The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd 4,25/5 Awards: Florida Book Award for General Fiction – Gold (2014), Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Historical Fiction (2014), Oprah’s Book Club 2.0 Selection (January 2014) Français: L’invention des ailes *Thank you to CI for the insanely useful feedback. Check out her blog: http://deraiheji.com Summary Hetty “Handful” Grimké, an urban slave in early nineteenth century Charleston, yearns for life beyond the suffocating walls that enclose her within the wealthy Grimké household. The Grimké’s daughter, Sarah, has known from an early age she is meant to do something large in the world, but she is hemmed in by the limits imposed on women. Kidd’s sweeping novel is set in motion on Sarah’s eleventh birthday, when she is given ownership of ten-year old Handful, who is to be her handmaid. We follow their remarkable journeys over the next thirty-five years, as both strive for a life of their own, dramatically shaping each other’s destinies and forming a complex relationship marked by guilt, defiance, estrangement and the uneasy ways of love. As the stories build to a riveting climax, Handful will endure loss and sorrow, finding courage and a sense of self in the process. Sarah will experience crushed hopes, betrayal, unrequited love, and ostracism before leaving Charleston to find her place alongside her fearless younger sister, Angelina, as one of the early pioneers in the abolition and women’s rights movements. Inspired by the historical figure of Sarah Grimké, Kidd goes beyond the record to flesh out the rich interior lives of all of her characters, both real and invented, including Handful’s cunning mother, Charlotte, who courts danger in her search for something better. My thoughts After my disastrous experience with Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future last week, I was still looking to quench my thirst for a good “social justice warrior” novel. Fortunately for me, The Invention of Wings had been sitting on my to-be-read shelf for about a year after I picked it up at a “take one, leave one” stand in Toronto. I had vaguely heard about The Invention of Wings and I knew it was about slavery in pre-Civil War America. While this is one of literature’s favorite settings, it is an era that is rarely found on my shelves. However, after watching “Dear White People” on Netflix and seeing a drastic increase in the news media of stories about racism in the United States particularly, I realized how shameful it was that I did not know more about such an important part of American History, debatably even World History. Shows like “Dear White People” and “Black-ish” base themselves in factful evidence and real-life experiences of Black people and have motivated movements like Black Lives Matter. I wanted to learn what lead to these movements, where do they come from, who started them and what makes them so necessary to society. To me, The Invention of Wings stands in the same category as To Kill a Mockingbird. It is about slavery and the abolitionist movement, but it is also about resilience, courage and determination. The novel follows two protagonists, Sarah, an abolitionist from the upper-class, and her slave, Hetty “Handful”. The chapters alternate between the two points of view beautifully, and each have their own distinct voices. There was never confusion in guessing whose chapter is was, even when both girls were living under the same roof. Sarah Gimké and her sister Angelina were real historical figures as Kidd explains in her extensive Author’s Note. I feel like this sense of reality transgressed into Kidd’s writing and made Sarah’s chapters more compelling. Obviously, this is an entirely subjective preference influenced by my own path. Both characters felt complete and incredibly human. Handful’s chapters were sometimes so graphic of the horrors of slave treatment that I could simply not wrap my mind that these atrocities truly happened. As I read her words about the Guard House, a place where “disobedient” slaves would go to suffer punishment if they were caught by the police, a temporary work camp of sort if you will, deeply shocked me. I was ashamed that I did not know about this which made Handful’s chapter simultaneously instructive and horrific. While Sarah and Handful drive the story, there is a plethora of secondary characters that come complete it. I absolutely adored Charlotte, Handful’s mother. There are few things that I respect more than when a person fights for their convictions, and Charlotte was the fiercest warrior of them all. While the characters made the story, the plot development and the pacing deserve special mention. Often times in double narration novels, the pacing seems off as if there was either too many things happening at the same time or as if there was one character that did not stand out as much as the other. The pacing of The Invention of Wings was superb. When a significant event happened to a character, there was no competition to see whose story was sadder. Each complimented each other wonderfully and stood out in their own individual way. However, this sort of dual POV is not the most original thing. There was plenty of novels out there that tackle the same issues with that same optic of owner-servant. I would’ve liked