Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Libyrinth, A Fabulous Adventure on a Strange World of the Future, by Pearl North and Wildthorn by Jane Eagland

Okay two books this time.

I did a binge a the library this week and raided the YA section, so I have a ton of books that I am working on reading. Yes, I do book binges and get 10-11 books at a time. I usually include a few non-fiction books so that I don't completely run out of reading material. (Non-fiction always takes me a lot longer to read than fiction)

Librinth, A Fabulous Adventure on a Strange World of the Future, By Pearl North

So this on is about a girl, Haly who is a clerk in a gigantic Library, known as the Libyrinth. People have been known to get lost in this library. This book is set in a futuristic type world with people who obviously came from Earth at some point in time. There are the Singers, who are a group of people who believe that any written word is evil. The are slowly taking over the lands that protect the Libyrinth and plan to destroy the Libyrinth once they get their hands on a book called "The Book of Night". Haly's supervisor discovers the place where the book is and they embark, with her friend from the kitchens, to find the book and save the Libyrinth.

I liked this book because the characters are so gun-ho to save the written word. I could totally relate to that desire, and I ached every time the Singers felt obligated to destroy a book. The book was well written and the characters developed nicely. The world was creative and had a bit of a throw-back from Ancient Greece civilization. I also liked the author's thoroughness in creating a real history and even mythology for the civilizations that all came together at the end. Overall worth a read! I thought it was well executed story, with interesting characters and a capturing plot line. It is the first in a series and I'm eager to read the next two books.

But I'll be honest. I hate it sometimes when people feel the need to trumpet their option on some current political topic. This one kept discussing the characters sexuality. I mean WHY? That is personal, private and not really a discussion for books. It is a discussion for children with their parents. Okay, I'm getting off my soapbox.

Well, okay I'm going to have to get back on it, just for a bit...

The next book I want to talk about is Wildthorn, by Jane Eagland.

This one is interesting because it is set in the Victorian time about a young woman who is thought too "mannish" and is declared insane and taken to an insane asylum. It is about her experiences in this asylum, which includes being chained to a bed, as was common during this time period. People of the time didn't really know how to help those that were considered "insane" or even different. There was even a belief that a woman who didn't want "womanly" things had a problems and should be declared insane.

The perspective of the insane asylum is interesting, especially the injustices that were inflicted on the poor patients, including a young woman who had obviously been raped and miscarried her step-father's child, but the doctors and nurses wouldn't believe her. This was a very true concept of the times, as something so shocking as that wasn't accepted in polite society. That's actually what Freud was widely believed to have discovered, but no one would believe him, so he had to change his conclusions to things about the Oedipus complex (at least this is what I'm remembering from my psychology class, many many moons ago).

Once again, it kind of annoys me when YA novels address sexuality. This character discovers that she is attracted to women. Once again, needs to be addressed in the home, not on so public a platform as a novel or even in schools. I personally don't agree with same-sex marriage, but that isn't really the problem that I have. Any discussion of sexuality really should be done with parents. Okay, once again off my soapbox....

Anyways, I recommend the second as an interesting read about insane asylums in the Victorian period, it isn't really a fanciful book or anything like that. It is more of a social dilemma read. But I'll be honest when I say that I wouldn't read it again.

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