Recent reading

[luzula]

Savage Coast by Muriel Rukeyser
I was wondering if this could be recommended to skygiants as a "romcom of the revolution", given that the text on the back says that the book charts the author's political and sexual awakening as she witnesses the Popular Front resistance to the fascist coup [in 1936 Spain] and falls in love with a German political exile who joins the first International Brigade. But no, the word "romcom" is in no way applicable. I feel that I didn't appreciate this book as it deserved--I got a cold and didn't have the brain for it, so I took a break halfway through for some lighter reading. The author is a poet, and it shows--the writing is lovely, and somewhat stream-of-consciousness-y. And I thought the book was good, but I didn't love it (why didn't I love it?). That was also my reaction to Sylvia Townsend Warner's Summer Will Show, which is actually quoted in this book. Which makes sense, because that book is also from 1936 and also features a woman traveling to another country, getting mixed up in a revolution, and falling in love (though with a woman). (Interesting aside: in Summer Will Show, the love interest is heavily exoticized for being Jewish. In Savage Coast, the main character is actually Jewish, but we don't learn this until page 200 and then it's just mentioned in passing.)

Baggböleri by Freke Räihä
Poetry about a labor conflict in 1920's northern Sweden. I liked it fine, but I read a prose account of the same event a while back and actually enjoyed it more.

Comments

[skygiants]

Ha, yeah, it does not quite sound rom-com-y; I think romances of the revolution are not all that rare, it is the good-hearted comedy part that is hard to come by. But it does sound interesting, regardless.

[luzula]

It is very interesting, and I'd love to hear what other people think of it! I have now shelved it next to Summer Will Show in my bookcase.

Have you got any good recs for the genre yet? : )