Recent reading

[luzula]

Unraveller by Frances Hardinge (2022)
I have been blown away multiple times by various Hardinge books, but maybe my expectations are just raised too high by now, because I was not blown away by this one. Don't get me wrong, it's still a good book, and Hardinge has more imagination in her little finger than some other authors do as a whole. I guess I just felt that it had too much headlong action, and the beginning was a little too episodic for me.

Charles Edward Stuart, by Frank McLynn (1988)
I suppose it was inevitable that I would someday read this biography, which appears to be the most thorough one. It's clearly based on a lot of archival material and does have some interesting info, but it also annoyed me enough that I stopped reading it halfway through. I do wish the author would keep from psychoanalyzing. Like, he literally says that's what he's doing, and refers to psychoanalysts that he's discussed with.

Samples:
"The later emergence of [BPC's brother Henry] as a homosexual personality reflects the disaster of his childhood."
"[BPC's] precious first years with his mother were enough to give him a predominantly heterosexual personality."
WTF??

There's also the author's annoying tendency to make judgments about people's characters without saying what he's basing those judgments on. Show your sources, arrgh (many books have that tendency, to be sure). Also the author has a tendency to be cock-sure about things one really cannot be sure about.

Some random annoying quotes:
- "Was [BPC]'s enterprise a rational one, or was it a mad, quixotic, juvenile scheme worthy only of a Polish blockhead?"
What on earth. Why the random dissing of the Poles??
- "The 'internal saboteur' in the prince's mind, responsible for his self-destructive behaviour on the back through northern England, now manifested itself as illness. From 5-16 January Charles lay seriously ill with influenza and a high fever at Bannockburn House."
Or perhaps...he was infected with a virus... I mean, I'm not denying that one's state of mind can influence health, but to state so categorically that he had the flu because of "internal sabotage"!
- McLynn is also categorically sure that the Jacobites should have disputed the crossing of the Spey (just before Culloden), and even goes so far as to say that the "villain of the piece" of them not doing so was O'Sullivan. Compare this with Duffy's presentation of the same issue in Fight for a Throne where he discusses the pros and cons of doing so, showing that it was by no means an obvious choice, and the way the actions of the Hanoverians influenced the issue, and does not call anyone a villain. I have to say, Duffy is WAY better at nuance and at justifying his judgments (not to mention, in this particular case he is a military historian and McLynn isn't). Also I am annoyed by McLynn's constant dismissal of O'Sullivan as incompetent without justifying it.

Comments

[greenwoodside]

Heh, Unraveller is maybe my favourite Hardinge book so far. Probably because it took on some of my favourite themes. Current ranking, though I loved them all:

Unraveller
Deeplight
A Face like Glass
The Lie Tree
A Skinful of Shadows

[luzula]

Ack, it's so difficult to rank them, and also it's been a while since I read some of them! And also I haven't read all of them yet. But I have been blown away by Deeplight, The Lie Tree, A Skinful of Shadows, and Cuckoo Song.

[greenwoodside]

Clearly, I must read Cuckoo Song!

[conuly]

Oh, it's great.

[sanguinity]

BCP: oh. my fucking. god. That's not a biography, that's your whackadoodle pet theories about how the world works, longform edition. I'm amazed you made it even halfway through.

I've only read the one Hardinge novel (The Lie Tree, I have written crossover fic for it), but her rep is so good that I clearly need to read more.

[luzula]

I'm amazed you made it even halfway through.
Well, it was a combination of stubbornness and also that it did have some interesting facts. And also that I'd read part of a recent book by the same author which did not have the same annoying traits. Oh well.

Yes, do read more Hardinge! I can recommend Deeplight, A Skinful of Shadows, and Cuckoo Song.

[muccamukk]

I've heard a couple people not in love with Unraveller, so maybe it's just not one of her best.

[BPC's] precious first years with his mother were enough to give him a predominantly heterosexual personality.

The 1950s want their hot takes back.

[luzula]

The 1950s want their hot takes back.
I just read that several times over going what? what!?

[genarti]

I love many, many aspects of Unraveller, and feel in some ways it's one of her stronger works, but the end doesn't quite come together for me. It wasn't the episodic beginning, which I liked; it was [spoiler villain] (who felt like she'd lost all the nuance) and the selective choice about which morally dubious got consequences and which were let off the narrative hook. Which is usually the kind of thing Hardinge is great about! One too many moving parts, maybe? I did love the dual protagonists set up, though.

[luzula]

It wasn't the episodic beginning, which I liked; it was [spoiler villain] (who felt like she'd lost all the nuance)
Yeah, I agree. But I think I would have cared more about that if the book had hooked me harder from the start.

[chestnut_pod]

I liked Unraveller very much, but I think it didn't quite come together at the end, and so isn't as perfectly contained as my favorites of hers, like The Lie Tree.

[luzula]

It's hard to put my finger on why this book didn't hook me as much as Deeplight (for example)! In that book, I just cared more and the stakes felt higher to me, and also the whole plot and worldbuilding came together in a more satisfying way.

[feroxargentea]

"predominantly heterosexual personality" oh my god
what
what even
1988 is a while ago, but still.

[luzula]

His mother was there! That's why he didn't turn out gay! *headdesk*

[garonne]

I had never heard of Frances Hardinge. Sounds like I've been missing out.

That BPC biography sounds so atrocious I had to laugh in disbelief. The kind of book that makes you regret you can never get those hours of your life back.

[luzula]

I very much recommend Deeplight, The Lie Tree, A Skinful of Shadows, and Cuckoo Song. The next to last one is actually set during the English Civil War, which i knew nothing about when I read the book. It would be interesting to reread it now that I know more about that time period. But really it could have been said during any war; the main character is just trying to survive.

Yes, it was quite annoying! Of course it did also have interesting stuff, but after a while you start to mistrust the author’s judgment...

[conuly]

Oh, you're in for a treat, though for my money her best book is Face Like Glass.