Art of Forgetting Review
As LJ keeps insisting on playing dead, I have fallen behind with the crossposting again. Anyone know how to automatically link a Wordpress site to LJ, save me faffing about?
Anyway, on her own Wordpress site Claire Carter has posted the worlds first review of the finished-ish manuscript of Art of Forgetting, which I'm crossposting everywhere because it was good and I badly want some lovely agent to pick it up.
She says :
"...Art of Forgetting is a brilliant tale of discovery and equality, of the evils of humankind and of what is truly the right thing to do. All Rhodri had wanted was to regain his birth-right, to be reunited with his family, to finally know his mother. His journey is a long one and takes him from his home and into a foreign land, and in true Joanne Hall style, to a lot of pain, misery, misunderstanding, death, and finally release.
There is another side to this book that is not immediately apparent but which should be read by everyone, every adult and every child, in the hope that it will teach a little tolerance. Here is a story of racial hatred and sexual intolerance, here is a story of ignorance and misunderstanding. I hope it teaches people to think about their attitude towards that which we do not understand and maybe then we can make our world a better place to live..."
Her blog can be found here : http://clairemcarter.wordpress.com/2011/11/27/book-review-art-of-forgetting-by-joanne-hall/
I confess I hadn't thought of it as a study in racial intolerance (one character expresses surprise that Rhodri's daughter is so "dark" (his words) but beyond that there's not much talk about race.) The sexual intolerance is more explicit. I always say it as a story about inadequate parenting, both on a personal and social level - the army makes a poor substitue parent for the boys that come into it, mirroring Rhodri's lousy upbringing by both sets of guardians. But it's always fascinating to see what other people see in books!
Anyway, on her own Wordpress site Claire Carter has posted the worlds first review of the finished-ish manuscript of Art of Forgetting, which I'm crossposting everywhere because it was good and I badly want some lovely agent to pick it up.
She says :
"...Art of Forgetting is a brilliant tale of discovery and equality, of the evils of humankind and of what is truly the right thing to do. All Rhodri had wanted was to regain his birth-right, to be reunited with his family, to finally know his mother. His journey is a long one and takes him from his home and into a foreign land, and in true Joanne Hall style, to a lot of pain, misery, misunderstanding, death, and finally release.
There is another side to this book that is not immediately apparent but which should be read by everyone, every adult and every child, in the hope that it will teach a little tolerance. Here is a story of racial hatred and sexual intolerance, here is a story of ignorance and misunderstanding. I hope it teaches people to think about their attitude towards that which we do not understand and maybe then we can make our world a better place to live..."
Her blog can be found here : http://clairemcarter.wordpress.com/2011/11/27/book-review-art-of-forgetting-by-joanne-hall/
I confess I hadn't thought of it as a study in racial intolerance (one character expresses surprise that Rhodri's daughter is so "dark" (his words) but beyond that there's not much talk about race.) The sexual intolerance is more explicit. I always say it as a story about inadequate parenting, both on a personal and social level - the army makes a poor substitue parent for the boys that come into it, mirroring Rhodri's lousy upbringing by both sets of guardians. But it's always fascinating to see what other people see in books!