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marryd 's review for:
When We Were Vikings
by Andrew David MacDonald
Zelda is a young adult who lives with her older brother, Gert. Her other two favourite people are her boyfriend, Marxy, and AK47 (Annie), Gert's boyfriend. Zelda and Gert are orphans from a 'disadvantaged' background. Their father disappeared when Zelda was a baby and their mother drank alcohol when she was pregnant with Zelda, poisoning her and resulting in her being born with Foetal Alcohol Syndrome. While their mother gave up drinking, she later died of cancer leaving them to the definitely un-tender mercies of Uncle Richard, who also drank, physically abused Gert and was grooming Zelda for sexual abuse. Gert dropped out of school and started working in a petrol station to get them out and into their own place of safety.
This is where we find them. Gert has at some stage bought Zelda her favourite book, 'Guide to the Vikings' by Professor Kepple. In all the chaos of life, Zelda manages by following The Rules of the House and understanding situations through the prism of What Would a Viking Hero do? Her therapist (the Wise Man in her legend) gives her an article that shows that previous beliefs about gender roles for Vikings are wrong as a Viking warrior burial of high status turns out to be woman. Zelda sees this as a metaphor for her own life and writes a list to help her become the hero of her own legend.
Almost immediately Zelda finds she has to start acting with courage and ingenuity when she discovers that the hoard (financial resources) of her tribe (Zelda, Gert and AK47) have been raided by the villains. Zelda learns that she needs allies from other tribes to help and that not all plans go the way she expects. She has to face great danger in the real world to become the hero of her own legend. Along the way she finds that she has unexpectedly become the hero of other people's stories as well.
I loved this story. It is at bottom the story of vulnerability being strength in the face of a world that is not safe. Some of us, like Zelda, are born with vulnerabilities that look serious from the outside, and others, like Gert who looks and sounds so badass, develop really serious vulnerabilities in childhood. It's in the stories that we tell ourselves about who we really are that our future is set.
Highly recommended.
This is where we find them. Gert has at some stage bought Zelda her favourite book, 'Guide to the Vikings' by Professor Kepple. In all the chaos of life, Zelda manages by following The Rules of the House and understanding situations through the prism of What Would a Viking Hero do? Her therapist (the Wise Man in her legend) gives her an article that shows that previous beliefs about gender roles for Vikings are wrong as a Viking warrior burial of high status turns out to be woman. Zelda sees this as a metaphor for her own life and writes a list to help her become the hero of her own legend.
Almost immediately Zelda finds she has to start acting with courage and ingenuity when she discovers that the hoard (financial resources) of her tribe (Zelda, Gert and AK47) have been raided by the villains. Zelda learns that she needs allies from other tribes to help and that not all plans go the way she expects. She has to face great danger in the real world to become the hero of her own legend. Along the way she finds that she has unexpectedly become the hero of other people's stories as well.
I loved this story. It is at bottom the story of vulnerability being strength in the face of a world that is not safe. Some of us, like Zelda, are born with vulnerabilities that look serious from the outside, and others, like Gert who looks and sounds so badass, develop really serious vulnerabilities in childhood. It's in the stories that we tell ourselves about who we really are that our future is set.
Highly recommended.