The Historian Readalong - Midway point

The Historian is one of THOSE* books for me. You know, the ones that you buy as soon as they come out because you want it so badly and then.... you don't actually get around to reading. I bought this book in July 2005 and until this read along, which is being hosted by the good ladies at The Estella Society in conjunction with RIP VIII (hosted at Stainless Steel Droppings) I hadn't even read the first page.

These are the discussion questions that have been posted at the halfway point of the read along:

1. What do you think of the structure of the novel? It’s a story within a story (sort of within a story). We have Professor Rossi’s storyline, Paul’s reflections, and the daughter’s adventures. And letters. There’s a lot going on!
I love a story within a story structure when it is done well. In this book, I would go so far as to say that there are more levels of story within story in this book than just two because each time you meet a new character you get to know their story and the additional bits of information that they bring to the situation. There is a lot going on, in a lot of different places around Europe, at different times in history. You do have to work a little to keep it all straight!

I would say though, that there are times when the narrative doesn't match the structure. For example, after her father disappears the girl is supposed to be reading letters than tell the story of how he met Helen and the time they spent together but in the narrative it isn't told in letter form and doesn't read as if it is a letter that is being read but rather as if you are there.

2. What are your thoughts on Helen’s characterization? Have you warmed to her?

Helen is a bit of a cold fish really, and I think that at this point (which is 40 chapters in) she is just beginning to thaw a bit which part of what makes her characterisation is interesting to me.  For most of the people who our main characters coincidentally cross paths with you know straight away that they have been inserted into the narrative to help with the quest to find out more. Sometimes this is very blatant and could have been done with a bit more finesse. Whilst it was obvious from very early on what Helen's role in the book is going to be (as in I will be very shocked if we don't find out that Helen is Paul's daughter's mother and now I am beginning to think that we will eventually find out that she has been turned) I do find her whole story intriguing and so I am very much looking forward to hearing more about Helen and Paul's story and where she has been during her daughter's formative years.

3. What do you think of the peripheral characters? Are their motivations pure? I’m thinking of Turget, Helen’s family members, etc.
As I mentioned before I do find the way that many of the peripheral characters have been introduced to the story to be a bit heavy handed and relying way too much on coincidence and instant trust between the characters. We get to know all of the 'good' characters pretty well, but not much about the 'bad'. Some nuance wouldn't have gone astray. There are other examples of some heavy handedness. For example, when we see the portrait of Vlad Dracula and it is compared to one of the main characters it would seem to be a big dose of foreshadowing!

I did love the Bora's, and would love to be looked after by Mrs Bora - this couple knows how to entertain and cater big time! I am definitely intrigued by Helen's Auntie Eva, and I hope that we begin to learn more about her. I can't see how that will fit in on the voyage of discovery that our characters are on, especially seeing as Paul has already told us that he lost eventually lost track of her.

I have high hopes for Barley and that in due course he will be revealed to be much more integral to the plot than just being the daughter's company as she dashes all over Europe. By the way, have we learned the daughter's name yet?

I am finding that my reaction to the book is varied depending on what is going on and even then from minute to minute. For example, I love some of the description - of the libraries, of the food, of the places - and hope to share some of them over the next couple of weeks, but I do think there is too much description. This is a big book in terms of scope, story and the number of pages and even if we only got descriptions of half the places that the characters visited it would have been enough.

Having said that, I would have been extremely disappointed if one of the descriptions that had been cut was that of Budapest. Many years ago now, I spent a couple of days in Budapest. It was one of the destinations of my European tour and wasn't one of my must see cities, but I definitely enjoyed my visit. At the end of it though, I felt as though I had seen what I needed to see so probably wouldn't need to go back again. Now having read the section about Paul and Helen in Budapest, and bearing in mind that I haven't been there for 18 years, I was definitely tempted to want to return and to experience Budapest again. I have posted about a memorable meal that I had in Budapest before (goulash and chocolate cake for breakfast anyone?), as well as the drama we had on the tour bus trying to get back into Austria. I could do without the bus drama, but I would love to cruise along the Danube under the Chain Bridge, to walk on Castle Hill and near Matthias Church and see the Parliament Building again. I can ignore the fact that my passport expired more than 10 years ago and I don't have any money. Thank goodness for cyber tourism! As an aside, I would say that the Hungarian visa is probably the most interesting one that I have in my expired passport!

If I had time to spare I would make an effort to have a Turkish bath this time, and I would also try to see some of the Roman ruins as well. Sounds as though I would need at least a week in Budapest now to do all of these things and more! And I haven't even thought about the possibility of hunting down Dracula yet!


*Other examples of THOSE books - Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, The Roving Party by Rohan Wilson and numerous others.

