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4.07 AVERAGE
4.07 AVERAGE
A little darker than I generally like in this type of story, but it was important to the story and felt totally organic and not just thrown in for shock value. And once again, it felt like a story being told and not like I was reading a novel someone had written. It may seem a weird distinction, but the to me the best books are true stories and not novels where you see the hand of the author in the work. Also, I love how magic just suffuses everything, and whether a character believes in it or not, it's just there. Lovely and engrossing.
Another one of those novels where I very much liked the concept, the tone and even the characters, but there was just something a bit off that kept me from falling in love with it. I feel the same way about American Gods.
Nuts.
I am a HUGE fan of Charles de Lint!
So it's with a sad face that I can only give this book 2 stars.
Jilly's past just feels like it was used more for shock value than as part of a story highlighting the horrors of child abuse.
I won't say don't read this book, it has merits, but please don't go in if this is your first Charles de Lint book, he really does deserve your affections and can write ever so much better than this!
I am a HUGE fan of Charles de Lint!
So it's with a sad face that I can only give this book 2 stars.
Jilly's past just feels like it was used more for shock value than as part of a story highlighting the horrors of child abuse.
I won't say don't read this book, it has merits, but please don't go in if this is your first Charles de Lint book, he really does deserve your affections and can write ever so much better than this!
The story of a woman paralyzed in a hit-and-run who gains access to a spirit-world she can visit in her dreams as her body lays broken in the hospital, only to discover that she can’t hope to heal from this injury until her spirit begins to heal from an earlier one. It turns out that what the vague reference to a “dark secret” in the cover synopsis means is that this is a book fundamentally about the lifelong trauma experienced by victims of child abuse. So while I’m a big fan of the way de Lint interweaves fantasy stuff with the real world, this book is pretty dark, especially since I hadn’t really realized what I was getting into. It’s well-written, but not the book I’d recommend for someone starting out with de Lint.
Since this was my first in the Newford series of books, I found the moments not spent on the central characters (Jilly, Raylene and Joe) a little distracting, but maybe I'd feel differently if I was already familiar with this world. I might come back to this after having read a few others in the series…I might appreciate it more.
well written but not my cup of tea. it tends towards sentimentality.
This isn’t a fantasy novel because it takes place half on Earth and half in a Spirit World that exists as a backdrop to all of reality. This isn’t a fantasy novel because it features wolf-headed, shape-shifting original people and crow girls. No, this isn’t a fantasy novel because there are fairies and Native American Earth spirits who share their wisdom. This is a fantasy novel because most of the characters in the story give a shit about each other.
That’s right. Pretty far-fetched, huh? de Lint creates a magical world around the main character, Jilly Coppercorn, where she and her extensive collection of (let me say, roughly … ten) friends are almost unbearably sensitive and thoughtful toward each other. I’m not talking about parent-child relationships here or lovers. I’m talking about an extended group of friends who listen to each other, visit each other frequently, and deeply care about each other. Now that’s a goddamn magical world. Do I sound cynical? Wish I lived there.
For the first two-thirds of The Onion Girl, I was thoroughly enjoying the writing, and my excitement was building. de Lint seemed to be masterfully shaping the plot and building it toward an awesome collision between Jilly and Raylene, two sisters, one with inner light and the other with inner darkness. The good sister, in some ways, too good to be true. The dark sister, a violent con artist. It is perhaps because the energy deflated out of this conflict, the amazing collision failing to materialize as dramatically as I had hoped, that my doubts about the story came more into relief.
The Onion Girl’s world felt a little bit … precious. Those friendships too perfect, Jilly too perfect, too goody-two shoes. Her persona ended up feeling just too good to be true and that left an artificial flavor in my mouth. Mind you, there’s a split personality at work here, in more ways than one. On one hand, the story is about friendships. On the other hand, it about the realistically portrayed horrors of sexual abuse. And the suffering the abuse caused was not soft-pedaled. But there was such an excessive contrast between the pristine goodness of the recovered Jilly and her sister Raylene that it had the effect of making the goodness seem sappy and even prissy.
I was also taken out of the story by the humor within the narrative. Or I should say, attempted humor. After a while, I began to notice that all of the various characters’ witticisms fell flat. None of them cracked a smile on my face nor did they come across as credibly humorous enough to make another character laugh. It made me feel as though every character in The Onion Girl considered Marmaduke to be the height of comedy.
