets from her Magic 8 Ball.  I thought it was clever that they (and the fortune cookie) gave their message via illustration rather than text.  Otherwise, I don’t think Tamaki’s illustrations enhanced the novel in any significant way. 

What Does This Book ask of Readers?

In the background of Half World are a number of references to mythology and traditions.  Number four is unlucky, the bullies are valkyries, Agamemnon is mentioned.  While knowing more about these references isn’t necessary to enjoy the story, Half World does give more to those in the know.  

Goto does a similar thing with art.  Kahlo, Bosch and Escher are all referenced.  Understanding what images Goto has mentioned gives insight into what Half World looks like.  It adds atmosphere to the story. 

Image Sources (from top to bottom)

The Neverending story [Book Cover]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-PLQTkF_0rYY/TWjF6i6oPxI/AAAAAAAAAEE/DY–q3EPRmA/s1600/neverending.jpg

The city of heavenly fire [Book Cover]. (2014). Retrieved from http://img1.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/w97/w485072.jpg

YAH Global.com. (n.d.). Macleod’s books [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://www.yahglobal.com/images/business/details/1342673411Macleods%20Books.jpg

Hardwicke, C. (2008). Bella Swan [Motion Picture Still ]. Retrieved from http://www4.images.coolspotters.com/photos/539604/bella-swan-gallery.png

Kahlo, F.(1938). What water gave me [Painting]. Retrieved from https://www.google.ca/search?q=frida+kahlo+what+water+gave+me&client=firefox-a&hs=054&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=fflb&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=3xXhU9juOYagigLn2oCwCQ&ved=0CB0QsAQ&biw=1246&bih=629#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=y31HThndUjXG2M%253A%3BJOk1RZ1Veqj3UM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fuploads3.wikiart.org%252Fimages%252Fmagdalena-carmen-frieda-kahlo-y-calder%2525C3%2525B3n-de-rivera%252Fwhat-the-water-gave-me-1938.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.wikiart.org%252Fen%252Ffrida-kahlo%252Fwhat-the-water-gave-me-1938%3B1831%3B2391

Home is Beyond the Mountains: Reading Journal

What Happened to me as I Read?

PART ONE: No Safe Place, July 1918

The book began, “A sound, a very quiet sound, woke Samira” (Lottridge, 2010, p. 10).  I was instantly curious: what caused the noise that woke Samira up and what will happen next.  The writing is quietly beautiful and, as much as I’m engaged with the story, I’m also reading to find the next line that will stop my breath with its truth and simplicity.  I don’t have to wait long until I read this, “At every river she looked for Papa and Benyamin, but they were never there” (p. 34).

PART TWO: The Orphan Section, September 1918

In Part Two, we meet Anna (p.41) who is obviously going to help form Samira’s new family.  As I read, I’m waiting for Anna to jump off the page and become real to me, but she never does. Anna asks Samira to help her look after younger children by saying, “You’re quiet.  You don’t fuss.  Shall we stick together?”  (p. 42).  There is a pragmatism to Anna, but I never really think of her as being a real person.

We also learn more about Samira’s family and culture; we learn that, though he’s all the family she has left, they didn’t have much of a relationship in Ayna. “At home with the whole family together in their little house there were days and days when she and Benyamin hardly talked to each other. They lived separate lives” (p. 43).  While Samira and Benyamin are lucky to have each other, this statement makes me think what poor consolation they must be for each other, and how much they must be missing the family members who were integral parts of their lives.

PART THREE: Not Just Orphans, September 1922

Early in Part Three, Samira is again awoken in the night, mirroring the opening of the book (p. 87).  This time Elias is sick.  Miss Shedd (Lottridge’s aunt) arrives while Elias is recovering.  Though she’s not Assyrian,  she’s from Urmieh.  I wonder about the etymology of her name; it’s unusual.  Wondering makes me stop reading and breaks the spell the book has had me under.  There’s something that sets Miss Shedd apart from the other characters and makes her seem less well-rounded as a character.  I wonder if Lottridge idealizes her aunt and doesn’t want to explore her character too deeply.  Maybe my impression will change as the novel progresses.