Fables Vol 11: War and Pieces by Bill Willingham

Finally! 11 books into the Fables series and we get to the battle to end all battles between the people of Fabletown and those of the homelands. And by finally I don't mean thank goodness we finally got there and now we can move on or after an 11 book lead in we finally made it! I do mean both of those things in some ways but in other ways it is more a celebratory finally, especially seeing as I suspect that this might be just the first battle and perhaps there is more to come.

I should take a step back though. As I mentioned this is the 11th book in the Fables series so it is difficult at this point to completely avoid spoilers so the now customary warning applies


************SPOILERS AHOY *************


Structurally, this book has two story arcs which dovetail nicely into each other, and in turn help resolve the story arc that has been developed since the first book in the main Fables series.

The first story arc concerns Cinderella. A few books ago, we learnt that whilst Cindy appears to be a businesswoman who owns a high end shoe shop, she is also one of the top secret agents that Fabletown has. Before the coming showdown with the Adversary, Cindy has to pick up a package from the very south of South America. The success of the whole war hinges on her success and she must use her feminine wiles, every trick in the book that she knows and a whole heap of ingenuity in order to get the job done! I loved the way that all of the Cinderella pages were bordered by a frieze of shoes. it added a degree of fun and whimsy to a book that could have taken itself a bit too seriously in the build up to the big confrontation.

And what a confrontation it is. All the various factions in the Fables lands come together in order to try and defeat the Adversary once and for all. The leaders, including all of our favourites like Bigby and Snow White, have been training their troops hard in the use of not only magical weapons but also in mundy (human) technology - technology that the isolationist Adversary may not have yet seen. Boy Blue is our narrator and thanks to the magical cloak that he has he manages to take the reader to each of the different battle fronts to observe the action.

It was interesting to see some of the character development that is still happening even after all these books. For example, over the last several books, Prince Charming has been the mayor of Fabletown but he always seemed somewhat narcissistic and still a terrible flirt and womaniser. Whilst I have no doubt that that man is still just below the surface, we also get glimpses of the heroic prince who we known through many of the fairy tales we have grown up with. It would be easy for these characters to become almost caracitures of themselves the longer the series goes on, but the writers and artists seem to be able to identify characters with capacity for growth and added dimensions relatively easily.


They are also adept at planting just enough new teasers in the storyline to make continuing the series worthwhile even as the major story arcs are resolved. I've already requested the next book via interlibrary loan. I was interested in seeing the final twist in the tail when it occurs late in the book and the final line offers up some foreshadowing that suggests that there is still plenty more conflict to be had in future tales.


Rating 4/5

 

Synopsis

The final battle between the free Fables of the mundane world and the Empire occupying their former Homelands is about to begin, and the scrappy storybook heroes have already managed to even the odds considerably. With his previously unstoppable wooden soldiers neutralized, the Adversary is about to get his first taste of high technology in the form of steel-jacketed bullets and laser-guided bombs. But the ruler who conquered a hundred different worlds didn’t do it by fighting clean—and he’s still got a surprise or two left to spring on the residents of Fabletown.

Other artits who contributed to this collection include Mark Buckingham, Steve Leialoha, Niko Henrichon and Andrew Pepoy

The Returned by Jason Mott

August 15, 1966.  The day that life changed forever for Harold and Lucille Hargrave.

This place, here beneath the three trees that threaded together against the cloth of the open sky, this was where they'd found Jacob all those years ago. This was where he and Lucille came to know pain. This was where every promise of life that they had believed in came crumbling apart. This was where he'd held Jacob in his arms and wept, trembling, as the body lay lifeless and still.

Now in their 70s, the Hargraves are watching the events that are unfolding in the world with a sense of disbelief. Who could believe that people who have been dead for years could suddenly turn up looking the same as they did when they died

The last thing that they expected was that there would be a knock at their own door, and waiting on the other side is Jacob, still 8 years old, still their child. Can you begin to imagine the immediate reaction of joy, and the emotions that would follow? Shock and disbelief and who knows what else. The man who brings Jacob home, Martin Bellamy, is a government official whose task is to bring the returned home, and to determine if the family even wants to keep their returnee, but also to try and figure out the hows and whys of the phenomena. Does the returnee remember how they died? Do they remember anything about the time they were gone? How do they feel now? Why do some people come back and others don't? Are they really the same person as they were? So many questions, not all of which are answered neatly for the reader in the course of the book In some ways this is a good thing, because as a reader you have to piece parts of the story together for yourself, but in other ways I was left with questions that were either not answered until right near the end of the book or not at all. For example, I didn't get a grasp on who could return. Was it only people who still had emotional connections who were returning? If not, is it possible that someone who died 200 years ago could come back? Or how about 400 or 500 years ago?

For Lucille, Jacob's return is nothing short of a miracle, a blessing that she could never have even begun to imagine, but her husband, who is somewhat ornery in his old age at the best of times, is far more sceptical and more likely to hold himself at some distance from Jacob. He cannot accept that the little boy is really his son. There is no doubt that he is very much like their son but is he, but is there some small part of him missing?

