(Untitled)

[bookelfe]

Today I reread Elizabeth Marie Pope's The Perilous Gard!

(I got through most of it while waiting for the bus to get from Brooklyn to Manhattan, which should tell you what you need to know about NYC public transit right now.)

BUT IT WAS OKAY BECAUSE I REALLY LOVE THE PERILOUS GARD. This was an incredibly formative book for me. It's a Tudor-era

Comments

[tempestsarekind]

"You look like a piece of gilded gingerbread!"

KAAAAAAATE. I love this book so, so very much.

it's not like you needed to search for an origin of my thing for ladies saying "hey, don't worry, distressed dude in peril, I got this one,"

My origin point is probably "The Snow Queen," or possibly "The Six Swans," but either way, when I finally discovered the Tam Lin ballad, I fell for it absolutely, because that kind of narrative was already my favorite.

Also, I cannot choose between Tam Lins. Nope. Incidentally, have you read Patricia McKillip's Winter Rose? I, uh, read it before I knew it was supposed to be a version of Tam Lin, but it is.

[bookelfe]

"East of the Sun, West of the Moon" is another one I love for that too, but to be honest all of them came later for me; it was Tam Lin that I imprinted on first and hardest. (Despite the fact that it's also the weirdest and darkest in many ways, hello dubious consent and surprise baby!)

Winter Rose! I knew I was forgetting something! Yes, I know it and love it and was super excited to realize it was a Tam Lin, but then I forgot it because I can never keep the details of any McKillip books in my head for longer than the time it takes to read them.

[tempestsarekind]

Ha, yes. Winter Rose is one of the ones I read a bunch of times, so I have a decent grasp on it, but with some of the later McKillip books, I'm not even sure which ones I've actually *read*.

[mme_hardy]

God, I loved that book, so much. And the Richard Cuffari illustrations, particularly the one of the little girl's shoe. (I WANT THAT SHOE. And Kate's final dress, the one her sister disses.)

But yes, Kate. Who is brave and self-sacrificing in a way that you don't often see in female protagonists -- not for somebody else's benefit but because it's the right thing to do.

[bookelfe]

The illustrations are SO PRETTY. If I hadn't been on a bus while writing this I would have taken a bad photo or one or two and uploaded them for the purpose of illustration; they really are gorgeous! And Kate's face is perfect -- and usually perfectly judgy -- in every one.

And yes, that's exactly it; the thing about Kate is that the right decisions she makes are the right decisions for her own sake, and not for anybody else's. I love that about her, so much; it's a rare kind of strength.

[mme_hardy]

Back when I was in my 20s, I dreamed of writing a book with Cuffari illustrations. He's dead now. :(

[alemara]

I think you are the only other person I know who has read this book! I love love love The Perilous Gard, and sassy Kate with her emo boyfriend before it was a thing.

[bookelfe]

I LOVE IT. She just deflates him so beautifully, man. Sorry Christopher, no one has time to indulge your guilt fantasies today!

[kit_the_brave]

Waaait, I can't vote because I don't know which are your Tam Lins! The college lit nerd one is Tam Lin by Pamela Dean, right? Definitely an excellent one.

And the Diana Wynne Jones one is Fire and Hemlock? Bit skeevy because he's so much older than she is, but nevertheless, it's Diana Wynne Jones, so how can you go wrong?

But what's the movie? I do not know this movie! And I have to read The Perilous Gard now. I hope your public transit system gets better soon!

[bookelfe]

Correct and correct -- see, you knew what they were after all! :D

The movie is a film from 1970 starring Ava Gardner as a sexy lady-possibly-fairy who corrupts the youth, which is also called The Devil's Widow, and it's . . . really kind of terrible . . . BUT ALSO HILARIOUS. I don't know that I would actually recommend it unless you are a Tam Lin completionist, but it is certainly a, er, very 1970 take on things!

[dramaturgca]

Tam Liiiiiiiiiin. <3 <3 <3 <3 *cough* I mean, what? I have no urges to read ALL THE TAM LIN. I do not adore Kate Sutton and still sing the minstrel song at the end of the book. (And totally want her dress with the fur sleeves pinned back with sapphires). And I am certain not passionately deathlessly in love with Pamela Dean's. I never once bought copies to mail to ALL MY FRIENDS SO THEY COULD READ IT AND WE COULD SQUEE IN HARMONY. Never. Not once.

[bookelfe]

I am absolutely positive that none of these things ever happened. *solemn*

(It sounds like SUCH a pretty dress!)

[dramaturgca]

It's so irritating when her sister is like "oh that's not fashionable anymore" even though anyone who can READ can tell that Kate's dress is way prettier.

I borrowed Perilous Gard from my elementary school library in third grade and didn't return it until my mum bought me my own copy. Whoops.