Yuletide recs II -- Family
Families of all flavours, both blood & chosen, legitimate & illegitimate. Here are fathers & mothers, brothers & sisters, and all types of family relationship -- occasionally destructive, sometimes infuriating, but often supportive.
Bible
Abraham's Daughter by Evelyn b
'That night old Abraham was shaking the toff like it was full of spiders, and toothless Sarah tolling off the set of all things that could fit around her waist back east in Ur, where she was young, and Abraham's daughter held Isaac's skinny arms still around his narrow chest so we could dot-dot-dot his face with sap.' Yuletide 2012 had several interesting stories based on the song, 'Abraham's Daughter', itself a revisionist reading of the Abraham & Isaac story. My favourite is a bit rough, but gains power from linking Canaan with another promised land. Clever & moving
Chrestomanci series
The Young Chants by Ryfkah
'He kept thinking of all the time he had spent as a child worrying over whether he would recognize his father if he happened to meet him in the park. True, Julia was not really old enough to recognize most anybody yet, let alone go walking in the park; still, it seemed better to start as one meant to go on.' The challenges of combining Chrestomanci-ing with parenthood. 'The Young Chants' has pitch-perfect characterisations for the whole family, and reads just like a missing chunk of canon. Charming
Earthsea
Mother Tongue by Elle Dritch
''He is my brother and I love him, and after all you only get one family. But oh! if he doesn't go and be my brother elsewhere very soon, I shall fetch him a clout on the ear he'll not forget!'' This quiet coda to Tehanu reads like a missing chapter from the novel, and brings its narrator, Apple, to life as she tries to understand her family's choices
Into the Woods
the rope you began with (was never that straight) by Fahye
'Family, in Cinderella's opinion, is a lot like the colour green. You can throw the word around and even build perfectly reasonable conversations around it, but in the end you can never be sure that any two people using it mean the same thing.' I don't know the musical, but this tale of what happens to the heroine after the story's over works beautifully anyway. Charming & engaging, with amusing cameos & thoughtful asides on fairy tale logic
The Incredibles
the greatest good by Dudski
'God must have one hell of a sense of humor, her mother says, to give the gift of elasticity to someone so stubborn.' An insightful portrait of Helen before the film, which explores how difficult it must be for her to be the careful one of the family
Twelfth Night
Deep with the First Dead by Moemachina
'She had been raised to sit up straight, play the harp, make her letters, and do a little embroidery. Her brother had learned Latin, Greek, how to hold a sword, how to do his sums, how to look over the estate. She had never envied him.' A delicate piece which makes sense of Olivia, both her grief & her inevitable recovery. The members of her household are also well drawn, as each tries to help her in their own way
Crossposted from Dreamwidth (with
replies). Reply wherever you prefer
Bible
Abraham's Daughter by Evelyn b
'That night old Abraham was shaking the toff like it was full of spiders, and toothless Sarah tolling off the set of all things that could fit around her waist back east in Ur, where she was young, and Abraham's daughter held Isaac's skinny arms still around his narrow chest so we could dot-dot-dot his face with sap.' Yuletide 2012 had several interesting stories based on the song, 'Abraham's Daughter', itself a revisionist reading of the Abraham & Isaac story. My favourite is a bit rough, but gains power from linking Canaan with another promised land. Clever & moving
Chrestomanci series
The Young Chants by Ryfkah
'He kept thinking of all the time he had spent as a child worrying over whether he would recognize his father if he happened to meet him in the park. True, Julia was not really old enough to recognize most anybody yet, let alone go walking in the park; still, it seemed better to start as one meant to go on.' The challenges of combining Chrestomanci-ing with parenthood. 'The Young Chants' has pitch-perfect characterisations for the whole family, and reads just like a missing chunk of canon. Charming
Earthsea
Mother Tongue by Elle Dritch
''He is my brother and I love him, and after all you only get one family. But oh! if he doesn't go and be my brother elsewhere very soon, I shall fetch him a clout on the ear he'll not forget!'' This quiet coda to Tehanu reads like a missing chapter from the novel, and brings its narrator, Apple, to life as she tries to understand her family's choices
Into the Woods
the rope you began with (was never that straight) by Fahye
'Family, in Cinderella's opinion, is a lot like the colour green. You can throw the word around and even build perfectly reasonable conversations around it, but in the end you can never be sure that any two people using it mean the same thing.' I don't know the musical, but this tale of what happens to the heroine after the story's over works beautifully anyway. Charming & engaging, with amusing cameos & thoughtful asides on fairy tale logic
The Incredibles
the greatest good by Dudski
'God must have one hell of a sense of humor, her mother says, to give the gift of elasticity to someone so stubborn.' An insightful portrait of Helen before the film, which explores how difficult it must be for her to be the careful one of the family
Twelfth Night
Deep with the First Dead by Moemachina
'She had been raised to sit up straight, play the harp, make her letters, and do a little embroidery. Her brother had learned Latin, Greek, how to hold a sword, how to do his sums, how to look over the estate. She had never envied him.' A delicate piece which makes sense of Olivia, both her grief & her inevitable recovery. The members of her household are also well drawn, as each tries to help her in their own way
Crossposted from Dreamwidth (with
replies). Reply wherever you prefer