This is a risky venture, there is no doubt about it. There is certainly no other book of this ilk currently in the English market however i am uncertain that it would be an instant bestseller or even if it would be liked by a British audience. This book makes a firm statement and there is no knowing how this will be received.
Sputnik sweetheart is clearly a labour of love. The energy and passion of the description truly moves the reader. You are not sampling another world but becoming immersed in it. I can find no fault with the level of sophistication employed within the imagery and the repeated metaphors are expertly entwined with the context of the characters. I particularly enjoyed crunchy descriptions such as 'veritable tornado sweeping across the plains' and deep metaphors that convey layers upon layers of meaning 'The barber won't be digging any more holes'. The intensity of this description, realistic as it is in conveying the feel of many sensations and emotions, nevertheless creates a surreal effect. In turn these strengthens the connections one feels with the characters. They are painted literally in the mind.
However, half way through the book there is a definite split, either side of which could be an entirely different book. The plot goes from a quaint story of love, development and growing up to the surreal, phantom mystery world of fantasy. The main problem of course is the great crevasse between these two genres. Many readers may like one but be put off by the other. The blurb is perhaps deceitful; one can easily come away thinking that Sputnik sweetheart is a perfectly straight tale of a love triangle gone drastically wrong. The ending is also incredibly vague and may leave readers feeling unsatisfied that the book has been successfully concluded.
However, there is most certainly a niche in the market for your style. The strengths of the language are such that the reader feels a great intimacy for the characters and what they go through. It does take a very open mind to get to the end of the book without wondering what on earth happened to the simple love story however this does, in a way, add to the special nature of the novel.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Thursday, November 1, 2007
The Delicious Ramblings of the Unstable Mind
Jean Rhys has written a prequel to Jane Eyre.
Much of the population, at this point i expect, would like to question why. I certainly did!
After slogging through the door wedge that is Jane Eyre i had no particular wish to revisit the dank and dismal world of Bronte's Victorian England! But Rhys has indeed found a most interesting story, perspective, setting and character. She has delved into the past of Bertha Mason, the mad woman in the attic. In Jane Eyre Bertha is integral to the plot! But as a character she is unexplored. We see Rochesters view of his mad wife and the rest is assumption. However, this is a new century and we appear to be a curious bunch and we demand to know just what it was that caused Bertha to be dragged down the rabbit hole and just what stopped her from climbing out.
Rhys chooses not to follow and model Bronte's style in the book. A post modern writing style for a novel on post colonialism, Rhys uses the setting of the caribbean to her advantage. The narrators seem constantly to be at war, constantly confused with their own state of affairs. Rhys' description of Antoinette's (Bertha's) homeland is just as sporadic and wild. The imagery oxymoronic and somewhat unreal. The unnamed Rochester even comments on how jamaica is as a dream. But this dream is spiked with the poison of derranged nightmares in a rather matter of fact way. A flower is wonderously gorgeous with the scent of death, in the same way one might embellish the same sentence by saying that a bee happened to be perched on it.
This style really does fit the story like a glove to a hand. i think it emphasises the plot, which is of course centred around the supposed madness of Bertha Mason. She lives in a multicoloured, multisensual world where everything is at an extreme! And Rhys writes up to the standards of her overwhelming setting with a fast paced narrative that you need to be wide awake for. A whirling world of race, religion, status, power and control manipulates the events of Antoinettes life until she has lost her most important sense; that of who she is!
Wide Sargasso Sea, depite being a prequel to Jane Eyre is really nothing like the old classic. Instead, the two books are as different as the main characters; plain jane eyre vs the passions of Antoinette. The major advantage of Wide Sargasso Sea is that it brings a full real world. There are no cliches, no melodrama needed as instead we have real people with their own quirks, intrigues, faults and prejudices against a background of the awareness of a patriachal society, racism and politics. For me, it brings Wide Sargasso Sea alive and out of the realms of a story.
Much of the population, at this point i expect, would like to question why. I certainly did!
After slogging through the door wedge that is Jane Eyre i had no particular wish to revisit the dank and dismal world of Bronte's Victorian England! But Rhys has indeed found a most interesting story, perspective, setting and character. She has delved into the past of Bertha Mason, the mad woman in the attic. In Jane Eyre Bertha is integral to the plot! But as a character she is unexplored. We see Rochesters view of his mad wife and the rest is assumption. However, this is a new century and we appear to be a curious bunch and we demand to know just what it was that caused Bertha to be dragged down the rabbit hole and just what stopped her from climbing out.
Rhys chooses not to follow and model Bronte's style in the book. A post modern writing style for a novel on post colonialism, Rhys uses the setting of the caribbean to her advantage. The narrators seem constantly to be at war, constantly confused with their own state of affairs. Rhys' description of Antoinette's (Bertha's) homeland is just as sporadic and wild. The imagery oxymoronic and somewhat unreal. The unnamed Rochester even comments on how jamaica is as a dream. But this dream is spiked with the poison of derranged nightmares in a rather matter of fact way. A flower is wonderously gorgeous with the scent of death, in the same way one might embellish the same sentence by saying that a bee happened to be perched on it.
This style really does fit the story like a glove to a hand. i think it emphasises the plot, which is of course centred around the supposed madness of Bertha Mason. She lives in a multicoloured, multisensual world where everything is at an extreme! And Rhys writes up to the standards of her overwhelming setting with a fast paced narrative that you need to be wide awake for. A whirling world of race, religion, status, power and control manipulates the events of Antoinettes life until she has lost her most important sense; that of who she is!
Wide Sargasso Sea, depite being a prequel to Jane Eyre is really nothing like the old classic. Instead, the two books are as different as the main characters; plain jane eyre vs the passions of Antoinette. The major advantage of Wide Sargasso Sea is that it brings a full real world. There are no cliches, no melodrama needed as instead we have real people with their own quirks, intrigues, faults and prejudices against a background of the awareness of a patriachal society, racism and politics. For me, it brings Wide Sargasso Sea alive and out of the realms of a story.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
