In college I had a hard time choosing a major. English seemed like the logical choice since I loved literature, but it wasn’t enough. I finally settled on the Humanities, b/c that allowed (required) me to study religion, history, languages, and the arts. I took film courses, tried my hand at drawing, and studied Italian. There were only two or three other black girls at my college, so I don’t think my odd course selections made me stand out in any way (or more than I already did). There was no “typical” way of being black, is what I mean to say. The handful of black guys mostly played football or rugby; I don’t think anyone ever noticed me, introverted and asocial as I was, and that freed me in a way to pursue my various interests. My roommate, Lucy, was a blond-haired, blue-eyed sorority girl of German descent; despite our many differences, we bonded early on over our shared family drama–divorced parents, wacko stepmothers, older sisters who stole the spotlight. When Lucy went to NYC with her sorors, she brought me a print of a medieval tapestry that hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. For my birthday, she gave me a small book about fairies. She loved Renaissance art, I loved medieval history. No one expected a blond sorority girl to subscribe to Architectural Digest and I suppose no one expected me to be fascinated by The Lord of the Rings. I don’t know why I stopped reading fantasy; I guess I wanted to keep my two lives separate. By the end of college, Lucy and I were barely speaking. I had discovered postcolonial literature, Mary J. Blige, and Toni Morrison. I wrote long op-eds for the school paper about the misguided aims of Martin Luther King’s dream. I moved to NYC and bought two bookcases—I had my “pre-conversion” books (Tolkien, Austen, Bronte, Dickens, etc.) and my “post-conversion” books, which were written by black authors. Now I only have one bookcase, and for the most part, my books are no longer segregated. All this is to say that I still have a fondness for fairy tales, though I no longer read them the way I did when I was fourteen. Ordinarily, a re-telling of the Cinderella story would not appeal to me. But when Ari raved about Ash (read her review here; read Susan’s review here), and I learned the author was a woman of color (Chinese American Malindo Lo), I decided to give it a try. I don’t write sci-fi or fantasy, and have often felt my imagination wouldn’t be up to the task of creating new worlds populated by alien beings. But if I did decide to rewrite a fairy tale, there are a lot of things I would change. Malindo Lo has done something remarkable by giving her Cinderella figure, Aisling, the chance to reject both a powerful male fairy and the human king’s wealthy son. She opts instead for the King’s Huntress, Kaisa, who holds a special place in court and is widely admired for her skill at tracking and slaying stags. That’s a pretty radical move, and I especially liked how Aisling’s attraction to the fairy king, Sidhean, was more the power of an enchantment than her own free will. Aisling is lonely and intrigued by the mysterious fairies she reads about in books, but when she’s actually close to Sidhean, his magical powers overwhelm her—he summons and dismisses her, and rarely offers any real comfort or tenderness. I like the real-life implications of that idea—that women somehow succumb to a feeling about men that isn’t entirely genuine when not rooted in equality. Sidhean is ageless, of course, but it was also kind of creepy that he knew Aisling’s mother, Elinor, when she was a girl, and then waited several years for Aisling to be old enough to “claim.” Turns out Elinor was strong enough to resist Sidhean’s seduction, and instead cursed him to fall in love with a human girl (not knowing that would be her own daughter). Unfortunately, we don’t learn any of this until the very end of the book. Pacing was an issue for me, though the writing is so lovely you might forget that nothing has actually happened. All the passion and daring is reserved for the fairy tales Aisling reads and recounts to others; between characters in the book there is a curious reserve, perhaps meant to be reminiscent of the restraint demanded by medieval courtly traditions? My main disappointment, however, was that the characters were clearly white (in my mind, at least). Since the author is of color, I wrongly assumed her characters would be as well, but aside from the bisexual triangle, nothing else about this fairy tale breaks with convention. I have low tolerance now for “eyes blue as sapphire,” slender white throats that flush pink with excitement, or long blond braids