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The Brides of Rollrock Island
Jan. 18th, 2013 08:55 pmWhat I ended up reading was The Brides of Rollrock Island (alternate title: Sea Hearts.) You know that story that was being forwarded around last year, about that little Greek town where people live forever? If you read that and thought romantically that it sounded kind of nice, a small old-fashioned community where people actually know their neighbors and have some kind of connection to their place, go ahead and read the first hundred pages or so of Rollrock Island. Think about what it could be like like to live in a small community where everyone knows everyone and no one likes you. Think about an old-fashioned community where there are strict roles, and it feels like you don't fit into any of them, until slowly you realize that unpaid drudge, burden on your family is a role, and every day your family and neighbors crush it in tighter around you.
The Brides of Rollrock Island is, among other things, a feminist fable about various traditional roles that women are supposed to fill - seductive vision, good mother, mystery, locus of desire, yin nature, nagging wife, lunatic, witch - and how those roles poison and destroy the lives of fucking everyone they touch. Even the women who are good at them. Even, to some degree, the men. I mean, the book isn't just a parable, it's not Animal Farm for ladies instead of Communism. Not that Animal Farm isn't a great book, but Rollrock Island is slipperier. It has layers. It's a harsh examination of love and desire and entitlement. It's poetry. I mean really beautiful poetry.
This is my favorite review of it. There are other good ones.
A number of reviewers say that they are not quite sure what Ms. Lanagan was trying to say. But I think I know. You don't know until you get to the very end, though, and you find out ( Spoilers, for real. Don't click if you think the book sounds interesting. You'll enjoy it more that way. But come back when you're done, and tell me if you agree. )
And the bleakest part is the clear implication that this had happened before, that Misskaella is the descendant, the remnant of the last witch's work. That the oldest women on the island, and maybe the men too, feebly try to prevent it from happening again. And it doesn't work. And perhaps Daniel Mallett's great-granddaughter will be born ugly and grumpy and with an affinity for seals, and everyone on land and sea will get ready to suffer again.
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ETA: To clarify, Rollrock Island is not about Ikaria! The NY Times article is about how healthful and nice it can be to live in a small, tight-knit community, and the book is about how nightmarish it can be to live in such a community. But they are not about the same community.
The Brides of Rollrock Island is, among other things, a feminist fable about various traditional roles that women are supposed to fill - seductive vision, good mother, mystery, locus of desire, yin nature, nagging wife, lunatic, witch - and how those roles poison and destroy the lives of fucking everyone they touch. Even the women who are good at them. Even, to some degree, the men. I mean, the book isn't just a parable, it's not Animal Farm for ladies instead of Communism. Not that Animal Farm isn't a great book, but Rollrock Island is slipperier. It has layers. It's a harsh examination of love and desire and entitlement. It's poetry. I mean really beautiful poetry.
This is my favorite review of it. There are other good ones.
A number of reviewers say that they are not quite sure what Ms. Lanagan was trying to say. But I think I know. You don't know until you get to the very end, though, and you find out ( Spoilers, for real. Don't click if you think the book sounds interesting. You'll enjoy it more that way. But come back when you're done, and tell me if you agree. )
And the bleakest part is the clear implication that this had happened before, that Misskaella is the descendant, the remnant of the last witch's work. That the oldest women on the island, and maybe the men too, feebly try to prevent it from happening again. And it doesn't work. And perhaps Daniel Mallett's great-granddaughter will be born ugly and grumpy and with an affinity for seals, and everyone on land and sea will get ready to suffer again.
------------------
ETA: To clarify, Rollrock Island is not about Ikaria! The NY Times article is about how healthful and nice it can be to live in a small, tight-knit community, and the book is about how nightmarish it can be to live in such a community. But they are not about the same community.