a little more innovation. The novel is also exceptionally well researched. It overflows with contextual events and accurate practices that will make shake you to the bottom of your soul. I shall end with the moment that struck the deepest cord with me (no spoilers, I swear!) One day, Sarah finds Handful bathing in her bath. No need to say that this type of behavior is clearly forbidden. Sarah has always preached that slavery was a terrible institution, but, during this small event, she struggles to see her words match her actions. She instantly feels confused as she sees what a world without slavery might look like. I feel like this situation still resonates in today’s context. In a perfect world, we would already all be equal, but for now those of us of uphold these principles to equality and community sometimes struggle to put these actions in practice when the forces working against us are so strong. How do we help our fellow citizens who are discriminated against every day for the color of their skin? How can we prevent them from getting shot by racially-biased police? How do we fix the justice system which incarcerates them for minor offenses? I do not have the answers. At least, after reading The Invention of Wings, I understand a little bit better the past. There is still so much to cover, so many rocks let unturned, but books have always helped us grow our compassion. By understanding and acknowledging past struggles, we can finally start working on long-lasting, empowering and inclusive solutions. If you liked The Invention of Wings, you will love… To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee The Monk of Mokha by Dave Eggers Tolstoy, Rapustin, Others and Me by Teffi
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Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future by A.S. King 2/5 Awards: Andre Norton Award Nominee (2014), NAIBA Book of the Year for Young Adult (2015), Premio El Templo de las Mil Puertas Nominee for Mejor novela extranjera independiente (2016) Français: Aucune traduction française n’a été annoncée. Summary Graduating from high school is a time of limitless possibilities – but not for Glory, who has no plan for what's next. Her mother committed suicide when Glory was only four years old, and she's never stopped wondering if she will eventually go the same way... until a transformative night when she begins to experience an astonishing new power to see a person's infinite past and future. From ancient ancestors to many generations forward, Glory is bombarded with visions – and what she sees ahead of her is terrifying: A tyrannical new leader raises an army. Women's rights disappear. A violent second civil war breaks out. And young girls vanish daily, sold off or interned in camps. Glory makes it her mission to record everything she sees, hoping her notes will somehow make a difference. She may not see a future for herself, but she'll do anything to make sure this one doesn't come to pass. My thoughts Simply put, I hated this book. Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future presents itself as a feminist manifesto, but it is so far from what I believe feminism is that I could not connect to any facets of it. It was published in 2014, but I feel like the movement has already come a long way. Glory, the main protagonist, is by far one of the most self-centred and pretentious characters I've encountered, and I’ve read my fair share of 19th-century literature. She preaches the fact that men and women should be equal which is amazing! Yet, she slut-shames the only person that only ever took care of her, her only friend, for having a relationship with one single guy. She constantly judges her friend for caring about her looks and about boys. Glory thinks she is better than all girls around her because she does not care about relationships or physical appearance. She paints herself as enlightened for not wanting to be feminine. To me, that is not feminism. The movement is about empowering everyone and giving them as many options to live their truth as possible. Do you want to wear makeup? Go for it. You want to date someone older, younger, not the same colour, religion or of the same gender? Go for it. Do you want to buy that perfume because you like how it smells? Go for it. Of course, Glory is right when she criticizes the over-sexualization of women particularly in the media, but she is so wrong into thinking that stereotypically girly behaviour makes you a slave to the system. By shaming her friend for being “girly”, she is furthering the gender divisions by thinking that one way of living is wrong. It is reductive to assume that because some girls fit in a certain archetype that they are not happy or empowered. Wearing dresses or makeup was never something I did because I am female, I did it because I liked how it felt and no one is allowed to question that. No one is allowed to think that I am a lesser feminist for it either. She also has tough words about the process of seduction in general which she sees as diabolical and repressive of women’s rights because we seem to always portray ourselves as temptresses or as innocent little lambs in order to get a man. First, which is more repressive: allowing someone to flirt with whatever method they are most comfortable with, or telling