snaking down a heroine’s back. If Kaisa was this important, strong, skillful woman, let her DO something with those skills! More than once we hear a fairy tale about a huntress who defies the fairies in the name of love—yet Kaisa never gets this chance. Even Aisling is a bit too timid for my tastes—she runs away once, but returns to her servant’s life in her stepmother’s home; aside from one or two impertinent remarks that earn her a slap across the face, the girl hardly does anything to shape her own destiny (until the very end, and even that occurs without a test or struggle). Sidhean is invested with too much automatic power—he never tries to tempt Aisling by showing her the (illusory) wonders of his world….basically, this book lacked excitement, which is what I expect from the fantasy genre. The writing is beautiful, and there are lovely descriptions of nature and the silks and jewels worn by the women to various balls and masquerades. There’s a lot of longing, but there isn’t a lot of passion or drama, and I would like to have seen viable examples of same-sex couples in Aisling’s world—was it forbidden? or just the stuff of lore–a holdover from the Old Days when women (witches) had more power? I feel like I need to reread The Mists of Avalon now…or try some adult fantasy where characters are either “umarked” in terms of race, or explicitly racially diverse. I think my fourteen-year old self would have devoured this book. But I’m a grown-up now…
breaking with convention
January 9, 2010 by elliottzetta
Posted in race & gender, reviews, speculative fiction, young adult novels | 12 Comments
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Disappointed to hear you didn’t love it, but at least you tried it 🙂
I agree that it’s easy to forget nothing happened because the writing is so beautiful and I think that same sex couples were the nrom (everyone assumed Ash and Kaisa had something going on early on and no one looked down on them for it).
I like how you get personal in your reviews, revaling yourself and what makes you, you. I would have been lonely at first being one out of three black girls at my school.
I *did* like it, and I’m glad your review pushed me to get it from the library. It was an interesting reading experience b/c I was impressed with the writing and intrigued by the premise, but wondered at the lack of “adventure” (as I think of it)–like when Ash asks Sidhean to go to the hunt–I thought something major was about to happen (would she be discovered?), or that Kaisa would find a way to repay the debt and free Ash…maybe *I* am the one who couldn’t break with my conventional expectations…reading this book did make me think I could rewrite a fairy tale, though, and that’s exciting (for me!). And it was lonely at my college–I made every effort to “disappear” (holing up my dorm room, studying abroad) but once I connected with one of the other black girls, my life changed…and we’re close friends even today!
Zetta,
I’m glad read Ash. Your reviews always make me think. They also nudge me to consider how I can raise the bar in my own writing. I reviewed Ash. How did you miss it? 🙂
In college, my discovery was women’s literature in general. I was already reading and seeking out black writers but black women feminists and feminism from an academic perspective was new and exciting for me.
I attended a small college when I started my college career and unlike some of my peers, I found being the minority was easier; the white students knew none or few blacks, therefore I was the benchmark and that wasn’t a burden aside from having to dismantle misconceptions which was less painful than dealing with other blacks (at home) who sometimes rejected me for not being black enough.
Sorry, Susan–didn’t mean to neglect you!
I too am totally sick of “eyes blue as sapphire,” slender white throats that flush pink with excitement, or long blond braids snaking down a heroine’s back.” And you forgot the all important “alabaster.” When is this going to change? NEVER, until the print and visual media start changing this ridiculous concept of beauty as blond and evil as black.
And yeah, we’ve heard all the b.s. already about nobody will print it, because they’re afraid no one will buy it. If EVERYBODY does it, they’ll have to change! (okay, how about A LOT!)
You know, I see a lot of excoriating going on toward black men who only want to be “stars” of some sort and not speak out and/or be role models, but what about black women? Instead of worrying about which jewelry and gowns they are going to wear, if these young singers and actresses got involved, I think it would make a lot of difference! (okay, SOME!)
