Ash: Malinda Lo

Ash is the Cinderella fairy tale for the queer set. Instead of being the pauper girl chosen by the prince, this story features an orphan who is caught in a love triangle between a handsome fairy and a beautiful huntress. Malinda Lo challenges the social norms we receive as children and sheds light on the magic of love.

The role of Cinderella is played by Aisling, nicknamed Ash. The story begins pretty much the way we remember it--her mother is dead, her father remarries (enter the evil stepmother and two ugly stepsisters), and then her poor papa dies, and Ash is left in the care of her conniving stepmother. The twist is that this story takes place in a time when the fairy kingdom was a part of not-so-distant lore. Ash dreams about what life with the fairies would be like, and in her youth she commits herself to a future with Sidhean-- a handsome fairy she meets one night while wandering in the Wood. As she grows up, Ash takes on the role of servant in her stepmother's household, and has limited exposure to the outside world. When stepsister Ana sets her sights on winning the prince's favor, Ash is taken into the City for the Yule celebration. On that fateful night, Ash meets Kaisa, the King's huntress. Kaisa is strong and powerful, yet beautiful. Ash and Kaisa become intrigued by one another and their friendship blossoms over the Spring and Summer months when Ash is able to escape for a few hours to herself.. As the renowned ball approaches, Ash realizes that her love for Kaisa has outgrown the commitment she once made to Sidhean, but she cannot back out of her promise to the fairy. Knowing that the ball may be her last chance to see Kaisa, Ash asks Sidhean for the favor of a gown and carriage to take her to the ball. In traditional fairy tale fashion, Ash catches the eye of the prince, who asks her to dance, and spends the rest of the evening looking for the belle of the ball. In not-so-typical fairy tale fashion, after her dance with the prince, Ash runs to find Kaisa and share a moment with her. Realizing that she could never be fully happy with Sidhean, Ash must ask the fairy to release her so that she may have a life of love.

A friend of mine read and adored this book, and said that I had to read it because I would absolutely love it. While I didn't absolutely love it, I did really enjoy it. I love how Lo bravely knits together the classic Cinderella story with relevant themes of homosexuality and commitment. To my inner child, this story represents hope that true love will always win. It is also refreshing to read a novel that features a strong and competent female, as well as a love-lorn male. This "role reversal" is rare in young adult fiction these days, though it is desperately needed. Young women need strong and capable role models to counteract the simpering, vapid starlets of today's media.

While Lo is a great storyteller, I'm not a huge fan of her writing. Unlike her creative plot, her writing lacks inventiveness. While her descriptions are detailed, they weren't quite eloquent enough to take me to the scene. And though her characters are mostly borrowed from a well known storybook, she has done little to add dimension. That said, I am a sucker for a good story, and I am happy to recommend this novel based on its merit as a well-told fairy tale.

Rating: $$.5

Daisy Miller: Henry James

Ahhh, Henry James, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways... I couldn't possibly name all the things I love about James' works. Each has its own place in my heart for all different reasons. It's so hard to find writing that good anymore. And yet, I had somehow missed Daisy Miller. The young American girl for whom the book is named is one of the most alluded-to characters in fiction. On a bit of a whim I decided to pick up the slim novella that I purchased at a book sale some months back.

Henry James is a master at saying things without saying things, if you know what I mean. In Daisy Miller, James tells the short story of a young American woman who makes the acquaintance of a fellow American traveler, while in Vevey, Switzerland. The gentleman is Winterbourne who is introduced to Daisy by her young brother, Randolph. Winterbourne seems to be immediately taken with the beautiful young lady, despite his aunt. Winterbourne's aunt is one of a staple type of character in these old social commentary stories; Old, stolid, and wealthy, believing that the caste system is alive and well and ought to remain so. Winterbourne's aunt calls Daisy and her family every impoverished name in the book, thereby discouraging Winterbourne from making any advancements. And if that were the entire story, it would be a dull and predictable one without any real moral ending. However, we learn that it's not just dear old Aunty who is influencing Winterbourne, but Daisy herself. The innocent American girl turns out to be quite a flirt, balking at all the societally accepted norms regarding courtships. Daisy's brash dating habits and overt flirtatiousness give Winterbourne pause. And now I have to tell you  ***SPOILER***  that Henry James rarely ends a short story with "...and they all lived happily ever after" and this one is no different. Ultimately, Daisy stays out one evening while in Rome with a charming Roman man, who makes Winterbourne a tad bit jealous. Daisy falls ill and dies before Winterbourne can make his move. She dies unmarried, and he never gets to tell her how much he loves her. Lose-lose.

