Thursday

[nightdog_barks]

Big line of storms rolled through at about 4 this morning, with lots of rain, thunder, and lightning. Apparently that helped put out a lot of the fires from the fertilizer plant explosion last night in West, Texas. You can read more about that craziness here and here. The Nightdog family is nowhere near West; we're approximately one hundred miles to the north, so we saw and heard nothing. Everybody in this area knows West, though -- it's one of the many communities settled by Czech immigrants, and the big signs for Czech bakeries (kolaches, mmm) are a truly familiar sight on I-35 for folks driving south to Houston or Galveston.

I did finish Eowyn Ivey's The Snow Child, and I have conflicting feelings about it.

The prose was great. So much love for the unvarnished portrayal of a tough Alaska winter, and I was so happy with the terrific magical realism aspect of the "snow child," Faina. But when the spell was broken, I was seriously disappointed.

See, I think Ivey constructed a sort of Schrödinger's Box, only instead of a cat, the subject was the snow child. As long as the box was closed, there was a legitimate question of whether the child was real or supernatural or some sad (or happy!) manifestation of the adult couple's imaginations. And then Ivey opened the box, and all the magic, it went away. From that point, I thought the story took on some mawkish sentimentality that wasn't there in the earlier chapters, and the less said about that feathery wedding dress, the better. I realize that the 570 Amazon reviewers who gave this novel five stars disagree completely, but hey, it's just my opinion.

So ... I loved a good three-quarters of it? I'm not sorry I read it -- I was just unhappy with the author's ... authorial choice.



Started reading Stephen Harrigan's Remember Ben Clayton, and so far it is pretty good.

Everything green is still growing; should be ready to transplant some of the tomatoes this weekend.

Anything else? Oh, watched the Sabres/Bruins last night. Terrific game.

Comments

[aries_ascendant]

"See, I think Ivey constructed a sort of Schrödinger's Box, only instead of a cat, the subject was the snow child. "

That's a very good way to put it.

Despite the mawkishness, you knew she was going to leave/change as soon as she put on the dress. Faina was the swan. Sort of. I think. ;) And Ivey used death as a symbol of change.

That being said, I didn't like the last fourth of the book as much either. I don't understand why she didn't just run off with her mountain man and disappear into the wilderness. Leave the baby with the couple that wants it. She was never going to be able to live indoors.

Did you ever decide if she was really real or not? I'm happiest believing she had been real at some point, died and was actually some sort of woodlawn/child spirit that manifested for a few short years. (I'm reaching. I know. But it makes the book make more sense)

ETA: I'm glad that you and your loved ones are far away from West. I almost sent you a message to make sure.

[nightdog_barks]

I closed the book thinking she was real, and I didn't like that. I think her being real took all the magic away, and raised more questions in my mind about how a small child could've survived all those years in such harsh conditions. As long as I believed she wasn't real, those questions didn't matter, but once the neighbors saw her and Garrett fell in love with her, she was real. I didn't mind her disappearing at the end, but I would've liked for her to disappear without me the reader knowing whether she was real or not. Maybe part of the problem for me was that the book went on too long, so Ivey felt compelled to resolve the mystery? IDK. I think I would have preferred a shorter book that kept the mystery alive. :D