Tag: Magical Realism

Books

Book 843: The Midnight Library – Matt Haig

Geoff W

Clearly, I grabbed this one for the title and the fact that it seems everyone is reading it. Seriously, I saw at least three or four copies while on vacation and it’s been popping up sporadically on book blogs since its initial release last year.

I didn’t really have an idea of what it was about so was a little taken aback by the opening line but then was totally on-board when I re-read the back blurb. In essence the book follows Nora as she tries to find the life she wants to live by visiting all her potential selves after attempting suicide.

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Books

Book 772: The Remaking of Corbin Wale – Roan Parrish

Geoff W

And a bonus Hanukkah novel for what was initially my final book in the 12 Books of MM Holiday Romance binge. I’m capping it at 16 because that’s how many I apparently had already downloaded to my Kindle ¯_(ツ)_/¯. I honestly wasn’t paying attention and as I read and removed I added more. Don’t get me wrong there will be more MM romances, but I need to save the hundreds of others for future years, right?

I say this is a bonus Hanukkah novel because I had completely forgotten this one was Hanukkah rather than Christmas based. I saw it on a holiday list, recognized Parrish’s name and had to grab it. I read Better Than People earlier in the year and found it to be beautifully written and have had a copy of In the Middle of Somewhere sitting on my Kindle since then, so yeah of course I grabbed this.

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Books

Book 669: Are You Listening? – Tillie Walden

Geoff W

When I picked this up from the library, I had some preconceived notion that it would be more along the lines of Bloom than what it ended up being. I’m not sure why I thought this. They did often appear on Best (LGBT+) Graphic Novels of 2019 lists together, but that shouldn’t really have made me think they’d be as similar as I thought they would be.

I was drawn to the illustration style on the cover as the limited use of colors reminded me of Bloom and the illustration style reminded me of Alison Bechdel’s style in Fun Home (or maybe it’s just the glasses on Lou?). Walden’s story follows Bea as she’s running away from home, we’re not told why at the beginning and Lou, a distant family friend doesn’t ask any questions. A random cat shows up (Diamond) and then the story gets really weird, like magical realism weird. [SPOILERS after the jump, including the recommendation.]

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Books

Book 306: Peaches for Father Francis (Chocolat #3) – Joanne Harris

Geoff W

Now THIS is how you end a trilogy. I assume this is the end, but I guess it could start-up again. Peaches for Father Francis picks up four years after the events of The Girl With No Shadow and eight years after the original Chocolat. I’m still so happy that I found out this was a series and that I took the time to read the second and third novels, even if it did put me behind on a few other books!

What I enjoyed most about this novel is that the magic once again took a back seat to a larger social conflict. In the middle novel, The Girl With No Shadow, magic took the front seat and that was great because middle novels are always sort of meh, but in having the magic return to less of a focal point the story, I felt, evolved much more naturally.

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Books

Book 305: The Girl With No Shadow (Chocolat #2) – Joanne Harris

Geoff W

As I said in my response to Chocolat, I had no idea there were sequels and I’m so glad I decided to read them. I haven’t started the third, Peaches for Father Frances, but I’m excited to start it soon.

Harris takes the story of Vianne and Anouk we followed in Chocolat and expands the age-old battle between good and evil. Instead of the church, this time Vianne and Anouk, now Yanne and Annie, are battling evil itself and magic takes an even more prominent role in this story than in the first. And I was glad she did! She writes about magic in such a way as to make it beautifully common.

“It took me a little longer to recognize these things as magic. Like all children reared on stories, I’d expected fireworks: magic wands and broomstick rides. The real magic of my mother’s books seemed so dull, so fustily academic, with its silly incantations and its pompous old men, that it hardly counted as magic at all.” (67)

Beautifully common, might sound like an oxymoron or an insult, but it’s not. Harris’ writes about it so matter of fact and sets it up that way in this novel, common usage versus evil usage, that you can’t help but appreciate the beauty of the magic she chooses to write about.

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