them that they are a “slut” for doing it? Second, believe it or not, not everything we do is about men! Shocker! Who said that if I want to wear a nice dress on a date it means that I am trying to tease a man and not simply feel good in my own skin? Again, her vision of dating is extremely reductive for both girls and boys. Men are not only attracted to our bodies, and girls are not praying for attention. She reduces society to a game of cat and mouse as if no one could build a good, healthy relationship based on mutual self-respect. While there are bad apples everywhere, the world is moving towards gender equality despite what we see in the news media. By no means, is feminism unnecessary. It is and will always be, but I do not want to see a world like Glory imagines where dating is frowned upon or where my “girly-ness” is used as a weapon to undermine my credibility as a woman. Her vision of feminism seems to portray men and society as evil rather than empower women to reach their maximum potential. The nuance is important to me. Let’s try to bring each other up instead of pushing everyone down. Other than her questionable views on feminism, Glory is the definition of an angsty teenager. She is overdramatic about everything. The captions for the pictures she takes throughout the novel made me laugh particularly hard at their ridiculousness. To be fair, she is probably the kind of character that I would’ve LOVED as a 12-year-old when I was in my “everything sucks, and I hate everyone” phase because Glory thinks everything sucks and hates everyone. The difference is that I was 12 back then, and Glory is 17. If you are a fan of John Green or any other author who writes about angsty characters who attempt at having meaningful and profound reflections about life through abstract and cliché metaphors, this is the book for you! Except, John Green is actually a good writer. The only digestible part of the novel was the intrigue with Glory’s mom’s suicide. I did like the message that she was trying to not become her mother, a fear so many kids have after such a tragic event. The depiction of her mother’s mental health was also fairly interesting and different. The rest of the plot, particularly the History of the Future, was a mess that had nothing to do with the rest of the story. She realizes that she can see the future after (get this, this is pure angsty teenage goals) cremating a bat, mixing the ashes with beer and drinking it. She then learns that there will be a second American Civil War in which all the women in New America will be captured to become breeders. I can hear you say “Wait, I thought this was a story about a girl dealing with her mom’s suicide as she graduates high school?!” I am as confused as you are. This book tried to be too many things at the same time: a feminist manifesto, a dystopian novel and a self-discovery piece. I would’ve loved if it had been any of one of the three just not all of them at the same time. It had been a while since there was a rant on this blog, and even then, it wasn’t nearly as aggressive as this one. I hope my misfortune of stumbling upon an awful book while at least have provided you with some entertainment. If you liked Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future, you will love… The Fault in Our Stars by John Green Let’s Get Lost by Adi Alsaid All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven par Philippe Granger *Libellus est fière d’annoncer son premier collaborateur! Philippe Granger sera en charge de la section Music/Musique du blog! Bienvenue à l’équipe. J’ai déjà hâte aux futures escapades musicales. Xx. AU QUÉBEC Premier juin // Lydia Képinski Joignant une lignée s’apparentant fortement à Klô Pelgag et Jean Leloup, mais semblant également emprunter à la « french pop » et à Björk, Lydia Képinski expérimente avec ses talents vocaux à travers un univers musical pop saugrenu dans son EP Premier juin. Ses textes peuvent sembler à première vue simples ou naïfs. Or, les textes poignants de Lydia Képinski sont empreints d’une vulnérabilité sentie et d’une certaine audace qu’il faut souligner. Tout cela est accompagné d’une signature visuelle décalée et remarquée par le jaune qui ne fait que développer davantage l’exubérance de l’univers de Lydia Képinski, qui avance avoir Dédé Fortin, Harmonium et Serge Gainsbourg comme influences. Une année record // Loud Nommé « rappeur québécois que toute la France attendait » par le magazine français Les Inrockuptibles, Loud réussit à faire honneur à la fois à son genre et à sa terre natale. Jouant de manière habile et rythmée avec les mots, il est honorable que Loud soit un des porte-étendards actuels du rap québécois, qui est en phase d’émergence au sein de la culture populaire. Son album Une année record constitue la recette parfaite pour un album rap québécois. Les paroles intelligentes (qui méritent d’être digérées en plus qu’une seule écoute), le momentum actuel autour du rap et du hip hop, le visuel simple mais fort et l’opération « charme & humilité » entourant le marketing sont des éléments (parmi tant d’autres) qui ont permis à Loud d’avoir une ascension aussi remarquable. Darlène // Hubert Lenoir Hubert Lenoir flirte avec le rock indépendant et le jazz, proposant à travers son album Darlène (qu’il précise sur la pochette avoir