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First, this book is really well written. The structure, imagery, dialogue and characters were all adroitly composed. In isolation the book is fine.
Buuuut. I am sorry, but there is a serious bait and switch here. First of all, this isn’t magical realism. If you are looking for that sort of thing it isn’t here. The blurbs lie. This is a nicely done but standard YA coming of age story set in an entirely mundane world, with a fantasy element as there is a portal to another magical dimension. The delineation is clear between the sober and fantastic as characters move through portals. Like Narnia, that’s fantasy, not magical realism.
So, I am a little disappointed that it wasn’t what I wanted. It isn’t author’s fault that the blurbs were so misleading.
The story was mostly predictable, the “solution” was obvious from the get-go, (I literally asked myself out-loud why the protagonist woman didn’t at least threaten it) but it fit nicely into the pace of the structure.
As for allegory, the entire book, felt like a deep examination into all the nuances of “The Male Gaze.” Honesty that should have been the selling point for the book. That said if you aren’t prepared for the book to be entirely about that, it might be overwhelming. There certainly were times where I felt like I didn’t sign up for this.
Anyway it’s fine.
Buuuut. I am sorry, but there is a serious bait and switch here. First of all, this isn’t magical realism. If you are looking for that sort of thing it isn’t here. The blurbs lie. This is a nicely done but standard YA coming of age story set in an entirely mundane world, with a fantasy element as there is a portal to another magical dimension. The delineation is clear between the sober and fantastic as characters move through portals. Like Narnia, that’s fantasy, not magical realism.
So, I am a little disappointed that it wasn’t what I wanted. It isn’t author’s fault that the blurbs were so misleading.
The story was mostly predictable, the “solution” was obvious from the get-go, (I literally asked myself out-loud why the protagonist woman didn’t at least threaten it) but it fit nicely into the pace of the structure.
As for allegory, the entire book, felt like a deep examination into all the nuances of “The Male Gaze.” Honesty that should have been the selling point for the book. That said if you aren’t prepared for the book to be entirely about that, it might be overwhelming. There certainly were times where I felt like I didn’t sign up for this.
Anyway it’s fine.