Book #10 - Fledgling

Eventually I had to return to reality and read something for school again. Boo. This one's from Fantasy & Romance.

Fledgling is an interesting vampire story; the protagonist is a "young" vampire (she looks like she's ten but she's really fifty-three, still quite young for a vamp) who has amnesia, and so learns about her nature and the society of vampires - who call themselves Ina - at the same time the readers do. The mythology is a bit different from the norm, but then everyone who writes vampires seems to deviate a little so I'm not sure there really can be said to be a "norm" anymore. The story is part mystery, as Shori and the humans who join her (more on this later) figure out what the heck is going on; court drama; and social commentary. It uses vampirism to talk about things like race and bigotry, the nature of family - both blood family (yes I know that's an odd term to use when talking about vampires) and the family one chooses - and free will.

I think the book is good, but I'm not sure that I like it, and it's mostly for that free will question. Other vampire mythologies have humans being involved with vampires as servants/blood dolls, etc., and there has always been a niggling question of how much free will do those humans have? Well, here there's nothing niggling about it. Humans become physically and psychologically addicted to the "venom" in a vampire's saliva, to the point they literally will die - of a heart attack or stroke - if they are denied it. And of course the vampire's bite is the most intense almost-orgasmic feeling _ever_ so even before one is technically addicted one already craves more. And it leaves one suggestible to the vampire; more powerful Ina can even use it to outright compel their humans. We spent like two days in class talking about this, and most of the other students seemed to feel that it wasn't "slavery" because the humans got some benefit out of the involvement (long life, resistance to disease, and of course lots of biting and sex). The book even refers to it as "mutual symbiosis." But I think slavery is slavery if the people involved are not free to walk away, and especially when they didn't know what they were getting into until it's too late. The fact that some southern plantation owners might have been humane and given their slaves adequate food and clothing and housing doesn't mean that those people were any less slaves than the ones being starved and whipped just a few miles down the road. But the way this book romanticizes that, tries to make it sound okay by giving humans these benefits and both the humans and their vampires claim to "love" each other. Alcoholics love their booze, don't they? Junkies love their drugs.

This just squicked me on several levels. In addition to the dubious nature of free will, there's the sexuality. Shori may be fifty three years old, but her body looks ten, and she engages in sexual acts (not graphic, but undeniable) with her humans - both male and female - and nobody is even the slightest bit, "ummm, this is kinda weird..." They just go along with it because they "love" her and they just gotta have that bite. It's really pretty reprehensible, I think. But perhaps fitting with the thinly-veiled sensual predators vampires have been all the way back to Dracula.

So yeah. As I said, I think the book is "good" - it's an interesting twist on the old vampire story, and it _does_ raise these big issues that are worth thinking about - and so I'd recommend it if you weren't squicked by my reaction, but it's not one I think I'll feel the need to read again.

Title: Fledgling
Author: Octavia Butler
Pages: 310

10 / 24 books. 42% done!

Book #10 - Fledgling

Eventually I had to return to reality and read something for school again. Boo. This one's from Fantasy & Romance.

Fledgling is an interesting vampire story; the protagonist is a "young" vampire (she looks like she's ten but she's really fifty-three, still quite young for a vamp) who has amnesia, and so learns about her nature and the society of vampires - who call themselves Ina - at the same time the readers do. The mythology is a bit different from the norm, but then everyone who writes vampires seems to deviate a little so I'm not sure there really can be said to be a "norm" anymore. The story is part mystery, as Shori and the humans who join her (more on this later) figure out what the heck is going on; court drama; and social commentary. It uses vampirism to talk about things like race and bigotry, the nature of family - both blood family (yes I know that's an odd term to use when talking about vampires) and the family one chooses - and free will.

