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The Heroines by Eileen Favorite
Feb. 17th, 2010 07:40 pmSet in the 1970s, Penny and her mother run a Bed and Breakfast that the tragic heroines of literature come to just before their fates strike. Penny, an angsty 13-year-old, has never been happy with how her mother fawns over the Heroines, but never seems to notice Penny.* Mother is also very firm on the idea that Heroines absolutely must not be allowed to know even a hint of their fates, and so all the books are kept locked in the attic. This comes to a head when Deirdre of Irish myth arrives, and Penny meets Conchobar, who has come to drag her off, in the forest, and gets sucked into his version of the story.
The book is at its best when operating on a metafictional level and delving into the bizarre life of a teen who has grown up in a place where fiction regularly becomes reality. Unfortunately, the middle chunk of the book segues off into Girl, Interrupted territory, and is rather draggy, brightened only by Penny’s recollections of various Heroines who visited in her childhood. There is, unsurprisingly, a heavy emphasis on the impact the heroines of literature-and especially literature’s tendency towards tragic women-has on young women, and, pleasantly, a very pertinent segue into the similar influence of “romantic” men.
Not quite as good as I’d hoped it would be, and the middle causes it to lose a lot of steam, but still a very interesting read.
*This, incidentally, is clearly from the perspective of an angsty teen, as opposed to the stance of the narrative itself.
The book is at its best when operating on a metafictional level and delving into the bizarre life of a teen who has grown up in a place where fiction regularly becomes reality. Unfortunately, the middle chunk of the book segues off into Girl, Interrupted territory, and is rather draggy, brightened only by Penny’s recollections of various Heroines who visited in her childhood. There is, unsurprisingly, a heavy emphasis on the impact the heroines of literature-and especially literature’s tendency towards tragic women-has on young women, and, pleasantly, a very pertinent segue into the similar influence of “romantic” men.
Not quite as good as I’d hoped it would be, and the middle causes it to lose a lot of steam, but still a very interesting read.
*This, incidentally, is clearly from the perspective of an angsty teen, as opposed to the stance of the narrative itself.