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"Easier to walk on the surface of the frothing sea, than to remember the hunger to do it. Easier to remember knowledge than ignorance, experience than innocence. Easier to know what you are than remember what you were, so long ago that what you were then lived in an entirely different world..."
Vevay, recalling the past. Another strong, older female character. As I age, so do my favorite authors, and they write about what they know, to my great good fortune. So in one year, I get to read about Ista, in "Paladin of Souls", and the protagonist in "Fudoki", and now Vevay, who is the wise old woman in "Alphabet of Thorn", also a truly excellent book.
Brief review - most beautifully intricate book I've read in a while. Delicate little carved balls within delicate carved balls, like the chess set in "Gaudy Night". The prose is exquisite; I would expect no less from McKillip. The characters are real and deep, and the ending isn't tidy, but rather, like life, is but another beginning. I don't want to say too much of the plot, less I reveal what should be concealed. Read it. I look forward to thanking her at Wiscon. And the book made me think about many things in my life
I live in a different world than even 25 years ago. I can remember what things were like 20, 30, even 40 years ago, though 1964 is through the eyes of a teenager, a young girl contemptuous of Beatlemania and Elvis. A young non-conformist, who did not know what she was rebelling against, but who knew she did not want to follow the crowd. It's hard to remember what I was like when I was younger, when I was 14, or 24, or even 34. My life has changed so much, my likes and dislikes even, not to mention my goals and dreams.
I cannot remember my own innocence, my own ignorance, though I remember the experiences that destroyed my innocence, that erased my ignorance.
Some days, I feel like I have no likes, only dislikes, no goals, only the avoidance of pitfalls, no hungers I can safely satisfy anymore.
And I've been watching "Sunset Boulevard" and finally had to turn it off. Why are so many portrayals of older women in media that of harpies, parasites, predators? Am I becoming like that? Will I? Can I avoid the traps of age?
Vevay, recalling the past. Another strong, older female character. As I age, so do my favorite authors, and they write about what they know, to my great good fortune. So in one year, I get to read about Ista, in "Paladin of Souls", and the protagonist in "Fudoki", and now Vevay, who is the wise old woman in "Alphabet of Thorn", also a truly excellent book.
Brief review - most beautifully intricate book I've read in a while. Delicate little carved balls within delicate carved balls, like the chess set in "Gaudy Night". The prose is exquisite; I would expect no less from McKillip. The characters are real and deep, and the ending isn't tidy, but rather, like life, is but another beginning. I don't want to say too much of the plot, less I reveal what should be concealed. Read it. I look forward to thanking her at Wiscon. And the book made me think about many things in my life
I live in a different world than even 25 years ago. I can remember what things were like 20, 30, even 40 years ago, though 1964 is through the eyes of a teenager, a young girl contemptuous of Beatlemania and Elvis. A young non-conformist, who did not know what she was rebelling against, but who knew she did not want to follow the crowd. It's hard to remember what I was like when I was younger, when I was 14, or 24, or even 34. My life has changed so much, my likes and dislikes even, not to mention my goals and dreams.
I cannot remember my own innocence, my own ignorance, though I remember the experiences that destroyed my innocence, that erased my ignorance.
Some days, I feel like I have no likes, only dislikes, no goals, only the avoidance of pitfalls, no hungers I can safely satisfy anymore.
And I've been watching "Sunset Boulevard" and finally had to turn it off. Why are so many portrayals of older women in media that of harpies, parasites, predators? Am I becoming like that? Will I? Can I avoid the traps of age?