On page 111, new children arrive at the orphanage from Baqubah camp and the orphans are invited to come up with new rules for the orphanage.  Samira’s rule promotes inclusivity and demonstrates her empathy (p. 114).  Samira again demonstrates a strong sense of empathy when she sees Malik, the runner, and intuits that he feels trapped in the orphanage.  From the moment he first appears, Malik is my favourite character.  I too feel more comfortable on the edges of groups, yet still want to be a part of them.

When Shula and Avram fall out there is no punishment for them (p. 126).  I know Miss Shedd is trying to promote feelings of leadership and responsibility in the orphans, but this seems like a case of imposing modern values on historical fiction to me.  I think in 1918, the children would have been punished.  Again the spell of the novel is briefly broken.

It is quickly recast when planning for the 30-day walk to Tabriz begins.  Shedd introduces the concept of the caravan family:  a family that travels and camps together on the journey.  “Each family [has] at least twelve children of difference ages and, of course, girls and boys” (p. 132).  With the introduction of these families, Samira remarks, Miss Shedd “reminds me of my Aunt” (p. 132).  This made me smile because Miss Shedd is Lottridge’s aunt.  It also made me wonder how much of her own personality Lottridge imbued Samira with.

Miss Shedd announces Samira’s family will include: Anna, Benyamin, Ashur, Maryam, Avram, Shula, Malik, Elias, Monna, Sheran, and David.  The family gets to choose their own ‘family name’ and becomes the “Rooftop Family” because they all slept and played on the roofs back home.  I was glad that Anna questioned the new families saying, “There are people in this family I barely know.  What kind of family is that?” because I had a difficult time believing that children would unquestioningly accept a new family after what they had been through (p. 134).  Anna’s specific question also reminded me that Samira and Benyamin didn’t have a close relationship before leaving Ayna and made me think that Miss Shedd might be successful with her family plan.

PART FOUR: A Long Way to Go, October 1923

I found this parts of this section of the book flat and sort of boring.  It was predictable (to an adult reader) that bureaucracy would require someone to stay behind at the orphanage while others started the journey to Tabriz, and that they delay would not be permanent (p. 154).

The best scenes in this part were the ones with Malik.  I particularly liked the scene where Samira overhears Malik comforting the mules.  She tells Anna, “I think he said more to a mule in just a few minutes than I’ve heard him say to people in a year” (p. 160).  I found this scene very moving because my eldest child is, like Malik, more comfortable around animals than people.  Anna doesn’t pay attention to what Samira is telling her; she still hasn’t grown on me.  There’s another scene a few pages later where Malik tells Samira about the sheep in his village; he is starting to open up to his new family.

There are two emotionally moving scenes in this part.  One is when Shula sits down on the road and cries (I cried with her) because her mother is dead and the journey home is too arduous.  The third person narration of this scene makes Shula’s situation more stark, “Samira didn’t know what to say.  What Shula had said was true.  Her mother had died and the journey was hard” (p. 170).  Miss Shedd has a very no-nonsense approach to Shula’s outburst and she is soon on the road again.  Soon after, Samira and Miss Shedd bond over their mutual losses: Samira lost her mother on this road, and Miss Shedd lost her father.  Miss Shedd seems much more sympathetic when talking to Samira about her loss.  I wonder if it’s because Samira is older, or if it’s because Samira’s grief wells up at a rest stop and not while she’s supposed to be walking.  Either way, I haven’t warmed up to Miss Shedd either; though her return to Iran makes more sense now somehow.

The children also experience snow in this part, and we get more background on Anna’s story (p. 188, 194).

