Night Flying
Mar. 5th, 2011 04:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
booksofafeatherShort review: A sixteen-year-old girl, living in a family of people who can fly, anticipates her initiation into the world of flying solo, while also struggling with the oppressive family that surrounds her. Has a very melancholy feeling because of the controlling family.
Writing: I liked the writing a lot... it twists and turns and doesn't let you know what to expect. The ending is more predictable though. Most of the characters seem to have a negative side along with the positive, which makes the story realistic but also a bit depressing. There are some stereotypes against vegans and all-women groups.
From a winged person's perspective...: Well... this book actually isn't much about wings. ^-^ The characters don't fly with wings, they fly with magic. However, flight is an important ritual to them and makes up a rite of passage. They compare themselves to birds and feel a kinship when looking up into the sky to see them. The main character doesn't lose her flight power or her right to fly at the end, which is positive.
Trigger warnings: A very controlling and oppressive family atmosphere. A brief mention of hunting birds.
More thoughts...: Wow... this is a hard book to review.... When I read the descriptions of it, it seems very much like the kind of book I was sure I would enjoy. In a way, it is. But somehow, the carefree atmosphere that should belong to flying is weighted down by the oppressive feeling of the family structure. If you ever have been in such a situation, where everyone is afraid to challenge the head of the household, and people are kept very tightly in line... this book might upset you. There isn't any violence, but it has that feeling all the same... that melancholy feeling.
It also seemed to make unfortunate connections between all-women groups and vegans, and these oppressive controlling atmospheres. I think that if they had to have a "weird" diet restriction, it could have been something like "only live on grains and fish, like birds do". That way it doesn't feel like it's attacking vegan people so much. As well, there are a couple of sexist statements from characters such as "you really need a man in your lives" in reference to the all-women community. It seems to suggest that people shouldn't really be living like that. It's true that people shouldn't be forced to live like that, but the answer is not "you really need a man in your lives", but that people should be free to come and go as they please.
On the other hand, though it's sad, it's a beautiful book in other ways. I think I would call it "poignant". Unlike a lot of books in this style, it doesn't threaten the characters with losing their power to fly or try to return them to "normal", though one character is abused and made to believe she can't fly (they talk about "taking someone's power" but I think it's a trick, of making people believe they're too weak). I liked that flight is seen as the basis for important ritual, and it didn't feel like it takes away the value of ritual by saying that it's only practiced by oppressive people, since they still do the ritual at the end even when the oppressive grandmother isn't ordering it. Although, giving this to someone who didn't know much about ritual, you would have to be very careful that that point wasn't lost. It's easy to look at this book without a careful eye and think that the ritual is being described as a bad tradition. I also thought there were some good insights about how ritual has to be honest to mean anything. There's a little about intuition and listening to your body in flying too... "landings are my weak point, the only time I start thinking with my head". There are some nice descriptions, although the "melancholy" feeling blocks out the "soaring" feeling a little, and the flight is realistic (at least for people flying with their arms! It's realistic about getting tired).
Really, this is a story about setting people free from abuse. I think flying is shown as part of it, because when we fly we claim a feeling of power and magic and being sure in ourselves. If you are being abused, perhaps you have a feeling that you've forgotten what it is to claim your own power, but when you think about flying, you can feel it. So in this story the flying is controlled, so that no one becomes more powerful than the old grandmother. I think this is a good message, and as a flier, I don't mind my experience being used for a story in this way. It's a good cause.
I think for the fact that the story says some important things like that, and does have some good philosophical reflections, and it feels like you could learn something from it, I'm going to have to give it four stars. It's not a bad book. But... four stars with caution. It has some bad stereotypes in it too, and it is very likely to be triggery if you have been abused, and has a melancholy feeling that some people just might not like. Maybe it's good to read on a crisp winter night, looking at some lonely pines....
Also, when I library searched for fiction about flight, I found another book by this author called "Bird". I'll certainly be reading that too... I think what this author did with the idea is interesting.
Writing: I liked the writing a lot... it twists and turns and doesn't let you know what to expect. The ending is more predictable though. Most of the characters seem to have a negative side along with the positive, which makes the story realistic but also a bit depressing. There are some stereotypes against vegans and all-women groups.
From a winged person's perspective...: Well... this book actually isn't much about wings. ^-^ The characters don't fly with wings, they fly with magic. However, flight is an important ritual to them and makes up a rite of passage. They compare themselves to birds and feel a kinship when looking up into the sky to see them. The main character doesn't lose her flight power or her right to fly at the end, which is positive.
Trigger warnings: A very controlling and oppressive family atmosphere. A brief mention of hunting birds.
More thoughts...: Wow... this is a hard book to review.... When I read the descriptions of it, it seems very much like the kind of book I was sure I would enjoy. In a way, it is. But somehow, the carefree atmosphere that should belong to flying is weighted down by the oppressive feeling of the family structure. If you ever have been in such a situation, where everyone is afraid to challenge the head of the household, and people are kept very tightly in line... this book might upset you. There isn't any violence, but it has that feeling all the same... that melancholy feeling.
It also seemed to make unfortunate connections between all-women groups and vegans, and these oppressive controlling atmospheres. I think that if they had to have a "weird" diet restriction, it could have been something like "only live on grains and fish, like birds do". That way it doesn't feel like it's attacking vegan people so much. As well, there are a couple of sexist statements from characters such as "you really need a man in your lives" in reference to the all-women community. It seems to suggest that people shouldn't really be living like that. It's true that people shouldn't be forced to live like that, but the answer is not "you really need a man in your lives", but that people should be free to come and go as they please.
On the other hand, though it's sad, it's a beautiful book in other ways. I think I would call it "poignant". Unlike a lot of books in this style, it doesn't threaten the characters with losing their power to fly or try to return them to "normal", though one character is abused and made to believe she can't fly (they talk about "taking someone's power" but I think it's a trick, of making people believe they're too weak). I liked that flight is seen as the basis for important ritual, and it didn't feel like it takes away the value of ritual by saying that it's only practiced by oppressive people, since they still do the ritual at the end even when the oppressive grandmother isn't ordering it. Although, giving this to someone who didn't know much about ritual, you would have to be very careful that that point wasn't lost. It's easy to look at this book without a careful eye and think that the ritual is being described as a bad tradition. I also thought there were some good insights about how ritual has to be honest to mean anything. There's a little about intuition and listening to your body in flying too... "landings are my weak point, the only time I start thinking with my head". There are some nice descriptions, although the "melancholy" feeling blocks out the "soaring" feeling a little, and the flight is realistic (at least for people flying with their arms! It's realistic about getting tired).
Really, this is a story about setting people free from abuse. I think flying is shown as part of it, because when we fly we claim a feeling of power and magic and being sure in ourselves. If you are being abused, perhaps you have a feeling that you've forgotten what it is to claim your own power, but when you think about flying, you can feel it. So in this story the flying is controlled, so that no one becomes more powerful than the old grandmother. I think this is a good message, and as a flier, I don't mind my experience being used for a story in this way. It's a good cause.
I think for the fact that the story says some important things like that, and does have some good philosophical reflections, and it feels like you could learn something from it, I'm going to have to give it four stars. It's not a bad book. But... four stars with caution. It has some bad stereotypes in it too, and it is very likely to be triggery if you have been abused, and has a melancholy feeling that some people just might not like. Maybe it's good to read on a crisp winter night, looking at some lonely pines....
Also, when I library searched for fiction about flight, I found another book by this author called "Bird". I'll certainly be reading that too... I think what this author did with the idea is interesting.
