The Snow Child

            The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey is delightful but not without faults. The novel follows the lives of Mabel and John, two Alaskan homesteaders. Their lives are hard—Alaska is barren, and they tend rough land and hunt for food. They are also childless, a fact that has created a great rift between them. Their lives are very desolate at the beginning of the novel. They have little interaction with each other or anyone else. As the novel progresses, however, they befriend their neighbors, Esther and George, and taheir sons.

           
The crux of the novel, though, is the story of little Faina, a girl who appears one night in their yard after they build a snow child on their lawn in the first flurry of the season. Faina’s story is part harsh reality, part mysticism, and the girl quickly becomes like a child to the old couple. Mabel believes she is a snow child, like that in a story she heard as a child. The girl appears to walk on snow without really sinking in; she cannot stand the heat and disappears every year at the end of winter. Remarkably, she can survive alone in the brutal Alaskan wilderness. To John, Faina appears a feral child. He knows that her father is dead, for the child lead John to her father’s lifeless body one day. As the novel progresses, Mabel and John’s opinion of Faina change and change again. The reader is left wondering: how mystical and magical is the child? And how fallibly real is she?

           
There are some great things about this novel. The story of John, Mabel, and Faina is mimetic of the tale that Mabel knew as a child—that of an old couple who builds a snow child only to have her come to life but disappear every spring. This feature is interesting, and I enjoyed some of the underlying criticism of fairy tales (they are often very cruel even though they are meant for children). The characters, although a bit stereotypical at times, are enjoyable. The portrait of Alaskan homesteading was particularly fascinating for me, since it is a part of American history I knew nothing about.

           
I spent a long time trying to figure out what was “wrong” with the novel. As I was reading it, I knew it had shortcomings but couldn’t totally pinpoint them. I think, however, it lies in the fact that at times the dialogue seemed a bit stale or halted. Sometimes I wondered if this was just supposed to be halted because of the time period of the novel and the way people spoke back then, but I am not sure. Ivey did a pretty good job with everything else. Like I said, at times the characters seemed stereotypical, but they rounded themselves out as the novel progressed, although perhaps not as fully as they could have. The final portion of the story seemed a little too rushed, and the first part a little too slow. The pacing simply needed a small shift.

          
In spite of my criticisms, I did enjoy The Snow Child. If you like fantasy novels that have mere elements of magic and not a completely transformed world, I would recommend this book. 

Night Flying

Night Flying by Rita Murphy is a tiny little book, clocking in at just over 120 pages. It’s a nice book to read when you need some fast yet fulfilling fiction. I read this one a few years ago, and re-read it this week while I was waiting for a book in come in at the library. The premise is about, well, night flying.

Narrator Georgia Louisa Hansen is from a family of female fliers. Her Great-Great-Great Grandmother Louisa Hansen lost her husband and baby boy in a boating accident in the 1800s. She used to fly out across the water at night in her sleep looking for her loved ones. Thus, the flying gene was passed down but only to the Hansen women.

The Hansen women are one for rules. Only fly at night. Only eat meat. No men allowed. Do not fly alone until you are 16. No pets allowed. Fifteen-year old Georgia’s life is regimented by these rules, which are enforced by her grandmother. Her mother, Maeve, a frail woman, is not allowed to fly. Georgia learns the way of the skies through her aunts Suki and Eva. The three sisters, Grandmother, and George make up the Hansen household. George has never met her father. 

The women never have to worry about money. Georgia’s great-grandfather created a special part that makes flushing a toilet easier, and the women live off of the inheritance, or as they call it the “toilet money.” Georgia’s grandmother threatens banishment from their estate and the seizing of their “toilet money” if the sisters or Georgia break any rules. Georgia’s Aunt Carmen was banished from the family after she broke the rule—Georgia has never been clear on the details.  

But when the week of Georgia’s sixteenth birthday rolls around, Carmen flies into town (literally), and family secrets begin to creep out of the Hansen sisters. And a rebellion against Grandmother’s rules slowly starts.

There are a few gaps—for example, I would have liked to understand the grandmother’s relationship with her husband. What happened in their marriage? Was he banned from the premises? The grandmother refused to let any of her children have a man around—for fear they will challenge her authority—but how did she have four kids with the same man? He must have been around for at least a few years.

Night Flying is a wonderful little piece of young adult fantasy, and a great piece for the young feminist reader. It’s about strong women, making their own rules, and fighting oppression (in the form of the grandmother character). In some ways, it appears very radical—with the “no men allowed” rules and all. However, as the book goes on, those old rules begin to dissolve and the reader is left with strong women who are not anti-man, but anti-authoritarian. A quick google search finds Night Flying on many lists of young adult feminist books, like this one. I definitely recommend this one for a quick, thoughtful, feminist read. 

The Cabinet of Earths

So I've been writing for Yahoo! Contributor Network, and I reviewed this children's book for their site. Not what I usually review, but check it out anyway! It was a cute book. Also, I will be writing a review of Eleanor Brown's The Weird Sisters within the next day or two, so check back!

My review of The Cabinet of Earths by Anne Nesbet.