Secret Son; Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
Apr. 8th, 2010 10:50 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
sairaali.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
50books_pocI've totally lost track of where I was with this for 2010, so I'm starting over.
1. Secret Son by Laila Lalami
Youssef el Mekki is the son of a widow and orphan, or so he thinks. As Youssef finishes school in the slums of Hay an Najat and prepares for public university, he forces his mother to confess that his father was not a school teacher who died in a freak accident, but in fact, one of the most powerful men in Casablanca. As The Party, a hardline religious political group, moves into the slums, simultaneously providing for the people's material needs while radicalizing the jobless young graduates, Youssef struggles to enter his father's world of corrupt liberalism.
Although politics and ideology form most of the background of this story, this is not a political book, or a book about politics. The book is entirely about relationships, between Youssef and his friends, his mother, and his father; between his father, Nabil, and his wife, his daughter, and his illegitimate son; between Youssef's mother Rachida, and her lover, her former employer, and her own father.
This book has heft and weight to it. The prose is beautifully written, and would speed right by if it weren't for the emotional resonance of the story. As it was, I had to stop frequently to breathe and to put some distance between myself and Youssef's pain. The ending, when it came, was both heartbreaking and inevitable.
My only complaint with the writing is the pacing. Some of the middle portions were too drawn out, almost painfully so. The ending, while in many ways inevitable, was also rushed and choppy. Even though I believed the characters' motivations, I felt in some ways like the author was shying away from showing us the same emotional range there that she did earlier in the story.
2. Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by NK Jemison
Yeine is the daughter of the disowned heir of the Arameri, the powerful ruling family of her world, and a minor noble from an impoverished and politically weak district. She wants nothing more than to be a good leader to her father's people, but shortly after her mother dies, she is summoned to the capitol city of Sky. Dakarta, her estranged grandfather, ruler of the hundred thousand kingdoms, demands her attendance at court and she cannot refuse. She quickly gets swept up into court intrigue as the struggle for who will succeed Dakarta. As she struggles to secure her position in the palace, she finds unlikely allies and realizes that the God's War that made the Arameri kings in the first place is not exactly over. Caught between gods and nobles, Yeine eventually finds a way out of the viper's den that is Sky.
So many people have been reading and reviewing this since it came out that I feel like another review would be superfluous. Also, this book delighted me so much that I'm having trouble thinking of anything coherent to say about it other than, OMG! Everyone must read it!
One of the biggest criticisms of this book that I've read is that Yeine is too passive, and allows events to happen to her instead of taking action. But, that's what I love most about Yeine, that she's not an over-powered heroine. She's a minor noble from a tiny district, with no skills at political intrigue, and no power at her disposal and it shows. Yet even with all her disadvantages, she does her best in the few days (the actions of the book all take place in less than a week) she has, in order to figure out what's going on, find allies, and make choices that will radically change her life. She has little to no control over most of her circumstances, but still manages to exercise agency in how she reacts to them, and how she relates to the other beings who cross her path.
I also really like the cosmology of the universe, where the "Bright" sun-god is anything but good, and the "evil" night-god is far more sympathetic than the role is usually allowed in most fantasy.
It really is fantastic, and y'all should all read it!
1. Secret Son by Laila Lalami
Youssef el Mekki is the son of a widow and orphan, or so he thinks. As Youssef finishes school in the slums of Hay an Najat and prepares for public university, he forces his mother to confess that his father was not a school teacher who died in a freak accident, but in fact, one of the most powerful men in Casablanca. As The Party, a hardline religious political group, moves into the slums, simultaneously providing for the people's material needs while radicalizing the jobless young graduates, Youssef struggles to enter his father's world of corrupt liberalism.
Although politics and ideology form most of the background of this story, this is not a political book, or a book about politics. The book is entirely about relationships, between Youssef and his friends, his mother, and his father; between his father, Nabil, and his wife, his daughter, and his illegitimate son; between Youssef's mother Rachida, and her lover, her former employer, and her own father.
This book has heft and weight to it. The prose is beautifully written, and would speed right by if it weren't for the emotional resonance of the story. As it was, I had to stop frequently to breathe and to put some distance between myself and Youssef's pain. The ending, when it came, was both heartbreaking and inevitable.
My only complaint with the writing is the pacing. Some of the middle portions were too drawn out, almost painfully so. The ending, while in many ways inevitable, was also rushed and choppy. Even though I believed the characters' motivations, I felt in some ways like the author was shying away from showing us the same emotional range there that she did earlier in the story.
2. Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by NK Jemison
Yeine is the daughter of the disowned heir of the Arameri, the powerful ruling family of her world, and a minor noble from an impoverished and politically weak district. She wants nothing more than to be a good leader to her father's people, but shortly after her mother dies, she is summoned to the capitol city of Sky. Dakarta, her estranged grandfather, ruler of the hundred thousand kingdoms, demands her attendance at court and she cannot refuse. She quickly gets swept up into court intrigue as the struggle for who will succeed Dakarta. As she struggles to secure her position in the palace, she finds unlikely allies and realizes that the God's War that made the Arameri kings in the first place is not exactly over. Caught between gods and nobles, Yeine eventually finds a way out of the viper's den that is Sky.
So many people have been reading and reviewing this since it came out that I feel like another review would be superfluous. Also, this book delighted me so much that I'm having trouble thinking of anything coherent to say about it other than, OMG! Everyone must read it!
One of the biggest criticisms of this book that I've read is that Yeine is too passive, and allows events to happen to her instead of taking action. But, that's what I love most about Yeine, that she's not an over-powered heroine. She's a minor noble from a tiny district, with no skills at political intrigue, and no power at her disposal and it shows. Yet even with all her disadvantages, she does her best in the few days (the actions of the book all take place in less than a week) she has, in order to figure out what's going on, find allies, and make choices that will radically change her life. She has little to no control over most of her circumstances, but still manages to exercise agency in how she reacts to them, and how she relates to the other beings who cross her path.
I also really like the cosmology of the universe, where the "Bright" sun-god is anything but good, and the "evil" night-god is far more sympathetic than the role is usually allowed in most fantasy.
It really is fantastic, and y'all should all read it!
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Date: 2010-07-29 02:39 pm (UTC)