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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
3.5 stars. Once again, not sure why I put this one on the list, but it was a pleasant surprise. Zelda is a fierce and determined heroine/warrior/narrator and the author really brings her and her "tribe" to life.
Zelda is a young adult who lives with her older brother, Gert. Her other two favourite people are her boyfriend, Marxy, and AK47 (Annie), Gert's boyfriend. Zelda and Gert are orphans from a 'disadvantaged' background. Their father disappeared when Zelda was a baby and their mother drank alcohol when she was pregnant with Zelda, poisoning her and resulting in her being born with Foetal Alcohol Syndrome. While their mother gave up drinking, she later died of cancer leaving them to the definitely un-tender mercies of Uncle Richard, who also drank, physically abused Gert and was grooming Zelda for sexual abuse. Gert dropped out of school and started working in a petrol station to get them out and into their own place of safety.
This is where we find them. Gert has at some stage bought Zelda her favourite book, 'Guide to the Vikings' by Professor Kepple. In all the chaos of life, Zelda manages by following The Rules of the House and understanding situations through the prism of What Would a Viking Hero do? Her therapist (the Wise Man in her legend) gives her an article that shows that previous beliefs about gender roles for Vikings are wrong as a Viking warrior burial of high status turns out to be woman. Zelda sees this as a metaphor for her own life and writes a list to help her become the hero of her own legend.
Almost immediately Zelda finds she has to start acting with courage and ingenuity when she discovers that the hoard (financial resources) of her tribe (Zelda, Gert and AK47) have been raided by the villains. Zelda learns that she needs allies from other tribes to help and that not all plans go the way she expects. She has to face great danger in the real world to become the hero of her own legend. Along the way she finds that she has unexpectedly become the hero of other people's stories as well.
I loved this story. It is at bottom the story of vulnerability being strength in the face of a world that is not safe. Some of us, like Zelda, are born with vulnerabilities that look serious from the outside, and others, like Gert who looks and sounds so badass, develop really serious vulnerabilities in childhood. It's in the stories that we tell ourselves about who we really are that our future is set.
Highly recommended.
This is where we find them. Gert has at some stage bought Zelda her favourite book, 'Guide to the Vikings' by Professor Kepple. In all the chaos of life, Zelda manages by following The Rules of the House and understanding situations through the prism of What Would a Viking Hero do? Her therapist (the Wise Man in her legend) gives her an article that shows that previous beliefs about gender roles for Vikings are wrong as a Viking warrior burial of high status turns out to be woman. Zelda sees this as a metaphor for her own life and writes a list to help her become the hero of her own legend.
Almost immediately Zelda finds she has to start acting with courage and ingenuity when she discovers that the hoard (financial resources) of her tribe (Zelda, Gert and AK47) have been raided by the villains. Zelda learns that she needs allies from other tribes to help and that not all plans go the way she expects. She has to face great danger in the real world to become the hero of her own legend. Along the way she finds that she has unexpectedly become the hero of other people's stories as well.
I loved this story. It is at bottom the story of vulnerability being strength in the face of a world that is not safe. Some of us, like Zelda, are born with vulnerabilities that look serious from the outside, and others, like Gert who looks and sounds so badass, develop really serious vulnerabilities in childhood. It's in the stories that we tell ourselves about who we really are that our future is set.
Highly recommended.
The pacing of this book is unusual: the narrative climax occurs at ~93% of the way through the book, according to my eReader. Unfortunately, the climax of the book is a man stripping Zelda from the waist down and attempting to rape her.
There are many things to appreciate about this book, and Zelda is written with a strong voice and a believable perspective, but the way the author treats Zelda betrays his perspective on women. The book is very sexual, but not in a way that gives Zelda agency. She is curious about sex and wants to lose her virginity, but the concept is abstract to her, and the author chooses to contrive a variety of sexual encounters that serve only to humiliate her.
The author goes out of his way to reassure us that (unlike most people with FAS, he claims) Zelda is beautiful. He ensures that the men around her demean her for it, that it makes her a target for sexual harassment and violence, with the implication that if she were less beautiful and more like her friends then she would not be a target. The author creates the world and contrives the circumstances, and this is what he chooses to say with it. The author’s framing of her sexuality is problematic at best, and sadly not surprising in the field of male-authors-who-write-about-women’s-budding-sexuality.