PART FIVE: Wait for the Morning Star, November 1923

This part wraps up the story: Benyamin decides not to return to Ayna.  His decision is consistent with the distant emotional relationship he and Samira have had throughout the book.  Malik finds out his grandmother is still alive; Anna finds out her village has been decimated.  Samira discovers that Aunt Sahra and Ester have lived.  She and Anna move in with them.  Home is Beyond the Mountains ends with Samira on the roof: she spots Malik approaching.  He has come to live with them in Ayna, and will help rebuild Samira’s home.

 Image Sources (from top to bottom)

Assyrian exodus from Persian Urmia – summer of 1918 [Photograph]. (1918). Retrieved from http://www.shlama.be/shlama/images/stories/Iran/assyrian-refugees-from-urmia.jpg

Assyrian children at a school in Baghdad [Photograph]. (2008). Retrieved from https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSsGtm8GNfkDJ8TCkC3YyqIhsEoAaPj6DpkrPwyo1eDxSgOPvX9nw

The Internet Surname Database. (n.d.). Shedd surname scroll [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://www.surnamedb.com/Images/FramedScroll?name=Shedd

Armenians Baqubah, 1919 [Photograph]. (1919). Retrieved from https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com

Juancito [Photograph]. (2006). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mule#mediaviewer/File:Juancito.jpg

No Girls Allowed: Reading Journal

WHAT HAPPENED TO ME AS I READ?

Hapshesut

Hatshepsut

This is the tale that I was most excited about because I’m interested in Ancient Egypt.  The initial illustration sets the geographical scene.  The family tree on the second page (Hughes & Dawson, 2008, p. 8) does the difficult job of explaining an Egyptian family tree well.  It’s off to a good start, but… Hatshepsut’s initial utterance, “Marry my half-brother, Akhenperenre? Well, I don’t have a choice.  After all, I’m just a girl” seems too conscious of modern day ‘girl power’ for my liking (Hughes & Dawson, 2008, p. 8).  There is more exposition in this tale than in other graphic novels I have read.  Perhaps this is the consequence of trying to compress years of history into fewer than fifteen pages.  Page twelve shows what others in the court think about Hatshepsut’s desire to be a “woman pharoah” (Hughes & Dawson , 2008, p. 12).  These thoughts are illustrated in dotted line speech balloons.  I had to read the page twice to understand that these were thoughts and not speech.  Because of the leaps in time and scene, I found it difficult to engage with the Hapshepsut’s story.  It wasn’t boring, just dry.  Some of the meatier bits of the story, like how Hapshepsut managed to transform her public image and become Hapshepsu, and the circumstances surrounding her (his?) disappearance, are glossed over.

Mu Lan

The Wild Orchid

I have less experience of Mu Lan’s story and thus lower expectations.  Again, the tale begins by setting the geographical and temporal scene.  In this tale, the thought balloons are rendered more traditionally, which I prefer.  I thought the dotted line rendering in the first tale broke the flow of the story. Also, in this tale when Mu Lan explains her plan to become a solder and says “I’m just a girl. I may as well be a ghost” the line resonates because we’ve already heard that her father “never lets anyone forget how much he’d prefer a son (Hughes & Dawson, 2008, p. 22, 21).  Just as the story begins to get going for me, the exposition intervenes and pulls me back out of the tale.  I wasn’t able to get back into it either, as it glossed over Mu Lan’s time in battle, her decision to decline a high ranking government position, her retirement and the revelation that the army knows she’s a she.  One thing this tale does well is make me curious to know more about this story.  I know that Cameron Dokey wrote a YA retelling of this tale for the Once Upon a Time series.  I might start there.

Alfhild

Alf, battling serpents to win Alfhild’s hand in marriage

It has just dawned on me that these tales are being told chronologically.  Alfhild is so beautiful she has a circle drawn on each cheek, and she’s a princess who has been hidden from men by her parents.  I’m intrigued.  Alfhild eventually gets “tired of being locked up” and has the bright idea (represented by a candle rather than a light bulb because light bulbs haven’t been invented yet) of running away and becoming a Viking (Hughes & Dawson, 2008, p. 31).  It gets better… she longs for female companionship on the high seas only to find that there are six other women (also disguised as men) on board.  I loved this story; it’s what I hoped the book would be like.  There are sly asides in the illustrations (like the candle) and a story that doesn’t stop and start.  I hope the rest of the book is like this. (How has she not been made into a Disney heroine yet?)

