Tag: Fiction

The Fantastic Mr. Fox, Written and Read by Roald Dahl

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Juvenile, Reviews16 Comments

Fantastic Mr. FoxLast week, I found myself with a long drive coming up and no audiobooks on hand!  So I dropped by my library and impulsively picked up The Fantastic Mr. Fox, without realizing that it was actually read by Roald Dahl himself.  I’m calling a talking fox appropriate for Once Upon a Time too.  I had a good time listening–but also came to the conclusion that I’m just too old for this story.

I had seen the movie already (and by the way, great choice of casting with George Clooney as the voice of Mr. Fox) and found the book to be more or less the same storyline.  Boggis, Bunce and Bean are poultry farmers, and rather an unpleasant bunch.  Mr. Fox routinely steals from the three of them to feed his family, until Boggis, Bunce and Bean strike back, first with guns and then trying to dig or starve the Fox family out of their hole.

It’s an enjoyable, exciting story, with lots of Dahl’s flair for language and rhyme.  There are tense moments and humorous moments and a few gross moments, of the kind aimed at kids.  All in all, it is fun.  And I might have quite liked it if I had read it when I was younger and more willing to take matters at face-value.

But.  The trouble is, I can’t get behind Mr. Fox as a hero.  Because he is stealing from Boggis, Bunce and Bean.  Dahl tells us that they’re terrible people, but I don’t see much actual evidence of that.  Yes, they’re rather rude, unhygenic, and ruthless in hunting down the Fox family…but you can’t steal from someone just because they’re rude and don’t bathe often enough.  This isn’t Robin Hood stealing from the oppressive Sheriff of Nottingham.

Even the villains’ ruthlessness towards the foxes is an uncertain indicator, because it’s not quite clear what they understand about the foxes’ intelligence and level of civilization.  Using lethal force to defend property is going too far, but that’s when applied to humans.  Shepherds and farmers have defended crops and livestock from predators since time immemorial.  As an animal lover, I’d rather they let the animals live, but I can’t say they’re evil if they take extreme measures.

So while I’m supposed to be cheering on crafty Mr. Fox, I never could quite avoid seeing Boggis, Bunce and Bean as honest (if unpleasant) businessmen taking necessary steps to defend their livelihoods from a persistent and unrepentant thief.

The situation is made worse because at one point Badger asks Mr. Fox if the stealing bothers him.  Mr. Fox jumps on something of a soapbox about how he’s only trying to keep his family from starving (because they’re under seige at this point) and after all, Boggis, Bunce and Bean want to kill him and he doesn’t want to do any such thing to them, so stealing is comparatively minor.  Which is all well and good except he’s ignoring the larger cause and effect.  He didn’t start stealing because they were hunting him.  They started hunting him because he was stealing.

I should note that I do like the occasional roguish hero–Captain Jack Sparrow is one of my all-time favorite characters.  But Mr. Fox does not have the charm of a Captain Jack, or the noble ideals of a Robin Hood, and at the end of the day…he was just not that fantastic.

But the audiobook only took an hour of my life (while driving), and it was well worth the time just to satisfy my curiosity about the book.  And I did enjoy listening–even if it had some issues!

The best part, though, was that the book was read by Roald Dahl.  And somehow, he just sounded the way I would expect Roald Dahl to sound. 🙂

Author’s Site: http://www.roalddahl.com/

Other reviews:
Tor.com
Reading to Know
Strange and Random Happenstance
Anyone else?

Buy it here: Fantastic Mr. Fox (CD)

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Reviews20 Comments

HobbitIn another read for the Once Upon a Time Challenge, I reread The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien.  This is one I read so long ago (twelve years?  Fifteen?) that it mostly felt like a new read by now.  I kept meaning to read it before the movie (review here)…and then wanted to read it after…and mostly read it now because I plan to read the Lord of the Rings trilogy this spring, and it seemed like a good place to start!

