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A review by stefhyena
Burning Bright by Tracy Chevalier
5.0
This book won me over. I felt like objecting to the essentialist way (hetero) sexuality of teenagers was portrayed early on as well as what appeared to me to be an idealisation of the circus and of poor working class lives, however the book managed to start there at the "common sense" level and delve deeper on all of those issues.
I hope this is not a spoiler but one of the things I loved was the way it was peppered with fallen women and even a murderess. All the females were outwardly innocent little girls but really managed to survive horrendous things and retain their agency. There's a long drawn out scene where a young girl loses her "virginity" and normally that sort of thing would have me throw a book across a room but it's complex enough in this book and neither glamorised not is she turned into a victim or not completely. I've never been a fan of Blake (the poet) but this book made me reconsider him without fully being a convert to his ideas. It seemed well researched from a historical perspective too but the complexity was the best things. This is not poverty porn about everybody loves each other and all works out in the end, it has really awful hardship and uncertainty and a lot of conflict even among the likeable characters (which not all of them are). What has stayed with me is an image of two pregnant girls giggling together, I thought that was beautiful, balancing the reality (that they were "ruined" according to the standards of the day) and hope grounded in connection.
I also warmed to the romance I initially didn't want to see and felt frustrated at how hard it was for the two to continue it.
Characters are complex, moral ambiguity abounds, there is grit and mustard dust, and illness from pollution and STIs but somehow this book comes through wholesome and humanising. Also I learned something about buttons and chairs that I found interesting!
I hope this is not a spoiler but one of the things I loved was the way it was peppered with fallen women and even a murderess. All the females were outwardly innocent little girls but really managed to survive horrendous things and retain their agency. There's a long drawn out scene where a young girl loses her "virginity" and normally that sort of thing would have me throw a book across a room but it's complex enough in this book and neither glamorised not is she turned into a victim or not completely. I've never been a fan of Blake (the poet) but this book made me reconsider him without fully being a convert to his ideas. It seemed well researched from a historical perspective too but the complexity was the best things. This is not poverty porn about everybody loves each other and all works out in the end, it has really awful hardship and uncertainty and a lot of conflict even among the likeable characters (which not all of them are). What has stayed with me is an image of two pregnant girls giggling together, I thought that was beautiful, balancing the reality (that they were "ruined" according to the standards of the day) and hope grounded in connection.
I also warmed to the romance I initially didn't want to see and felt frustrated at how hard it was for the two to continue it.
Characters are complex, moral ambiguity abounds, there is grit and mustard dust, and illness from pollution and STIs but somehow this book comes through wholesome and humanising. Also I learned something about buttons and chairs that I found interesting!