I think the book is good, but I'm not sure that I like it, and it's mostly for that free will question. Other vampire mythologies have humans being involved with vampires as servants/blood dolls, etc., and there has always been a niggling question of how much free will do those humans have? Well, here there's nothing niggling about it. Humans become physically and psychologically addicted to the "venom" in a vampire's saliva, to the point they literally will die - of a heart attack or stroke - if they are denied it. And of course the vampire's bite is the most intense almost-orgasmic feeling _ever_ so even before one is technically addicted one already craves more. And it leaves one suggestible to the vampire; more powerful Ina can even use it to outright compel their humans. We spent like two days in class talking about this, and most of the other students seemed to feel that it wasn't "slavery" because the humans got some benefit out of the involvement (long life, resistance to disease, and of course lots of biting and sex). The book even refers to it as "mutual symbiosis." But I think slavery is slavery if the people involved are not free to walk away, and especially when they didn't know what they were getting into until it's too late. The fact that some southern plantation owners might have been humane and given their slaves adequate food and clothing and housing doesn't mean that those people were any less slaves than the ones being starved and whipped just a few miles down the road. But the way this book romanticizes that, tries to make it sound okay by giving humans these benefits and both the humans and their vampires claim to "love" each other. Alcoholics love their booze, don't they? Junkies love their drugs.

This just squicked me on several levels. In addition to the dubious nature of free will, there's the sexuality. Shori may be fifty three years old, but her body looks ten, and she engages in sexual acts (not graphic, but undeniable) with her humans - both male and female - and nobody is even the slightest bit, "ummm, this is kinda weird..." They just go along with it because they "love" her and they just gotta have that bite. It's really pretty reprehensible, I think. But perhaps fitting with the thinly-veiled sensual predators vampires have been all the way back to Dracula.

So yeah. As I said, I think the book is "good" - it's an interesting twist on the old vampire story, and it _does_ raise these big issues that are worth thinking about - and so I'd recommend it if you weren't squicked by my reaction, but it's not one I think I'll feel the need to read again.

Title: Fledgling
Author: Octavia Butler
Pages: 310

10 / 24 books. 42% done!

Book #11 - Wuthering Heights

Huh. Apparently I had forgotten to write about reading Wuthering Heights for British Lit. Oops!

This wasn't the first time I read it, though I think I might not have finished it the last time because we hit a point where things stopped sounding familiar. I remember feeling that it didn't make very much sense to me (the Cathy/Catherine thing, because I remember thinking, "Is she dead or isn't she?!"), and it at least made a bit more sense now. Plus I watched it on Netflix to give myself some reference.

In class discussions my page numbers were off because I was using the edition I'd bought at Shakespeare & Co. in Paris, after seeing Hurlevent at the Palais Garnier. We arrived just as it was starting so I didn't have a chance to read the program ahead of time, but as the dancers were moving through the story, I remember thinking that it felt familiar. Then at intermission I read and found out it was Wuthering Heights ("hurlevent" apparently ~= "wuthering"). Aha. Suddenly I knew what was going on, and quite enjoyed the rest of the show.

I'm still not completely sold on the book, though. It's too dark for me and moves _very_ slowly and I just want to take each and every character by the shoulders and give them a good hard shake, if not an outright slap. I feel badly for the Lintons because Cathy & Heathcliff really quite messed up their lives. Not content to be miserable themselves, they have to spread it as far and wide as they can. Really sort of the theme for the whole book...

Title: Wuthering Heights
Author: Emily Bronte
Pages: 417

11 / 24 books. 46% done!

Book #11 - Wuthering Heights

Huh. Apparently I had forgotten to write about reading Wuthering Heights for British Lit. Oops!

This wasn't the first time I read it, though I think I might not have finished it the last time because we hit a point where things stopped sounding familiar. I remember feeling that it didn't make very much sense to me (the Cathy/Catherine thing, because I remember thinking, "Is she dead or isn't she?!"), and it at least made a bit more sense now. Plus I watched it on Netflix to give myself some reference.

In class discussions my page numbers were off because I was using the edition I'd bought at Shakespeare & Co. in Paris, after seeing Hurlevent at the Palais Garnier. We arrived just as it was starting so I didn't have a chance to read the program ahead of time, but as the dancers were moving through the story, I remember thinking that it felt familiar. Then at intermission I read and found out it was Wuthering Heights ("hurlevent" apparently ~= "wuthering"). Aha. Suddenly I knew what was going on, and quite enjoyed the rest of the show.

I'm still not completely sold on the book, though. It's too dark for me and moves _very_ slowly and I just want to take each and every character by the shoulders and give them a good hard shake, if not an outright slap. I feel badly for the Lintons because Cathy & Heathcliff really quite messed up their lives. Not content to be miserable themselves, they have to spread it as far and wide as they can. Really sort of the theme for the whole book...

Title: Wuthering Heights
Author: Emily Bronte
Pages: 417

11 / 24 books. 46% done!