The story, as most of you probably know, follows Bilbo Baggins, a Hobbit who only wants a tidy life and regular meals.  He is enticed into an adventure by Gandalf the Grey Wizard, who recruits him to join thirteen dwarves on their quest to reclaim their lost home and treasure from Smaug the dragon.  Adventures along the way involve elves, trolls, goblins, a truly creepy forest and, now and then, even a few humans.

I love Bilbo’s growth as a character throughout the book.  He begins by feeling that adventures are unpleasant things which make one late for dinner (one of my favorite lines!), and comes to find his own strength and ability–and a taste for adventure.  He learns how to use a sword, devise a daring plan, and make a hard decision about loyalties and sacrifice.  There’s a thread that runs through the novel about the state of Bilbo’s pocket handkerchiefs, and it’s just a delightful illustration of how he progresses.

I also love (spoiler?) that Bilbo ultimately does return home.  So often stories like this end up with the character in a new place, or deciding that they don’t really want to go home after all, or realizing that “you can never go home again” as the cliche goes.  (Or there’s Dorothy, who does go home, apparently only learning that home is really wonderful.)  The Hobbit takes a different and more complex path by sending Bilbo back home in the end, meaning that the real exploration is not ultimately how Bilbo’s life changes, but how he himself changes.

The world of Middle Earth is also great fun to explore–and I suspect that was a major part of Tolkien’s inspiration to write the story at all!  It’s a story about a character, but it’s just as much about the wild places he’s wandering through, with so many interesting creatures along the way.  Humans come across as a small minority, present in a few communities but no more dominant than any other species (at least in this installment).

My two favorite scenes are the very funny opening sequence of the dwarves descending unexpectedly on Bilbo, and the quite creepy Riddle contest with Gollum.  I very much look forward to more Gollum in the trilogy to come.

There are aspects to the book that didn’t work as well for me–and at times it’s abundantly obvious this was written in a different time, because a modern writer would make a different choice (or editors would insist on it).  The most obvious, perhaps, is when a character we’ve never seen before ends up killing Smaug.  It’s a rather disappointing way to finish off the dragon…though at least it leads into further excitement.  I’m very curious to see how Peter Jackson, as a modern filmmaker, is going to handle that part.

I also wish the dwarves had been better developed.  Rather like the discussion we’ve been having around the Twelve Dancing Princesses, it’s tough going when you have so many characters to juggle.  There were thirteen dwarves and most were completely undeveloped.  Even the five or so that had some personality were pretty slight.

Last critique–I don’t think there was a single female character with a name or a line of dialogue in the entire book.  For all I know, hobbits, goblins and elves are only men!  The dwarves reference a female relative or two in explaining family connections between men (Fili and Kili are the sons of Thorin’s sister, for instance), and some human women get into boats when Smaug attacks the town…but otherwise, Middle Earth seems to be entirely male.  Frustrating…though, if I can go by the movies, there are at least a few actual female characters in the LOTR trilogy!

Whatever its flaws, this is a still a very fun, very interesting adventure.  And, as I hoped, it’s great gateway-Tolkien, because it has me looking forward to exploring the world more and delving into new characters for the LOTR trilogy.  I’ll let you know how that goes. 😉

Other reviews:
Books Please
The Bookworm Chronicles
Pocketful of Books
There must be many, but I was struggling to find other good reviews…tell me about yours!

Buy it here: The Hobbit

Stonehenge Post: Building a Fantasy World

On By cherylmahoneyIn RuminationsLeave a comment

Stonehenge 2New post today for my writing group blog, Stonehenge Writers!  You may have noticed a bit of a focus on fantasy around here recently…so in keeping with that theme, my post today shares a great resource for building a fantasy world.  Might be interesting even for non-writers, to think about all the elements that go into these fantasy novels we enjoy so much!  Come by to read the post: Building a Fantasy World.

