On Power and its uses-
A review of Kristin Cashore's Bitterblue
"Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely." Joshua, quoting (possibly misquoting?) in Madeleine L'Engle's The Arm of the Starfish
Is that true? It certainly seems to be; there is a lot of cruelty and corruption in the world - and also in Cashore's fictional world. Bitterblue, the young girl rescued by Katsa and Po in Graceling, is now 18, and a queen. I described her story this way to a friend: Imagine Hitler had a daughter, a normal girl, and imagine that she had to find a way to undo the harm he had done. Bitterblue's position is even worse than this. Her father, Leck (and one of my avid teen readers and I described him, in chorus, as the best and scariest villain ever) is a liar with the power to compel others to do his will, and forget their own. When Bitterblue is just a small girl, at the beginning of the book, he threatens her thus: "The next time you destroy my papers, Bitterblue, I'll cut off one of your mother's fingers .... The time after that,. . I'll hand you the knife and you'll cut off one of her fingers." (Bitterblue, First American hardcover edition, page 5)
Like Cashore's earlier books, Bitterblue examines the question of power, and its right use, and does so with remarkable clarity and intelligence. When the story starts, Leck has been dead for eight years, but his kingdom, which suffered for thirty-five years under his psychotic reign, is still shattered. Bitterblue, as she approaches adulthood, is beginning to realize just how much her people have been damaged. As queen, it is her job to lead them and, if possible, put things right. But her advisors seem determined to thwart her. Why? Why are people in the city being murdered for seeking the truth? Why are books and printing presses being burned? And why do some of the people at the court act so very strange?
Those are some of the mysteries Bitterblue has to try to find answers to in the story itself. The text raises some other questions: If you are forced to perform an action against your will, are you responsible for that action? Is it possible to heal from a trauma without facing the truth, and are there truths too terrible to be faced? What does it mean to forgive someone, and what if people aren't able to forgive themselves? Is there anything - anything at all - a queen can do for a people so badly injured?
When I finished this book, my first impulse was to pick it up again and start reading, more slowly, from the beginning. I adored Cashore's Fire. I'm not sure Bitterblue is a better book, but it's certainly as good. One of the things I admired was just how much, as a reader, I was plunged into Bitterblue's confusion, surrounded as she is by secrets and lies. Another thing I admired was the characterizations. I fell in love almost instantly with Death, the elderly, cranky librarian whose Grace is the capacity to remember everything he reads. A heroic librarian with a sarcastic sense of humor! How could I resist this character? Then there's Teddy, the young printer and dreamer who wants to write a dictionary, and Thiel, one of Bitterblue's advisors, and the librarian's cat, Lovejoy, and a fascinating young woman, Hava, whose Grace is disguise. I loved all of them. And I came to like and admire Bitterblue, as well. She is just a normal teenage girl without any special powers, yes - but she is also a queen. As such, she does have power, and a part of the plot is her recognizing her power and claiming it. It's clearly right that she do so - though it's just as clear that many rulers and lords in the seven kingdoms do abuse their power. Is it possible to have a great deal of power over others' lives and not be corrupted? That's another question this book asks.
So I need to read it again. I need to think about it some more. But I do agree with my sister and other readers: If you loved Fire and want to know more about what happened to the characters in that book, you absolutely must read Bitterblue. You won't be disappointed. I cried, at times, reading this book, but parts of the ending made me very, very happy. And I'm sure I'll be thinking about this story for days.
"Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely." Joshua, quoting (possibly misquoting?) in Madeleine L'Engle's The Arm of the Starfish
Is that true? It certainly seems to be; there is a lot of cruelty and corruption in the world - and also in Cashore's fictional world. Bitterblue, the young girl rescued by Katsa and Po in Graceling, is now 18, and a queen. I described her story this way to a friend: Imagine Hitler had a daughter, a normal girl, and imagine that she had to find a way to undo the harm he had done. Bitterblue's position is even worse than this. Her father, Leck (and one of my avid teen readers and I described him, in chorus, as the best and scariest villain ever) is a liar with the power to compel others to do his will, and forget their own. When Bitterblue is just a small girl, at the beginning of the book, he threatens her thus: "The next time you destroy my papers, Bitterblue, I'll cut off one of your mother's fingers .... The time after that,. . I'll hand you the knife and you'll cut off one of her fingers." (Bitterblue, First American hardcover edition, page 5)
Like Cashore's earlier books, Bitterblue examines the question of power, and its right use, and does so with remarkable clarity and intelligence. When the story starts, Leck has been dead for eight years, but his kingdom, which suffered for thirty-five years under his psychotic reign, is still shattered. Bitterblue, as she approaches adulthood, is beginning to realize just how much her people have been damaged. As queen, it is her job to lead them and, if possible, put things right. But her advisors seem determined to thwart her. Why? Why are people in the city being murdered for seeking the truth? Why are books and printing presses being burned? And why do some of the people at the court act so very strange?
Those are some of the mysteries Bitterblue has to try to find answers to in the story itself. The text raises some other questions: If you are forced to perform an action against your will, are you responsible for that action? Is it possible to heal from a trauma without facing the truth, and are there truths too terrible to be faced? What does it mean to forgive someone, and what if people aren't able to forgive themselves? Is there anything - anything at all - a queen can do for a people so badly injured?
When I finished this book, my first impulse was to pick it up again and start reading, more slowly, from the beginning. I adored Cashore's Fire. I'm not sure Bitterblue is a better book, but it's certainly as good. One of the things I admired was just how much, as a reader, I was plunged into Bitterblue's confusion, surrounded as she is by secrets and lies. Another thing I admired was the characterizations. I fell in love almost instantly with Death, the elderly, cranky librarian whose Grace is the capacity to remember everything he reads. A heroic librarian with a sarcastic sense of humor! How could I resist this character? Then there's Teddy, the young printer and dreamer who wants to write a dictionary, and Thiel, one of Bitterblue's advisors, and the librarian's cat, Lovejoy, and a fascinating young woman, Hava, whose Grace is disguise. I loved all of them. And I came to like and admire Bitterblue, as well. She is just a normal teenage girl without any special powers, yes - but she is also a queen. As such, she does have power, and a part of the plot is her recognizing her power and claiming it. It's clearly right that she do so - though it's just as clear that many rulers and lords in the seven kingdoms do abuse their power. Is it possible to have a great deal of power over others' lives and not be corrupted? That's another question this book asks.
So I need to read it again. I need to think about it some more. But I do agree with my sister and other readers: If you loved Fire and want to know more about what happened to the characters in that book, you absolutely must read Bitterblue. You won't be disappointed. I cried, at times, reading this book, but parts of the ending made me very, very happy. And I'm sure I'll be thinking about this story for days.