Recent reading

[troisoiseaux]

I submitted the mini-thesis I've been working on for the past eight months, so I can have a little book review, as a treat.

- Cassandra at the Wedding by Dorothy Baker, a 1962 novel about a depressed lesbian grad student who goes home for her twin sister's wedding and is immediately like, I'm Going To Cause Problems On Purpose. The vibe reminded me, to some extent, of Fleabag (season 1)— in the impulsive, emotionally messy protagonist, the relationship between two very different sisters ("the only person I'd run through an airport for is you" would not have felt out of place in this book) and their grief for their mother.

- Persuasion by Jane Austen, which is probably my second-favorite of her novels. (Pride & Prejudice holds the #1 spot by sheer number of times I've read it; I also have a soft spot for Northanger Abbey.) This is surprising, in a way, because one of the reasons I bounced so hard off of Mansfield Park is that everyone is just so mean to Fanny all of the time and while Anne Elliot doesn't have it quite as bad, she has a lot to put up with and does so with a frankly bewildering amount of grace and patience. On the other hand, Wentworth is definitely the best Austen hero, and rivals to lovers is great and all, but lovers to strangers to "awkwardly in each other's orbit again" to lovers is so good. On this re-read, I found myself more aware of the novel's... class consciousness, I guess??

- Rose in Bloom by Louisa May Alcott, the sequel to Eight Cousins, which like Jo's Boys I found more interesting as a window into historical attitudes (or at least, Alcott's Opinions) than as a story in itself. I found it super weird that both of Rose's love interests are her cousins, but the past is a different country, I guess. The romance between Phebe - the Becky to Rose's Sara Crewe - and Rose's cousin Archie felt a bit like a genderbent version of the Nat and Daisy storyline in Jo's Boys. In both cases, a foundling with musical talent has to prove they can make a career out of it in order to marry into their love interest's respectable family, although unlike Nat, Phebe is unwaveringly good during her year away— which feels partially like a gender thing, and partially like everyone in this book is either unwaveringly good or dies tragically young as a direct result of their flaws.

- Enemy of All Mankind: A True Story of Piracy, Power, and History's First Global Manhunt by Steven Johnson, which is about 17th century pirate Henry Every's attack on an Indian treasure ship (which was also, incredibly unfortunately, carrying many women from the Mughal court on a pilgrimage to Mecca) and the global repercussions thereof, but takes a "butterfly flaps its wings in Brazil" approach to getting there— the first three chapters jump from mid-17th century Devonshire and Every's most probable backstory, to a 1179 BCE naval battle in the Nile Delta with history's first recorded pirates, to the 7th century introduction of Islam in India. I really liked this approach, and the book overall, but Johnson kind of buried the lede on how the crime itself proved to be a linchpin in the history of British-Indian relations?? There was a hot minute (read: several months) where it looked like the Mughal Empire might kick the East India Company out of the country entirely, but the EIC ultimately ended up digging in deeper by offering their services as, basically, private defense contractors to protect the emperor's treasure ships.

Comments

[regshoe]

'This is more interesting for the historical attitudes/culture/setting than as a story' is a reaction I have fairly often to old books—it's part of what makes them so much fun, I think :D

I agree that Wentworth is an excellent hero, and I have a lot of admiration for Anne's patience—I suppose, although I do like Mansfield Park a lot, it's a fairly important difference that Anne gets a much more satisfying happy ending. Hmm, I should re-read Persuasion sometime...

[troisoiseaux]

I have a lot of admiration for Anne's patience

Part of the reason I re-read Persuasion was that my friend forwarded me a What Jane Austen Character Are You? uquiz and I got Anne. I absolutely lack her patience, though— just reading about her sister Mary (let alone the rest of her family) drove me nuts.

I wrote about Mansfield Park when I read it last year; the tl;dr is that I can appreciate it more in retrospect than while I was reading it. I think part of the problem (?) with Mansfield Park is that it has the most convincing Bad Love Interest (at least for a while, between Henry being like "...huh, I actually like her?" and then very dramatically taking himself out of the picture, so— not that convincing, I guess) and the least convincing Good Love Interest (I wanted to drown Edmund in a bucket).

[lunabee34]

I wanted to drown Edmund in a bucket

Who doesn't? LOL

[chocolatepot]

Hahaha, I totally agree about MP. Someday I will write my canon-divergent AU ...

[troisoiseaux]

Ooh, canon-divergent in what way? Fanny/Henry rather than Fanny/Edmund, or Fanny/none of the above?

[regshoe]

I was never very convinced by Henry, which I think is a large part of the reason I like the book so much—but I also wasn't very convinced by Edmund, so. (I just really like Fanny!)

[troisoiseaux]

Maybe "convincing" isn't the right word, for Henry— I just remember being like, where is she going with this?? when Henry seemed to genuinely develop feelings for Fanny even though he started out trying to get her to fall for him, for a laugh— I feel like, in a modern romance novel, they absolutely would have ended up together as a result?

[lunabee34]

Congratulations on finishing your mini-thesis! What was the subject (if you don't mind saying? if you do, carry on!)?

[troisoiseaux]

Thank you! The very short version is that it was about the judiciary's role in enforcing the U.S.'s ban on imports made with forced labor.

