Bookish Thoughts

I wasn't as immediately engrossed by Spinning Silver  as I was by Uprooted . It starts a little slower, and it took me a while to really get into the book. But by the time I was halfway through I was completely engrossed and couldn't wait to see how it all came together in the end. Novik switches the narrative between six characters, though three have them have significantly more chapters than the other three. And it takes a while for all the different points of view to show up. Still, she does an impressive job of giving everyone a distinct voice. I was never confused about whose head I was in, even without obvious clues like chapter titles. This is probably the most subtly impressive part of the entire book. And the three main women are all fascinating. Miryem is ruthless, first in her pursuit of money for her family and then in trying to escape from her captor-husband. Wanda is brilliant and strong and I only want good things for her. But my favorite character by far was...

Before I dive into the content of this book, I need to talk about the book itself. Because I have this whole complicated relationship with it outside of the stories it contains. And it's worth bringing up in light of recent political shenanigans. Once upon a time a man got cancer. Treatment worked and he went into remission and went on with his life. But a few years later he got cancer again. A different kind of cancer this time. However, since he'd already had cancer once before, health insurance wouldn't cover him this time around. Pre-existing conditions and all that. So he reached out to his writer friends and asked if they'd be willing to donate stories that he could put together into a book that he could sell to pay for his treatment. His friends came through, the book sold well, the man beat cancer again and didn't have to declare bankruptcy. As plans go it's a better solution than selling meth. Of course, the best solution would be health care that act...

This book seemed to be all anyone was talking about last Spring. I heard fairy tales. I heard Beauty and the Beast. I heard Baba Yaga. That was enough to convince to me to stop listening until I could get my hands on the book. This book has elements of both of those stories, and other fairy tales besides, but it is very much it's own thing. Any resemblance to Beauty and the Beast or Baba Yaga is nothing more than an homage, an acknowledgment of the classics. And Uprooted  is well positioned to become one of those classics. The story follows Agnieszka as she becomes apprenticed to the local wizard lord. The relationship is contentious, and their magical styles are completely different. Watching them bristle and snipe and eventually grow to a grudging respect, and then something more, was a lot of fun. But the heart of the book is Agnieszka's relationship with her lifelong friend Kasia. Their bond is strong and beautiful. The two take turns saving each other and growing clo...