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lizshayne 's review for:
The Magicians and Mrs. Quent
by Galen Beckett
I'm...nearly positive that I read this book before because I definitely remember the "starts out in Jane Austen, lands squarely in Charlotte Bronte" feel.
Which it totally does.
And it's no less abrupt when I know that it's coming. Although I suspect I stopped reading this book in the middle the first time because I remember the first half quite clearly and the second half not at ALL.
I think whether it works or not, in some ways, depends on the reader's familiarity with the larger 19th century oeuvre. That is, if you are mapping everyone and everything onto Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre, it feels like a confusing pastiche. But I think Beckett's actually being much cleverer than that.
First of all, it's OBVIOUSLY not Pride and Prejudice; it's Sense and Sensibility. Three sisters - the eldest is the responsible one, the middle feels deeply, the third is immature, and they survive based on what their mother owns. Come on! You get one annoying cousin who owns the house and its like people forget Austen wrote any other books.
Beckett's basically mining the entire 19th century for his cast, which pushes it past derivative into intentional homage. The first half is Sense and Sensibility (with a little P&P) meets the first half of the Picture of Dorian Gray. (Rafferdy is DARCY? Please. Lord Henry Wotton. Eldyn is Dorian and also kind of Jean Valjean.) Then, in an incredibly abrupt switch, we're wandering around the intersection of Jane Eyre and The Turn of the Screw. Which is also a really clever comment on just how perilous the Dashwoods' situation is. With Mrs. Danvers from Rebecca thrown in (which, yes, is 20th century but it is itself a Jane Eyre homage so we go with it). The only thing Beckett doesn't quite get is the house, but he's close. And then leave Bronte-land and end up somewhere new, with all the same characters and with a practically Dickensian plot to tie it all up.
It works. It really works. It might be a problem that it clearly doesn't work as well if you are less familiar with Beckett's source material, but I had such fun with it.
Also, I REALLY want to know how the variable length days work.
Which it totally does.
And it's no less abrupt when I know that it's coming. Although I suspect I stopped reading this book in the middle the first time because I remember the first half quite clearly and the second half not at ALL.
I think whether it works or not, in some ways, depends on the reader's familiarity with the larger 19th century oeuvre. That is, if you are mapping everyone and everything onto Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre, it feels like a confusing pastiche. But I think Beckett's actually being much cleverer than that.
First of all, it's OBVIOUSLY not Pride and Prejudice; it's Sense and Sensibility. Three sisters - the eldest is the responsible one, the middle feels deeply, the third is immature, and they survive based on what their mother owns. Come on! You get one annoying cousin who owns the house and its like people forget Austen wrote any other books.
Beckett's basically mining the entire 19th century for his cast, which pushes it past derivative into intentional homage. The first half is Sense and Sensibility (with a little P&P) meets the first half of the Picture of Dorian Gray. (Rafferdy is DARCY? Please. Lord Henry Wotton. Eldyn is Dorian and also kind of Jean Valjean.) Then, in an incredibly abrupt switch, we're wandering around the intersection of Jane Eyre and The Turn of the Screw. Which is also a really clever comment on just how perilous the Dashwoods' situation is. With Mrs. Danvers from Rebecca thrown in (which, yes, is 20th century but it is itself a Jane Eyre homage so we go with it). The only thing Beckett doesn't quite get is the house, but he's close. And then leave Bronte-land and end up somewhere new, with all the same characters and with a practically Dickensian plot to tie it all up.
It works. It really works. It might be a problem that it clearly doesn't work as well if you are less familiar with Beckett's source material, but I had such fun with it.
Also, I REALLY want to know how the variable length days work.