It’s remarkable that until the beginning of the 21st century, the drama of mothers and daughters remained relatively unexplored in literature
Hahahaha sorry NO. Wow. Nothing in all of literature until Woolf and Plath? And Austen and "the Brontes" (I hate that kind of lumping, as if they were the Beatles; I guess Charlotte would be Lennon, Branwell would be Ringo?) wrote about mothers, some, not a lot - not from the _POV_ of mothers, but Bechdel's book is about being a daughter. I mean, I have one word for this person - oh, Meghan O'Rourke, that explains a lot - actually two words: LITTLE. WOMEN. But anyway.
I read most of Bechdel's book (way too fast - I have to learn to slow down with graphic novels) and yeah, as a memoir "of" her mother it's frustrating, and doesn't really work, but for me it was much more about the creative process - what drives us to write, or act, or draw, how can that be carried out successfully in life, what does it mean to have an artistic parent, &c &c. Much more a meditation, an exploration, than a story. I did like it, mainly because Bechdel is so painstaking and honest, even if sometimes all the therapy stuff reminded me of Woody Allen.
I have actually read a whole bunch of Delany and OMG, Among Others was still dull. And....weirdly offputting. I also thought the narrator's inner monologue was flat, and I think I read an LJ review (rachelmanija's?) which said something like, there was no doubt in this reader's mind the story was magic because it was by Walton. I think that was it - because IIRC in Fire and Hemlock the magic is also "real," but there's a considerable amount of tension about Polly's state of mind, and her memory, and how the older people around her are using her. And there's similar stuff in Tam Lin (which is much better about growing up on books, I think). I dunno if nostalgia for reading Heinlein in the era Before Internet overwhelmed everyone or what, but I was reading Heinlein B.I. and just....I don't know. The book failed so resoundingy to click with me I thought it was a weird personal thing.
an ordinary person who was raised to believe that I had so much ~potential~ that now I will always feel like a total failure no matter what I accomplish in life from the limited subset of things that I seem able to accomplish in life despite all this supposed potential
Ahahaha, yup. (Enter Alice Miller....)
wired's reviews look neat but sadly the white-lettering-on-black-background will bring on a migraine for me. :-/
no subject
It’s remarkable that until the beginning of the 21st century, the drama of mothers and daughters remained relatively unexplored in literature
Hahahaha sorry NO. Wow. Nothing in all of literature until Woolf and Plath? And Austen and "the Brontes" (I hate that kind of lumping, as if they were the Beatles; I guess Charlotte would be Lennon, Branwell would be Ringo?) wrote about mothers, some, not a lot - not from the _POV_ of mothers, but Bechdel's book is about being a daughter. I mean, I have one word for this person - oh, Meghan O'Rourke, that explains a lot - actually two words: LITTLE. WOMEN. But anyway.
I read most of Bechdel's book (way too fast - I have to learn to slow down with graphic novels) and yeah, as a memoir "of" her mother it's frustrating, and doesn't really work, but for me it was much more about the creative process - what drives us to write, or act, or draw, how can that be carried out successfully in life, what does it mean to have an artistic parent, &c &c. Much more a meditation, an exploration, than a story. I did like it, mainly because Bechdel is so painstaking and honest, even if sometimes all the therapy stuff reminded me of Woody Allen.
I have actually read a whole bunch of Delany and OMG, Among Others was still dull. And....weirdly offputting. I also thought the narrator's inner monologue was flat, and I think I read an LJ review (rachelmanija's?) which said something like, there was no doubt in this reader's mind the story was magic because it was by Walton. I think that was it - because IIRC in Fire and Hemlock the magic is also "real," but there's a considerable amount of tension about Polly's state of mind, and her memory, and how the older people around her are using her. And there's similar stuff in Tam Lin (which is much better about growing up on books, I think). I dunno if nostalgia for reading Heinlein in the era Before Internet overwhelmed everyone or what, but I was reading Heinlein B.I. and just....I don't know. The book failed so resoundingy to click with me I thought it was a weird personal thing.
an ordinary person who was raised to believe that I had so much ~potential~ that now I will always feel like a total failure no matter what I accomplish in life from the limited subset of things that I seem able to accomplish in life despite all this supposed potential
Ahahaha, yup. (Enter Alice Miller....)