East, by Edith Pattou
Title: East
Author: Edith Pattou
Genre: Fairytale, Historical
Publisher: Harcourt Children’s Books
Pages: 498
Copy Origin: Present from Robbie
Get Your Own Copy From: Amazon.com, The Book Depository
In the rural villages of Norway, there is an ancient belief that children inherit the qualities of the direction in which they are born. Nymah Rose, the last daughter of eight siblings born to a poor mapmaker and his superstitious wife, was a North-born baby. It is said that North-born babies are wild, unpredictable, intelligent, and destined to break their mothers’ hearts because they all leave hearth and home to travel to the far ends of the earth. To keep her close, Rose’s mother lied and told her she had been born of the obedient and pliable East. But destiny cannot be denied. One day, a great white bear comes to the mapmaker’s door to claim Rose’s birthright.
In East, Edith Pattou takes the classic Norwegian fairytale East Of The Sun And West Of The Moon and turns the short tale into a full-length novel and an epic adventure across 16th century Europe.
East is told through several first-person POVs, with the the bulk of the narration is done by protagonist Rose. Her father and brother fill out the events surrounding her birth and early childhood as well as the family’s story after Rose departs with the White Bear, while the White Bear and the Troll Queen provide backstory, information about the troll kingdom and more that Rose’s perspective alone cannot provide. It would have been very easy for the multiple POVs to blend together or make for a weakness in the storytelling, but Pattou is a strong writer - each of the POVs are distinct and strong, and each different character provides a different aspect and personality to the overall story. Together all the parts are woven together very well, resulting it a very strong narrative story.
Rose, the main character, is an intelligent and wild girl, with bravery, determination and intelligence as her strengths - her great expedition across Europe is impressive, as are her choices. They are not easy ones - to help her family, to save the White Bear - and they are dangerous, but they are the right ones. And that is what makes Rose such a character: she chooses what is right over what is easy, and when she makes a mistake she does her best to correct it. Her narration is often very introspective - the bulk of her time in the White Bear’s castle is like this - but those introspective moments are often the strongest parts. There is real emotion in East, ranging from moments of painful solitude to painful joy, and it’s there that Pattou really triumphs.
East is a beautiful retelling of a wonderful fairytale, firmly grounded in its realities, fantasies and characters, and I highly recommend it for anyone who loves fairytale adaptations, or even just epic quests to save true love.
Five stars.
Mirrored from On The Nightstand.