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A review by jackieeh
Dido and Pa by Joan Aiken
5.0
I first read this book (this entire series) fourteen years ago. Since then, it's been one of my favorite books of all time and Dido Twite one of my favorite characters. Dido and Pa is the Silver Chair of the Wolves Chronicles. It's darker, more complex, and it asks some very good questions. Most importantly:
I can see why Joan Aiken shifted focus to Is for a couple books, and then returned to Dido's earlier adventures. Between the opening and the closing of Dido and Pa, Dido grows up.
What makes her? Dido Twite is my favorite character, and of all the books she appears in this really is Dido at her best, but ultimately Dido and Pa is less about Dido and more about Pa. Abednego Twite is the best villain I have ever encountered in any book, written for children or written for adults. He is the perfect villain because his villainy is commonplace, because he has the capacity for eliciting great sympathy, and because, ultimately, he doesn't care about anyone but himself. He's a brilliant musician, but he is an awful father and an even worse human being. Seeing Dido, someone who literally circumnavigated the globe on the strength of her own heart and smarts, falling back into old patterns with her father is chilling. She has the upper hand now--she's just as likely to whack him upside the head as receive a whack upside the head--but she still seeks his approval and affection. Even when she knows she shouldn't. Her frustration with herself is the truest thing about this book.
I could say so much more; I've been writing this review for the past fourteen years. I haven't even mentioned the glory of Podge. Nonetheless, I'll end with this: Jo March, Anne Shirley, and Dido Twite all turn down proposals from the boys they grew up with, at least initially. Some of the refusals even stick. When I first read Dido and Pa I was ten and in the throes of my first ever fictional character crush. I couldn't believe that Dido would turn down Simon. It was incomprehensible.
It's always worth reading books like this again as an adult. Good job, Dido. No matter how complicated it might make your life, never stop being you.
How can somebody write such music - and act so?
I can see why Joan Aiken shifted focus to Is for a couple books, and then returned to Dido's earlier adventures. Between the opening and the closing of Dido and Pa, Dido grows up.
What makes her? Dido Twite is my favorite character, and of all the books she appears in this really is Dido at her best, but ultimately Dido and Pa is less about Dido and more about Pa. Abednego Twite is the best villain I have ever encountered in any book, written for children or written for adults. He is the perfect villain because his villainy is commonplace, because he has the capacity for eliciting great sympathy, and because, ultimately, he doesn't care about anyone but himself. He's a brilliant musician, but he is an awful father and an even worse human being. Seeing Dido, someone who literally circumnavigated the globe on the strength of her own heart and smarts, falling back into old patterns with her father is chilling. She has the upper hand now--she's just as likely to whack him upside the head as receive a whack upside the head--but she still seeks his approval and affection. Even when she knows she shouldn't. Her frustration with herself is the truest thing about this book.
I could say so much more; I've been writing this review for the past fourteen years. I haven't even mentioned the glory of Podge. Nonetheless, I'll end with this: Jo March, Anne Shirley, and Dido Twite all turn down proposals from the boys they grew up with, at least initially. Some of the refusals even stick. When I first read Dido and Pa I was ten and in the throes of my first ever fictional character crush. I couldn't believe that Dido would turn down Simon. It was incomprehensible.
It's always worth reading books like this again as an adult. Good job, Dido. No matter how complicated it might make your life, never stop being you.