It’s not surprising that her sexuality is written as a weakness to her, something men use to humiliate her and take advantage of her, rather than something she owns herself. It’s not surprising to me that the author chose that the catalyst for narrative change should hinge on her attempted rape; this is a disappointingly common narrative choice when men write about women’s sexuality.
This is a book about Zelda, sure, but it’s also very much not a book about Zelda. At times, it even seems as though the author is far more interested in Gert, and is simply using Zelda as a quirky lens through which to view Gert’s story. This feels especially true at the very end, when Zelda reads the admissions letter and invites Gert back inside after his latest violent outburst.
If I were to ask the author one question, I suppose it would be to ask what made him decide to craft a story whose narrator he transparently can’t relate to at all. There are other questions, too, of course. For example, how many of his test readers were people like Zelda? How many women did he interview as part of his research when writing this story? Was Zelda violently victimized and humiliated sexually in every draft, or there was a concrete point when he decided that her symmetrical face had become a Chekov’s gun that needed firing?
It’s a shame, too, because in the hands of another author this story could have had real potential; there are some interesting narrative choices and some of the themes are not commonly explored. It’s not often that a narrative told through the eyes of someone like Zelda acknowledges that her caretaker is both very loving and also not a great person overall.
Gert is bigoted in several ways that we are told explicitly, though not shown, including that he only stopped using heavy racial slurs when he started dating a WOC and she forced him to stop, and that he refused to stop using homophobic slurs towards Zelda’s friend and mentor at the community center. Gert is also physically violent, prone to punching walls and beating men who try to stop Gert from striking his girlfriend. Much of Gert’s behavior could be considered abusive, but by and large Zelda is only a witness to these behaviors and not the target.
This is another way, however, that the story seems more about Gert and his redemption arc than about Zelda and her independence. There are many times the story feels as though the author decided to write a book about a young man who was struggling as the sole caretaker of his disabled little sister, and so beaten down from protecting her and keeping her fed and housed that he falls into a life of crime. The book can be viewed as a struggle for Gert’s soul: will he give in to Toucan and the other Bad Men as a price for his sister’s safety, or will he endanger their fragile stability by giving in to Zelda and Anne’s demands and seek treatment for his dysfunctional behavior and past trauma? By the end of the book we do not have an answer to this question. All we know is that Gert has not gotten help, that his now-ex doesn’t want him to know where she lives, and that no matter how many holes he punches in her walls Zelda will always forgive him.
There are many things to appreciate about this book, and Zelda is written with a strong voice and a believable perspective, but the way the author treats Zelda betrays his perspective on women. The book is very sexual, but not in a way that gives Zelda agency. She is curious about sex and wants to lose her virginity, but the concept is abstract to her, and the author chooses to contrive a variety of sexual encounters that serve only to humiliate her.
The author goes out of his way to reassure us that (unlike most people with FAS, he claims) Zelda is beautiful. He ensures that the men around her demean her for it, that it makes her a target for sexual harassment and violence, with the implication that if she were less beautiful and more like her friends then she would not be a target. The author creates the world and contrives the circumstances, and this is what he chooses to say with it. The author’s framing of her sexuality is problematic at best, and sadly not surprising in the field of male-authors-who-write-about-women’s-budding-sexuality.
It’s not surprising that her sexuality is written as a weakness to her, something men use to humiliate her and take advantage of her, rather than something she owns herself. It’s not surprising to me that the author chose that the catalyst for narrative change should hinge on her attempted rape; this is a disappointingly common narrative choice when men write about women’s sexuality.
This is a book about Zelda, sure, but it’s also very much not a book about Zelda. At times, it even seems as though the author is far more interested in Gert, and is simply using Zelda as a quirky lens through which to view Gert’s story. This feels especially true at the very end, when Zelda reads the admissions letter and invites Gert back inside after his latest violent outburst.
