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micaelabrody 's review for:
The Familiar
by Leigh Bardugo
LADINO!!!!!!! sure there are some flaws here, which i’ll get out of the way: it was confusing how jewish luzia was and how aware of her aunt’s religion she was; the R-rated stuff felt a little forced, like you could tell bardugo wasn’t quite comfortable with using the words cock or cunt etc so casually; this follows some of bardugo’s favorite tropes in a fairly obvious way (she loves an antagonistic teacher-to-lover story); the romance doesn't quite land. okay anyway! LADINO!!!!!! i had a great time reading this, both as a piece of jewish lit and a historical fantasy in general. i always love the theme of language as identity and bardugo has already proven she’s good at this (especially in ninth house, also ladino). i suppose i might find some more problems as i get some distance but: she drew up some interesting characters very well, had a few good twists, and built some solid magic around a jewish creole. i mean genuinely if i’m going to read true fantasy, which i don’t do that often, it really should all be like this. 3.75
immediate edit: looking through other gr reviews i don't really disagree with the criticisms i'm seeing. jokes aside, i truly don't know how much of my enjoyment was actually because this features ladino so heavily which is personally meaningful (probably a lot! like i'm sure if this was a similar book but in the pale where yiddish curses were the magic i'd rate this a 20/5). perhaps that's why some of these things didn't really bother me - yes, luzia is a stock character, yes bardugo is probably capable of more. you can tell this is her trying to break out of a specific mold she usually finds herself in, which tbh i applaud. but seeing this as a jewish fantasy as opposed to a historical fantasy really gives it more depth and i think it's a valid lens (the significance of language really felt like the focus to me even over the romance or the trials, etc.) even if i didn't realize i was reading it that way.
anyway i'm now aware this edit is as long as the original review but then again, i can't ever shut up
immediate edit: looking through other gr reviews i don't really disagree with the criticisms i'm seeing. jokes aside, i truly don't know how much of my enjoyment was actually because this features ladino so heavily which is personally meaningful (probably a lot! like i'm sure if this was a similar book but in the pale where yiddish curses were the magic i'd rate this a 20/5). perhaps that's why some of these things didn't really bother me - yes, luzia is a stock character, yes bardugo is probably capable of more. you can tell this is her trying to break out of a specific mold she usually finds herself in, which tbh i applaud. but seeing this as a jewish fantasy as opposed to a historical fantasy really gives it more depth and i think it's a valid lens (the significance of language really felt like the focus to me even over the romance or the trials, etc.) even if i didn't realize i was reading it that way.
anyway i'm now aware this edit is as long as the original review but then again, i can't ever shut up