I've noticed Benighted in bookstores a few months back. I was take by the cover until I read the back and I though, "Oh, here's another paranormal novel." It's because a lot of paranormal romance novels are the in thing these days which basically turned me off, but not totally.
It's not a paranormal romance at all, from what I read of it. In fact, it reminds me more of the sort of gritty social-realist crime novels written by Americans like Dennis Lehane or George Pelecanos. Except set in a world where your preconceptions of what an "average" citizen is like is radically shaken.
I'd add to what you say: bleak. Dystopian bleak. Bleak as fuck-all. And I think because it does cull the issue of "isms" without invoking the real-life ones such as racism, sexism, classism -- that is, the book has you once removed from these via its fantasy setup.
It's a moral morass. A lot of "wolfier than thou" on both sides, and cannibalism within the ranks (people in the same strata sniping at each other).
I'm not sure I loved the book. It resonated, but wasn't something I'd revisit. And I sure as heck can't imagine Adamson treating the source material with any sort of reverence, as ashes-in-ones-mouth as it is. I feel like he'd amp up the CGI wolf attacks. OR clumsily and obviously equate the book's morality with that of current events.
That Wire article is pure torture because I can't read it -- for me, who has only watched the first 3 seasons on DVD, has to wait until December for Season 4, has NO television & isn't sure how to watch Season 5 next January without one, AND has to do all this handwringing and teeth
( ... )
And I think because it does cull the issue of "isms" without invoking the real-life ones such as racism, sexism, classism -- that is, the book has you once removed from these via its fantasy setup.
*nods* Now that I'm thinking about it again, I realise that perhaps the reason I reacted so strongly to the setup was because I was bringing in all these assumptions about how the balance of power should be in a society, and forgetting just how many of those assumptions simply DON'T APPLY to the circumstance, because lycanthropy in her world isn't a metaphor for any one thing. It both empowers and restricts power, is simultaneously held as the norm/superior, and yet is unsupported by history.
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It's a moral morass. A lot of "wolfier than thou" on both sides, and cannibalism within the ranks (people in the same strata sniping at each other).
I'm not sure I loved the book. It resonated, but wasn't something I'd revisit. And I sure as heck can't imagine Adamson treating the source material with any sort of reverence, as ashes-in-ones-mouth as it is. I feel like he'd amp up the CGI wolf attacks. OR clumsily and obviously equate the book's morality with that of current events.
That Wire article is pure torture because I can't read it -- for me, who has only watched the first 3 seasons on DVD, has to wait until December for Season 4, has NO television & isn't sure how to watch Season 5 next January without one, AND has to do all this handwringing and teeth ( ... )
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*nods* Now that I'm thinking about it again, I realise that perhaps the reason I reacted so strongly to the setup was because I was bringing in all these assumptions about how the balance of power should be in a society, and forgetting just how many of those assumptions simply DON'T APPLY to the circumstance, because lycanthropy in her world isn't a metaphor for any one thing. It both empowers and restricts power, is simultaneously held as the norm/superior, and yet is unsupported by history.
I just hope that Lola gets let down a few pegs...
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