book reviews for winged people (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
booksofafeather) wrote2011-03-08 02:29 pm
booksofafeather) wrote2011-03-08 02:29 pm
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Wings (Julie Gonzalez)
Short review: From the day Ben was born, he knew that he was meant to have wings. Or, to look at it another way, from the day Ben could talk about his feelings, his family knew he had a strange delusion. A battle of wills between Ben's beliefs and his family's fear grows and grows... but who is right? This is a really amazing book, with lots of philosophy, and a good message, about how strange people can hold a quiet and beautiful wisdom. Even for non-winged people, it's a book about seeing things beyond the obvious... for winged people it's really amazing.
Writing: The writing is good, with some wonderful details and some moments of poetry. It has more to think about in the story than just wings too.
From a winged person's perspective...: For any person who ever dreamed of flight, or is winged otherkin... this is amazing. Everything is exactly as a person with wings would feel about it. Some people might find it too detailed because of the description of wings that feel trapped and are trying to push out of the skin... if otherkin know that feeling... then it may bring it back very strongly. But it's otherwise good. There is a sense that even though Ben is the only person he knows like himself, he created a small "culture", having additional meanings for words like "grounding", and hating to be trapped indoors. He sees flying as expressing his identity.
Trigger warnings: Lots of graphic descriptions of wings trapped under skin and trying to escape. Ben imagines sometimes scenes where wings are torn up or damaged. People making a big point of not wanting to use Ben's chosen name, but the one he was born with. Some people who pretend to believe in him who are overheard making fun of him later.
More thoughts...: I find this book wonderful, not just for winged people but for anyone who believes in ritual, magic, and the significance of small feelings within your heart, but is doubted. Ben has a very metaphysical view of reality, ritualising things, such as taking gravity as his enemy and giving it a colour and a gender, that's seen as foolish by others. But his beliefs aren't just selfish ones... he also wants to help others with their dreams, like his mother, who has dreams that she buried a long time ago.
There's a lot of clash in this book between that ritual perspective, and a more traditional look at life. There's a discussion about belief and atheism with some thoughtful moments that definitely makes you think. Also, Ben takes the name Icarus and sees it as a symbol of what he wishes to become, while his brother Ian looks at the story behind the name and sees delusion of someone who tried to climb too high, and failed. But Ian, and other characters, begin to realise that Ben brings a magic into their lives they wouldn't have otherwise had. He notices the small things and helps to lift people up from lives that seem to be going nowhere.
Still, the best that people will say about him is that he's "eccentric". He may bring light to their lives but he also brings fear. And how that ends... it would be spoiling too much to say, but still, it's worth waiting for.
There are some small flaws, like one point that could be seen as a little bit sexist, or you could see it as just the fact that certain kinds of girls in their teenage years do that. Unlike a lot of similar books there aren't really important female characters either. On the other hand, because most books like this are for girls it's good to have one for boys. Any book has a few flaws, so I can't really say that this book deserves less than five out of five, from me.
Writing: The writing is good, with some wonderful details and some moments of poetry. It has more to think about in the story than just wings too.
From a winged person's perspective...: For any person who ever dreamed of flight, or is winged otherkin... this is amazing. Everything is exactly as a person with wings would feel about it. Some people might find it too detailed because of the description of wings that feel trapped and are trying to push out of the skin... if otherkin know that feeling... then it may bring it back very strongly. But it's otherwise good. There is a sense that even though Ben is the only person he knows like himself, he created a small "culture", having additional meanings for words like "grounding", and hating to be trapped indoors. He sees flying as expressing his identity.
Trigger warnings: Lots of graphic descriptions of wings trapped under skin and trying to escape. Ben imagines sometimes scenes where wings are torn up or damaged. People making a big point of not wanting to use Ben's chosen name, but the one he was born with. Some people who pretend to believe in him who are overheard making fun of him later.
More thoughts...: I find this book wonderful, not just for winged people but for anyone who believes in ritual, magic, and the significance of small feelings within your heart, but is doubted. Ben has a very metaphysical view of reality, ritualising things, such as taking gravity as his enemy and giving it a colour and a gender, that's seen as foolish by others. But his beliefs aren't just selfish ones... he also wants to help others with their dreams, like his mother, who has dreams that she buried a long time ago.
There's a lot of clash in this book between that ritual perspective, and a more traditional look at life. There's a discussion about belief and atheism with some thoughtful moments that definitely makes you think. Also, Ben takes the name Icarus and sees it as a symbol of what he wishes to become, while his brother Ian looks at the story behind the name and sees delusion of someone who tried to climb too high, and failed. But Ian, and other characters, begin to realise that Ben brings a magic into their lives they wouldn't have otherwise had. He notices the small things and helps to lift people up from lives that seem to be going nowhere.
Still, the best that people will say about him is that he's "eccentric". He may bring light to their lives but he also brings fear. And how that ends... it would be spoiling too much to say, but still, it's worth waiting for.
There are some small flaws, like one point that could be seen as a little bit sexist, or you could see it as just the fact that certain kinds of girls in their teenage years do that. Unlike a lot of similar books there aren't really important female characters either. On the other hand, because most books like this are for girls it's good to have one for boys. Any book has a few flaws, so I can't really say that this book deserves less than five out of five, from me.