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A review by kmccubbin
A Princess of Roumania by Paul Park
4.0
Paul Park is one of those writers that you didn't realize you had been looking for until you find him.
Much is made of the autobiographical accents of these books, but what I find most fascinating is his turning of the standard "hero's journey" narrative on its head. To give too much away is to deny some of the vertiginous joy of the narrative, so I won't say much other than, what happens when your hero refuses to play by the rules of the formal narrative construct you've put her in?
Make no mistake, this is no simple metafictional trickery. Miranda is a deeply compassionate character in a morally difficult situation and she makes choices that shocked and delighted me.
I look forward to the next two books in the series.
P.S. I am curious about Park's relationship to World War I in this book. It pops up in name in one of the more shocking reveals in this book, but it also seems to be a sort of constant model for Roumanian/German conflict throughout. Germany seems to be waiting for that one spark, which misfires a few times. Fascinating.
Much is made of the autobiographical accents of these books, but what I find most fascinating is his turning of the standard "hero's journey" narrative on its head. To give too much away is to deny some of the vertiginous joy of the narrative, so I won't say much other than, what happens when your hero refuses to play by the rules of the formal narrative construct you've put her in?
Make no mistake, this is no simple metafictional trickery. Miranda is a deeply compassionate character in a morally difficult situation and she makes choices that shocked and delighted me.
I look forward to the next two books in the series.
P.S. I am curious about Park's relationship to World War I in this book. It pops up in name in one of the more shocking reveals in this book, but it also seems to be a sort of constant model for Roumanian/German conflict throughout. Germany seems to be waiting for that one spark, which misfires a few times. Fascinating.