Post by Chirugal on Sept 30, 2010 19:38:37 GMT
I've been crazy busy lately, so apologies for the lateness of this! Here's my review of Glitter Rose:
***
First things first: Glitter Rose is the best book with a bright pink cover that I've ever read. ;D It's also the first sci-fi themed pink book I've ever read.
I'm not the kind of girl who reads pink books, not to put too fine a point on it. Pink books are girly chick-lit books, for the most part - and I avoid them on purpose! But for Marianne, I made an exception, and I'm really glad I did. Her collection is neither chick-lit nor girly.
Glitter Rose takes place on an island named Carmine, which is infected with dangerous, genetically altering spores. Not the kind of place you'd normally choose to go, no matter how pretty the glitter rose dusks are.
But the main character, Tinashi, goes there anyway, and without revealing the exact hows and whys (that would ruin the first short story within the collection, Glimmer-by-Dark), she decides to stay.
The three main characters are all women - Tinashi is the first-person narrator, and her newfound friends are Lauren and Katrin, a lesbian couple with a gorgeous, understated relationship.
In fact, I think 'understated' can be applied to most of the Glitter Rose collection. It's not action-packed, for the most part, and it's not flashy or showy (just gently glittery). We don't learn about Lauren and Katrin's relationship until a little while after we're introduced to them as characters in their own right, separate from each other. Similarly, while I read, I never got a sense of any kind of ethnic background from Tinashi, who is revealed a good halfway through the book to be black.
Sexuality and ethnicity are portrayed with no prejudice or bias - as a lesbian myself, I've mostly found 'minority' characters in fiction to either be very 'here and queer/transgendered/black/Asian/Hispanic/insert-other-minority-in-white-society-here', or else negatively portrayed. That Marianne puts no positve or negative slant on any of the above things is something I've admired in her work before, and she uses it to particularly good effect in this collection.
The science fiction element to the stories is very downplayed, too. Rather than spaceships and aliens running all over the place, yelling "THIS - IS - SCI-FIIIII!", Marianne describes the fantastical aspects of her world quite casually, dropping in mentions of spores and mutations amidst descriptions of hiring a shack and taking a walk to find it.
You really get the sense that Carmine is a very isolated place, with its own societal rules and attitudes imposed, rather than the ones we're used to in the real world. On the other hand, it isn't a slap in the face - it's gently guided into the reader's subconscious, and it sticks. By the time that unusual things begin to happen, you're far enough into the atmosphere of the island that it seems absolutely plausible.
Considering that there are only four short stories set on Carmine, and the book's short enough to read in one sitting, it's a brilliant achievement. The characters are interesting, the setting is beautiful and the plot of each short story is compelling. The overall effect is hypnotic, and you won't stop reading until you're finished (or unless you suddenly realise the bus has stopped and everyone else except the driver has already gotten off - this happened to me!).
The bonus story, In the Bookshadow, is set in the 'real world', and it's a supernatural tale that takes place in a bookshop. It has a very cool twist that left me smiling, and it does a good job of drawing your mind back from Carmine toward reality again... well, mostly. You should read it last, anyway.
Buy this book. Read this book. Love this book.
That is all. ;D
***
First things first: Glitter Rose is the best book with a bright pink cover that I've ever read. ;D It's also the first sci-fi themed pink book I've ever read.
I'm not the kind of girl who reads pink books, not to put too fine a point on it. Pink books are girly chick-lit books, for the most part - and I avoid them on purpose! But for Marianne, I made an exception, and I'm really glad I did. Her collection is neither chick-lit nor girly.
Glitter Rose takes place on an island named Carmine, which is infected with dangerous, genetically altering spores. Not the kind of place you'd normally choose to go, no matter how pretty the glitter rose dusks are.
But the main character, Tinashi, goes there anyway, and without revealing the exact hows and whys (that would ruin the first short story within the collection, Glimmer-by-Dark), she decides to stay.
The three main characters are all women - Tinashi is the first-person narrator, and her newfound friends are Lauren and Katrin, a lesbian couple with a gorgeous, understated relationship.
In fact, I think 'understated' can be applied to most of the Glitter Rose collection. It's not action-packed, for the most part, and it's not flashy or showy (just gently glittery). We don't learn about Lauren and Katrin's relationship until a little while after we're introduced to them as characters in their own right, separate from each other. Similarly, while I read, I never got a sense of any kind of ethnic background from Tinashi, who is revealed a good halfway through the book to be black.
Sexuality and ethnicity are portrayed with no prejudice or bias - as a lesbian myself, I've mostly found 'minority' characters in fiction to either be very 'here and queer/transgendered/black/Asian/Hispanic/insert-other-minority-in-white-society-here', or else negatively portrayed. That Marianne puts no positve or negative slant on any of the above things is something I've admired in her work before, and she uses it to particularly good effect in this collection.
The science fiction element to the stories is very downplayed, too. Rather than spaceships and aliens running all over the place, yelling "THIS - IS - SCI-FIIIII!", Marianne describes the fantastical aspects of her world quite casually, dropping in mentions of spores and mutations amidst descriptions of hiring a shack and taking a walk to find it.
You really get the sense that Carmine is a very isolated place, with its own societal rules and attitudes imposed, rather than the ones we're used to in the real world. On the other hand, it isn't a slap in the face - it's gently guided into the reader's subconscious, and it sticks. By the time that unusual things begin to happen, you're far enough into the atmosphere of the island that it seems absolutely plausible.
Considering that there are only four short stories set on Carmine, and the book's short enough to read in one sitting, it's a brilliant achievement. The characters are interesting, the setting is beautiful and the plot of each short story is compelling. The overall effect is hypnotic, and you won't stop reading until you're finished (or unless you suddenly realise the bus has stopped and everyone else except the driver has already gotten off - this happened to me!).
The bonus story, In the Bookshadow, is set in the 'real world', and it's a supernatural tale that takes place in a bookshop. It has a very cool twist that left me smiling, and it does a good job of drawing your mind back from Carmine toward reality again... well, mostly. You should read it last, anyway.
Buy this book. Read this book. Love this book.
That is all. ;D