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3.54 AVERAGE
3.54 AVERAGE
challenging
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Immediately tense and sort of sinister, in an immersive and surface calm sort of way. Fantastic writing and a very compelling story that could so easily be trite or melodramatic based on themes; or overwritten in an unusual structure that instead drives the story-telling. I enjoyed this more than the Luminaries in that I thought it was more, mmm, comfortable with its own structure.
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
funny
This is a smart book. It plays with chronology and performance versus reality, staging real life and turning people into characters. It also explores how much of another person, and their experiences, is unknowable. It displays the disturbing power dynamics at play in any teacher/ student relationship. I love what it does with treating taboos with dark humor, and its exploration of adolescent sexuality is insightful. I think it's a book that you'd enjoy more if you like experimental fiction, and also if you've ever been involved in theater/ drama. My ranking here is higher, probably, than my personal enjoyment of it, because while I enjoyed most of the book, by the end I felt frustrated, and that higher ranking comes from not just the aspects that I really liked, but also from my recognition of the aspects of the text that I didn't enjoy that reflect a large amount of skill and talent.
There are two main plots: a girls' school rocked by an affair between a teacher, Mr. Saladin, and a student, Victoria, and a drama institute whose first-year students put on a play about that affair. The girls' school stuff is mostly filtered through three of the students who attend that school and also take private saxophone lessons with a character only ever known as the saxophone teacher. The plots are also linked by Isolde's relationship with Stanley. Isolde is Victoria's sister, and Stanley is one of the first-year students at the drama institute. He does not know until right before opening night that Isolde is Victoria's sister, and is horrified to see that Isolde has brought her parents to the play.
There is some parallelism at play in the friendship or experimentation between Julia and Isolde, both students of the saxophone teacher, and the saxophone teacher's own unrequited love with her friend, Patsy. Also with the element of mystery left about what exactly transpired & might still be transpiring between Victoria and Mr. Saladin and between Julia and Isolde. The final scene, in fact, has Victoria asking Julia to give her details of Julia's relationship with Isolde so that Victoria can imagine it, something the all the other girls in school wanted re: Victoria and Mr. Saladin. This is all information that we never get.
Ultimately, I felt slightly confused and dissatisfied by the book, as though things never quite came together or reached a point of any kind of clarification. However, I recognized at the same time that Catton accomplished what she set out to accomplish, and that it simply wasn't my cup of tea. I'm glad that I read The Luminaries first because that's one of my favorite books ever and I might never have discovered it the other way around, as I would probably not have sought another book by Catton.
There are two main plots: a girls' school rocked by an affair between a teacher, Mr. Saladin, and a student, Victoria, and a drama institute whose first-year students put on a play about that affair. The girls' school stuff is mostly filtered through three of the students who attend that school and also take private saxophone lessons with a character only ever known as the saxophone teacher. The plots are also linked by
There is some parallelism at play in the
Ultimately, I felt slightly confused and dissatisfied by the book, as though things never quite came together or reached a point of any kind of clarification. However, I recognized at the same time that Catton accomplished what she set out to accomplish, and that it simply wasn't my cup of tea. I'm glad that I read The Luminaries first because that's one of my favorite books ever and I might never have discovered it the other way around, as I would probably not have sought another book by Catton.
I enjoyed this one a lot, though to be honest I can't really put into words why. lol It is just a really well written and odd little book!
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
reflective
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
themes (all girls school, student teacher scandal, theatre, gossip) are on point for me; execution was not what i expected but fun! i didn't really get attached to any of the characters, which is kind of a neutral thing for a book like this. i also didn't super get 100% of it, as it plays with the "ooh ahh it's theatre you're not sure what's real," but truly loved how some of the dialogue or descriptions would yank onto something so visceral and tangible in my brain and i'd be like ohh FUCK thats so real