Helpful Score: 2
Among Others is the story of a few months of a young runaway girls life, as she meets her father and his aunts for the first time, and then gets unceremoniously shipped off to an exclusive all-girls boarding school in England. An outcast from the start, branded so by her Welsh accent and affectations, she finds solace in classics of science fiction and the wonder of interlibrary loan. Oh, and her mothers an evil witch and she talks with faeries.
This book was fantastic. And I must not be the only one who thinks so, for it won the 2012 Hugo Award for Best Novel. Written as a series of chronological diary entries, we learn her history slowly: theres no explanatory exposition to speak of. And there are plenty of bits left unresolved, and others that simply exist without needing rationalization. Which, frankly, is a good thing, I think. There have been a number of magical stories Ive read lately which have completely lost their magic by the end due to needless (and poor) rationalization.
There are an innumerable number of references to science fiction from the 1960s to the 1980s. You might also take this novel as a list of good scifi in novel form. Certainly, if youve already read most of what our protagonist is discovering, you get the satisfaction of being an insider, and if you dont get the references, Im sure youd feel left out. (Id already read about half of what she was gushing over, so I felt like an insider who still came away with a great to be read list.)
Its fitting, I suppose, that the copy I read was itself from the library. Arent libraries grand?
5 of 5 stars.
This book was fantastic. And I must not be the only one who thinks so, for it won the 2012 Hugo Award for Best Novel. Written as a series of chronological diary entries, we learn her history slowly: theres no explanatory exposition to speak of. And there are plenty of bits left unresolved, and others that simply exist without needing rationalization. Which, frankly, is a good thing, I think. There have been a number of magical stories Ive read lately which have completely lost their magic by the end due to needless (and poor) rationalization.
There are an innumerable number of references to science fiction from the 1960s to the 1980s. You might also take this novel as a list of good scifi in novel form. Certainly, if youve already read most of what our protagonist is discovering, you get the satisfaction of being an insider, and if you dont get the references, Im sure youd feel left out. (Id already read about half of what she was gushing over, so I felt like an insider who still came away with a great to be read list.)
Its fitting, I suppose, that the copy I read was itself from the library. Arent libraries grand?
5 of 5 stars.
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