Burning Bright by Tracy Chevalier

This week I had the joy of reading a novel by Tracy Chevalier. I had read her Girl With a Pearl Earring a few months ago and found it to be both beautiful and satisfying. So I had high expectations for Burning Bright, and I was not disappointed.

Ms. Chevalier likes to pull famous faces from the past into her novels, but she does not make the mistake of building the entire story around them. In this case, she introduces readers to the intriguing, if somewhat bizarre, William Blake. Blake, a poet and painter, lives in the same neighborhood with Jem Kellaway and Maggie Butterfield, two nearly-adolescents who are the primary characters of the novel.

Jem has recently moved from rural Dorsetshire to London with his family when he meets Maggie, a city girl who has grown up in London. Jem's feelings for Maggie mirror his feelings for this new city: he is intrigued by the mysteries and curiosities of London's streets, but he is also a bit disgusted by what he finds there. Jem likes Maggie, her high spirit, her intrepid willingness to explore the nooks and crannies of the city. But he is put off by the coarseness that Maggie's parents and brother-and sometimes Maggie herself-display. In return, Maggie enjoys the power she experiences as Jem's guide to all things London, and she finds his rural simplicity and honesty a refreshing change from the guileful family and neighbors she is used to. As time passes, they learn to trust one another and their friendship becomes a safe place for them to explore the challenges and joys of growing up.

Chevalier does a stunning job of keeping her story simple and focused. Jem and Maggie's relationship, the response of Jem's family to their new urban environs, and the subtle changes that take place in each of the characters over the course of the novel--these are the heart of the novel. But while Chevalier never sacrifices her characters veracity for sensational plot developments, she yet manages to create a believable backdrop of historically crucial events and persons. William Blake, in whom the children find a stabilizing influence in their quickly-changing lives, is also a sympathizer with the French revolutionaries. He finds his home and his freedom threatened by Loyalists who would wipe out dissension before it can take hold in Britain. Thus readers are given a glimpse of how the French Revolution may have impacted the daily lives of people in neighborhoods throughout London and elsewhere, as well as how it affected the literature and art of the time.

Less historically memorable, but interesting nonetheless, is the phenomenon of Philip Astley's circus, located in a field across the bridge from Westminster Abbey in what was then the outskirts of London. (Hard to believe if you've visited the city in recent years...there are no open fields to be seen anywhere in the area, unless you can get a distant glimpse of one from the top of the London Eye which now stands in that neighborhood.) According to Chevalier, Astley's circus employed, and therefore influenced, the majority of residents in that part of the city. Indeed, Astley built much of the neighborhood himself to house his performers and other circus staff. While not as impactful as the French Revolution, Astley and his circus undoubtedly left a mark on London, a mark which may remain subtly visible to this day.

Jem and Maggie are small characters against a grand backdrop of historical events. But they never seem insignificant or overwhelmed by their surroundings. Chevalier paints a beautiful picture of two real souls who are impacted by events and people around them, take those relationships and experiences into themselves, and then grow to become more sure-footed in the ever-changing world they inhabit. Burning Bright will leave you feeling gently inspired that the move from innocence to experience can be achieved successfully, and even gracefully, especially if you have a friend to navigate it with you.

Fool by Christopher Moore

Creative? Yes. Entertaining. Yep. Funny? Much of the time. Bawdy? Well, yes, to put it lightly.

Christopher Moore's most recent novel, Fool, is a re-telling of Shakespeare's tragedy King Lear. It might seem a strange choice for a renowned comic like Moore, but he does a remarkably good job of turning the most tragic of Shakespeare's scenes to comic effect.

The story is told from the point-of-view of Lear's fool, who is called Pocket. Pocket's position as court jester allows him unique access to all the members of Lear's entourage, from the guards on the castle wall to the King himself. He is particularly favored by Lear's daughters, Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia. It is his favor with so many of the castle's inhabitants that allows him to become a key player in the future of the kingdom.

