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Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'
The Night Land, a Story Retold by William Hope Hodgson, James Stoddard
2 reviews
mprov80's review against another edition
Could not stomach the extremely revolting sexist 'romance' that takes a stranglehold on the second half of the book. Some of the most creepily misogynistic drivel I've ever had the misfortune to read. I fully understand that this was written in 1912, but anyone with a scrap of modern decency is going to find this a rough read. Such a massive shame because the first half of the book is a brilliantly inventive piece of fantasy-sci-fi-horror-adventure fiction. So disappointed, and frankly angry that such potential was wasted.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Violence, Physical abuse, and Sexism
nacnudkhan's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
A curate's egg.
The Night Land contains some incredibly original and evocative world-building, in a manner which you would be unlikely to ever see in a modern novel, learning about this dark and hostile land never ceases to be fascinating with wonderful set-pieces showing us both its danger and beauty. However even its fans would acknowledge there are severe flaws in this book.
Firstly it's near universally acknowledged that the text is very repetitive - with much of it concerning the minutae of the main character's routine walking through the wilderness. While I do think this is useful, demonstrating how his journey is a mix of drudgery mixed in with flashes of peril or wonder, I also think it could have been toned down substantially without detracting from this. Particularly on the return journey the book can be a real slog between its set-pieces.
Secondly the story is written in a faux-archaic style which is grating. I can speculate on what this was meant to achieve but overall its effects on the prose are almost wholly negative, making sentences overly stodgy and, with pre-modern capitalisation conventions (capitalising first letters for emphasis) mildly irritating and distracting. The sole advantage to this style of writing is that the narrator is able to directly address the reader in the manner of an early novel without seeming unnatural, which did add some levity to the overly-heavy prose.
There are other affectations in the writing style that, in my view, are rather more effective. Direct dialogue is eschewed, with speech being relayed indirectly, and there's a strong reluctance to name characters - only three characters are named in the whole story. I found these choices helped give the story a slightly more conversational feel, like someone relaying an old tale. This helped counteract some of the negatives of the archaic style and made the text more distinctive.
However the biggest flaw in The Night Land is simply that characterisation is paper-thin and human interactions unconvincing.There is a romance at the core of the story that, despite intentions, comes across less as star-crossed lovers reunited across huge bounds of time so much as two people falling in love for no clear reason. Both parties appear to have rather different personalities at the start of the story than in the latter half, without any clear reason for these developments and the main character appears overly possessive rather than chivalric (as is likely intended). There are certainly portions, and I am thinking of one in particular, that come across as shockingly misogynistic even by the standards of the time.
Overall I consider The Night Land wasted potential. It's truly original, its setting is spectacular and some of its dramatic moments really do shine but it's largely a fairly difficult and unrewarding read. There are reportedly stories written later by different authors set in the Night Land, which may allow the setting to be used to fuller potential, and I look forward to reading those as this wonderful setting seems wasted on its trite story.
The Night Land contains some incredibly original and evocative world-building, in a manner which you would be unlikely to ever see in a modern novel, learning about this dark and hostile land never ceases to be fascinating with wonderful set-pieces showing us both its danger and beauty. However even its fans would acknowledge there are severe flaws in this book.
Firstly it's near universally acknowledged that the text is very repetitive - with much of it concerning the minutae of the main character's routine walking through the wilderness. While I do think this is useful, demonstrating how his journey is a mix of drudgery mixed in with flashes of peril or wonder, I also think it could have been toned down substantially without detracting from this. Particularly on the return journey the book can be a real slog between its set-pieces.
Secondly the story is written in a faux-archaic style which is grating. I can speculate on what this was meant to achieve but overall its effects on the prose are almost wholly negative, making sentences overly stodgy and, with pre-modern capitalisation conventions (capitalising first letters for emphasis) mildly irritating and distracting. The sole advantage to this style of writing is that the narrator is able to directly address the reader in the manner of an early novel without seeming unnatural, which did add some levity to the overly-heavy prose.
There are other affectations in the writing style that, in my view, are rather more effective. Direct dialogue is eschewed, with speech being relayed indirectly, and there's a strong reluctance to name characters - only three characters are named in the whole story. I found these choices helped give the story a slightly more conversational feel, like someone relaying an old tale. This helped counteract some of the negatives of the archaic style and made the text more distinctive.
However the biggest flaw in The Night Land is simply that characterisation is paper-thin and human interactions unconvincing.
Overall I consider The Night Land wasted potential. It's truly original, its setting is spectacular and some of its dramatic moments really do shine but it's largely a fairly difficult and unrewarding read. There are reportedly stories written later by different authors set in the Night Land, which may allow the setting to be used to fuller potential, and I look forward to reading those as this wonderful setting seems wasted on its trite story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse
Moderate: Misogyny and Violence
Minor: Incest
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