Esther Brandeau

Brandeau inspired novel:  TBR, anyone?

Again the story is easy to slip into.  I didn’t see the shipwreck coming at all and was keen to see what happened after (Hughes & Dawson, 2008, p. 40).  Soon after arriving in Biarritz, Esther is told that she’s “just a girl” Hughes & Dawson, 2008, p.43).  This actually made me flip back to the Alfhild story to see if I’d missed the expression there; I hadn’t.  Either way, I was rooting for Esther.  I loved reading about how she became the first Jewish woman to arrive in New France and appreciate Hughes’ imagined continuation of Esther’s journey after deportation.

James Barry

The James Barry story is excited and alive.  I like that James passed for a man so successfully, we aren’t even given her female name.  Reading about her successes with prison inmates and the Caesarean section was an empowering highlight of this book.  This is the kind of woman I want my daughters to look up to.

Ellen Craft as a man

Ellen Craft

This is the first tale featuring an African character.  I was surprised to see that they kept her skin white in the drawings; I’m not sure what I’d expected since the book is very stylized and without shading, but I was surprised nonetheless.  The Crafts’ story really belongs equally to both Ellen and her husband, William.  I enjoyed that Ellen had an entirely different motivation for passing as a man.  This made me wonder why the book has no transgendered characters.

Sarah Rosetta Wakeman

Wakeman’s grave

Wakeman is the second character in this book to have foiled a medical exam.  It seems the exact kind of implausible thing that sometimes happens in real life.  Like with the Hatshepsut tale, this one has too much exposition for me to really immerse myself in the story.  The last line of the book, “No one knows how many women soldiers lie under headstones bearing the names of men,” gave me chills (Hughes & Willow, 2008, p. 77).

On the whole I fully engaged with over half of the tales, and wished even those I didn’t lose myself in were longer.

SOURCES

Image Sources (from top to bottom)

Postdlf. (2005). Hatshepsut [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatshepsut

The Wild Orchid Cover [Book Cover]. (n.d.).  Retrieved from https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3607543-the-wild-orchid

On Alf the Defender of Chastity Olaus Magnus [Etching]. (1554). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alf_and_Alfhild#mediaviewer/File:On_Alf_the_Defender_of_Chastity_Olaus_Magnus.jpg

The Tale-Teller. [Book Cover]. (n.d.).  Retrieved from http://www.billgladstone.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Glickman.jpg

Ellen Craft escaped slave. [Drawing]. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2b/Ellen_Craft_escaped_slave.jpg/220px-Ellen_Craft_escaped_slave.jpg

Fold3 by Ancestry.com. (n.d.). Sarah Rosetta Wakeman headstone [Photograph].  Retrieved from http://img1.fold3.com/img/thumbnail/310582501/400/400/0_0_1200_1600.jpg

No Girls Allowed: Reading Journal Continued…

WHAT FEATURES OF THE BOOK CAUSED MY RESPONSES?

I enjoy both graphic novels and historical fiction.  One prejudice of taste I should mention is that I prefer longer historical novels to shorter works.  One of my favourites is Margaret George’s The Memoirs of Cleopatra.  I think I would have enjoyed this book more if it were a done as a series of books with more fleshed out individual stories.  I would not have minded at all if the truth were slightly fictionalized to add detail, fill in gaps, and increase audience engagement.

RESPONSES CAUSED BY THE READER’S PERSONAL HISTORY

My TBR

I am a big reader and always have been.  Ancient Egypt is a topic I enjoy reading about so I was surprised that I didn’t connect more readily with Hatshepsut’s tale.  In general, I found the characters to be quite flat and so it’s difficult to relate them to any real-life counterparts.  I do believe that every book has its reader, and would recommend this title more to teachers and parents who homeschool because I think there’s a lot that can be done to increase the connection children feel to these brief tales.

