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A review by bookphile
The Kingdom of Back by Marie Lu
4.0
This book... made me incredibly sad.
I can't be certain I knew of Nannerl, Mozart's sister, perhaps I had a vague idea of her? Heard of her in the passing, but I certainly didn't actively connect her to an extraordinary musical genius of her time on par with her brother who the world had forgotten.
It hurt that Nannerl, like so many women in history, was relegated to a secondary position and constantly made to feel like she is not as important as Wolfgang. Even though she took part not only in taking care of him since she was six years old and was practically his nanny, but also his musical education. The book also supposes that Nannerl was responsible for writing Wolfgang's early works and that their father passed her compositions as his, and that later she helped him compose his other works. Which unfortunately cannot be proven and historically speaking, if Nannerl actually wrote anything, none of it survived (at least under her own name). But that is so easy to believe, because how often - historically speaking - did fathers, brothers, and husbands steal the work that women did or had their women do the work and then passed it off as theirs. Fitzgerald stole Ella's work, Tolstoy wouldn't even be published if his wife didn't edit and publish his work, and how many others? Countless! Countless!!!
And then I made the mistake of looking up Maria Anna Mozart to see what I can glean of the real her and her wikipedia article was woefully short and it made me cry. Because in the book, at least, Nannerl's attempts to fight against her fate or being relegated to her shadows, she tries to stand up to her father, seek some happiness, decide her own path. And then I read "Marianne remained entirely subordinate to her father [even after marriage]" and I cried.
The book does attempt to give some meaning to her life, to help her make her own choices within this alternate universe, and it even attempts to give her a happy ending. Which honestly I appreciated, even though reading that wikipedia article gave me a sad reality check. But at least I knew that she lived a long life.
The book is rather slow paced and I can't say I enjoyed the fantasy aspects of it very much, but I appreciated them for what they were.
Overall, the book is very unique and interesting, but not Lu's best.
I can't be certain I knew of Nannerl, Mozart's sister, perhaps I had a vague idea of her? Heard of her in the passing, but I certainly didn't actively connect her to an extraordinary musical genius of her time on par with her brother who the world had forgotten.
It hurt that Nannerl, like so many women in history, was relegated to a secondary position and constantly made to feel like she is not as important as Wolfgang. Even though she took part not only in taking care of him since she was six years old and was practically his nanny, but also his musical education. The book also supposes that Nannerl was responsible for writing Wolfgang's early works and that their father passed her compositions as his, and that later she helped him compose his other works. Which unfortunately cannot be proven and historically speaking, if Nannerl actually wrote anything, none of it survived (at least under her own name). But that is so easy to believe, because how often - historically speaking - did fathers, brothers, and husbands steal the work that women did or had their women do the work and then passed it off as theirs. Fitzgerald stole Ella's work, Tolstoy wouldn't even be published if his wife didn't edit and publish his work, and how many others? Countless! Countless!!!
And then I made the mistake of looking up Maria Anna Mozart to see what I can glean of the real her and her wikipedia article was woefully short and it made me cry. Because in the book, at least, Nannerl's attempts to fight against her fate or being relegated to her shadows, she tries to stand up to her father, seek some happiness, decide her own path. And then I read "Marianne remained entirely subordinate to her father [even after marriage]" and I cried.
The book does attempt to give some meaning to her life, to help her make her own choices within this alternate universe, and it even attempts to give her a happy ending. Which honestly I appreciated, even though reading that wikipedia article gave me a sad reality check. But at least I knew that she lived a long life.
The book is rather slow paced and I can't say I enjoyed the fantasy aspects of it very much, but I appreciated them for what they were.
Overall, the book is very unique and interesting, but not Lu's best.