We’re back for the second half of The Last Unicorn!  You can read my post about the first half, and check out host Lynn’s thoughts for the second half of the book.

Let’s jump straight in, shall we?

Chapter 8 is a pivotal chapter. Not only does the story bound forward, but we learn more of Schmendrick’s origins. How does this knowledge affect your view of the character? What are your thoughts on the means he uses to save the unicorn from the Red Bull?

I waxed on about this a bit responding on Lynn’s blog, so let me just pick up those thoughts…  I really liked finding out more about Schmendrick’s past.  I think that was when I began to connect to him on a deeper level, where I hadn’t been connecting on the surface. The copy I read describes him on the backflap as a “bumbling magician,” and I have to laugh, because I feel like that doesn’t capture it AT ALL. I think on the surface, I was looking for a comical, bumbling magician, and he’s not that. It was when we got into the depths, when it became clear why he isn’t comedic (mostly), and why the “bumbling” is so much more complex…then I was more able to relate to the character.

Lynn also made some very interesting points about Schmendrick’s use of deception, and how he is willing to present a false personality but not a false identity.  It made me think about the idea of a “false personality.”  Is it a kind of lying or illusion to pretend to, for example, mirth when you’re sad, or confidence when you’re scared?  Or to pretend to be an entirely different kind of person than who you feel you really are?  I feel like there’s a point where the answer is yes, but also a long stretch of gray where the answer is…not exactly.  Ish.  Comparatively, lying about a name, a specific identity, is incredibly straight-forward!

And then of course, the question of identity and illusion comes up again in the unicorn’s transformation…but let me get to that point more later on.

Beagle has chosen to tell the story of how Lír became a hero as a dialogue between Lír and Molly. This isn’t the first time in the book that Beagle has drawn our attention to the way stories interact with one another. What do you think of this choice? How does treating Lír’s growth as a story-within-a-story affect your perception of the tale as a whole?

Making this dialogue, instead of present action, gave a huge amount of distance to that part of the story.  In some ways it minimized it.  Maybe that was to keep the focus on the unicorn.  Maybe it was to keep the fairy tale feel, where great deeds are commonplace and vague.  I think this book would feel completely different if there was a stronger focus on Lir’s adventures–and that last word may be the key.  The book would become an adventure story, instead of the layered fable it is.  Maybe.  Or maybe Beagle would have found some way to tell layered, fable-like adventures!

This method of distancing us from Lir’s heroics also gives us a different perspective on his change.  His transformation is hugely dramatic, yet unlike other characters (Amalthea, really), it seems to be presented not as a loss of identity, but as growth.  I have to wonder, though.  He decides to become a hero, a poet, and/or a secret admirer, and it seems to have less to do with who he is, and more to do with what he thinks will impress Amalthea.  Is it genuine growth, then, or is he also experiencing a loss of identity as he tries to mold himself into what he thinks she wants?  And does it make any difference if he becomes someone (arguably) better in the process?

I don’t have an answer to those questions…

In chapter 11, we see Lír giving up his courtship of the lady Amalthea to become a secret admirer. He’s mulling over what name to use when he runs into Amalthea again. She’s suffering from nightmares about her past and, once more, Beagle highlights the theme of story versus reality and the theme of identity. How do you think he’s shown these themes in the latter half of the book?

Oh…I just talked about that, didn’t I?  Well, taking the angle from Amalthea/the unicorn’s point of view again, I was thinking about this part last week relative to Schmendrick’s comment that the unicorn is the only one who’s real.  That’s a curious statement, considering it’s placed just as she was about to undergo a transformation that caused her to nearly lose her identity.  Maybe.  Back on the subject of reality and illusion, was Amalthea an illusion?  Or was she another truth of the unicorn’s identity?  Different, but also real.

I feel like the answer to that one is that Amalthea was truth, because her existence altered the unicorn’s identity, once she was returned to her original shape.  What she felt for Lir didn’t simply disappear, suggesting it too was real.  And look, that brings us to the next question…

What did you make of the ending? Was it everything you wished it would be? (Will you be back for Two Hearts?) How do you feel about Schmendrick’s ending? Did you think the ending was long enough?

There’s a definite bittersweetness to the ending for the unicorn and for Lir, but while I normally like a happy ending, I don’t see how this one could have been satisfying a different way.  And I liked the ending for Schmendrick and Molly, so I got a happier piece there!  I find it so intriguing that the unicorn started out the most certain of her identity, but then ended up more conflicted.  Schmendrick and Molly seem to be much more comfortable and confident in who they are by the end, and I love that they had that journey.  And I never object when two people get to have a happy ending together. 🙂

And… of course, what did you think of the book as a whole? Did you enjoy it?

