When Women Were Dragons - Kelly Barnhill

 

Title: When Women Were Dragons

Author: Kelly Barnhill

Publisher: Doubleday (Penguin), 2022 (Hardcover)

Length: 336 pages

Genre: Adult; Speculative Fiction

Started: May 6, 2022

Finished: May 8, 2022

Summary:

From the inside cover:

Alex Green is a young girl in a world much like ours, except for its most seminal event: the Mass Dragoning of 1955, when hundreds of thousands of ordinary wives and mothers sprouted wings, scales, and talons; left a trail of fiery destruction in their paths, and took to the skies. Was it their choice? What will become of those left behind? Why did Alex's beloved aunt Marla transform but Alex's mother did not? No one knows. It's taboo to speak of it. 

Forced into silence, Alex nevertheless must face the consequences of this astonishing event: a mother more protective than ever; an absentee father; their upsetting insistence that her aunt never even existed; and watching her beloved cousin Beatrice become dangerously obsessed with the forbidden. 

In this timely and timeless speculative novel, award-winning author Kelly Barnhill boldly explores rage, memory, and the tyranny of forced limitations. When Women Were Dragons exposes a world that keeps women small - their lives and their prospects - and examines what happens when they rise en masse and take up the space they deserve. 

Review:

"I said that your mother was magic...this isn't new information, and your mother isn't alone. All women are magic. Literally all of us. It's in our nature. It's best you learn that now." (Barnhill, pg. 29-30)

"Anger is a funny thing. And it does funny things to us if we keep it inside...Who benefits, my dear, when you force yourself to not feel angry?" (Barnhill, pg. 208)

I've read this author's middle-grade novels Iron-Hearted Violet, The Witch's Boy, and her Newbery Award-winner, The Girl Who Drank the Moon; so when I found out she'd written an adult novel after so many years I was excited to pick this up. To say I was impressed is an understatement, I couldn't put this down and think When Women Were Dragons is my new favourite out of everything she's written. 

Alex lives in suburban Wisconsin in the 1950s and because she's a good girl, there's many things she just doesn't speak about: menstruation, her mother's cancer, her growing attraction to her friend Sonja, the anger she feels when she's dismissed by the men around her, and the fact that some women turn into dragons. 

When Alex is eight in the spring of 1955, over half a million women across the country turn into dragons and leave their families behind. Alex's aunt, Marla, is one of those women, leaving behind a job she enjoys (though she's not often appreciated for her superior skills), a dead husband, and an orphaned baby daughter who quickly and irrefutably becomes Alex's sister instead of her cousin. Marla is soon erased from existence, and no one speaks of the dragons afterwards. When Alex's mother dies years later, and teenaged Alex is left to raise Beatrice by herself after being abandoned by her father, she slowly begins to question everything she's been taught: that dragoning is a conscious choice, that the women who dragoned were bad wives and mothers for making that choice, and that they're never coming back. 

This book is told from Alex's point of view as an adult looking back on her childhood. Interspersed with those chapters are letters, newspaper articles, redacted scientific studies and articles, and government documents that show just how much dragoning event itself and the aftermath is silenced by the government throughout the ages. 

This novel is indeed timely. Even though it takes place in 1950s white suburbia, the premise and theme that things kept hidden and shamed instead of openly discussing and welcoming is immensely relatable and applicable to more than meets the eye. The dragon metaphor itself appears at first to just represent female rage, but it can be an allegory for almost anything: sex/gender, race, queerness, disability, neurodiversity, it can be read under a number of lenses and works so well. 

Recommendation:

Drop everything and go read this, just trust me, you won't be disappointed. I'll be buying a few of these as gifts for people this year for sure. 

Thoughts on the cover:

I like how the dragon blends in with the plants and flowers, it reminds me of the scene where Alex's mom plants the garden in the summer. The purple and green colour scheme is nicely appealing too. 

Five Little Indians - Michelle Good

 

Title: Five Little Indians

Author: Michelle Good

Publisher: Harper Perennial, 2020 (Paperback)

Length: 293 pages

Genre: Adult; Historical Fiction

Started: April 15, 2022

Finished: May 6, 2022

Summary: 

From the inside cover:

Taken from their families as small children and confined at a remote, Church-run residential school, Kenny, Lucy, Clara, Howie, and Maisie are barely out of childhood when they are finally released, with no money or support, after years of detention. 

Alone and without skills, support or family, the teens find their way to the seedy and foreign world of Downtown Eastside Vancouver, where they cling together, striving to find a place of safety and belonging in a world that doesn't want them. The paths of the five friends cross and criss-cross over the decades as they struggle to overcome, or at least forget, the trauma they each endured during their years at the Mission. 

With compassion and insight, Five Little Indians chronicles the bonds of friendship between this group of survivors as they help each other to reinvent their lives and, ultimately, find a way forward. 

Review:

This book has accolades galore and they are all warranted. I picked up this book not only for the numerous awards it has won, but because my school board is finally rolling out an Indigenous literature course and this book was on the list of recommended texts. 

