Let's Talk About Violence in Historical Fiction.

I'm taking a seminar class on history in contemporary fiction, and the last novel we read was called The Book of Night Women, by Marlon James. It discusses the slave trade in Jamaica in the early 1800s. It is also the single most upsetting book I have ever read.

The Jamaican slave trade in the early 1800s was seriously horrible. You know the horror stories we've all heard about American slavery (which, seriously, was wayyy not cool)? In Jamaica, it was worse, because the culture and intentions were so different. And this novel did not hesitate to confront even the most gruesome elements. The sexual abuse of slaves, the punishments for minor infractions, the utter disrespect for the humanity of others -- all are described in unfaltering detail. More than once, I thought I might throw up at the thought of the violence people are capable of towards others.

Night Women was hugely upsetting to read, but I think it's important that the book was as brutal as it was. Part of what made it so disturbing was the fact that these things really did happen -- the specific characters in the novel were fictional, but the dehumanizing violence thrown at slaves was very real. I think glossing over the violence, using euphemisms and implications rather than gory details, would have been a lot less powerful in telling the story. Only by forcing readers to face the details can the novel accurately give a sense of how horrible the times were.

But at the same time, such graphic imagery makes the novel inaccessible to a lot of people. I would never consider giving this book to a child, and even I finished it only because I had to for class. Without the context of the discussion the class offered, I feel like this novel would have been simply horrifying without the deeper understanding of the historical context. Definitely a book worth reading and talking about, but one that I think needs to be talked about if it's going to be read.

What I'm getting at is this: violence absolutely has a place in historical fiction, because it's important not to deny the facts of the past, and gruesome events shouldn't be sugarcoated (at least in my opinion). But I also think it's important to make those historical truths accessible to readers, and that's a line that can be really hard to find.

I don't necessarily have an answer to this (by which I mean, I don't have an answer to this), but I'm curious to know: what do you guys think about the role of violence in historical fiction?

Book Thoughts: The Diviners

Title: The Diviners
Author: Libba Bray
Series: Diviners #1
*Imported from tumblr*

Set in the 1920s but with a super-creepy supernatural twist, The Diviners is a captivating murder mystery featuring Evie O’Neill, a flapper-happy teen with a mysterious power. Evie’s been shipped off to New York to live with her Uncle Will, a museum curator, and she’s thrilled - until a rash of terrifying murders gets her attention. When it becomes clear there’s something not quite normal going on and the police aren’t buying it, it’s up to Will, Evie, and Evie’s ragtag band of friends to solve the mystery - and maybe even prevent the apocalypse.

I found Evie kind of irritating at first, because she’s so irresponsible and flighty and just not a great friend. But give the book a chance, because once the story grabs you, it is not letting go. I loved the supernatural twist, I loved Sam ("street criminal" isn’t quite the right word) and Jericho (Uncle Will’s assistant), and once I got used to it, I loved the writing. It did take a while to adjust to some of the ’20s words, but it really added to the story once I did.

My one warning to you: while the descriptions of the murder scenes are handled very well, the actual murders are super creepy, so if your imagination is going to take that and run… well, read this one with the lights on.

I loved it. It works well enough as a standalone, but I can’t wait for the sequel!

Book Thoughts: Code Name Verity

Title: Code Name Verity
Author: Elizabeth Wein
*Imported from tumblr*

Holy freaking cow. This book. I don’t know where to start.

Code Name Verity is one of those books that made me giggle and then tore my heart to shreds and now I want to share it with absolutely everybody, because it’s so beautiful and heartbreaking and real and ugh I’m about to cry again.

Code name “Verity" has been taken prisoner by the Gestapo. This book is her story — her story, and the story of her best friend Maddie. A spy and a pilot, two girls in an unlikely and heartbreaking situation during World War II, and the story of how they find, and re-find, each other.

The Nazis’ treatment of POWs is handled tactfully and without being overly gruesome while at the same time being hauntingly honest. And the realities of war become far too real in the pages of this book. But the girls’ friendship, and the kindness of strangers, and the often-forgotten humanity of even the enemy soldiers — those are equally powerful and real. And basically, you should DEFINITELY read this book.

Book Thoughts: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Title: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
Author: Ransom Riggs
Series: Miss Peregrine #1

Ahh, where to start with Miss Peregrine... Was it strange? Yes. Was it spooky? Yes. Did I love it? Most definitely yes.

Jacob grew up on his grandfather's stories of monsters and an orphanage full of peculiar children who could do strange things (like levitate or turn invisible). Eventually, he realizes that the tales have to be make-believe... until the day his grandfather dies and he sees one of the monsters his grandfather has always described.