I did enjoy the book, but I can honestly say that I enjoyed the discussion even more!  The book was interesting, but it was sitting down and thinking through all these different elements of it that I really enjoyed, and that has made me appreciate the book much more deeply.  So, Lynn, thank you for hosting!

And now that I got my book-thoughts written out, I’m ready to go on to the movie…

Lover of fantasy books though I am, I somehow never read The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle.  It’s been on the To Be Read list for a while, so I was happy to see Lynn’s Read-Along, to give me a push to actually get it off the list!

This week is for the first half of the book.  I’ll give it some general thoughts, and then go on to Lynn’s questions.

I’m not sure I’ve ever read a book that was so obviously layered.  Many books work on multiple levels, but this one constantly felt as though there was so much MORE going on than the surface story suggested.  And you didn’t have to dig deep to realize the layers are there; it’s apparent right from the surface, in everything about the writing.

The plot doesn’t even begin to describe anything more than the topmost layer.  The last unicorn goes searching for the rest of her kind, in the company of an inept magician and a fierce woman.  That’s true–but I feel like it implies a completely different book, one that’s funny and full of magic and the unicorn is probably pretty and sparkly.  And the really strange thing is, that’s true too–it is funny in spots, and there is magic, and the unicorn is beautiful.  But that’s not really what it’s about either, because it’s so much more complex, and the unicorn probably isn’t really a unicorn but some kind of symbol though I’m not certain of what (innocence?  wonder?  childhood?) and the magician’s ineptness and the woman’s fierceness are deep-rooted, complicated and even tragic.

So I think what I’m really saying here is…I didn’t fully understand the book.  But that’s okay.  And while normally the sense that there’s deliberately much going on irritates me, in this case, it actually seemed to work.

Let’s see what our questions are…

Mommy Fortuna’s Midnight Carnival is built upon illusion. Think of Schmendrick’s words in chapter 3 “The enchantment on you is only magic and will vanish as soon as you are free, but the enchantment of error that you put on me I must wear forever in your eyes”. How do you think we’ll revisit this theme in the rest of the book? How do you feel it relates to life in general?

The subject of illusion is so intriguing, and I feel like it’s closely tied in to perception.  We all perceive each other in different ways–is it truth or illusion?  Maybe even more compelling, how do we perceive ourselves?  I think that’s the “enchantment” that’s hardest to change, and I don’t think our self-perception is necessarily more true than the truths (and illusions) other people see about us.

Or, to quote Pontius Pilate by way of Andrew Lloyd Webber, “You speak of truth–is truth a changing law?  We both have truths.  Are mine the same as yours?”

To circle back to what I said above, I don’t think the unicorn is really a unicorn, or maybe it’s better to say she’s not only a unicorn.  Her identity as a unicorn is in some ways more solid than anyone else’s identity in the book, and yet at the same time, very few characters can see her as a unicorn.  And on a deeper, symbolic level, I think she’s something else entirely (I’m leaning towards the spirit of wonder).

Throughout the book, we find several fairly anachronistic moments, some more visible than others. One example is Captain Cully talking about the Child collection in chapter 5. What do you think these moments add to the book?

There’s something so other-worldly and mystical about the entire book that I never gave much thought to when it’s meant to be.  If I had to place it, it seems more or less to be in the same medieval-ish time of all (most) fairy tales.  However, there are anachronistic moments that throw that off.  I noticed anachronisms more in the phrasing than in the particular references.  Most of the book is very poetic, very cerebral even, and then suddenly something will be modern slang.

I actually liked the jarring effect of those modern moments.  They kept me from getting too swept along by the flowing language.  It’s easy to get too caught on the level of “beautiful fairy tale,” and those anachronisms were a jolting reminder of additional layers.

And they were used to comedic effect at times too…

Cully’s chapters are also very concerned with the question of reality versus mythology, with Molly claiming that they are the legend and Robin Hood is real and Cully claiming that they are real and not Robin Hood. How do you feel about the book drawing attention to its artificial nature this way? (It’s not anything new. Tristram Shandy did it even more noticeably several centuries earlier and many other books have since.)

