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The DWJ Project: The Homeward Bounders
Apr. 30th, 2011 02:00 amWe're almost at the end of the Diana Wynne Jones books I wrote recommendations for; this is the last but one. (The final title is Eight Days of Luke, which is also a favorite, but it's sort of a first-and-a-halfth tier favorite, along with Archer's Goon and The Power of Three and maybe some others, too.)
So that link has the plot summary and so on. Here, outside the spoiler cut, I'll say that the only DWJ novel that has ever seemed to me at all similar to this one (and vice versa) is Fire and Hemlock, though I've heard people talk about a few others in a way that makes me think I may change that evaluation, once I remind myself of what those others are like. Partly it's the role of real-world folklore -- though in this case the components are easy to spot, since many of them are named in the opening paragraph. The Wandering Jew. The Flying Dutchman (whose ship is on the cover of my edition). Him, whom I won't name here because this is the non-spoiler part of the discussion, but those of you who have read the book know who I'm talking about. Then again, there may well be other layers that aren't so obvious to spot.
But really, what makes this one feel akin to Fire and Hemlock is the way it sort of slantwise approaches some really thorny things before turning to look at them directly, without flinching. Neither of these books is precisely happy. They both end on a note of hope, but it's tempered with some real sorrow, the victory coming at a fair bit of cost. I'm really sort of startled this counts as a kids' book, even if the protagonist is twelve. But kids need stories of this kind too, I suppose -- even if it leaves me, at the age of thirty, feeling like somebody has stomped on my heart.
I think that's all I can say that's non-spoilery. Follow me behind the cut for the rest.
( Read more... )
That's it for April. I'm still open to requests; at the moment, Dogsbody is up near the top of my queue, but I'll take others if people have titles they particularly want to hear discussed sooner rather than later. (Alternatively, if you think I would benefit from making a timely comparison between any of the books I've already read and one I haven't gotten to yet, let me know.)
So that link has the plot summary and so on. Here, outside the spoiler cut, I'll say that the only DWJ novel that has ever seemed to me at all similar to this one (and vice versa) is Fire and Hemlock, though I've heard people talk about a few others in a way that makes me think I may change that evaluation, once I remind myself of what those others are like. Partly it's the role of real-world folklore -- though in this case the components are easy to spot, since many of them are named in the opening paragraph. The Wandering Jew. The Flying Dutchman (whose ship is on the cover of my edition). Him, whom I won't name here because this is the non-spoiler part of the discussion, but those of you who have read the book know who I'm talking about. Then again, there may well be other layers that aren't so obvious to spot.
But really, what makes this one feel akin to Fire and Hemlock is the way it sort of slantwise approaches some really thorny things before turning to look at them directly, without flinching. Neither of these books is precisely happy. They both end on a note of hope, but it's tempered with some real sorrow, the victory coming at a fair bit of cost. I'm really sort of startled this counts as a kids' book, even if the protagonist is twelve. But kids need stories of this kind too, I suppose -- even if it leaves me, at the age of thirty, feeling like somebody has stomped on my heart.
I think that's all I can say that's non-spoilery. Follow me behind the cut for the rest.
( Read more... )
That's it for April. I'm still open to requests; at the moment, Dogsbody is up near the top of my queue, but I'll take others if people have titles they particularly want to hear discussed sooner rather than later. (Alternatively, if you think I would benefit from making a timely comparison between any of the books I've already read and one I haven't gotten to yet, let me know.)
