Women in The Book of Lost Things
Apr. 10th, 2009 12:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
talkstowolvesI am feeling rather ill today, thanks to vertigo brought on by my TMJD. Therefore, I bring you a crosspost from my personal livejournal:
I would like to address one of my major problems with John Connolly's The Book of Lost Things by providing you with a list.
What kind of list? The kind that identifies and annotates the role of every single woman to appear in the pages of the novel.
Here you go:
1. David's (the protagonist) mother. She wastes away of a disease at the beginning of the book. Her agency is reduced to instilling in her boy that stories want to be told and are always trying to find a way into our world. (Oh, and her voice tempts David into the other world.)
2. Rose, the woman who "replaces" David's mother in his father's affections and who attempts to "replace" David himself with a new child. (The new child is a son.) At least David comes to love her... and allows her to be a sort of mother to him.
3. Red Riding Hood. In the twisted version of this fairy tale presented in the book, she is a mother of monsters and corrupter of the innocent. (Story within the story within the novel.)
4. Hansel and Gretel's mother. She loves her children and it's the dad who wants to kill them. Still, she can't protect them and so abandons them in the woods. (Story within the story within the novel.)
5. Gretel. She is the only active female in the book and it's saying something that she's in a story inside a story inside the book. She is responsible for saving her brother and has the strength to live her life when he petulantly refuses to live his.
6. The Witch. Typical Hansel and Gretel villain. (Story within the story within the novel.)
7. Harpies. Enough said.
8. Snow White. She's a fat, abusive bitch. The Seven Communist Dwarves tried to kill her because of this, and they blamed it on Snow White's stepmother who unfortunately had an alibi. The judge sentenced them to see to her upkeep for the rest of their days.
9. Snow White's stepmother's alibi was the fact that she was out killing someone else.
10. A deer-girl: victim. She's a girl whose head has been sown onto the body of a deer and she dies being hunted down by...
11. A huntress who hunted every animal in the world and then started inventing her own through the unholy union of children and beasts. Via surgery. She's going to do the same to David, of course, and he has to gruesomely outwit her. She ends up torn to pieces by her own unholy creations.
12. A poor woman cursed with a cat-like face (by, surprise, her own female family member). She tears apart the beautiful young knight who flinches from her after professing to her his undying love. (Story within the story within the novel.)
13. Girl children of villagers who are taken aback by being told the above story. Otherwise, all the women in said village that's about to be attacked by the Beast (below) have no agency.
14. A Beast. It's a gross worm-like monstrosity mad and ravenous, but it's specifically depicted as female. Also as dying in the middle of the battle giving birth: its stomach is torn open as thousands of miniature Beasts emerge and begin feeding on her and whatever prey is about.
15. Sleeping Beauty. She's totally a vampire, guys. And all her victims those poor male knights who come seeking to free her from the evil enchantress.
16. Scylla. She's a female horse. She faithfully serves David and actually survives. I suppose I shouldn't actually count her as a woman, though. (Don't get me started on the choice of name.)
17. Anna. She's the younger (adopted) sister of the current king of this strange land (who was once a boy from our world). He betrayed her to a trickster... who cut out her heart and ate it and trapped her spirit in a jar for decades upon decades. For all this, Anna does not blame her brother.
18. In conjunction with the trickster's evil lair, two females are mentioned. One is a woman with eyes of glass that reflect the time and method of your death should you look into them. She spends her time staring at a wall and constantly brushing her hair. The other is a naked woman in a room with a naked man, who whispers adult perversions to young children brought to them.
19. Alyson, whom David marries later in life and who dies during childbirth. Their child (a male) dies as well. I think she gets a paragraph. And an appearance at the end of the book during David's dreaming-his-own-Heaven scene.
And that's it. I'm sure it wasn't intentional, but damn.
I would like to address one of my major problems with John Connolly's The Book of Lost Things by providing you with a list.
What kind of list? The kind that identifies and annotates the role of every single woman to appear in the pages of the novel.
Here you go:
1. David's (the protagonist) mother. She wastes away of a disease at the beginning of the book. Her agency is reduced to instilling in her boy that stories want to be told and are always trying to find a way into our world. (Oh, and her voice tempts David into the other world.)
2. Rose, the woman who "replaces" David's mother in his father's affections and who attempts to "replace" David himself with a new child. (The new child is a son.) At least David comes to love her... and allows her to be a sort of mother to him.
3. Red Riding Hood. In the twisted version of this fairy tale presented in the book, she is a mother of monsters and corrupter of the innocent. (Story within the story within the novel.)
4. Hansel and Gretel's mother. She loves her children and it's the dad who wants to kill them. Still, she can't protect them and so abandons them in the woods. (Story within the story within the novel.)
5. Gretel. She is the only active female in the book and it's saying something that she's in a story inside a story inside the book. She is responsible for saving her brother and has the strength to live her life when he petulantly refuses to live his.
6. The Witch. Typical Hansel and Gretel villain. (Story within the story within the novel.)
7. Harpies. Enough said.
8. Snow White. She's a fat, abusive bitch. The Seven Communist Dwarves tried to kill her because of this, and they blamed it on Snow White's stepmother who unfortunately had an alibi. The judge sentenced them to see to her upkeep for the rest of their days.
9. Snow White's stepmother's alibi was the fact that she was out killing someone else.
10. A deer-girl: victim. She's a girl whose head has been sown onto the body of a deer and she dies being hunted down by...
11. A huntress who hunted every animal in the world and then started inventing her own through the unholy union of children and beasts. Via surgery. She's going to do the same to David, of course, and he has to gruesomely outwit her. She ends up torn to pieces by her own unholy creations.
12. A poor woman cursed with a cat-like face (by, surprise, her own female family member). She tears apart the beautiful young knight who flinches from her after professing to her his undying love. (Story within the story within the novel.)
13. Girl children of villagers who are taken aback by being told the above story. Otherwise, all the women in said village that's about to be attacked by the Beast (below) have no agency.
14. A Beast. It's a gross worm-like monstrosity mad and ravenous, but it's specifically depicted as female. Also as dying in the middle of the battle giving birth: its stomach is torn open as thousands of miniature Beasts emerge and begin feeding on her and whatever prey is about.
15. Sleeping Beauty. She's totally a vampire, guys. And all her victims those poor male knights who come seeking to free her from the evil enchantress.
16. Scylla. She's a female horse. She faithfully serves David and actually survives. I suppose I shouldn't actually count her as a woman, though. (Don't get me started on the choice of name.)
17. Anna. She's the younger (adopted) sister of the current king of this strange land (who was once a boy from our world). He betrayed her to a trickster... who cut out her heart and ate it and trapped her spirit in a jar for decades upon decades. For all this, Anna does not blame her brother.
18. In conjunction with the trickster's evil lair, two females are mentioned. One is a woman with eyes of glass that reflect the time and method of your death should you look into them. She spends her time staring at a wall and constantly brushing her hair. The other is a naked woman in a room with a naked man, who whispers adult perversions to young children brought to them.
19. Alyson, whom David marries later in life and who dies during childbirth. Their child (a male) dies as well. I think she gets a paragraph. And an appearance at the end of the book during David's dreaming-his-own-Heaven scene.
And that's it. I'm sure it wasn't intentional, but damn.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-04-10 07:11 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-04-11 04:30 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-04-10 07:43 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-04-11 04:33 pm (UTC)Edited to fix my code! Twice. *facepalm*