Well, to be fair to the author, whiteness is not necessarily equated with goodness in this book–it’s the color of the fairies, and they are represented as seductive but ultimately dangerous to humans. Ash herself is a brown-eyed brunette, I believe, but Kaisa had eyes “green as a leaf.” As for black female celebrities “speaking out,” you’re assuming they actually share the values most of us espouse on our blogs…there’s also a cost: India Arie sings about loving your natural hair and valuing “the simple things in life,” but she’s not a regular covergirl and isn’t nearly as popular as Beyonce…and Oprah is the consumption queen–“buy this, wear that, these are my favorite THINGS.” I think what influences youth most are the role models in their everyday life–folks who aren’t famous or wealthy or glamorous, and don’t position themselves as commodities or brands…
I just finished Cindy Pon’s ‘Silver Phoenix’ and while I hesitate to really recommend it because to me the writing and the character’s emotions didn’t seem fully polished I think there’s a fantasy heroine in there that you might really like, based on what you said bugged you about Kaisa. Ai Ling is from Xian (fantasy China) and after a bit of fear she’s active about fighting evil, using her fantasy powers and shaping her destiny. She’s described as being typically Xian/Chinese (except that she’s considered too tall) and the author is originally from Taiwan, now living in America. Not only that butAi Ling has a massive appetite (or is it just me who likes to see girls love their food in fiction?).
There’s also this fantastic series set in a fantasy version of feudal Japan with alternating male, female main characters called ‘The Tales of the Otori’. The female lead is about as active as her society will allow and she’s related to a lineage which is traditionally passed down through the female line, so it’s female land ownership all the way! It’s written by a woman using the pen name Lian Hearn, who isn’t Japanese, but who studied ancient Japanese culture intently to produce this series.
thanks for the suggestions, Jodie! Silver Phoenix has been on my TBR list, and now I’ll add Tales of the Otori…
I’m gald you liked it and even more glad that you’ve discovered that you can rewrite fairy tales!
I thought you had already read Silver Phoenix, I liked it and it definitely adds to the genre since the mc is an Asian female who kicks butt but like Jodie says the character’s emotions weren’t fully polished, but I had an ARC and that may have changed. I’ll be interested in reading your thoughts on that one.
I’ll look into the Tales of the Otori as well. Sounds intriguing
lol, I avoided your post on Ash because I was in the middle of reading and trying to block out as much spoilers as possible. Now that I’ve read it, I can respond! =D
Yes, I definitely felt that all the characters were white, even though I remember reading a post from Malinda Lo saying she pictured the two heroines as Asian. It was just, the way the people were described, their glittering coloured eyes and the hair and the pale… I guess, what I’m trying to say it, when Lo describes beauty in her characters, I feel like she’s using ‘white beauty standards’, so to speak, and this coupled with the very strong pseudo-medieval influence on this world made me picture an all-white land. (Well, I guess, if I want to stretch my imagination, I can sorta picture Kaisa as Asian, ’cause at least her name works somewhat as oppose to Aisling, but the more narration we got on her Unique and Very Green Eyes, the less I was able to convince myself of this.)
Anyhow, that’s all my thoughts for now since I’ve only just finished Ash and am still mulling it over in my head, but I totally would love to see you try your hands on a fairy tale retelling. 8D
I triple recommend Silver Phoenix. Okay, the characterization is really, really weak, but it’s practically STUFFED with excitement, and I could have died of happiness at the sight of all the Chinese mythological creatures Cindy Pon shoved into this novel. I wasn’t a big fan of what little I read of Otori, but maybe it improved somewhat from that glimpse of the first chapter I had before running off?
Also, have you ever read Kij Johnson’s The Fox Woman? It’s a retelling of a Japanese folklore and Johnson does some very interesting commentary on gender roles and power in that one.
Very interesting…she imagined them as Asian yet seems to have written them as white. Interesting…
I picked up Silver Phoenix yesterday, though I’m a little worried about all the disclaimers…I *love* foxes so will look for Johnson’s work–thanks for the suggestion!
I will definitely be checking this out for future reads with my students (now that I’m only teaching one class, there are fewer things I can try in one term!) … thanks for the thought-provoking review!