[lunabee34]

That sounds so interesting! I'm guessing this is part one of a larger work on the same topic?

[troisoiseaux]

No, it's a one-and-done situation! (Unless I'm selected for publication and then I have to make edits/rewrites/etc.) Calling it a "mini-thesis" was probably slightly misleading— it's not a thesis in the traditional graduate degree sense; it's more like the law school version of an undergraduate honors thesis.

[lunabee34]

Ah, gotcha.

Law school has always sounded so terribly stressful to me. I don't think my nerves could have handled it. LOL

What sort of law are you intending to practice?

[osprey_archer]

For years and years, someone requested "Please make Mac not Rose's cousin" fic for Yuletide, which they finally got. I personally am not bothered by the cousincestness of it all (look, that's just the price of admission in the 19th century, the merest tip of an iceberg of WTF) but nonetheless it was nice that their persistence finally paid off.

[troisoiseaux]

I'm not bothered by 19th century cousincest per se (e.g., I didn't blink at Nikolai/Sonia in War and Peace, although let's be real, the fact that they were cousins were the least of their problems) but something about that aspect of Eight Cousins/Rose in Bloom did weird me out. Maybe it's the fact that... there is one scene in the entire book (as far as I can remember) where Rose talks to a guy she's not related to? (I know there are references to various non-cousin guys falling over themselves to propose to her, but it was all very Tell Not Show.) Like, the inevitability? Just... feels weird.

I was on team Rose/Phebe, personally, but Mac is sweet. I'm not sure how well the comparison holds up, but at least early in the book, I was getting some "young Bhaer" vibes...? (Amusingly, since he was referred to more than once as a "young bear.")

ETA: Honestly, the couple I was the most interested in Annabelle/Fun See.

[osprey_archer]

I've never gotten over the fact that Nikolai married someone else and then Sonia ends up living with the two of them in their house. Just! The discord of this arrangement! The undertones of seething resentment liable to pervade the home!

Maybe Alcott got tired of making up new characters for Rose in Bloom. She'd already designed a perfectly fine set of characters for Eight Cousins DAMMIT and she wasn't going to be bothered coming up with more.

Alcott books are often surprisingly low on shippable f/f (there are really NO potential f/f pairings for Jo, which seems impossible, given that Jo is Jo, but there it is), but Rose/Phebe is definitely one of the strongest contenders. IIRC they have just gotten back from a European tour at the beginning of Rose in Bloom?

Annabelle/Fun See is forever fascinating. What was their courtship like? What is their marriage like? We want more deets, Alcott!

[troisoiseaux]

The discord of this arrangement! The undertones of seething resentment liable to pervade the home!

It's such a bad idea!!! (The whole epilogue is... a lot. If I ever end up rereading War and Peace I will probably end up skipping it.) I was also thinking of, like— Nikolai did not strike me as... exceedingly heterosexual? (Oh, Nikolai. War and Peace is surprisingly full of characters I want to lovingly smack upside the head for being as dumb as an orange kitten.)

IIRC they have just gotten back from a European tour at the beginning of Rose in Bloom?

Yes! Now there's a Yuletide prompt. There was also a scene where they reunited after Phebe had gone off on her own for a while that described them as acting like "a pair of lovers." (Yes, yes, I know the 19th century shift in meaning, but— like a pair of lovers.)

What was their courtship like? What is their marriage like? We want more deets, Alcott!

Right???? I was also struck by the fact that no one seemed to disapprove of the fact it was an interracial marriage. (In 1876!)

[osprey_archer]

It's been so long since I've read War & Peace that I no longer remember anything about Nikolai's characterization. I DO remember that I yearned for Maria Bolkonskaya to find love (the novel often mentions how plain she is) and got completely monkey's-pawed when she finds love with Nikolai, thus breaking up Nikolai and Sonia.

I think the most !!!!! use of "lovers" I've ever seen in a nineteenth century novel is Elsie Dinsmore and her (hot, young, as the narrative frequently reminds us) father out for a walk looking "like a pair of lovers," which might be less distressing if everything else about their relationship weren't so !!!!!! already.

I'm so curious whether Fun See/Annabelle is an example of Alcott presenting her progressivism as if everyone already agrees, or if people really would have been mostly okay with a similar marriage provided the groom was as rich as Fun See, who IIRC is a merchant? I really need to reread this book...

[maplemood]

Congrats on your thesis!

From what I remember of Louisa May Alcott (and to be honest I haven't gone back to reread her books in years ), Alcott's Opinions could make a book all by themselves, lol. I especially remember all her thoughts on education and child rearing in (I think??) Jo's Boys. They're very well-meaning but also hilarious.

[troisoiseaux]

Thank you!

And yes, true. The Rose Campbell books (Eight Cousins and Rose in Bloom) are especially thinly-disguised-as-stories vehicles for Alcott's opinions on child-rearing/education/society. Some of which still hold up! Some of which.......... do not.

[chestnut_pod]

Congrats on the min-thesis!

Your book reviews are a treat for me too. I think I must go add the Steven Johnson to the list!

[troisoiseaux]

Your book reviews are a treat for me too.

Aww, thank you! (And yes, I definitely recommend the Steven Johnson book!)