Due to the growing numbers of returned, the fear that is being sparked and spread by fundamentalists and more the government decides to incarcerate the returnees and the Hargrave's home town of Arcadia is one of the places chosen to be home to what is basically an internment camp. When Jacob and Harold are arrested, Harold refuses to let the boy be alone and so he is placed in the camp too. What starts out as home for a few people with some rights very quickly disintegrates into an overcrowded, filthy and violent place controlled by a colonel who clearly has no respect for the people that he is in charge of. Add in the protests of malcontents from the town who don't like that their town has been taken over and you have a powder keg situation just waiting to explode.

Interspersed in between the chapters are glimpses into the experience of other people who have returned:  the Nazi soldiers who find themselves being sheltered by a Jewish family when there are a mob who want to hunt them down; a woman from Sierra Leone who finds relief in being imprisoned in America rather than in her home country; the French artist whose work came to acclaim posthumously who just wants to be with the woman who championed his work for so long. These glimpses were fascinating and, during the portions of the book that dragged a bit, they were almost as interesting as the actual story. There is so much storytelling possibility to be find in those one or two page sections. I have no idea if this is going to be standalone or if there are likely to be more books read in this world. If it is the latter then a lot of that groundwork could possibly have been laid.

Whilst the story was interesting, it was also thought provoking. Arcadia is located in Bible belt America, so there were plenty of characters in the book who were wondering if this was the end of days, so drawing in religious discussion. The fear of the unknown was also a subject that was explored, as was the environmental impact of suddenly having to support hundreds of thousands of additional people. So much to think about.

I have been trying to think of a book to compare this one too, and I think that the closest I can come up with is The Passage by Justin Cronin. I chose that book because I think that in the same way that Cronin took the shiny-sparkling vampire that was very much in vogue at the time and turned the trope on it's head, Mott has taken undead, a concept which is normally associated with zombies, and made the idea of them much more real in concept. There is also a lovely use of language which points to Mott's background as a poet. Some times the language and and pace of the book dropped off a little more than I possibly would have liked but overall I liked the book without adoring it.

Jason Mott has certainly given us a debut novel that packs a punch, and he looks to be starting with a bang with this novel already having a TV series made of it which will be shown in America early next year. You can see the trailer for the series, which will be called Resurrection, here. I will definitely be watching with interest to see both what Jason Mott comes up with next and the TV series.

In terms of ratings, I wavered somewhere between 3.5 and 4 out of 5, but having let the book settle a little more I think I will go with the higher grade.

Before I finish I just wanted to say what a great job the people who made the book trailer for this film did. It really captures the feeling of the book.

Thanks to the Australian publishers of this book for the review copy they sent me. I am also counting this book as my first read for the RIP VIII challenge hosted by Carl at Stainless Steel Dropping.

Tour Details

Link to Tour Schedule:http://tlcbooktours.com/2013/07/jason-mott-author-of-the-returned-on-tour-septemberoctober-2013/
Jason Mott's website.
Jason Mott on Facebook
Jason Mott on Twitter.

About the book

One summer’s day, Agent Bellamy of the International Bureau of the Returned arrives at the home of Harold and Lucille Hargrave with their young son, Jacob, in tow. Jacob, who drowned on his eighth birthday almost fifty years before, is among the many long-dead who have been reappearing around the world, exactly as they were when they passed.

The Hargraves are no longer the young parents who lost their child that tragic day, but Lucille embraces Jacob as if it were yesterday, thrilled to have her darling son once again. The more sceptical Harold is not so sure. He was the one who found Jacob’s body in the river all those years ago; how could this little boy truly be his son?

From the Hargraves’ tiny Southern town of Arcadia to every corner of the globe, the Returned are appearing in increasing numbers, and their loved ones are both filled with gladness and alarmed by the implications. Questions of why the dead are returning remain unanswered—is it a miracle to celebrate or some portent of the end of days? Some, like Lucille, refuse to temper their newfound happiness with dark explanations, but many in Arcadia are fearful of the Returned. As public sentiment swings against them, the seemingly docile Returned are rounded up and detained in prisonlike camps. Their numbers continue to grow, and the camps become increasingly overcrowded and are targets for the brewing fear and hatred among the living.

When Jacob is interned, Harold stays with him, still confounded by what it all means. While one faction in Arcadia grows violent in its efforts to expel the Returned, others grapple with the sudden presence of those long absent—from an entire family murdered long ago under mysterious circumstances to the troubled first love of the town’s minister. As the skein of the once close-knit community unravels into a tangled “us vs. them” rhetoric and retribution—and similar public hysteria erupts around the world—the very definition of humanity will be called into question.

At once disquieting and poignant, The Returned is a remarkable debut work of fiction that blends elements of many genres—from the dystopian thriller to the classic Southern novel. Jason Mott has written a wholly original story that is sure to spark debate now and for years to come.