I interpreted the primary theme of the book as recovery. Recovery and related subjects—redemption and forgiveness or the lack thereof. de Lint explores how sexual abuse can drive people to commit terrible acts, both self-destructive acts and other destructive acts. And how some people grow through them and turn their lives around while others never make it through the tunnel of pain. Moderate plot spoilers (but not the ending) follow:
What was unusual and rather inspirational about this book was how it dealt with real-world issues directly within a fantasy genre. So often fantasy novels deal with fantastical issues that only tangentially or metaphorically relate to real-world matters. I also enjoyed the writing. de Lint knows how to turn a sentence and construct scenic descriptions. I could picture all the events as he described them. Just as the Onion Girl felt as though she had numerous negative issues to deal with under her sugar-coated outer layer, I found layers of negative and positive qualities to this story. I didn’t cry. I was just disappointed.
That’s right. Pretty far-fetched, huh? de Lint creates a magical world around the main character, Jilly Coppercorn, where she and her extensive collection of (let me say, roughly … ten) friends are almost unbearably sensitive and thoughtful toward each other. I’m not talking about parent-child relationships here or lovers. I’m talking about an extended group of friends who listen to each other, visit each other frequently, and deeply care about each other. Now that’s a goddamn magical world. Do I sound cynical? Wish I lived there.
For the first two-thirds of The Onion Girl, I was thoroughly enjoying the writing, and my excitement was building. de Lint seemed to be masterfully shaping the plot and building it toward an awesome collision between Jilly and Raylene, two sisters, one with inner light and the other with inner darkness. The good sister, in some ways, too good to be true. The dark sister, a violent con artist. It is perhaps because the energy deflated out of this conflict, the amazing collision failing to materialize as dramatically as I had hoped, that my doubts about the story came more into relief.
The Onion Girl’s world felt a little bit … precious. Those friendships too perfect, Jilly too perfect, too goody-two shoes. Her persona ended up feeling just too good to be true and that left an artificial flavor in my mouth. Mind you, there’s a split personality at work here, in more ways than one. On one hand, the story is about friendships. On the other hand, it about the realistically portrayed horrors of sexual abuse. And the suffering the abuse caused was not soft-pedaled. But there was such an excessive contrast between the pristine goodness of the recovered Jilly and her sister Raylene that it had the effect of making the goodness seem sappy and even prissy.
I was also taken out of the story by the humor within the narrative. Or I should say, attempted humor. After a while, I began to notice that all of the various characters’ witticisms fell flat. None of them cracked a smile on my face nor did they come across as credibly humorous enough to make another character laugh. It made me feel as though every character in The Onion Girl considered Marmaduke to be the height of comedy.
I interpreted the primary theme of the book as recovery. Recovery and related subjects—redemption and forgiveness or the lack thereof. de Lint explores how sexual abuse can drive people to commit terrible acts, both self-destructive acts and other destructive acts. And how some people grow through them and turn their lives around while others never make it through the tunnel of pain. Moderate plot spoilers (but not the ending) follow:
Spoiler
Jilly ran away from home at the age of ten in order to escape her brother’s sexual abuse. She even became a prostitute and a drug addict. But she eventually got off the streets and became a modestly recognized artist who spends a lot of time volunteering and helping other runaways. Unfortunately, when she ran away and escaped her brother’s sexual abuse, she left her younger sister behind. Raylene went through almost identical circumstances, until she eventually stabbed her brother. Raylene went on to lead a primarily criminal life with her friend Pinky.What was unusual and rather inspirational about this book was how it dealt with real-world issues directly within a fantasy genre. So often fantasy novels deal with fantastical issues that only tangentially or metaphorically relate to real-world matters. I also enjoyed the writing. de Lint knows how to turn a sentence and construct scenic descriptions. I could picture all the events as he described them. Just as the Onion Girl felt as though she had numerous negative issues to deal with under her sugar-coated outer layer, I found layers of negative and positive qualities to this story. I didn’t cry. I was just disappointed.
Note – deals with themes of child abuse and molestation. Know this going in.
For whatever reason, this one didn’t connect with me. I don’t have any specific reasons why. If I had to guess, I’d say maybe I prefer an external plot to an internal one? It also felt like while a lot was being built up, the action never really materialized.
