Pattou, Edith - East

[oyceter]

I feel as though I should have liked this book much more than I actually did. I think part of the problem is that I read and imprinted on Robin McKinley much, much earlier, so this just feels like a retread of Beauty.

I bought it mostly because it's a version of "East of the Moon, West of the Sun." Unfortunately, I don't remember the fairy tale that well, and so the book reads mostly like a combination of "Beauty and the Beast" and "Cinderella." Pattou does include an interesting superstition based on the direction one is born -- north children, for example, are supposed to be roving and stubborn -- but she doesn't really incorporate it much into the story except as a sort of frame. Does that make any sort of sense? The mother of the story is incredibly superstitious, but she seems to be the only person who subscribes to the particular birth direction superstition. She is often mocked by the rest of the family, and the book (and author) can't seem to make up its mind whether or not the mother's superstition is actually harmful or merely annoying. It just seemed to me that for a book named after the direction east, an important direction to the mother, and for a story based on "East of the Moon, West of the Sun," and with the prevalence of maps and cartography and compass rose symbols (Rose's father is a mapmaker), the superstition could have been worked deeper into the story. Instead, it felt merely perfunctory, as though the author had decided that it would be a cool idea, which is was, but didn't quite follow through.

Much of the book felt that it somehow lacked depth, actually. Rose is your standard heroine who is too restless and whatnot for her family. She also has a strange love of weaving, which, like the directional theme, was worked into the story in a rather perfunctory manner. I didn't particularly like or dislike her. I think it may be a prevalence of such spunky heroines, misunderstood but loved by everyone. Strangely, I just started reading Margaret Mahy's The Tricksters, and while the heroine in that is also somewhat misunderstood but loved by everyone, somehow her issues resonate with me more. I think it's because she is more overlooked than misunderstood. Also, Rose reminds me a great deal of Rois in Winter Rose, except East just doesn't work for me the way Winter Rose does.

While I like the fact that Pattou includes the point of view of the troll queen who originally kidnapped the boy-who-turns-into-the-white-bear, I also dislike how in the end, the trolls are generally shown to be a cruel and vicious people. I'm sure it's true, but it seems too pat an answer, and it seems a bit of a cop out to try to suddenly make the readers revoke any sympathy they may have felt for the troll queen.

I have all these complaints, but it's not a bad book. It's just that it could have been really good, but it fell back somehow to being only okay.

Links:
- minnow1212's review

Comments

[riemannia.livejournal.com]

I think it may be a prevalence of such spunky heroines, misunderstood but loved by everyone.

Spunky heroines irritate me more than they're supposed to. I sometimes wonder if they're something like gorgeous heroes. That is, the writer thinks that if they just hit a couple of the right notes, then they'll have reader sympathy/interest, when they still haven't managed to make them interesting.

[oyceter]

Argh, I know! I really hate spunky heroines in romance novels too, because they're always flailing about saying, "I'm feminist! I'm empowered!" and then completely lose their spines.

[msagara.livejournal.com]

Which is funny because I liked EAST quite a lot. It did remind me somewhat of McKinley, and of the various YAs I've read this past couple of years, I would have said it was one of the better.

Then again, I don't consider McKinley or McKillip to be writing YA, and perhaps -- unfairly -- my expectations are shifted accordingly.

[oyceter]

I generally don't think of McKinley or McKillip as YA either, but East just happened to remind me of those particular books, especially Beauty. I wish I could pinpoint why East didn't work for me, because it looks just like the sort of book I would love.

[msagara.livejournal.com]

No, no -- I think you did a wonderful job pinpointing why it didn't work for you! (and I enjoyed reading it); I didn't haven't the same reaction. I didn't find her spunky in the more traditional sense of the word, but she was the fairy tale heroine on a quest.

I also admit that I loved the construction of the actual sentences, and that the thing that most reminded me of McKinley in the Pattou was the fact that the people -- sisters, mother, father, brothers -- were all close-knit and genuinely caring, if different. There's not a lot of tension in the book.

[oyceter]

Yeah, one of the things I liked was the general good-heartedness of people. One of my favorite bits about McKinley's two retellings of "Beauty and the Beast" is that she always made Beauty's sisters kind.

[msagara.livejournal.com]

Yeah, one of the things I liked was the general good-heartedness of people. One of my favorite bits about McKinley's two retellings of "Beauty and the Beast" is that she always made Beauty's sisters kind.


I met her in person and that was one of the things I went on and on and on about <wry g>. She was in town for a Library conference, at which she and Tanya Huff were speaking, and Tanya brought her back to the store. After a bit I realized that I was babbling, stopped, and said, "Umm, I'm babbling, aren't I?" And Tanya said "Yes, you are really babbling," and McKinley said, "No! No! This isn't babble, this is good!"

She was very kind about it, because I was babbling. Tanya's other comment was "I forgot how much you like her stuff, or I would have warned her in advance."

[oyceter]

Ok, you just made me show my inner fangirl. I am still squeeing inside my head ;).

I really, really, really have to make my way to Wiscon next year because she's there. I first read Beauty about ten years ago or so, and immediately fell in love.