![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Unfinished Desires (Godwin)
A companion read to In this House of Brede, which I talked a little about here: another book about nuns, this one about a girls' school run by nuns. This book is undeniably well written. After having overindulged in one-note YA, I find it so very refreshing to read a book where the author actually has stylistic control and can pull off various effects with writing style changes alone, as opposed to actively annoying me with the sameness of the style even when differences are called for. And the plot does unfold in a satisfying manner, rather more so than in Brede.
That being said, I liked Brede far more. The difference is, I think, that Brede was about the nuns' relationships with God seen through the lens of their relationships with each other, whereas Desires is about individual characters' arcs as seen through the lens of their relationships with each other and (sometimes) with God, secondarily. I said about Brede that if you thought it was interesting to read books about nuns that you would like it, and if not, not; I think Desires is still probably interesting even if you don't like reading about nuns but think reading about a girls' school (complete with scandals and the like) would be interesting.
I learned about these books from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
papersky's review at Tor. I don't agree with her, however, when she says, "The text of Unfinished Desires has the expectation that it doesn’t matter whether founding myths are true or not as long as they are a useful basis to go on from. " It is true, as she says, of an episode in the book that "the characters explicitly say that it doesn’t matter that their story is a lie, it’s better for people to believe it" -- but to me the subtext is fairly clear that people believing in a lie is what has precipitated the long chain of tragedy in the book (and it is, more or less, a tragedy, whereas Brede is a story of redemption).
Anyway. A very interesting read, and one I'm glad I read, and even more glad to read the two books together. Thanks,papersky!
That being said, I liked Brede far more. The difference is, I think, that Brede was about the nuns' relationships with God seen through the lens of their relationships with each other, whereas Desires is about individual characters' arcs as seen through the lens of their relationships with each other and (sometimes) with God, secondarily. I said about Brede that if you thought it was interesting to read books about nuns that you would like it, and if not, not; I think Desires is still probably interesting even if you don't like reading about nuns but think reading about a girls' school (complete with scandals and the like) would be interesting.
I learned about these books from
papersky's review at Tor. I don't agree with her, however, when she says, "The text of Unfinished Desires has the expectation that it doesn’t matter whether founding myths are true or not as long as they are a useful basis to go on from. " It is true, as she says, of an episode in the book that "the characters explicitly say that it doesn’t matter that their story is a lie, it’s better for people to believe it" -- but to me the subtext is fairly clear that people believing in a lie is what has precipitated the long chain of tragedy in the book (and it is, more or less, a tragedy, whereas Brede is a story of redemption).Anyway. A very interesting read, and one I'm glad I read, and even more glad to read the two books together. Thanks,
papersky!