This novella is fully titled Daisy Miller: A Study which is an appropriate title, no matter how you look at it. It is a study of the outgoing nature of innocent American Daisy Miller who gets herself into all kinds of trouble. She is the epitome of innocence in every description, but Daisy's actions are those of a woman loosing her wiles on every man in the vicinity. She makes for a perfect study of the American girl, caught between the stuffy, wealth-centric European society and the poor, working class American culture. I imagine my favorite ol' college English professor would have asked the obvious question--is Daisy truly innocent?

Daisy Miller may also be a study of romance. Things would have ended so differently if Winterbourne had only been a man of action. He lusted after her, but since it wasn't "proper", he attempted to court her in the traditional way. Courting Daisy seems like a waste of time. She's a fun-time kind of gal who just wants all the attention one can possibly lavish upon her. Winterbourne was either a weak man for listening to his aunt's advice, or he was a smart man who saw a flirt and chose not to engage her. Henry James doesn't give Witnerbourne any tags like "innocent", so it's hard to know what exactly we're supposed to think about him. For my two cents, I wanted him to take Daisy in his arms, tell her to stop behaving foolishly, and make her his wife. That probably says more about me than the book...

Bottom line? I still love love love Henry James. I do not, however, love these characters. I didn't find myself giving a fig about what happened to Daisy, and Winterbourne was such a milquetoast that I couldn't care about his future, either. I could write about all the things Henry James did right, but in light of this singular novel, I will simply say that I enjoyed Daisy Miller, but don't feel compelled to read it again.

Rating: $$

The Girl Who Stopped Swimming: Joshilyn Jackson

I read The Girl Who Stopped Swimming in about two days. An innocuous hardcover volume with an alluring title and cover, this book is possibly the hardest I’ve ever had to review. I simply have no idea where to start! It is so filled with story, emotion, social commentary, and fantastic writing that I find it hard to separate the elements and gather my thoughts into any kind of cohesive form. That said, bear with me as I try to articulate this novel into a review.

Laurel sees ghosts. She was haunted by the ghost of her uncle Marty after he died in her childhood, but he disappeared from her nights when she moved to the gated community of Victorianna when she got married. Now she’s living a relatively average life as a wife to computer programmer David, and mother to teenage daughter Shelby. Average until she wakes up one night to find a dripping wet neighborhood girl standing in her bedroom. The ghost is that of Molly, a neighborhood kid and friend of Shelby. Molly’s ghost directs Laurel to the swimming pool in the backyard where Molly floats, face down and bloated. The death of the neighborhood girl is a trigger that sends Laurel and her family on an emotional roller coaster. Laurel brings her willful sister Thalia to stay with her, which brings past events into light that explain why Marty’s ghost haunted Laurel as a child. While facing long repressed demons, Laurel tries to maintain her grip on her family, who are rapidly unwinding.

Around the edges of this story is a theme of social morality. Laurel and Thalia were rescued from an Appalachian life in a small town called DeLop by their strong-willed mother who pulled herself out of the mining town through a successful marriage, never to look back. DeLop is described in cruelly clear detail as a place where children never graduate junior high school, and people develop addictions to ward off the misery. Laurel tries to protect Shelby from the ugliness of such a place by never taking her back to visit the cousins left behind. When Shelby shows interest in knowing how the other half lives, Laurel bends, allowing Shelby to make a DeLop pen pal named Bet. In Bet, the differences between Victorianna and DeLop are highlighted. Where Shelby is educated and healthy, Bet speaks with the twang of her DeLop upbringing and is starkly malnourished. Joshilyn Jackson has put a lot of thought and care into the details of illustrating the disparity between the haves and the have-nots.

While this novel could easily be about the accidental drowning of a young girl and stop there, Jackson is unmerciful in her efforts to make the death only the tip of the iceberg. There is so much meat to this story that it hooks the reader on many levels. I felt my heart strings tugged and my guts wrenched, my mind working overtime to figure out whodunit and my anxiety peaked as the story unraveled. Jackson is definitely a writer worth reading.