So…I’m going to start off with a little rant before I dive ahead
into another book review. *Clears throat* here goes….
If you don’t read this blog that is ok. Now I know that is a
bit of a funny thing to say as those who are reading these words are, in fact,
reading this blog and so for me to say ‘if you don’t read this blog’ when you are
actually reading this blog is a bit of an oxymoron. Still if you have stumbled
upon this page, accidentally or otherwise, and are wanting to back out now then
go for it. That is ok.
You don’t have to like all (or any) of my blog posts but
please don’t feel you have to come out of your way to tell me that you don’t read my blog.
I say this because this has happened to me twice this week. Twice! Tell me you
do read my blog and that you like it and I will probably love you forever. Tell
me you do read it but that there are things that aren’t your cup of tea or there
are things that you think need changing and I will actually take constructive criticism
on board. I guess I’m just not too sure what the point is of someone actively
bringing it up in conversation that they don’t read my blog.
Um…good for you? Good for me? Good for the entire population
of mankind? Don’t get me wrong I don’t care/ mind if you don’t read it or like
it but I suppose I do mind if people want to make a point that they don’t,
especially as I never asked or bought the damned thing up in conversation in
the first place! I suppose I just get a little fascinated at what is really
shite social intelligence levels.
Oh well Ranty McRantFace over….on the plus side this weekend
has mostly been sponsored by Nutella and someone at work said that they wished
they had my wardrobe. And as this person dresses how I would dress if I
actually put effort into my appearance I was very pleased!
On to the book review!
This book was finished in under a week, not only because it isn’t
a particularly long book but it also happened to be a very good read.
The book is…
The blurb is….
New York, 1895. Sylvan Threadgill, a night soiler cleaning out the privies behind the tenement houses, finds an abandoned newborn baby in the muck. An orphan himself, Sylvan rescues the child, determined to find where she belongs.
Odile Church and her beautiful sister, Belle, were raised amid the applause and magical pageantry of The Church of Marvels, their mother’s spectacular Coney Island sideshow. But the Church has burnt to the ground, their mother dead in its ashes. Now Belle, the family’s star, has vanished into the bowels of Manhattan, leaving Odile alone and desperate to find her.
A young woman named Alphie awakens to find herself trapped across the river in Blackwell’s Lunatic Asylum—sure that her imprisonment is a ruse by her husband’s vile, overbearing mother. On the ward she meets another young woman of ethereal beauty who does not speak, a girl with an extraordinary talent that might save them both.
As these strangers’ lives become increasingly connected, their stories and secrets unfold. Moving from the Coney Island seashore to the tenement-studded streets of the Lower East Side, a spectacular human circus to a brutal, terrifying asylum, Church of Marvels takes readers back to turn-of-the-century New York—a city of hardship and dreams, love and loneliness, hope and danger. In magnetic, luminous prose, Leslie Parry offers a richly atmospheric vision of the past in a narrative of astonishing beauty, full of wondrous enchantments-a marvellous debut that will leave readers breathless.
Much like last week’s book
review (see Gerry Reads and Reviews Badly #2) this book was found in the
Magical Realism genre section and similarly to another book that I have read in
this genre* this features the Coney Island Fire and early 1900’s New York City.
There must be something about this setting that lends itself to slightly dark, slightly
mystical yet slightly optimistic books. Though you may have to dig deep for the
optimism.
The Coney Island Fire involved
the complete destruction of an amusement park, mass loss of jobs, loss of human
life and the death of a number of the park’s animals and the characters are not
part of high society so you get to experience 1900’s New York from those who
had to struggle through it. And struggle our characters do!
We follow three characters from
a third person point of view but we are treated to a prologue and epilogue in a
first person point of view from the fourth character. Though this fourth
character isn’t a main viewpoint character they are still a driving focus of
the book.
With three protagonists to
follow it could be difficult to distribute equal weighting to them however the
writer has done a good job of dividing time between each of them to make sure
that none remain neglected. From my perspective though if you were to choose a
main protagonist it would be Odile. I don’t know if that is accurate or if it
is simply my perception based on preference.
One strand of the story focuses
on Odile and Belle. There is definitely some sister worship from Odile to her
twin sister and though you root for them both it is shown that Belle has ‘flights
of passion’ which quickly translates to ‘temper tantrums’ and so I ended up
liking Odile that bit more. Belle is revered by Odile and a huge driving force
to Odile’s character and motivation is her desperate and unrelenting search for
the missing sister she loves. In Odile’s eyes, Belle is the better sister; the
prettier one, the talented one and also the healthier one. I feel like hugging
the girl because Odile is selling herself short. In no way do you feel like she
is suffering from self-pity. It is merely a fact in her eyes that her sister is
better. In this story though she is the Determinator (see here for
what this means in trope world) and as her story unfolds so does the insight
into her inner strength.
Sylvan’s strand is also very similar,
at the very beginning of the story he has found an abandoned newborn baby
whilst cleaning out a privy and despite all odds being against him (and him pretty
much being told to leave the baby to die) he decides he will stop at nothing to
find out who the baby is and why she was left. Despite an intriguing introduction
I found Sylvan’s story to be the least interesting at first but it becomes apparent
that he is a kind, intelligent and resourceful man who is incredibly low down
in the food chain of society but that he won’t let that stop him from doing the
decent thing.
The final strand is around
Alphie who could have her own story. In fact the only gripe I have is that I wish
hers was wrapped up more. Some of the darkest subject matter occurs in Alphie’s
tale from a history of prostitution, opium dens and some rather horrifying
experiences in a women’s asylum.
At first you just don’t see how
their lives could connect (apart from the sisters obviously) and the stories
just seem to be toddling along in separate lanes with no real urgency until
suddenly it all just sort of clicks. What was a slow burner with separate
journeys goes off the boil very quickly with the characters beginning to weave
together quite intricately. My only gripe would be that some of these
inter-connections could be deemed quite coincidental.
The reason why I can’t say too
much about the content other than the characters is that I don’t want to reveal
the books secrets, and believe me there are secrets. There is a twist halfway
through the story which I really didn’t see coming at all and honestly I would
be surprised if anyone does. On reflection details were constantly revealed
throughout the story but you don’t pick up on these on the first read. It is
only when the twist and some other truths are shown that you have some glorious
‘ah-hah!’ moments and a little lightbulb goes off over your head.
It is very engaging story and
well written, especially for a debut writer. Check out these debut writers! It
is an easy, uncomplicated read with the writing, though not exactly poetry,
offering up some pretty immersive details that can be both beautiful and brutal
depending on the nature of the scene. For example the way Odile speaks of the
Church of Marvels, the circus home that she grew up in, is both heartfelt and
tender whilst Sylvan speaks brutally of bare knuckle fights and survival in a
world which for him is gutters, starvation and disease. The most vicious descriptions
are reserved for Alphie’s life; both as a prostitute down by the dock, as a
comforter for younger teenage prostitutes and finally as an inmate in the asylum.
Miss Ratchet eat your heart out.
If you want happy this isn’t the
book for you. If you want deep historical fiction this also isn’t the book for
you. If you want a Magical Realism in grimy turn of the century NYC with a hint
of gritty sadness and suffering then this is for you. I would say it is well
worth it but then this book is probably my kind of thing.
I would give it 4 out of 5.
Until next week dear reader!
*’The Museum of Extraordinary Things’ by Alice Hoffman –
another book that I enjoyed reading.
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