If I were to ask the author one question, I suppose it would be to ask what made him decide to craft a story whose narrator he transparently can’t relate to at all. There are other questions, too, of course. For example, how many of his test readers were people like Zelda? How many women did he interview as part of his research when writing this story? Was Zelda violently victimized and humiliated sexually in every draft, or there was a concrete point when he decided that her symmetrical face had become a Chekov’s gun that needed firing?
It’s a shame, too, because in the hands of another author this story could have had real potential; there are some interesting narrative choices and some of the themes are not commonly explored. It’s not often that a narrative told through the eyes of someone like Zelda acknowledges that her caretaker is both very loving and also not a great person overall.
Gert is bigoted in several ways that we are told explicitly, though not shown, including that he only stopped using heavy racial slurs when he started dating a WOC and she forced him to stop, and that he refused to stop using homophobic slurs towards Zelda’s friend and mentor at the community center. Gert is also physically violent, prone to punching walls and beating men who try to stop Gert from striking his girlfriend. Much of Gert’s behavior could be considered abusive, but by and large Zelda is only a witness to these behaviors and not the target.
This is another way, however, that the story seems more about Gert and his redemption arc than about Zelda and her independence. There are many times the story feels as though the author decided to write a book about a young man who was struggling as the sole caretaker of his disabled little sister, and so beaten down from protecting her and keeping her fed and housed that he falls into a life of crime. The book can be viewed as a struggle for Gert’s soul: will he give in to Toucan and the other Bad Men as a price for his sister’s safety, or will he endanger their fragile stability by giving in to Zelda and Anne’s demands and seek treatment for his dysfunctional behavior and past trauma? By the end of the book we do not have an answer to this question. All we know is that Gert has not gotten help, that his now-ex doesn’t want him to know where she lives, and that no matter how many holes he punches in her walls Zelda will always forgive him.
4.25+I really enjoyed this wholly original book with a funny, fierce and inspiring narrator. Zelda is a gem and this is a quick and delightful read. Well-fleshed out, believable and multi-dimensional characters all around. I’d love to see a sequel!
This book reminded me of one of my favorite reads, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, which if you know me you understand is high praise. Zelda inspired me, made me laugh, and made my cry-- everything you want in a heroine (or Viking warrior). Great novel!
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This took some time for me to get used to Zelda's way of descrobing things, since it was a different voice than would usially be used for an adult. I feel that it added a lot to the story, that it meant more being told from her perspective.
The growth for all of the characters, even Marxy, was very well showcased. The Viking connection worked really well, from "Grendels" to legends, and I loved the messages conveyed. Life doesn't always folow rules/lists, that isn't always bad, and it isn't always clear who villains or heroes are.
The pacing felt a bit slow the first 20%, but it seemed to gain momentum steadily from there, until you are staying up to find out how it ends.
The growth for all of the characters, even Marxy, was very well showcased. The Viking connection worked really well, from "Grendels" to legends, and I loved the messages conveyed. Life doesn't always folow rules/lists, that isn't always bad, and it isn't always clear who villains or heroes are.
The pacing felt a bit slow the first 20%, but it seemed to gain momentum steadily from there, until you are staying up to find out how it ends.
I was at first torn between marking this as a four or five star read, but then I started tearing up at the end. Automatic five star.
I loved the complicated characters. Gert was good at some things, and he was caring, but he also made a lot of mistakes and had his own issues. He wasn't good, and he wasn't evil. The plot in general is EXACTLY the trope that I love - where an older sibling has to take care of and is protective of their younger sibling as they go through hardship. Zelda, unfortunately, has been through a lot of trouble in her life, and people keep on taking advantage of her.
I loved the complicated characters. Gert was good at some things, and he was caring, but he also made a lot of mistakes and had his own issues. He wasn't good, and he wasn't evil. The plot in general is EXACTLY the trope that I love - where an older sibling has to take care of and is protective of their younger sibling as they go through hardship. Zelda, unfortunately, has been through a lot of trouble in her life, and people keep on taking advantage of her.
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
While I found the book’s description intriguing, I felt the read itself was lackluster and the plot was bogged in cliches. I really wanted to like this book, but unfortunately it didn’t work out for me.