RESPONSES CAUSED BY THE READER’S HISTORY AS A READER

from Persepolis

From reading Persepolis I know that stark stylized black and white illustrations can work well in graphic novels and not inhibit the connection between the reader and the story.  I found the style of this book so much less personal and relatable than other graphic biographies I’ve read (Paying for It, Pyongyang, and Maus, for example).  I do want to read more about Esther Brandeau having read this book and think she would make a suitable subject for a longer work, graphic or otherwise.

Portrait of James Barry

As for inconsistencies, I did find blurb confused me by mentioning Margaret Buckley, who then didn’t have a tale of her own under that name. I think I’ll revisit this title in a year or so with my daughters — it might be the right book for future me.  I can see it being of more value to me when my children are beginning to have questions about gender identity and sexuality.  One thing I wonder is would the book have been more powerful as a source of empowerment and inspiration, if it were about strong, accomplished women who some of whom did not dress up as men?  And where was Joan of Arc?  Surely she’s a shoe-in in a book like this?

RESPONSES CAUSED BY THE TEXT ALONE

The plots were heavily abridged biographies.  As they were true stories, they didn’t necessarily follow a traditional narrative arc.  Once or twice, the story ended and I felt let down.  For example, how did Mu Lan spend her life after battle?  Wakeman’s death by chronic diarrhea was not a satisfying end to her life.  Hughes and Dawson couldn’t change that, but for the story to be satisfying and resonant it couldn’t end there.  I appreciate that they added the piece about the possibility of other women soldiers being buried as men (Hughes & Dawson, 2008. p. 77). The stories are told from an semi-omniscient point of view.  The narration is inset into individual panels in rectangular boxes.  I think this takes away from the immediacy of the tales, even as it provides much needed information.

Setting the scene for Mu Lan

In order to impart setting to the reader, each tale begins with an illustrated map containing key geographical details.  Chronological information is given by the narrator.  In the more exotic stories, setting is reinforced through illustrated details like palm trees, and viking ships. The seven main characters share a similar physical appearance; they are largely differentiated from other heroines by their clothes.  Even Ellen Craft, who is black, looks like the other girls.  Hatshepsut looks the least like the others thanks to arched eyebrows and a square jaw.

WHAT DOES THIS BOOK ASK OF READERS?

I think a lot of what this book asks of readers happens after they read.  The afterward is an implicit invitation for readers to learn more about the history of gender inequality and the fight for women’s rights, and to take part in this still ongoing fight.  The book trusts that readers have the skills to seek out further information about these women and others like them.  I think this is asking a lot of many pre-teen readers; a longer bibliography is called for.

SOURCES

Image Sources (from top to bottom)

The Memoirs of Cleopatra [Book Cover]. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.margaretgeorge.com/wp-content/uploads/memoirs-of-cleopatra.jpg

Satrapi, M. (2000). Persepolis, page 95 [Illustration]. Retrieved from http://machicote255.qwriting.qc.cuny.edu/2010/10/20/persepolis/persepolis_illustration-2/

Portrait of James Barry, painted circa 1813-1816 [Painting]. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Barry_%28surgeon%29#mediaviewer/File:James_Barry_%28surgeon%2905.jpg

ISTE. (n.d.). Storytelling Arc [Graphic]. Retrieved from http://digitalstorytelling.iste.wikispaces.net/file/view/StoryTelling%20ARC%20PLAIN.png/417490360/517×358/StoryTelling%20ARC%20PLAIN.png

Hughes, S., & Dawson, W. (2008). No Girls Allowed, page 20-1 [Illustration]. Retrieved from http://www.wordofmousebooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/093010_0205_nogirlsallo2.jpg

As found in McCoy, K. (2014, March 16). Untitled [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://college-social.com/content/uploads/2014/03/091116_r19025_p465.jpg