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kandiken 's review for:
The Bear and the Nightingale
by Katherine Arden
This was one of those interesting, then uncomfortably unenjoyable, then reflectively and theoretically appreciated in retrospect books for me. It gets too creepy for me in the last 2 hour mark and I was slowed in finishing because I could only read it in the day. I was annoyed that it came across as a book about veiled evil with no redeeming qualities. Nonetheless, when it was all read and done (pun intended) I gave it three stars for the interweaving of history and Russian folklore, because -truth be told-the writing was decent, storytelling compelling, and a more clear theme of a cultural interpretation of good vs. evil emerged towards the end. I inherently dislike any kind of media or entertainment that tries to subversively and manipulatively persuade me to champion what is good over what is bad. Initially it seemed gratuitously creepy with the good looking bad and ignorant and the bad looking good and heroic. However, as I continued reading I accepted the fact that this was based on and stayed pretty true to Russian folklore and wasn’t trying to sell or promote a specific philosophy (a la His Dark Materials which I wrestle with because they’re so well written and intriguing) so much as portraying the one possessed by a group of people at a certain place in time. There was reason within their collective cultural experiences that their hopes had the majority of the people considering and participating in bad practices as good and viewing good practices as bad and ignorant. This was teased out even more in seeing those traditionally championed revealed to be influenced by evil and those attacked and ostracized as wicked actually being the heroes. Indeed, I feel there are deeper elements and whispers of the truths I believe and hold reflected even in that dark and distorted experience of reality. So, I appreciate being exposed to and stepping into a story that has been retold with such dark subject matter because this enlightened me to how the hopes, dreams, and fears of that group of people (both in the story and culture through folklore) were shaped to better understand them now and contrast and even compare their beliefs to my own. I love a book that causes me to think more deeply and to see beyond the surface of what’s on the pages and this book did just that even having me delve further into Russian folklore and the history and current day experiences of the Tatars. Unfortunately, I don’t personally like anything that gets so spooky or creepy that I can only read/watch in the day so.....there’s that.