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somewheregirl7 's review for:
Keturah and Lord Death
by Martine Leavitt
This book has a fairy-tale feel to it, other-worldy and hard to hold on to. It keeps slipping away from me and haunting me at the same time. There are many classic story archetypes woven throughout the narrative but it reminded me most closely of Scheherazade and the Greek myth of Persephone.
I fell in love with the main character Keturah and her voice which is dreamy and soft. The story is told in first person and all from her perspective. The other characters are not as strong but the love story is enough to keep me entranced. I really enjoyed this quick book and couldn't put it down. There was just one thing that I didn't like - but it's a spoiler so I'll drop it below a big huge warning.
SPOILERS BELOW
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HERE BE SPOILERS
While I loved this book one aspect also really nagged at me and ruined my enjoyment at the end. Based on the prologue and coda the entire narrative is only a story that Keturah is telling beside the fire and therefor never happened. Now, considering this is fiction I know that seems ridiculous to be upset about but when I read a book I suspend disbelief and become a part of the book and the story. That world and its characters are real - it's part the agreement between the story-teller and the reader. Leavitt breaks that promise.
It's not as jarring and awful as the hackneyed ending where the protagonist wakes up only to discover the entire preceding story was a dream ... but this is close. It was all just a fire lit tale and I wanted it to be more. I wanted to know that Keturah fell in love and that Death was rescued from loneliness.
It diminishes the overall book to discover in the end that it's just a story told by the main character using the names of the people in her village and herself as a protagonist. If the prologue and coda were excised from the story it would work just as well and I'd have given it five stars.
Despite that disappointment, I still really liked the book and will add it to my bookshelf permanently.
I fell in love with the main character Keturah and her voice which is dreamy and soft. The story is told in first person and all from her perspective. The other characters are not as strong but the love story is enough to keep me entranced. I really enjoyed this quick book and couldn't put it down. There was just one thing that I didn't like - but it's a spoiler so I'll drop it below a big huge warning.
SPOILERS BELOW
.
.
.
.
.
.
HERE BE SPOILERS
While I loved this book one aspect also really nagged at me and ruined my enjoyment at the end. Based on the prologue and coda the entire narrative is only a story that Keturah is telling beside the fire and therefor never happened. Now, considering this is fiction I know that seems ridiculous to be upset about but when I read a book I suspend disbelief and become a part of the book and the story. That world and its characters are real - it's part the agreement between the story-teller and the reader. Leavitt breaks that promise.
It's not as jarring and awful as the hackneyed ending where the protagonist wakes up only to discover the entire preceding story was a dream ... but this is close. It was all just a fire lit tale and I wanted it to be more. I wanted to know that Keturah fell in love and that Death was rescued from loneliness.
It diminishes the overall book to discover in the end that it's just a story told by the main character using the names of the people in her village and herself as a protagonist. If the prologue and coda were excised from the story it would work just as well and I'd have given it five stars.
Despite that disappointment, I still really liked the book and will add it to my bookshelf permanently.