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mimie7ea4 's review for:
The Onion Girl
by Charles de Lint
3.5 stars
So good, but so hard to read because of therealistic portrayal of sexual abuse and its longterm effects on an individual's life and the people and systems that fail victims and survivors. This is the real-est magical realism I've ever read, and I'm not sure if that's a compliment or an accusation right at this moment because getting through this book took work. I certainly didn't expect magical realism to be this real. Didn't know that it could get this real.
That aside, my main issue with this book was not knowing where it was going. The writing was at times sharp and hard hitting, but also dreamy and lyrical; other times, it was slow moving and seemed to be going in circles or nowhere. I couldn't figure out where it was leading or what it was setting up for until I was over halfway through. At this point I imagine is where most people would've given up if this book had been their entry point into the Newford series, but since I'm a completionist by nature and this was a buddy read with Beth, I pushed on.
Not sure if I can say that the effort paid off or that the ending is worth the struggle that came before it, but I can confirm that the characters do grow on you and you do end up caring about them before you realize what's happening. I get now what other reviewers mean when they call these books spellbinding--they pull you in bit by bit and you don't realize it until you reach the end.
Objectively speaking, I have immense appreciation for this book and the depth and range of Charles de Lint's writing, and I plan to go back and start the Newford series from the beginning one day. But subjectively? I will probably, most definitely, never read this volume again. Not even to refresh my memory.
Grand Marais, Lake Superior
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Cross-posted at https://covers2covers.wordpress.com/2020/03/23/the-onion-girl-newford-8-by-charles-de-lint/
“There's more to life than just surviving . . . but . . . sometimes just surviving is all you get”
So good, but so hard to read because of the
That aside, my main issue with this book was not knowing where it was going. The writing was at times sharp and hard hitting, but also dreamy and lyrical; other times, it was slow moving and seemed to be going in circles or nowhere. I couldn't figure out where it was leading or what it was setting up for until I was over halfway through. At this point I imagine is where most people would've given up if this book had been their entry point into the Newford series, but since I'm a completionist by nature and this was a buddy read with Beth, I pushed on.
Not sure if I can say that the effort paid off or that the ending is worth the struggle that came before it, but I can confirm that the characters do grow on you and you do end up caring about them before you realize what's happening. I get now what other reviewers mean when they call these books spellbinding--they pull you in bit by bit and you don't realize it until you reach the end.
Objectively speaking, I have immense appreciation for this book and the depth and range of Charles de Lint's writing, and I plan to go back and start the Newford series from the beginning one day. But subjectively? I will probably, most definitely, never read this volume again. Not even to refresh my memory.
“I suppose the other thing too many forget is that we were all stories once, each and every one of us. And we remain stories. But too often we allow those stories to grow banal, or cruel or unconnected to each other. We allow the stories to continue, but they no longer have a heart. They no longer sustain us.”
Grand Marais, Lake Superior
* * * * *
Cross-posted at https://covers2covers.wordpress.com/2020/03/23/the-onion-girl-newford-8-by-charles-de-lint/