écrit, composé et interprété), un projet artistique complet, diversifié et très intéressant. Me rappelant parfois Daniel Bélanger, les chansons d’Hubert Lenoir se veulent principalement comme une exploration de la liberté. Autant dans son style musical que dans son style vestimentaire, Hubert Lenoir a su contraster radicalement avec The Seasons (et leur fameux single Apples), duo duquel il était membre auparavant, passant ainsi du sage groupe folk au jazz pop provocateur. DE L’AUTRE CÔTÉ DE L’ATLANTIQUE Mélancolie heureuse // Tim Dup L’album Mélancolie heureuse du français Tim Dup transpire une électro-pop lente mais brutale. Grâce à son rythme et ses textes poétiques, Tim Dup nous convainc qu’il peut s’établir comme un nouvel artiste arrivant à contraster avec Fauve et Cœur de Pirate. Cure // Eddy de Pretto Avec sa voix jeune et forte et son visuel d’enfant de banlieue, Eddy de Pretto dépeint, dans son très attendu Cure, les difficultés d’être un adolescent masculin, d’être de la banlieue, d’être dépendant à la drogue… Le côté cru et simple d’Eddy de Pretto est ce qui constitue le charme de cet artiste prometteur, qui réussit très bien à traduire son épuisement et sa détresse. Angèle N’ayant que deux chansons à son actif, la chanteuse belge Angèle arrive déjà à s’établir au sein du monde pop européen. Déjà reconnue pour son humour, sa couleur et son rythme (trouvés non seulement dans ses chansons et ses clips, mais aussi sur son compte Instagram), Angèle confirme une fois de plus que la chanson populaire en Belgique a quelque chose de fort et d’original, réussissant à dépasser la pop française et l’Europop. À REDÉCOUVRIR La fête est finie // Orelsan Le rappeur français Orelsan revient avec La fête est finie, un album revendicateur empreint de sarcasme et d’humour. Des textes crus viennent compléter le rythme direct du chanteur acclamé, qui a fait appel notamment à Stromae pour préparer son album. À travers son style blasé, Orelsan réussit à traduire la jeunesse française : une jeunesse créatrice et provocatrice, fatiguée des vieilles méthodes. en cas de tempête, ce jardin sera fermé. // Coeur de Pirate en cas de tempête, ce jardin sera fermé. constitue sans contredire une étape importante de la carrière de Cœur de Pirate. Nous sentons dans cet album une Cœur de Pirate qui ressent moins le besoin de se prouver et qui peut laisser pour une fois complètement place à son inspiration. Cœur de Pirate semble y avoir beaucoup de choses à dire et joue avec de nouvelles musicalités, donnant un album fort, bien que peut-être un peu trop répétitif dans le style. Liqueur – Fanny Bloom Avec son album électro-pop Liqueur, Fanny Bloom revient avec des chansons mélodieuses et douces. On y retrouve une Fanny Bloom en plein contrôle de son style, bien qu’il semble peu innover par rapport aux albums précédents. MAIS AUSSI…
Il est à noter que plusieurs artistes francophones ont aussi donné un avant-goût de leurs futurs projets musicaux en dévoilant une ou deux chansons. Par exemple, le duo français The Pirouettes continue sur la lancée de leur album Carrément carrémentavec des jolies chansons d’amour « french pop » comme Baisers volés et Tu peux compter sur moi. Christine and the Queens revient avec Damn, dis-moi (ou Girlfriend en anglais), un opus original et décontracté qui rend honneur à la pop des années 80. Il reste à voir si la formule d’avoir une même chanson en deux langues est vraiment saine et efficace. Avec Les Apparences, Ariane Moffatt nous offre une ballade naïve et légère qui représente pour moi une vague de fraicheur à mon été. Après un moment inhabituel d’absence, Marie-Mai présente Empire, une chanson-retour avec des paroles simples mais une mélodie agréable qui flirte avec la musique de Laurence Nerbonne. The Illuminae Files by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff Overall rating: 4,5/5 More than 17 months after the release of Gemina,Obsidio finally came out. Obsidio was my most anticipated release of the year, and it absolutely delivered. It was the perfect conclusion to the great, and very popular, series: The Illuminae Files by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. If you’ve been in a bookstore in the last three years, you have most certainly noticed it especially if you are a connoisseur of the YA section. It is impossible to miss with its thickness (600+ pages for each novel), the mix of black and white pages, and the colourful sheer dusk jacket. Nothing looks quite like it. Personally, I think it is well worth the 30 CAD$ for the hardcover because the extra money should go to pay the illustrators and graphic designers that worked so hard to make this book beautiful. Obsidio was the perfect conclusion to this series, and you will no doubt see it in my tops of 2018. Like I recently did with The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater, you will notice that this is my general opinion of the series instead of a book by book review. If you are interested in having more in-depth thoughts about each book see the links below! The Illuminae Files #1 Illuminae
The Illuminae Files #2 Gemina (with illustrations by Marie Lu)
The Illuminae Files #3 Obsidio (with illustrations by Marie Lu)
