Book: The girl with glass feet
Apr. 7th, 2010 10:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livAuthor: Ali Shaw
Details: (c) Ali Shaw 2009; Pub 2009 Atlantic Books; ISBN 978-1-84354-918-5
Verdict: The girl with glass feet is beautiful and original.
Reasons for reading it: Lots of people have been talking about it as an exciting slipstreamy thing, and![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
coalescent gave a positive impression of it.
How it came into my hands: The library had it on display as a recommended book.
The girl with glass feet is a real gem of a book. The language is beautiful but not pretentious, the characterization is really impressive, and it's one of very few books I've encountered that seem to read almost equally well as clever literary allegory, or straight fantasy, or magic realism. The sense of atmosphere and place is absolutely incredible, and the matter of fact tone makes it very easy to suspend disbelief about the physically impossible elements, like the eponymous glass feet. I'm generally a big sucker for stories with psychologically believable characters in unlikely situations, and this is a particularly good example.
It was the characterization that kept me reading; everybody in the book has some kind of dark secrets, and because I cared about them so much the gradual revealing of the dark secrets was held my interest, even though the book is not very pacey. I really enjoyed the unfolding relationship between Midas and Ida, and that portrayal made the main story arc even more poignant. It's a very, very sad book, though not a depressing one, more melancholy, perhaps even tragic. A cynical reading might be that all this suffering seems directed to Midas' spiritual improvement, but I don't think that's entirely fair; his personal growth provides just enough positivity to keep the sad story on the right side of depressing. And I really liked the relationship between Midas and Gustav; it's beautifully portrayed, and it's a male friendship which augments the romantic love story rather than opposing it.
I can imagine a lot of people not liking this book. If you want a lot of (external, non psychological) action, you'll probably find it too slow, and if you insist on total realism you may find it too weird. But for the sort of reader who isn't too wedded to a particular genre, it's very impressive.
Details: (c) Ali Shaw 2009; Pub 2009 Atlantic Books; ISBN 978-1-84354-918-5
Verdict: The girl with glass feet is beautiful and original.
Reasons for reading it: Lots of people have been talking about it as an exciting slipstreamy thing, and
coalescent gave a positive impression of it. How it came into my hands: The library had it on display as a recommended book.
The girl with glass feet is a real gem of a book. The language is beautiful but not pretentious, the characterization is really impressive, and it's one of very few books I've encountered that seem to read almost equally well as clever literary allegory, or straight fantasy, or magic realism. The sense of atmosphere and place is absolutely incredible, and the matter of fact tone makes it very easy to suspend disbelief about the physically impossible elements, like the eponymous glass feet. I'm generally a big sucker for stories with psychologically believable characters in unlikely situations, and this is a particularly good example.
It was the characterization that kept me reading; everybody in the book has some kind of dark secrets, and because I cared about them so much the gradual revealing of the dark secrets was held my interest, even though the book is not very pacey. I really enjoyed the unfolding relationship between Midas and Ida, and that portrayal made the main story arc even more poignant. It's a very, very sad book, though not a depressing one, more melancholy, perhaps even tragic. A cynical reading might be that all this suffering seems directed to Midas' spiritual improvement, but I don't think that's entirely fair; his personal growth provides just enough positivity to keep the sad story on the right side of depressing. And I really liked the relationship between Midas and Gustav; it's beautifully portrayed, and it's a male friendship which augments the romantic love story rather than opposing it.
I can imagine a lot of people not liking this book. If you want a lot of (external, non psychological) action, you'll probably find it too slow, and if you insist on total realism you may find it too weird. But for the sort of reader who isn't too wedded to a particular genre, it's very impressive.
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