Without any particular malice, Pocket finds himself pitted against Lear and his two elder daughters as they fight for control of old "Blighty" (a.k.a. Britain). Through his well-forged connections , the prophecies of a mysterious and libidinous ghost woman, and the instructions of three ubiquitous witches (of Macbeth fame), Pocket finds he has the tools and access to the right parties to sway the fate of the entire kingdom--heady stuff for a mere jester. But this is a comedy, and Pocket uses his influence to achieve a happy ending, at least for all who deserve it.

Pocket's story is truly entertaining. The more you learn about his past, the more you become sympathetic to him. In addition, Moore endows him with a sense of wit that draws more than a few chuckles. I did find myself laughing out loud on several occassions.

Moore's humor and his creative revision of this famous story make Fool a fun read. But, as I've alluded to above, be prepared for some bawdy scenes. In fact, you can't go more than two or three pages without coming across a description of some sort of sexual encounter. While these descriptions are always pretty light-hearted and tinged with more than a bit of humor, they are still quite lewd. The novel would have been funnier if Moore had invested his rapacious wit in a greater variety of subject matters, limiting sexual references to a few well-placed scenes.

I won't mark Moore off my list of future reads, but I will be sure to skim for lewdness next time, and will place him back on the shelf if he can't limit his sexual exploits to a few pages at most.

A Lion Among Men by Gregory Maguire

Well, I found a book about a kitten, of sorts. At a friend’s request, I have just finished reading A Lion Among Men by Gregory Maguire. It is the third of the Wicked series, Maguire’s personal vision of what really happened in the land of Oz, and it tells the story of the Cowardly Lion before and after his famous encounter with Dorothy.

Now, I have a disclaimer to make. I have not read the previous two books in the series. (Though I did see and enjoy the musical version of Wicked.) So, I don’t feel entirely qualified to rate the story-telling aspect of this novel. There are obviously many intricate and subtle tie-ins with the previous novels, many of which allusions I did not fully understand, and many more of which I may have missed altogether.

That having been said, I feel that I can competently review at least two aspects of the work, namely the writing style that Maguire employs and his ability to build believable characters.

While the book focuses primarily upon the Lion, whose name is Brrr, it also explores the life of an ancient maunt (nun) who calls herself Yackle. The novel begins with Brrr, now an employee of the emperor of Oz, interviewing Yackle about her history, and specifically her involvement with Elphaba, the infamous Wicked Witch of the West. But Yackle is not content to simply give answers; she wants some answers of her own, and thus strikes a deal with the Lion: she will share her own history if he will, in turn, share his.

The bulk of the novel takes place in the series of memories that these two characters share with one another. But we, as readers, do not hear what they say to one another. Rather, we see the memory as they see it. We are inside their heads, reliving their pasts with them. This allows Maguire to infuse their stories with an introspective tone. We experience all the self-doubt and self-recrimination that the characters feel. We know the depths of their shame and confusion. We see the events of their lives through the filter of the thoughts and emotions that accompanied those events. It makes for very interesting reading, and very realistic characters. (Well, as realistic as a gentrified lion and an unwittingly immortal crone can be.)

Often in their reminiscings, Brrr and Yackle tend toward the philosophical. With no recollection of family or origins, they both try desperately to make their lives fit into some pattern, something greater than themselves. This leads them to questions about existence and the workings of fate. Often these questions are worded so beautifully, so poignantly, as to make the reader stop, breathtaken. Through his poetic prose, Maguire opens to the reader brand new avenues of thought, just beckoning for exploration.

There were at least a dozen instances in my reading of this novel when I wanted to stop and read a line or a paragraph over and over again, soaking in it, letting my mind expand with it. This is, to me, the mark of a true poet. Maguire chooses words so precisely and turns phrases with such skill that it makes the reader re-imagine parts of their reality in an entirely new light. This alone makes A Lion Among Men worth reading.

The character development is complete; the plot is compelling; the writing is both creative and provocative. In short, read this book. Though (having failed to do so myself) I would recommend beginning at the beginning.