The Onion Girl was my first book by Charles De Lint. I’ve read short stories by him which I’ve enjoyed, and I’ve been tangentially aware that he’s got a fantasy series of stories and books set in a city called Newford and a connecting dream land, but I’ve never actually read any before now. For those interested, I think you could pick up The Onion Girl without having read any of the other books. I completely understood the plot, although at times I could tell that there were references to other characters and stories that I hadn’t read.
I picked up The Onion Girl after ditching a badly written book. I wanted some good writing, and I thought Charles De Lint would carry through. He certainly did. The best quality of The Onion Girl is the writing by far. It’s excellently written and at times gorgeous, which is probably why I liked the setting as much as I did. Towering cathedral forests? Count me in.
But just as I never connected with the book as a whole, I never connected with the characters, which is essential for me to like a book. I felt like I should have liked Jilly. She’s an artist who’s still recovering from a terrible childhood but is always determined to stay as cheerful as she can and help other people. Possibly she was just too wonderful and artsy? Some of the characters in the book did faintly remind me of a few of the wackier art teachers that I’ve had.
I would suggest The Onion Girl, even though I didn’t like it personally. I don’t think there’s any over whelming flaws with the book itself, so if it interests you and you’re looking for lyrically written, dream like urban fantasy, you should consider giving it (or presumably one of the other Newford books) a try.
Originally posted on The Illustrated Page.
For whatever reason, this one didn’t connect with me. I don’t have any specific reasons why. If I had to guess, I’d say maybe I prefer an external plot to an internal one? It also felt like while a lot was being built up, the action never really materialized.
The Onion Girl was my first book by Charles De Lint. I’ve read short stories by him which I’ve enjoyed, and I’ve been tangentially aware that he’s got a fantasy series of stories and books set in a city called Newford and a connecting dream land, but I’ve never actually read any before now. For those interested, I think you could pick up The Onion Girl without having read any of the other books. I completely understood the plot, although at times I could tell that there were references to other characters and stories that I hadn’t read.
I picked up The Onion Girl after ditching a badly written book. I wanted some good writing, and I thought Charles De Lint would carry through. He certainly did. The best quality of The Onion Girl is the writing by far. It’s excellently written and at times gorgeous, which is probably why I liked the setting as much as I did. Towering cathedral forests? Count me in.
But just as I never connected with the book as a whole, I never connected with the characters, which is essential for me to like a book. I felt like I should have liked Jilly. She’s an artist who’s still recovering from a terrible childhood but is always determined to stay as cheerful as she can and help other people. Possibly she was just too wonderful and artsy? Some of the characters in the book did faintly remind me of a few of the wackier art teachers that I’ve had.
I would suggest The Onion Girl, even though I didn’t like it personally. I don’t think there’s any over whelming flaws with the book itself, so if it interests you and you’re looking for lyrically written, dream like urban fantasy, you should consider giving it (or presumably one of the other Newford books) a try.
Originally posted on The Illustrated Page.
I've read a fair number of Charles de Lint's books now - eleven at last count - and have been very aware of the darkness at the edges of many of his stories. While this one doesn't quite meet [b:Mulengro|258475|Mulengro|Charles de Lint|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1401387192s/258475.jpg|14299576] in terms of pure horror, or even [b:Moonheart|618174|Moonheart|Charles de Lint|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1357163014s/618174.jpg|14299473]'s more fantastical evil, The Onion Girl is probably the darkest yet, because it deals with an especially human brand of awful.
Finding out Jilly's backstory is bittersweet. We now know where she comes from, and can greater appreciate her strength of spirit, but it brings revelations that are less than welcome, both for the characters and the reader. Luckily de Lint is skilled at countering darkness with light, and there is a fey calm running through the heart of this novel that makes for a captivating read.
NOTE: I've just discovered there are audiobooks of a few of de Lint's novels - including this one. The dilemma is: will it give another lovely insight and angle to his writing, or ruin my own imaginings of the world of Newford?
Finding out Jilly's backstory is bittersweet. We now know where she comes from, and can greater appreciate her strength of spirit, but it brings revelations that are less than welcome, both for the characters and the reader. Luckily de Lint is skilled at countering darkness with light, and there is a fey calm running through the heart of this novel that makes for a captivating read.
NOTE: I've just discovered there are audiobooks of a few of de Lint's novels - including this one. The dilemma is: will it give another lovely insight and angle to his writing, or ruin my own imaginings of the world of Newford?
No rating yet as I am posting a written review for this in the upcoming week!