laceblade: Photo of Almanzo Wilder, flashes to text: "Almanzo Wilder was a stud." (Almanzo)
laceblade ([personal profile] laceblade) wrote2010-11-20 07:43 am

Readings

I fail at keeping up with media reviews; here are the things I find worthy of commentary.

The Ozark Trilogy by Suzette Haden Elgin
Responsible of Brightwater lives in a different world, where the kingdoms are mostly named after the states that made up the Ozarks. I found 'the land of Marktwain' to be a bit eye-roll-y.
The population comprising Marktwain arrived in this other world because they were fed up with pollution/etc. of Earth, and they wanted to move somewhere more sensible.

One thing I found mind-boggling is that the author states point-blank that everyone in Marktwain is white. WTF, what happened to all of the people of color?? Did they just decide not to move with everyone else? Were they not allowed to? What the hell? I found this pretty distracting, as it is never explained.

Each kingdom has at least one granny, a matriarchal figure who is capable of performing certain types of magic/spells. Grannies are also highly skilled in the ability of delivering epic tongue-lashings, especially to headstrong men in their kingdoms. The books are almost worth reading just for these epic monologues alone.

I liked the protagonist and her sister. I liked the twist at the end. Overall, this was a fun little trilogy, and I like Elgin's writing style. I think that the first book, Twelve Fair Kingdoms, wasn't really necessary, as it was just an exercise in "Tell instead of show.....ad nauseum."

Free Land by Rose Wilder Lane
Written by Rose before she/her mother started publishing the Little House books.
This story is basically an AU fanfiction about her parents, in which they never marry (lol Rose had mother issues). In some ways, this book addresses the scary/adult issues of living on the prairie a little more directly than the Little House books ever did (going after a claim jumper to string him up), and in some ways it's less so (the Long Winter was a happy time of closeness and warmth!).

My main issue with the book relates to the ending and Rose Wilder Lane's political beliefs. Just in case anyone doesn't want to be spoiled,
The book ends with pseudo!Almanzo's father coming to visit them in Dakota and giving pseudo!Almanzo a ton of money, in order to help him out, get out of debt, get ahead.

In real life, Rose Wilder Lane was a hardcore Libertarian adamantly opposed to things like the New Deal, Social Security, etc. She is considered one of the mothers of the U.S. Liberatarian movement, along with Ayn Rand.

So while this book is about the supposed rugged individuals who eke it out on the prairie by their own strength of will, in the end, the characters get a glimmer of hope because of the class privilege afforded to them by pseudo!Almanzo's parents.

It seems to me that the people who believe one should always "pull yourself up by your own boot straps" rather than accept government handouts are ones who are okay with an easy way out involving a handout from close family/friends/benefactors (much like Rose supported the higher education of various oys whom she 'adopted' during her life). I don't mean that it's easy to accept money from someone else, even if they're your parents, but rather that it's a certain comfort/possibility that some people can count on, and others can't even consider.

It astounds me that people who think that way are incapable of stretching their imaginations just enough to consider a reality in which a person is born into circumstances in which they have no such options or glimmers of hope, and government assistance is necessary to keep a family alive/healthy.


Kuroshitsuji, aka Black Butler, vol. 1 by Yana Toboso
This series is ridiculously popular, and I found the first volume pretty boring. Does anybody know if it gets better?

Santa Olivia by Jacqueline Carey
Read for December's [community profile] beer_marmalade. I liked the dystopian future-ness of this book; I liked the protagonist; I liked the use of Catholicism/becoming your own saint/etc. Something about this fell a little flat for me, though. Maybe I just found the boxing boring.

Sunshine by Robin McKinley
I really...didn't like this? I feel like I should, because lots of people cite it as a favorite. The exposition irritated the fuck out of me. And in the end, what happened in this book? Really, nothing, except that Sunshine did a lot of laundry, took a lot of baths, and baked a lot of pastry-type things.
seeksadventure: (Default)

[personal profile] seeksadventure 2010-11-23 01:37 am (UTC)(link)
It seems to me that the people who believe one should always "pull yourself up by your own boot straps" rather than accept government handouts are ones who are okay with an easy way out involving a handout from close family/friends/benefactors (much like Rose supported the higher education of various oys whom she 'adopted' during her life). I don't mean that it's easy to accept money from someone else, even if they're your parents, but rather that it's a certain comfort/possibility that some people can count on, and others can't even consider.

This! During law school, I kept getting into arguments with a friend of mine because he was a Libertarian and really opposed to those sort of programs and yet perfectly fine with his father paying for his rent and everything. And I kept saying, you know, except for social programs and government-provided loans and such, I WOULDN'T BE HERE. Just like you wouldn't be here if daddy couldn't fund your living.

I really...didn't like this? I feel like I should, because lots of people cite it as a favorite. The exposition irritated the fuck out of me.

I didn't like Sunshine either. I was still working at the bookstore when it came out, so I read it early, and then was shocked when everyone just absolutely adored it. It was the first McKinley book I didn't really like, too.