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A review by woahno
Or What You Will by Jo Walton
5.0
About six months ago I read Among Others and positively loved it. At the time I even opined not reading it sooner or trying out some of Jo Walton's other works. I have since purchased a fair amount of Walton's novels. My thinking was that I enjoyed Among Others so much that I needed to support the author more than I usually would. Usually, when I find a five star read I buy a copy of the book and start looking out for new releases. Luckily for me there is a significant back catalog of novels to dive into and in this case, purchase. I then had to decide where to start with this newly acquired stack and I landed on the newest novel. For me, books about books are a favorite and that is what broke the five way tie. It is with that enthusiasm and high bar of investment and expectation that I dove into Or What You Will.
I was in no way prepared, however, for the concept of this work. It is wholly unique to my reading experiences. It is an odd conundrum, I find. The blurb does well explaining it but it is only the tip of the iceberg so to speak. There are stories within stories within stories, there is metacommentary galore, there is blending from classic works, and there are a multitude of perspective changes. It is actually more than that, not only do the point of views change and flow into one another, chapter by chapter, but there are also completely separate narratives. It is complex to say the least and I struggle to adequately describe it. Depending on which chapter you open to in the book you could have a fantasy novel, or a historical text, or perhaps a historical fiction or even a historical fantasy in your hands. There was so much going on that I know that I didn't catch everything. I also know that I was blown away by the concept and was happy to be swept up in the many facets of this story.
As I continue my attempt to put my reading experience of this wonderfully bizarre book into words I have decided to simply insert some quotes from the beginning of the novel here:
I think that this novel will be difficult to recommend to a lot of readers. It is certainly not for everyone. The jumping around and meandering nature of the plot I can see losing a fair amount of people. However, for those readers that love books about books, or stories with heaps of metacommentary, or fans of Shakespeare that always wanted a sequel to Twelfth Night (and The Tempest... and for them to be combined somehow) this book will delight and surprise. Or at least it did for me.
I was in no way prepared, however, for the concept of this work. It is wholly unique to my reading experiences. It is an odd conundrum, I find. The blurb does well explaining it but it is only the tip of the iceberg so to speak. There are stories within stories within stories, there is metacommentary galore, there is blending from classic works, and there are a multitude of perspective changes. It is actually more than that, not only do the point of views change and flow into one another, chapter by chapter, but there are also completely separate narratives. It is complex to say the least and I struggle to adequately describe it. Depending on which chapter you open to in the book you could have a fantasy novel, or a historical text, or perhaps a historical fiction or even a historical fantasy in your hands. There was so much going on that I know that I didn't catch everything. I also know that I was blown away by the concept and was happy to be swept up in the many facets of this story.
As I continue my attempt to put my reading experience of this wonderfully bizarre book into words I have decided to simply insert some quotes from the beginning of the novel here:
"Let me tell you—what, show you, you say? I can’t show you anything. This isn’t a picture book. It’s all telling here. We only have words between us. But let me tell you, so you may, if you choose, weigh the qualities of different silences."
"Trust me now, forget your self-consciousness, the consciousness of your separate solid self that I deliberately aroused, let yourself sink down beneath the warm weight of the story I am telling you. Trust me, it’ll be much more interesting than her story about a dead horse."This quote, told to us by our enigmatic narrator, was a helpful reminder to me to surrender myself to the story. Something I have been working on a lot this year. It reminds me of another quote from C.S. Lewis that I read earlier in 2020.
“The first demand any work of any art makes upon us is surrender. Look. Listen. Receive. Get yourself out of the way. (There is no good asking first whether the work before you deserves such a surrender, for until you have surrendered you cannot possibly find out.)”From these two quotes I think it becomes obvious how Or What You Will was the right fit for me personally. I also think it gives a good, non-spoilery example of what can be expected out of this novel. Being promptly told this in the first 25 pages is exactly what I mean by metacommentary. And it comes in a chapter titled "Direct Address", with a fourth wall break. It is also right after a short diatribe on the use of second person narrative. I was laughing out loud while also being astonished at the ambition and direction of the narrative. It only got better from there.
I think that this novel will be difficult to recommend to a lot of readers. It is certainly not for everyone. The jumping around and meandering nature of the plot I can see losing a fair amount of people. However, for those readers that love books about books, or stories with heaps of metacommentary, or fans of Shakespeare that always wanted a sequel to Twelfth Night (and The Tempest... and for them to be combined somehow) this book will delight and surprise. Or at least it did for me.