Lifelode in The Alternative Worlds

Dec 25, 2010 Nicky rated it it was amazing

Shelves: queer, welsh-writing, fantasy

I've loved everything I've read by Jo Walton, but it's so hard to rate them in relation to each other, because they're each so different. I enjoyed Lifelode more than Tooth and Claw, but perhaps less than Farthing -- yet I rated both four stars. I loved Among Others most of all her work so far, and I'm not sure Lifelode matches up... Maybe I should be rating all her work that I've read so far five stars, except Tooth and Claw.

Her range of work is fascinating. Her books are not like each other, a ...more

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Jun 04, 2010 Wealhtheow rated it really liked it

Shelves: pocmaincharacters, sci-fi, fantasy, queer-characters

The farther you go east, the more magic and freedom you have, until at last you are not even yourself. The farther you go west, the less magic and freedom you have, until you are practically a statue going through motions. Between these extremes lie the Marches, where folk can live much as we do in our world, and within the Marches is Applekirk, a sleepy little town. This is the story of one summer in the lives of the family that lives in Applekirk Manor.

It's a homey story, told mostly through t The farther you go east, the more magic and freedom you have, until at last you are not even yourself. The farther you go west, the less magic and freedom you have, until you are practically a statue going through motions. Between these extremes lie the Marches, where folk can live much as we do in our world, and within the Marches is Applekirk, a sleepy little town. This is the story of one summer in the lives of the family that lives in Applekirk Manor.

It's a homey story, told mostly through the housekeeper. From her perspective, the details of a magical trial by ordeal are obscured by the necessity of comforting a baby, and a siege is mostly about making sure there are enough beds and food for everyone. By which I mean, a lot of exciting things happen, and I as a reader was certainly engrossed in them, but we see them through very distinct eyes in a way that never lets us forget the way epic moments are not so epic for everyone, and that there is mundane work underpinning every great deed.

I really liked the details of this book. They tell us so much about how the world works, without ever actually stopping the story to explain. Just knowing that the housekeeper husbands her pepper wisely, and that visitors from the east find her food overspiced and from the west, bland, is so informative. Or the way time has passed for Hanethe, who has traveled, is an excellent way of explaining the time dilation that occurs with magic. This time dilation effect is one of the coolest and weirdest parts of the story, for me. The other is how the gods work, (view spoiler). Perhaps because of this weirdness of time, perhaps because certain magical folk can see multiple time points simultaneously, or perhaps to mirror other stories about family houses, the tale is told in the present tense, even things that happened in the past or the future, which gives the feeling that everything is happening at the same time. It took getting used to--the first 20 to 30 pages were quite strange to me--but after that I liked it.

I liked the way we see a little different view of each character depending upon who's seeing them: stolid Taveth and her family see Gislain as soppy, romantic Chayra sees her as equally romantic, and academic Jankin sees her ecstatic piety. And she's just a minor character who only gets a few lines! Walton describes the feudal ties that bind up society in a wonderful way; it's so rare to read fantasy that feels like it gets that system of shared obligations and tradition right. And I love her family set up, where marriage is a contract but not one that requires or precludes love. The family living in Applekirk Manor is made up of four adults in love with each other and their children. The events in Lifelode test their relationships in very natural ways; I liked that their arrangement was so ordinary and relatable. Characters are asexual, bisexual, poly, monogamous, all very casually and matter of factly. It's equally casually absent a lot of -isms, to the extent that even I was surprised. Here's an example of what I mean: (view spoiler) I'm used to female warriors in fantasy novels, but they are pretty much always presented as special, an exception. It kinda shocked me to read an unnamed soldier being a woman as though that was just as unexceptional as anything. Characters are a variety of colors and shapes, but it has no more import than someone having long fingers and another short--it's just aesthetic preferences. I loved it! This kind of thoughtful reimagining of how societies can work is exactly the kind of worldbuilding I like best, far more than someone explaining to me how the FTL drives work.

So, in all: I am so impressed and pleased that this book tries to tell a small scale story (even though big scale things happen), I thought the style was pleasingly unconventional, and I liked the way it was all woven together. ...more

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Jun 18, 2010 Sarah rated it really liked it

Shelves: speculative-fiction

I was a history major in college, and my favorite classes were always those that dealt with social history: how people lived, rather than wars and borders and treaties. This book seems as if it comes directly from those classes. It's a novel that inhabits a place and time fully, taking note of the disruptions that become what we commonly term history.

I loved the author's comprehensive and confident vision of her creation, from the culture to the religion to the food. I loved the domestic quality ...more

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Nov 09, 2010 Lori rated it really liked it

What a lovely book! Don't have time to write a review now, but that's no reflection on how much I enjoyed this, and also thought about the characters while not reading, and what the book had to say. Needless to say, housekeeping is most definitely NOT my lifelode, yet that's what I am. And from witnessing the absolute art form of Taveth's housekeeping, my new, made up recipe last night was a huge success!

But this book is most definitely not about housekeeping, it's finding our life work that is ...more

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Apr 18, 2011 Maree rated it liked it

It was interesting, but not really a riveting read for me. For one thing, very little about the world and the way it worked was explained in the beginning, so I was constantly confused by terms and things that these people took for granted as being normal parts of their lives. There's a way to do it well in a book, but I didn't think that this did it. By the end, I did understand what was going on, but I was rather frustrated by the beginning's lack of explanation. I realize it was probably the It was interesting, but not really a riveting read for me. For one thing, very little about the world and the way it worked was explained in the beginning, so I was constantly confused by terms and things that these people took for granted as being normal parts of their lives. There's a way to do it well in a book, but I didn't think that this did it. By the end, I did understand what was going on, but I was rather frustrated by the beginning's lack of explanation. I realize it was probably the author's intent to throw the reader headlong into the world, but it didn't quite work for me.

Everything else about the book was pretty fine. As the story was centered on a town, and therefore unmovable, the adventure had to come to them, as it did in the form of Jankins, the scholar, as well as the great grandmother of the current Lord (H-whatever, don't remember how to spell it). And trouble follows her even more, so there's definitely some action in the book. However, the story is more about family and love than anything else, as is later revealed in the reason for great-grandma's coming.

In Walton's world, there is marriage, but there are also sweetmates who can live with the family as well as lovers to the married couples. One would think that if it was going to be put into a book, it would work well as a family dynamic, but there are still a lot of hurt feelings and jealousy between the women at least, despite their being older adults. This doesn't seem to suggest that this is the way to go, so I'm not sure what point the book is trying to make.

(view spoiler)

The yeya added an interesting aspect to the otherwise plain working world of a farming town. I guess you could call it a type of magic, though everyone has it to a certain extent. I especially liked the idea of certain winds blowing in from various directions causing problems and how everyone seemed to think very carefully about their emotions and where they were coming from to make sure they weren't being affected by the ill winds.

I also liked how time was different as one moved from west to east and how everyone accepted that as completely normal. It was sometimes confusing remembering which was which, but I'd chock that down to my own lack of memory skills rather than a problem with the author.

Overall, good story, some nice action, an interesting world, but nothing that really made me sit up and pay attention. ...more

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Aug 31, 2011 Michelle rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, feminism, award_winner

a couple of years back, there was a news story about a virtuoso violinist who played in a DC metro station during rush hour, just to see if anyone would stop and appreciate beauty in the midst of everyday life (sadly, few did). this book is the literary equivalent: a lovely example of an artist in fine form, on an intimate, personal scale.

Taveth is the housekeeper of the country manor house of her village. she "sees through time", catching echoes of future events and past selves in everyday lif ...more

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