Spinning Silver in Into the Forest

Jan 21, 2020 Kate Forsyth rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, fairytale-retelling

My eldest son put a pile of Naomi Novik’s books on my bedside table years ago and said, ‘you must read these, Mum, you’d love them.’ But I didn’t read them (I was busy, so many books, so little time, you know how it goes.) Her books got pushed to the back of the shelf, and spun over with cobwebs, and furred over with dust, and sank away out of sight under the weight of all the other books.

Then a writer-friend of mine, Anna Campbell, asked me on Twitter if I’d read Spinning Silver yet, and I had ...more

21 likes · Like · see review

Dec 21, 2018 Jalilah rated it really liked it

Shelves: mythic-fiction, folk-fairy-tales, fantasy-and-science-fiction, fae-faeries

This book is a fairy tale lovers delight! The tale it's most obviously influenced by is Rumpelstiltskin, however it is loaded with all kind of other tales. It's a perfect book to read on a cold winter day, fun, compelling with interesting characters! ...more

8 likes · Like · see review

Mar 21, 2019 Tam G rated it it was amazing

Shelves: history-historical, fantasy, fable-or-fairy-tale, women-s-issues

Wow.

I'm responding to the audio version read by Lisa Flanagan, which is stellar. It can be difficult to voice characters who obviously speak a language other than English without giving a pidgin or limited language affect (more obvious in the reading of Novik's book Uprooted). It's even harder to voice multiple characters of different classes or people groups. Again, we're somewhat familiar with class accents in English (cockney vs. Oxford or Bronx vs. Wall Street), but it's harder for us to im Wow.

I'm responding to the audio version read by Lisa Flanagan, which is stellar. It can be difficult to voice characters who obviously speak a language other than English without giving a pidgin or limited language affect (more obvious in the reading of Novik's book Uprooted). It's even harder to voice multiple characters of different classes or people groups. Again, we're somewhat familiar with class accents in English (cockney vs. Oxford or Bronx vs. Wall Street), but it's harder for us to imagine a Russian peasant vs. a Russian Jewish woman vs. a Duke's daughter. Flanagan does it all well, never letting us think down to the peasant, but still making her a unique voice.

The same is true of Novik's work. Novik's peasant is much different than her Jewish moneylender, who is different from the Tsarina. None of these women come off as less intelligent or just 'less' than the others, but even so Novik gets across the concreteness of the peasantry vs. the political finesse of the gentry. She also manages to allow the characters to be who they are unapologetically. The moneylender is allowed to be tough-minded and assertive, even as her parents are allowed to be empathetic and passive. Neither is considered less of a person for who they are. Even when the main characters actions are opposed, we understand the personal necessity of their choices.

This sense of balance works it's way through the tale. Often stories which follow more than one person suffer from imbalance. You would rather be with one character more than the other. I didn't feel that happen here. Even the non-magical character, Wanda, is essential to the story, and the story told by her, or her brother Stephan, is deeply moving.

The story itself is an interesting mix of many things; Jewish wonder tales, the power of names, Rumpulstilskin, Russian tales of saints, high, cold elves in the Tolkein sense, fire demons (which still reminds me of Howl's Moving Castle and probably will forever), the protective mother entering another object to watch over her children in death, dual worlds, dual villains. Each of these blended confidently into the whole.

Really well done fantasy and probably the best book I've read in a few years. Highly recommended.
...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Feb 02, 2019 Emily rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, fiction, read-in-2019

Rumpelstiltskin-y with marginalized Jews in Tsarist Russia and alternate world fairies. And Chernobog. I enjoyed the book. I enjoyed the characterizations and the different points of view. I also appreciated that one of the main characters was from a marginalized Jewish family of moneylenders, and the author talked about how the Jews were treated.

2 likes · Like · see review

Nov 13, 2018 Annette rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: into-the-forest-2018, audiobook, books-by-women, 2018

An excellent re-telling! I listened to the Audible version & re-read a little on my kindle. My only issue is that the POV of the Audible version switched a bit too abruptly.

Like · see review