The Fifth Sacred Thing (Maya Greenwood, Bk 1)
Author:
Genres: Literature & Fiction, Religion & Spirituality
Book Type: Paperback
Author:
Genres: Literature & Fiction, Religion & Spirituality
Book Type: Paperback
Helpful Score: 1
I have a few qualms with this book: The way certain characters push Starhawk's ideas in really contrived ways. How the discussion around tactics of violence in struggle are dismissed easily through manipulated plotlines and simplistic envisioning. How conversations between characters often feels fake and thin, further highlighted by the fact that in the large group conversations in the book that the central characters are generally the only ones speaking. Even the way that the story is glorified in a way that feels unrealistic.
With all that said, I still count this book among my favorites, and my mind constantly returns to certain parts of the story, though it has been several years since I last read it. While the way the characters interact in the story can at times feel a bit too ideal, I strongly connect to the parts of the story where the characters are broken and struggling. These moments, and indeed the whole book, begs the question of how we would be as individuals, how we would relate to each other in new ways, without the spectre of capitalism looming directly above. The book's idealism, though sometimes irritatingly polemic and shallow, is also one of it's strengths, and I am often drawn to the images in the book as a way of conceptualizing what could possibly be. There is a clear attempt at trying to relate to the reader that there are cracks and flaws in the utopia, and thus is how harmony is achieved.
It's hard to fully review this book, because my feelings are complicated. It presents a compelling world that provokes really deep questions about our desires and capabilities, while still giving us characters and plots that represent the pain and emptiness that is inherent in so many of our lives today. I find myself referencing this book so often, and I would recommend this intensely felt dystopian fantasy to anyone with the inclination.
With all that said, I still count this book among my favorites, and my mind constantly returns to certain parts of the story, though it has been several years since I last read it. While the way the characters interact in the story can at times feel a bit too ideal, I strongly connect to the parts of the story where the characters are broken and struggling. These moments, and indeed the whole book, begs the question of how we would be as individuals, how we would relate to each other in new ways, without the spectre of capitalism looming directly above. The book's idealism, though sometimes irritatingly polemic and shallow, is also one of it's strengths, and I am often drawn to the images in the book as a way of conceptualizing what could possibly be. There is a clear attempt at trying to relate to the reader that there are cracks and flaws in the utopia, and thus is how harmony is achieved.
It's hard to fully review this book, because my feelings are complicated. It presents a compelling world that provokes really deep questions about our desires and capabilities, while still giving us characters and plots that represent the pain and emptiness that is inherent in so many of our lives today. I find myself referencing this book so often, and I would recommend this intensely felt dystopian fantasy to anyone with the inclination.
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