But before I go down that path, here's what I finished reading (and almost forgot to blog about!):
When I was in middle school, I read as much Libba Bray as I could get my hands on which, at the time, consisted of her Gemma Doyle trilogy. Since then, I've also read Beauty Queens and some of Going Bovine... and while I liked them, they didn't have the same flair as the Gemma Doyle books.
The Diviners, however, made me squeal with joy. I mean, it's a supernatural book that takes place in 1920s New York City. (Right??? How awesome does that sound?)
The Diviners is about a young woman named Evie who, after a disastrous display of her psychic abilities in her small Ohioan (is that even a word?) hometown, is made to move in with her Uncle Will. Her Uncle Will not only lives in New York City (which is a heaven for this young flapper), but also runs the Museum of the "Creepy Crawlies" (or, of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult, if you want to get technical). He is unsuitable to take care of young Evie, but as he is more preoccupied with a serial killer (of the supernatural persuasion) on the loose, Evie (and the reader) is allowed to roam the streets of New York.
There's a wide range of characters in The Diviners, who also encompass some growing social issues and trends from the 1920s; Socialists, African Americans, gays, etc., are all represented. The "melting pot" that is New York (and, on a larger scale, America) is shown to be new and electric, but also dark and unstable. Older, darker forces are establishing a hold on the country despite scientific and social change.
Obligatory Josephine Baker doing the Charleston. Via
Another totally necessary flapper. Via
While my description of the novel can sound a little limiting, the story is told by several people, so nothing gets too stale. This also means that, with many characters' fates up in the air, the reader is left wanting more and desperate to get back to Evie's New York. The reader is also left with the impression that something is most decidedly wrong, although whatever the cause of the terror and unease is as of yet unknown.
It was SO SCARY; like, I had to go into the basement where my brother was killing people on the XBox just so I knew that, if Naughty John somehow managed to kill me through the book, someone would know. (I put up with my brother's "I seriously can't believe that we're related, what, are you fucking kidding me" look just so I could finish.) I don't get scared by books often/almost never, so I'm going to just make a special note of that. Well done, Libba Bray *claps*
Bray obviously did her research, with all of the '20s slang that is woven through the novel. It's sometimes cheesy, but she doesn't overdo it, and by using slang, she's able to establish characters such as the flapper girls Evie and Theta more easily.
I had been struggling with keeping up my reading for a while before reading this book; I wasn't super interested in anything I had gotten from the library, and I was easily distracted from what I was reading while I was reading. I think it was because I had gotten so wrapped up in trying to read books that I felt like I should read, I had forgotten to read something because I wanted to. And I think that's what made The Diviners such a fun, pleasure-filled read for me; no one was expecting anything from me, and there was no expectation I was trying to meet. Does that make sense?
Anyways, I'm back to reading things I want to for a change, and it feels great. All too easily, I feel like I have to be reading something specific at a certain time, and my increased time on the internet (on Goodreads, reading other blogs, etc.) doesn't help my feelings of constant inferiority. I've talked before on here how I so desperately want to be well-read; and, in the process of wanting to be so, I make myself lists of "classic" and "good" books, when I should be the one deciding for myself what's good and what isn't. For someone like me who loathes people telling her what she should and shouldn't be reading (unless it's a friendly reading recommendation, I love those!), I use websites like Goodreads an awful lot to make sure that what I've read will pass muster.
That's probably enough from me at this point; hopefully y'all haven't died of boredom. Closing statement: read Libba Bray's The Diviners! (but, of course, only if you want to...)
Peace,
-M
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