A Man and a Cat Walk Into a Bar…

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fiction Friday1 Comment

I’m always sharing my reading news around here…  Meanwhile in writing news, I’m currently working on three novels–which is making my head spin a little!  Two are at different points in the revision stage, and one is still being planned.  In the midst of all that, naturally the logical thing to do is work on a short story.  Though at least it’s a short story related to one of the novels!

It uses characters from the novel, but the story is meant to exist independently.  I wrote most of it, only to get a bit stuck maybe 75% of the way through.  So I thought I’d toss the first page up here and see if sharing it inspires me to write that last stretch…

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When Jasper and Tom walked into the tavern, they attracted no immediate attention.  It may have looked a little odd when Jasper opened the door for the orange cat and let him walk in first, and even odder when Tom made an efficient line between the tables, chairs and boots directly to the bar, springing up to sit on top of it.  But the tavern’s inhabitants were intent on their drinks and their conversation, and didn’t pay any mind to the newcomers.

Jasper followed Tom to the bar, where the tavernkeeper looked them both over, didn’t comment on the cat on his counter, and just said, “What’ll it be?”

“One ale and a bowl of milk,” Jasper answered, prompting a snicker from his nearest neighbor.

But it wasn’t until Tom said, “And have you got any fish?” that heads starting turning.

Jasper hid his grin behind the mug of ale the tavernkeeper had handed him.  Eventually the fun of shocking people with a talking cat was going to wear off, but after a month of traveling with Tom, it was still amusing him.

“I, uh, yeah, I think we do,” the tavernkeeper managed, staring at the tabby.

“Excellent.”  Tom sat down, sticking his nose in the air with his most regal attitude, plainly aware that the entire room was looking at him.  “One order of fish, please.  Any kind will do, only not too spicy.  Spicy food makes me sneeze.”

“Right,” the tavernkeeper said.  “So…d’you want it raw?”

Tom bristled, tail lashing.  “No, cooked!  What do you think I am, a savage?”

“He thinks you’re a cat,” Jasper pointed out.

“That doesn’t mean I can’t have refined taste.”

Introducing the Twelve Dancing Princesses

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fiction Friday5 Comments

Long-time readers may remember that for NaNo 2011, I wrote the first draft of a novel based around the fairy tale of The Twelve Dancing Princesses (or The Shoes That Were Worn to Pieces).  I’ve finally completed a revision of my other major writing project, The Wanderers, and I’m now about a month into revising the princesses’ novel, The Storyteller and Her Sisters.

Since it’s rather occupying my life 🙂 how about an excerpt?  You can read this post if you want more context on the fairy tale, but you don’t really need it.  This is roughly Page 3 of the novel, and begins to introduce some of the principle characters…

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I think the real beginning of the story, for my sisters and me, was the day the Gate opened.

On that day, Vira, the oldest, was twenty-four.  The youngest, Talya, was fifteen.  I was seventeen.  We are each spaced a neat year apart, except for the two sets of twins.

It was evening when the Gate opened, and though that evening proved momentous, I remember little about the day that preceded it.  I assume it was the usual round of embroidery, penmanship and dancing lessons—we are all excellent dancers.  Whatever we did, it had to have been inside my father’s castle.  We were never allowed to leave.  The day no doubt closed with supper in the banquet hall with Father.  Such ran every day.

And in the evening, all my sisters were in our bedroom, brushing hair, pursuing hobbies, and chatting about a thousand different topics.  Rather like most girls, I think—not that I’d had a great deal of experience with a great many girls.  But I had read things.

Twelve of us shared a single bedroom, and there were days when it felt incredibly cramped.  In reality it was a large room, long and with a high ceiling.  There was a door at one end and a fireplace at the other, beds stretching in two rows down the length of the room.  I suppose we didn’t undergo that much hardship in our living conditions—though I defy anyone to share a bedroom with eleven sisters for fourteen years and not come up with a few complaints.

Such as the problem of eternally being interrupted in the good parts of stories. Continue reading “Introducing the Twelve Dancing Princesses” →