I think we’re back on the subject of truth and illusion, although maybe it’s a nuance to say instead that it’s the subject of truth and story.  Stories are often not true in a factual sense, but that doesn’t mean they can’t represent a deeper truth.

Cully is particularly layered on the subject of truth and reality.  He’s a fictional character who makes up false ballads about himself, while being extremely conscious of the Robin Hood legend that he is modeling himself after.  It’s a fiction, inventing fictions, modeled on  what might be fiction, and all self-aware at the same time.  Whew!  And maybe all of that is really pointing to a truth, not about robbing from the rich, but about the stories we tell ourselves.  Above, I talked about our self-perception being false, and I really meant the ways it can be unconsciously false.  Cully seems to represent the ways we knowingly tell false stories.  Not necessarily lies, but perhaps trying to appear confident when we’re nervous, or claiming we have everything under control when we know we don’t!  Although again I have to wonder, are the stories we knowingly tell really as false as we think?

This part of the read-along ends on a bit of a cliff-hanger. While they’re walking out of Hagsgate, Molly asks Schmendrick what the unicorn’s role in the story is. Schmendrick replies by saying that, unlike them, she’s real. What do you think that means? What do you think will happen next?

Erm, I’m not any good at stopping books halfway through, so I already finished!  And I feel like I want to come back to this question while we’re discussing the second half…

What are your impressions of the characters so far? Do you like them? What are your expectations of Haggard and Lír?

Well, like I said, I did finish the book already…  I had some trouble connecting to the characters initially, and I think that’s because there’s a surface level where they feel somewhat removed.  Maybe it’s because so much of the book is (wait for it!) layered!  I think to a certain extent I had to read farther into the book, or maybe even get to the end and then look back at it, before I could see some of those deeper layers where the characters are actually stronger.  That may not make a bit of sense…

I think I’ve exhausted my philosophical thoughts for the moment–now I want to hear what you think!  And do go read Lynn’s answers to the questions, for excellent analysis and exploration of some very deep layers in the story.

Have you read The Last Unicorn?  It’s not too late to jump into the Read-Along if you haven’t!  And even if you haven’t, any thoughts on truth, illusion, and the stories we tell ourselves?

The Crystal Gryphon is the reason I keep meaning to read more Andre Norton.  Another reread for Once Upon a Time, it’s a beautifully written book with a vivid world and excellent characters.

The narration alternates between our two leads, Kerovan and Joisan.  Kerovan was born of humans but with his taint of Old Blood showing in his amber eyes and hoofs.  He is shunned by his mother and grows up apart, despite being the son of a lord.  Wishing to affirm Kerovan as his heir, his father makes a political betrothal for him to Joisan.  She’s strong-minded and independent, but fiercely conscious of honor, duty and loyalty.  Officially married as children but never meeting, Kerovan and Joisan follow separate paths, until all plans change with the coming of invaders from across the sea.

I love Kerovan and Joisan, and the growth they each experience.  Kerovan in some ways comes to terms with his past and his differences–and in other ways does not, which is okay because there are two more books after this.  Joisan is always intelligent and strong, and in time of crisis she emerges as a leader for her people.

Without giving much away, Kerovan and Joisan do eventually meet.  I liked all of the book, but it felt most compelling when the characters came together–and in my memory, it stood out as a much larger section than it really is!  The development of the romance is brief, but felt satisfying too.

The culture and the world is immensely rich and complex, with several societies jostling together.  Kerovan and Joisan’s people have a feudal structure and loosely Medieval technology.  The invaders come with modern weaponry.  And all throughout the land, there are traces of the Old Ones, who possessed mysterious powers.  The book has some sense of a larger context, and apparently its part of Norton’s larger Witchworld series.  I don’t know much of the larger context, but I don’t feel like that was ever a barrier to reading.

I have a few criticisms…Norton relies a bit on characters experiencing compulsions, to make them do things that don’t entirely make sense but move the story forward.  Considering powerful magic and larger forces are woven throughout, though, I’ll mostly give that a pass.  The alternating POV is brilliant for getting into both characters, but can make the chronology confusing in places, when we jump backwards in the timeline with a POV shift.

But those are relatively minor issues, more than made up for by Norton’s beautiful writing style and wonderful characters.  Highly recommended–and I already got hold of the sequel.

Author’s Site: http://www.andre-norton.org/

Other reviews:
Rachel Manija
Angieville
Okay, more people should read this…hardly any reviews out there!

Buy it here: The Crystal Gryphon