Naturally, everyone thinks Jacob is crazy: monsters don't exist. So Jacob sets off on a crazy quest to Wales to visit the orphanage and settle his nightmares... and finds so much more than he bargained for.

I just love this book. One of my favorites that I read over the summer and one that I am eagerly awaiting the sequel to. The characters are so much fun, the writing is great and blended seamlessly with a series of strange photographs described in the novel, and the story kept me eagerly turning pages to find out what would happen next.

A bit of a spooky read (perfect for Halloween season!), definitely a strange one, but one that I absolutely and wholeheartedly recommend.

Book Thoughts: Hood

Title: Hood
Author: Stephen R. Lawhead
Series: King Raven #1

I just finished reading this one, and it was not what I expected, nor did I expect to enjoy it as much as I did.

Hood is the first in a trilogy that is a retelling of Robin Hood -- but rather than in Sherwood Forest, it's set in the dark forest of medieval Wales and chock full of British political intrigue. I've always been a fan of the Robin Hood story (come on, who didn't love the singing-animals Disney movie of it?), but I wasn't sure what to make of the Welsh names and mythology.

But any wariness I had was swept away in the story. I enjoyed recognizing the various reincarnations of the traditional Robin Hood characters (Bran as Robin, Iwan as the Welsh form of John, so Little John, and of course Merian), but I also got sucked into this as a story all its own. There are parallels to Robin Hood, definitely, but it isn't a direct retelling. It's more a "reimagining."

There were places where the writing felt a little forced, but the story makes up for it. It's a decidedly dense novel (took me several days to read it), but that's because it is packed with Welsh lore and adventure.

Hood probably isn't for just anyone, but if you're a fan of the Robin Hood story and/or medieval stories and/or adventure, you should give this one a try.

Book Thoughts: Prophecy of the Sisters

Title: Prophecy of the Sisters
Author: Michelle Zink
Series: Prophecy of the Sisters #1

I've had a copy of Prophecy of the Sisters on my bookshelf for ages now and just hadn't picked it up. All the hype for the second book made me think that maybe I should read it, and I think on the whole, I'm glad I did.

I didn't realize when I started that this novel is actually set in the year 1890. I'd been expecting something a bit more modern, so that was kind of a surprise, but a pleasant surprise, because it worked perfectly. The novel opens with Lia and her family at her father's funeral. The circumstances of his death were strange, and the night he died, a strange circular mark appeared on Lia's wrist. Not long after, her boyfriend James shows her a book he found in her father's library: a book with all the pages missing except one. This page contains a prophecy about Lia and her twin sister Alice. Her father and the mark on her wrist have more to do with it than Lia understands, but she's determined to find out.

I love the premise of this book. The idea of the prophecy of the sisters is really awesome, and putting it in a historical setting just makes it better. I like the characters, too - I wish we had gotten to see more of James, and I love Luisa and Sonia's characters too. I wish there had been more Henry, too!

I will admit that for a lot of the book, I was really annoyed by how predictable it was. I figured out what the keys were (part of the prophecy mentions keys) within a few pages of the first mention of them, but it took Lia a good fifty or a hundred pages after that, which is never a good sign. I like reading to discover new things, and if I know what's going to happen within fifty pages, then why read past that? But there were still a few questions that I hadn't guessed the answers to, so I kept reading, and I'm so glad I did.

By the end of the novel, I was blatantly ignoring everything else I needed to be doing (such as feeding the cat. He was not pleased) so I could finish. I didn't realize until the last few chapters how much of an emotional connection I'd made with Lia! Oh, and another random thing that I really loved about this: it was not all about boys! Lia already has a boyfriend who she loves, and the focus of the story is not on that romance, it's on the plot. Hooray for plot variation!

Long story short: I do recommend this, with a warning attached: It's a little slow and predictable in places. Still, though, I did enjoy it, especially in the second half once it really got going. And definitely check it out if you like paranormal in a historical setting.

Book Thoughts: Countdown

Title: Countdown
Author: Deborah Wiles

Countdown is a little outside the genres I usually read – it’s historical middle-grade, rather than contemporary/paranormal YA – but I loved it. Franny, who is eleven years old, is a wonderful narrator: the perfect blend of humor and seriousness, completely believable, and Deborah Wiles captured the voice of a child perfectly. The other characters are just as good: Franny’s parents, her brother and sister and crazy uncle, her friends, the boy across the street…this could very easily be a totally true story.

