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mediaevalmuse 's review for:
O Caledonia
by Elspeth Barker
I saw this book on a list of "Gothic fiction," but after picking it up, I don't know if I'd describe it that way. Though it does have Gothic elements, this book is (more than anything) a story about a solitary girl, misunderstood and unloved by everyone except the natural world in the wilds of Scotland. So while I went in with certain expectations, I wasn't disappointed by what I found. Barker's lush prose and atmospheric descriptions are so masterfully worked that it's difficult not to admire the craft of this novel, so for those reasons (plus my love for the protagonist), this book gets 4 stars from me.
WRITING: As I mentioned above, Barker's prose is superb. It's lush and lyrical, well-crafted in a way that betrays a love for language, and I didn't find it to be purple or overly dense. Instead, I felt the literary mode was incredibly effective at creating atmosphere; Barker's Scotland is wild and mysterious, and there was a lot about the prose that echoed the mood of the novel as a whole.
PLOT: The plot of this book follows the life of a girl named Janet from birth until her murder at roughly 18 years old. As a result, it reads like a coming-of-age novel, though the ending is bleak and depressing.
To be clear, this novel is not a mystery. Barker is wholly uninterested in the "whodunit" of Janet's murder. Instead, this book is an in-depth exploration of Janet's psyche: her loneliness, her refusal to change in the face of opposition, her love of books and classics, the companionship she finds in animals, her love of the natural world. In that, there's something melancholy yet sympathetic about Janet's story. I felt a kinship towards her, though that may be in part due to my own weird interest in the classics and romantic books. Above all, readers may adore this story for the way Janet struggles against expectations; not only is she a disappointment to her family, but she struggles to make friends and finds no pleasure in the things that signify "adulthood" or even "womanhood."
Still, some readers may struggle with this narrative, as it moves rather slowly and isn't necessarily trying to be an action-driven novel. Personally, I found it advanced at just the right pace, and I adored all the descriptions of the world and of Janet's reactions to it. The only thing I can't quite figure out if I like or not is the ending; though we know from the very first page that Janet will die, the manner of her death feels rather abrupt, and I neither felt hollow nor satisfied by it.
CHARACTERS: Janet, our protagonist, is rather easy to like because she is rendered so complexly. From the narration, we get a very clear view of Janet's personality, her interests, her shortcomings - everything we would possibly need to know. This in-depth look at a single character was satisfying, and I liked watching how Janet changed (or stayed the same) through different phases of her life.
Supporting characters were similarly complex and oftentimes eccentric. I particularly liked Lila, Janet's father's cousin, who lives in a room alone with her cat and a collection of fungi. Lila and Janet have a bond that stems from the two of them being outcasts, and I liked watching the two interact. Janet's parents seem rather ordinary, but through Janet's eyes, they are cold and unsupportive of their daughter in all the ways that matter.
TL;DR: O Caledonia is a masterful coming-of-age novel, filled with evocative prose that details one girl's short life as a social outcast who finds solace in books and nature.
WRITING: As I mentioned above, Barker's prose is superb. It's lush and lyrical, well-crafted in a way that betrays a love for language, and I didn't find it to be purple or overly dense. Instead, I felt the literary mode was incredibly effective at creating atmosphere; Barker's Scotland is wild and mysterious, and there was a lot about the prose that echoed the mood of the novel as a whole.
PLOT: The plot of this book follows the life of a girl named Janet from birth until her murder at roughly 18 years old. As a result, it reads like a coming-of-age novel, though the ending is bleak and depressing.
To be clear, this novel is not a mystery. Barker is wholly uninterested in the "whodunit" of Janet's murder. Instead, this book is an in-depth exploration of Janet's psyche: her loneliness, her refusal to change in the face of opposition, her love of books and classics, the companionship she finds in animals, her love of the natural world. In that, there's something melancholy yet sympathetic about Janet's story. I felt a kinship towards her, though that may be in part due to my own weird interest in the classics and romantic books. Above all, readers may adore this story for the way Janet struggles against expectations; not only is she a disappointment to her family, but she struggles to make friends and finds no pleasure in the things that signify "adulthood" or even "womanhood."
Still, some readers may struggle with this narrative, as it moves rather slowly and isn't necessarily trying to be an action-driven novel. Personally, I found it advanced at just the right pace, and I adored all the descriptions of the world and of Janet's reactions to it. The only thing I can't quite figure out if I like or not is the ending; though we know from the very first page that Janet will die, the manner of her death feels rather abrupt, and I neither felt hollow nor satisfied by it.
CHARACTERS: Janet, our protagonist, is rather easy to like because she is rendered so complexly. From the narration, we get a very clear view of Janet's personality, her interests, her shortcomings - everything we would possibly need to know. This in-depth look at a single character was satisfying, and I liked watching how Janet changed (or stayed the same) through different phases of her life.
Supporting characters were similarly complex and oftentimes eccentric. I particularly liked Lila, Janet's father's cousin, who lives in a room alone with her cat and a collection of fungi. Lila and Janet have a bond that stems from the two of them being outcasts, and I liked watching the two interact. Janet's parents seem rather ordinary, but through Janet's eyes, they are cold and unsupportive of their daughter in all the ways that matter.
TL;DR: O Caledonia is a masterful coming-of-age novel, filled with evocative prose that details one girl's short life as a social outcast who finds solace in books and nature.