The best part of the whole series is the format. If you were intrigued about the book when you saw it sitting on the shelves, then hopefully your curiosity pushed you to open it up and see that the inside is nothing like you have ever seen before. The story is not narrated through the usually prose, it is told entirely in security camera transcripts, chatroom exchanges, emails, post-it notes… basically any form of communication that we leave unconsciously whether we realize it or not. In some way, it shows that all of us leave a small trace in the universe. Something that can always be traced back to us even when we don’t think we matter at all in the grand scheme of things. The overall concept is that all these little bits of information all constitutes the “Illuminae Files” which are presented as evidence in front of a court for BeiTech’s trial for the invasion of Kerenza IV. Now, you might be worried. If the whole story is told through dialogues with limited space for descriptions, how will you understand what’s happening, how the ships are built, how the world got destroyed… While those concerns are valid, have no fear! You can easily understand what is going on through the discussions, especially through transcripts of video surveillance cameras which essentially read like a normal novel. You get the more poetic aspect unexpectedly through AIDAN, the AI in control of the ship, and through the graphic designs or drawings which tell a lot more about the characters' feelings than words sometimes. I think this format is simply genius. It completely breaks down the barriers of what a novel is: is it just the art of telling a story with words? Does it have a specific structure? It is also much more approachable than a "normal" novel especially if you are trying to get into reading. The photos and funky designs make the reading so entertaining. Even if it seems lengthy at first sight, about a third of the pages are all artsy designs or drawings so there isn’t that much writing even if the book is thick. Since the structure is so strange, you might also wonder how Kaufman and Kristoff managed to fit such an insane plot in not that many letters. At first, I admit, I was confused especially in Gemina. At some point, there are too many ships to remember and what their capacity is, who is on board… However, I am not sure a different structure would've changed much about that. Actually, I think that if I looked more carefully at the illustrations, particularly the battle plans or maps of the interior of the ships, I would've understood everything more clearly. This issue is not really present in Illuminae or Obsidio since the first one is not as complex and the third is a flawless piece of art. The plot does evolve nicely with many twists and turns that will shock you. I did not predict any of it. I also loved how Kristoff and Kaufman don’t sugar-coat war at all. Particularly in Obisdio, we see mass murders and plans for genocide. There are deaths by the thousands. It truly feels as if they are fighting a real war where the villains are inside and outside or worse, undiscovered (arguably, I don’t know anything about real war, but that’s what I imagine it might feel like). I will say that the authors repeat one small trick at the ending of Illuminae andObsidio, without spoiling, let’s just say that I hate when authors can’t stick with killing off a character and have to bring them back alive. Every novel introduces a different pair of characters who are all (guess?) romantically involved (shock!) So yes, there is romance in The Illuminae Files, but it is not the focus of the story. Every couple gets their moment in the spotlight during “their” novel like Kady and Ezra in Illuminae, and Hannah and Nik in Gemina… so in the next novels, their love story is not nearly as important as the new guys’. It’s just a light sprinkle of romance. As for the characters themselves, I think some improvements could have been made. They are all very well fleshed-out, but the girls blend all together. Kady, Hannah and Asha are strikingly similar. They are all badass girls with a lot of courage and inner strength. They all fight for the same cause, and I struggled to find singular traits for each of them. However, Ella stands apart. She is a genius hacker with so much sass she made me laugh out loud multiple times. For the boys, they are all unique individuals. I appreciated that most of them are in touch with their emotions (or develop the ability to be). They break the stereotypes of the manly man that does not know how to show love, who needs to be strong all the time. They show fear and sadness, and it is truly refreshing and a model to follow for young boys. I could see Kaufman and Kristoff pulling a Tahereh, a Stiefvater or a Lauren Kate and coming out with a new set of three books in a couple years to turn this in a 6+ books series. However, I like the way it ended for now. The Illuminae Files was undoubtedly a risk. There were so many ways that it could’ve backfired, and I am impressed some editors even took the chance on this project. I am so glad they did. I doubt that we will much more novels like these in the future, but I do not mind. Let’s keep pushing authors to come out of their comfort zone and always figure out a way to do more. I applaud the authors for their creativity and their audacity, it was truly a tour de force. |
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