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A review by brookhorse
Chime by Franny Billingsley
4.0
I truly adore Franny Billingsley's style. Lyrical, strange, a little surreal--metaphors that don't quite make sense, but bring wonderful images to your head. It's gorgeous. I actually had no difficulty comprehending it--the only time I tripped up was when I, in my trying-to-anticipate-everything ways, went, "Aha! This must be a dream sequence!" when in fact, it was not a dream sequence.
I loved how the story unfolded, and I truly enjoyed the dynamics of the characters. I also highly appreciated the presence of disabled characters, who are often absent from fantasy. That said, I'm not quite sure how I feel about the handling of Rose--while there was no specific condition named, it was pretty clear that Billingsley was pushing very hard for "autistic." And I think she pushed a little too hard, because it came across as pretty stereotypical--more like someone went down a list of autism symptoms and threw them down on the page than really spent time understanding it.
I also didn't appreciate the "woe is me, it sucks to be a caregiver, disabled people are awful for existing" undertones throughout most of the story. Now, some of that was alleviated by the reveal towards the end, and the understanding that Briony is not a reliable narrator. But I feel like that should have been explored more in the end to better clarify where those feelings came from. Still, it was an enjoyable and beautiful novel, and I'm excited to read more of Billingsley's work.
I loved how the story unfolded, and I truly enjoyed the dynamics of the characters. I also highly appreciated the presence of disabled characters, who are often absent from fantasy. That said, I'm not quite sure how I feel about the handling of Rose--while there was no specific condition named, it was pretty clear that Billingsley was pushing very hard for "autistic." And I think she pushed a little too hard, because it came across as pretty stereotypical--more like someone went down a list of autism symptoms and threw them down on the page than really spent time understanding it.
I also didn't appreciate the "woe is me, it sucks to be a caregiver, disabled people are awful for existing" undertones throughout most of the story. Now, some of that was alleviated by the reveal towards the end, and the understanding that Briony is not a reliable narrator. But I feel like that should have been explored more in the end to better clarify where those feelings came from. Still, it was an enjoyable and beautiful novel, and I'm excited to read more of Billingsley's work.