Book discussion: Fire and Hemlock, Parts One and Two

[shimotsuki]

Here is the first of two discussion posts for Fire and Hemlock, by Diana Wynne Jones. It may be the case that we've all read the whole book already (I certainly found it hard to put down), but let's keep to the original plan and discuss only Part One ("New Hero") and Part Two ("Now Here") in this post so we don't accidentally spoil anyone who hasn

Comments

[katyhasclogs]

It's hard to know where to start with this - I feel like the book is so complex, with so many layers, and I have so many questions and half-formed thoughts, that picking a place to begin seems rather overwhelming.

I'm going to start, I think, with some of the more general things I love about this book.

The main thing I've been relishing on this read is the sense of atmosphere. Things like blustery autumn half-term holidays, Christmas plays, evenings at friends' houses, school in it's various moods, having a pile of books that you devour one after the other without hardly looking up - all of them and more feel like they've been conjured up so perfectly that I've been transported right back into what it feels like to be Polly's various ages, or what it's like to live in Britain at a particular time of year. I guess what I'm saying is that there's a lot about this book that really resonates with me in terms of culture and memory (and cultural memory). I'd be really interested to hear if other Brits feel a similar resonance, and how it comes across to non-Brits.

There are also some fantastic one-liners that are both funny and brilliantly true and descriptive. And they're sort-of sprinkled about so they take you by surprise. Two favourites from the first couple of chapters are:

"Granny used to call Nina a ripe banana."

And,

"Everyone's so double-barrelled in there."

So, those are a couple of things that I love about F&H, and before this comment strays too far into the realms of tl;dr, I'm going to finish up by talking about the opening chapter.

I don't know about everyone else, but the first time I read the book, and to some extent on every re-read, the opening felt/feels rather awkward. I get a sort-of mental whiplash from the switch from 19-y-o Polly to 10-y-o Polly, and it's only as the book progresses and I settle into the reflective 'it seemed to Polly now, looking back' narrative that it seems to fit.

And yet, I actually wouldn't have it any other way, because it does fit, even if mostly in hindsight. Moreover, on doing a close re-read of it today, I can see that sets up the big themes for the rest of the book. There's mentions of "now, here" and "nowhere", and of things to come: "a Cotswold town, London, a shopping precinct, a horse".

And I think there's huge foreshadowing as well as the introduction of the theme of imagination/storytelling/seeing things in the way the photo is talked about: "the way those four - or more - figures used to leap into being behind the fire", "the penalty of being grown up is that you saw things like this photograph for what they really were". I think we're being introduced here to the nature of 'nowhere' and how it relates to the real world (here, now?), and how it can be forgotten/no longer seen.

I finished the book yesterday, and have gone back to the beginning to re-read, so I will keep posting all week as I com across things.

[shimotsuki]

the sense of atmosphere

That really struck me, too. I think it was the strongest for me in the Hunsdon House funeral and garden sequence...but that may just be because as I went on reading I got caught up more and more in the story and started paying less attention to the mechanics of the writing. ;)

I would agree with your comments about the first chapter -- it didn't draw me in as deeply as the next chapter did, but I went back and looked at it again when I was much further into the book and was struck, as you were, by the little hints of things that were going to be important later.

"the penalty of being grown up is that you saw things like this photograph for what they really were"

*sits on hands to avoid making spoilery comment but* That is a very, very nice line indeed.

[sspring92]

"the penalty of being grown up is that you saw things like this photograph for what they really were". I love that line too! My grandmother used to have a painting of a sun dappled, wooded country lane that kind of headed off into the darkness. I used to stare at it for hours. I could imagine walking down it and finding a town at the end. But there was always something kind of sinister to me about the lighting, I always suspected that there was something lurking just off the road where the sunlight didn't hit. It was like Polly's painting. I'm sure if I looked at it now, as an adult my grandmother's painting wouldn't have the same effect.

[jobey_in_error]

As a 90s American kid, the childhood narrative felt extremely convincing and familiar to me too. Obviously certain details and institutions were different, but the school and home and how they intertwine for an eleven-year-old -- the reality was one of the many pleasures of the book for sure.

I was really unimpressed by the first chapter, to be honest. I only stuck with it because of our little reading group -- and I'm very glad I did -- but, yes, nineteen-year-old Polly looking at her picture did seem very humdrum. By design, I suppose.