It gets even easier to believe when you consider the documentary part of the novel. The whole book is full of actual footage from the 1960s – photographs, quotes, ads, political cartoons, reminders to stay safe in the bomb shelters if the air raid siren goes off…it’s all there, in between chapters. Seriously the coolest way to set up a historical book that I have ever seen. The book would be worth reading just for that. But there’s more to it than that.

The story is great too. Reading about an eleven-year-old protagonist was kind of different for me, but Franny is great and the story is amazing. I think it’s easy to forget that while the Cold War was going on, life was still going on like normal – for those of us who have never lived through something like that, it’s just history book stuff. Countdown takes those events that we read about in history class and makes them real, which is really awesome. Historical events aren’t the focus of this novel; they’re the setting. The story is about Franny and how she comes to terms with what it means to be afraid and, more importantly, what it means to be a friend.

Countdown is such a sweet, fun, and interesting book. I know those aren’t particularly original adjectives, but they certainly apply. It’s also very much a stay-up-until-you-finish-it kind of book. Definitely, definitely read it if you get the chance!

Book Thoughts: Slaughterhouse-Five

Title: Slaughterhouse-Five
Author: Kurt Vonnegut

I recently finished Slaughterhouse Five (by Kurt Vonnegut) for a school assignment. I chose it from a list for a few reasons: my father's been encouraging me to read it for ages, I've been meaning to read it for a while anyway, and, okay, it was at one point the nerdfighters' Blurbing Book Club book. 

It was so strange.

I enjoyed it, but it was very odd. It took basic chronology and totally messed it up. Also, there was an alien abduction. I can't decide whether it's historical or scifi or what.

I loved the way the author sort of tangled up his own story in Billy Pilgrim's. It made it kind of confusing at times, but I thought it was cool. I thought the set-up -- flashing between different moments in Billy's life -- was really confusing, until I got to the end, and then it sort of made more sense.

I did get really annoyed by the writing at times though. I felt like it had taken "show, don't tell" and turned it on its head to go with "tell, don't show." Sometimes it was amazingly difficult to just read. I felt like we only got to know Billy through how others saw him and not so much through who he was.

Have any of you guys read Slaughterhouse Five? If you have, please leave me a comment (or send me a message), I really want to know what other people think of this book!

Book Thoughts: Leviathan

Title: Leviathan
Author: Scott Westerfeld
Series: Leviathan #1

Would you rather oil your machines... or feed them?

This is the big question in this alternate-universe steampunk World War I. Leviathan follows Alek, son of the assassinated Austrian Archduke Ferdinand, and Deryn - aka Dylan - a girl disguised as a boy in the British air force.

The Germans, Austrians, Russians, etc. are referred to as "Clankers," because they rely on machinery - think the walkers from Star Wars. The British and French are the Darwinists, relying on the science of evolution to generate war machines that are actually alive. The Clankers and the Darwinists don't trust each other, never have, and war has long been brewing. This is the story of how it finally starts - and how Alek and Deryn are thrown together because of the enormous Darwinist airship Leviathan.

I really enjoyed the alternate history presented in this book. I'm a fan of steampunk, and the way the political history and world parallel ours but with different science is totally cool. And the characters are a lot of fun - even if I had hated the story (which I didn't), I would read the next book just for another couple hundred pages with Alek and Deryn.

Also, despite the fact that it's set against a backdrop of war, Leviathan really isn't a war book. The focus is a lot more on the characters and their small story than it is about the war they're caught up in.

I definitely plan to read book 2. Check this one out if you haven't :)

Book Thoughts: Les Miserables

Title: Les Miserables
Author: Victor Hugo

So, I read this one because I love the musical so much; I just had to see what it came from. I was not disappointed. There were definitely passages that dragged, to be sure. There was one bit where Hugo sidetracks for several chapters describing the entire history of the battle of Waterloo when only the last few paragraphs of that section are relevant to the plot, and there's another bit where he sidetracks for like four chapters about the nature of slang. The writing was every bit as beautiful in those passages, but when you really want to get on with the story, they're kind of frustrating.

Philosophically, though, Les Mis is a fascinating and brilliant novel, and the writing is beautiful, and I just love all of the characters so much. Also, the book didn't make me cry my eyes out like the movie did, so I'm not sure how to feel about that. While the writing is beautiful, it's hard to connect to the characters.

Long story short, I really loved the book but it's a long and intensive read so make sure you know what you're getting into when you start. Also, yes, I loved it, but I think I loved the musical even more. (Also, if any of you are curious: I hardcore ship Cosette/Marius either way, but in the movie I prefer Eponine to Cosette, where in the book I like Cosette better.)