Last week, I featured historical fiction author, Clara Gillow Clark, on my blog on Tuesday and Wednesday. We had a great discussion about historical fiction, and we both appreciate all your comments. This week, I am featuring YA fantasy writer, Ellen Jensen Abbott, and her book, Watersmeet. Please leave a comment below about the book or a question for Ellen for your chance to win a copy. You can also follow me on Twitter for an extra entry and/or subscribe to my RSS Feed. Just make sure to leave it in a comment that you did one of those things! The contest runs until Thursday, January 28, 8:00 p.m. CST. Now on to the book. . .
*Young adult fantasy novel
*14-year-old girl as main character
*Rating: Abisina, the main character, catches your heart from page one, and you can’t stop cheering her through her journey even after you read the last page!
Short, short summary: Abisina is an outcast in her village of Vranille because of the way she looks–no light skin, blue eyes, or blonde hair. She has dark skin and dark hair and no father around. She is only tolerated because her mother is the only healer in Vranille. She is made to feel worthless on a daily basis. Unbelievably, things get worse for Abisina when a powerful, mythic leader (Charach) comes to her village, disguised. However, Abisina can see him for whom he truly is. The villagers cannot, and they become violent against the outcasts. Abisina runs for her life, barely escaping. This starts her on a great journey to find her father and the one place where she might be accepted–Watersmeet. Along the way, she comes into contact with some fantastical creatures such as dwarves and centaurs. Her opinions of these creatures are biased because of her childhood in Vranille where these creatures are thought of as not worthy and even vile. On her adventure to find her father and who she truly is she must face her prejudices and learn to accept others as she wants to be accepted.
So, what do I do with this book?
This section is going to look a little different today because Ellen Jensen Abbott has already come up with some great activities with her teachers’ guide, and so I would love for you guys to check out her guide. Here are a few highlights from her guide:
*Questions to go with each part of the book about Vranille and prejudice, Abisina and her parents, etc.
*Reading skills practice such as comparing and contrasting Vranille and Watersmeet, making personal connections with the plot/characters, and character studies like how Abisinia is or is not heroic.
*Projects and activities like reenacting the council meeting, building a model or drawing a map of a place in the novel, or writing a scene from Watersmeet in another character’s point of view.
Click here for the complete teacher’s study guide.
Don’t forget to leave a comment for a chance to win a young adult fantasy novel that explores the themes of family, racism, adventure, friendship, and trust; and tune in tomorrow for an interview with the author. She’ll tell us where she got the idea, challenges of writing fantasy, and about a sequel in the works!
Having finished my term paper (…the first one, that is), I recovered by spending all weekend reading. Beginning with an ARC [advanced reader copy: not-quite-final promotional copy] of WATERSMEET by Ellen Jensen Abbott.
I was quite absorbed by this fantasy, whose protagonist is an outcast in a harsh human world at war with other creatures and its own internal ‘demons.’ I definitely felt this book was a good use of my Saturday, although my enjoyment of it wasn’t quite evenly paced: I loved the first half, then it kind of dragged for a while, then near the very end I got interested again. Whatever, I had a good time reading it.
And yet. A couple things about it kind of bugged me. Like, the whole point of the book is that the different creatures have to overcome their antipathy toward one another, people from all species have done terrible things in their mutual wars but they’ll be stronger and happier if they unite, etc. But then there’s these other creatures to which this doesn’t apply.
Okay, so some of those other creatures are notably less sentient; I’ll buy that as a relevant difference. But some of them totally aren’t. And I find it kind of odd to be reading this whole story about species who assume each other have no humanity having to learn to question that assumption, and yet the book never questions it about these other guys. It’s not like I wouldn’t accept even some pretty tenuous principle here; it’s just that I didn’t see any principle at all.
Like, what was with Clem? is what I'm saying.
I had this problem with the latter seasons of BUFFY and ANGEL, actually. My favorite “how season 7 could have not sucked” suggestion from someone on one of the Television Without Pity boards was that the show should have embraced the corner it had backed itself into by letting some soulless demons have apparent personhood, and let the “slayer death wish” come because slayers grow ambivalent about their role as they realize some of what they’re killing could be redeemed. …And now I am mindful that Emily’s principle that “MY SO-CALLED LIFE is inherently on-topic” does not apply to BUFFY. Anyway.
My biggest problem with WATERSMEET is that I respected the main character less and less as it went on. And the main reason for this is that she made various mistakes, terrible decisions, selfish actions, etc, all of which were potentially forgivable… except not one of them had any real consequences for her. That, to me, was unforgivable.
I actually kind of fall in love with characters who make huge mistakes, as long as they also pay huge prices for them. Here, our protagonist pretty much endangers an entire community — one could even say the world — through her desire to avoid an unpleasant discussion, and when this comes to light? No one is angry; worse, the monster who wants them all dead hasn’t gained any appreciable advantage from the added time when his enemies were unawares. This violates a Fundamental Principle of Cause and Effect in Fiction, I’m pretty sure.
It’s not that our hero doesn’t suffer; actually, she suffers a huge amount in this book. But all of it is because of things beyond her control — which is compelling, up to a point, but not when I kept feeling like she should be suffering more for what she was actually doing. Unfortunately, the ending in particular did not fill me with hope for the sequel that is obviously planned. Just remember, Abbott: Personal Responsibility — bad principle for U.S. politics; great principle for fictional protagonists.
Posted in Abbott, Ellen Jensen, Flawed does not preclude Interesting, I learned it from Joss Whedon, Watersmeet
So often happens in real life too that people don’t suffer the consequences of their actions, but suffer for something else entirely. Life’s not fair, they say :/
I know! I wonder where it bothers me more: fiction or real life? It bothers me for different reasons in each, I think.
I’m half way through this but put it aside to read other books. It really is a fun read. Lots of adventure. Looking forward to finish reading it.
Jessica: If you remember, come by and let me know what you thought after you finish it! We can trade notes.
Probably more bothersome in fiction because the author could have made things fair(er) if she/he so chose…
The there-should-have-been-consequences-but-ultimately-really-aren’t thing bothers me a lot in fiction, and not in real life, at least not in the same way. In real life, on a large scale it infuriates me when people in power are not brought to justice, etc. But on the small, everyday scale, I definitely benefit all the time from situations where frankly I screwed up or was avoiding something and there should have been consequences but there weren’t – I just luck out. And I see it happen to other people too, and it totally doesn’t bother me – its just how things go. But this personal level no consequences thing totally bothers me in fiction.
That doesn’t bother me in fiction, or at least I haven’t noticed it before. Interesting for me to think about, though. I’ll let you know if I start noticing it more now!
[...] Make them pay, I say! Mwahahahahhahahaaaha [...]