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PLA #3 - House of Many Ways
Mar. 30th, 2008 02:13 pmSo I got to read Diana Wynne Jones's new book, House of Many Ways.
It was very enjoyable, of course. There were lots of bits about the frustrations of household tasks (which I loved), and the odd things you do and don't give up when you're broke (which amused me a lot). And the name of a particular new kind of nasty thing reminded me very much of the name of a small town in Texas infamous for its backwards ideas in the sexual education of the young, and also for its subsequent correlative and probably causally linked problems with teen pregnancy and teen STIs. This caused me much entertainment that I cannot decide whether or not the author intended me to experience. Either way it added to the book.
Charmain is an excellent character, and extremely satisfying things are done with Howl. The untrustworthiness of books, letters, and history in general provided a bit of a motif. Practically no one was the person or thing that they appeared to be. In some ways this book felt like its aboutness had a great deal to do with books themselves, and with reading - the resentment that bookish persons feel when they must stop reading to do the dishes or the laundry or to cook dinner, the way in which bookish persons will be frustrated by great and exciting events because it is keeping them from getting back to their books, etc.
I am trying to write very very vaguely because the book is in galley and I don't want to spoil anyone's fun. I'm hoping that some of the kids where I work will enjoy the galley as much as I did.
It was very enjoyable, of course. There were lots of bits about the frustrations of household tasks (which I loved), and the odd things you do and don't give up when you're broke (which amused me a lot). And the name of a particular new kind of nasty thing reminded me very much of the name of a small town in Texas infamous for its backwards ideas in the sexual education of the young, and also for its subsequent correlative and probably causally linked problems with teen pregnancy and teen STIs. This caused me much entertainment that I cannot decide whether or not the author intended me to experience. Either way it added to the book.
Charmain is an excellent character, and extremely satisfying things are done with Howl. The untrustworthiness of books, letters, and history in general provided a bit of a motif. Practically no one was the person or thing that they appeared to be. In some ways this book felt like its aboutness had a great deal to do with books themselves, and with reading - the resentment that bookish persons feel when they must stop reading to do the dishes or the laundry or to cook dinner, the way in which bookish persons will be frustrated by great and exciting events because it is keeping them from getting back to their books, etc.
I am trying to write very very vaguely because the book is in galley and I don't want to spoil anyone's fun. I'm hoping that some of the kids where I work will enjoy the galley as much as I did.