Five Little Indians opens in the late 1960s and follows five Indigenous children as they leave the Mission, the Residential school in BC where they've spent their childhoods. A few leave by escaping, either on their own or aided by family; a few leave by aging out and returning to family, or making it on their own if they have no family remaining. Lucy's (and by extension Maisie's) story was especially poignant: aging out at age 16 with no family to go home to, sent off with a bus ticket to Vancouver and no life skills or advice on how to make it on her own as a sheltered, traumatized teenager in a big city. All the children are traumatized by what happened to them at the Mission, and they struggle to cope throughout the following decades amidst the added racism and discrimination they face. 

This book does a wonderful job of making the history of residential schools and survivors so intensely personal and vivid since the reader experiences events both at the school and the aftermath through the eyes of the children themselves. Though this book isn't necessarily a piece of nonfiction, the children's stories echo first-hand accounts from survivors, so it's pretty close. The chapters alternate from each of the characters' points of view, but it's not in a consistent pattern. For example, we hear about Howie from the other characters early on but we don't get a chapter from his point of view until later in the book. 

As a heads up, this book is incredibly hard to read, especially for sensitive readers. I actually had to put it down for a few days after one main character dies. I'd argue that a lot of people need the level of immersion this book provides to understand and empathize with residential school survivors, but for those who are already aware of the history and empathize with survivors and what they endured and continue to struggle with (or are survivors themselves), reading this novel might be a triggering experience. 

Recommendation:

Rather than just covering what happens to the main characters during their time in residential school, this novel goes a step further and shows how their experiences continue to affect them well into adulthood. This is a must-read for Canadians, especially for anyone working in public service. 

Thoughts on the cover:

The use of negative space to make the children's shadows on the ground is clever here. 

All That's Left in the World - Erik J. Brown

 

Title: All That's Left in the World

Author: Erik J. Brown

Publisher: Balzer + Bray, 2022 (Hardcover)

Length: 352 pages

Genre: Young Adult; Post-Apocalyptic

Started: May 5, 2022

Finished: May 5, 2022

Summary:

From Amazon.ca:

When Andrew stumbles upon Jamie's house, he's injured, starved, and has nothing left to lose. A deadly pathogen has killed off most of the world's population, including everyone both boys have ever loved. And if this new world has taught them anything, it's to be scared of what other desperate people will do...so why does it seem so easy for them to trust each other?

After danger breaches their shelter, they flee south in search of civilization. But something isn't adding up about Andrew's story, and it could cost them everything. And Jamie has a secret, too. He's starting to feel something something more than friendship for Andrew, adding another layer of fear and confusion to an already tumultuous journey. 

The road ahead of them is long, and to survive, they'll have to shed their secrets, face the consequences of their actions, and find the courage to fight for the future they desire, together. Only one thing feels certain: all that's left in their world is the undeniable pull they have toward each other. 

Review:

This book has been getting all kind of hype lately, I mean, how often do you see queer representation in post-apocalyptic stories? If you're an older reader who has consumed a lot of post-apocalyptic stories, the plot will be predictable, but the characters are what make this story shine. 

In a post-Covid world now ravaged by another more deadly pandemic, Andrew comes upon Jamison's cabin in the Pennsylvania woods, desperate for aid after getting his leg caught in a bear trap. Jamie, now living alone since the death of his mother, welcomes Andrew cautiously after realizing he truly is alone as well. After spending weeks together as Andrew's leg heals, both boys begin to develop feelings for each other, though Jamie takes longer to accept his since this is the first time he's had feelings for another boy.  When a rogue group of survivors invade the cabin and steal their food supply, Andrew and Jamie decide to travel to an airport in Bethesda, Maryland in search of aid from the EU that is rumoured to be arriving in a few weeks. On the way the two have to come to terms with the secret Andrew is keeping, and Jamie's realization that he can't picture a future without Andrew. 

The novel is told in alternating points of view, switching from Andrew to Jamie and back again. I wasn't a fan of this purely because it was hard to tell the inner voices of the boys apart unless they were talking about each other. As an example of this, the epilogue doesn't state whose point of view it is, and since no one is referenced by name I couldn't figure out who was speaking (unless that was the point). 

The only other criticism I have of the book is that the plot is predictable if you've seen post-apolcalyptic tv shows or read stories similar to this. You have the theme of "the true danger lies in the people that remain rather than the virus itself", the colony that seems good at first but in reality is problematic that they have to escape from, the good survivors that redeem the characters' faith in humanity (even if only temporarily), etc. Basically, if you've seen The Walking Dead none of the plot points will be a surprise. 

Where the story does do well, however, is in Andrew and Jamie as characters. Their dynamic is very realistic and sweet: they think and act like typical teenage boys, and become immensely protective of each other. I liked the descriptions of both of their internal struggles: Andrew coming to terms with what he's had to do to survive this long and worries what Jamie will think of him, and Jamie's gentle nature not allowing him to take someone's life until Andrew is threatened (and Jamie dealing with that). The story is also a slow-burn romance and is very vanilla (the most the boys do is kiss), so if you're coming into this for the romance alone, you might be disappointed. 

Also, I loved Henri in this book, I wanted the boys to spend more time with her. We need more kick-ass grandma-type characters. 

Recommendation:

If you want to read a queer post-apolcalyptic story with realistic characters, give this a try. If you want a unique post-apolcalyptic story that keeps you on the edge of your seat, this might not be your book. 

Thoughts on the cover:

I thought the colour scheme and visuals to depict a dessert-like setting were interesting choices considering most of the novel is spent in temperate areas, but the yellow looks pretty so I forgive it for that.