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Part fantasy, part science fiction, and part police procedural this is a truly genre-straddling book. The parts don’t always blend as well as I would have liked. I came away thinking I would almost rather Duane had told the complete story three times (it could work…) because wherever I was, I wished for the insights the other perspectives could have given me. But the characters are engaging and the writing’s top-notch.
I don’t expect A-plus historical accuracy in a chick-lit romance billed as an homage to an Austen obsession, but I was disappointed when the point-of-view character didn’t know the difference between a chamberpot and a bedpan. When I realized that the author didn’t know either and that no one involved in the book’s production had cared enough to correct the error, I bailed out.
I learned that Boneshaker is going to be made into a movie while reading the book. Oddly, I can envision the theme-park ride more easily than I can empathize with the characters.
“Hereward” has the feel of a commissioned book — someone approached Mr. Head, saying — “Why don’t you write an up-to-date biography of Hereward the Wake?” Mr. Head might have replied — “There’s nothing to write. There are no contemporary sources; there are only a few living-memory sources and they’re contradictory; what’s left is myth created by over-imaginative Victorians.” But, somehow, a contract was signed and a book was written–but it’s not a biography of Hereward the Wake. Instead it’s– a) a fairly thoughtful examination of the politics of late Anglo-Saxon England through the death of William the Conqueror. Head delves past the “history is written by the winners” and lays out the fault lines of 11th-century England. He makes a credible argument that neither Edward nor Harold were universally supported by their peers and that history could have turned out much differently if William had stayed in England after he conquered it rather than returning to Normandy. b) an extensive rehash of those Victorian “biographies” (Hereward, Harward, and Harvard are equivalent surnames–and Lt. Gen. TN Harward, who wrote one of the more helium-filled Victorian biographies, was far more eager to prove his descent from Hereward the Wake than to claim John Harvard, founder of that university, as a well-documented relation.) c) a very evocative description of the Isle of Ely and its surrounding fens in their modern, reduced, and tamed form and as they were when the rump of Anglo-Saxon England made their last stand. Together, the three parts make for a worthwhile read…just NOT a biography of Hereward the Wake.
This is not to race through…there’s something to be learned on every page. From what was traded into and out of Europe to how it was transported and what it cost every step of the way, Spufford has delved into what little record there is and reached some persuasive conclusions about medieval entrepreneurship. The first-edition hardcover illustrations are eclectic, but useful. An excellent companion to his “Money and Its Uses in Medieval Europe” Unlike every other place I’ve lived, late October and, especially, November have the just best, nicest weather we see in central Florida. The humidity drops drastically and the temperature, less drastically. I turn off the air conditioning and open the windows…for the first time since, maybe, April. The air isn’t exactly <em>crisp</em> and there’s not much in the way of autumnal color, but there’s a perceptible change of season and cause for celebration. And, suddenly, after an absence of many long months, <em>words</em> have been creeping back into my imagination. Yesterday I sat down and finished off a Seeking North scene. I still have three more outlined for the “What Can You Do?” section, but I’m not taking chances: the scene’s up. |
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