Book #3: Glow, by Amy Kathleen Ryan
Jan. 7th, 2012 08:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
grav_ityYou guys. YOU GUYS. I don't even know what I just read.
Generally speaking, I like things cut and dried. Moreover, I like them cut and dried in a particular way. I like my good guys good and my bad guys to die in a fire (or by explosive decompression, whichever is more convenient). And Glow? Did none of that. At all. And yet I kept reading.
A bit of that is my own stubbornness. I am trying to finish as many books as possibly by Friday, and if I didn't read Glow, I'd have lost out on getting a book until Monday, and that would put me behind schedule. Everything happens for a reason, I guess.
But really. I kept reading this book because it was an interesting story, because it deals with about nine things I am really intrigued by, and because the plot just kept getting thicker.
I think (I think), that this book is about something exceptionally brave. More than questions about life (and there were those), and more than warnings about abuse (and there were also those), this book was about the fine, fine line people of faith have to walk, the challenge of being true to yourself and your beliefs, and not becoming a raging lunatic.
This book is about the failure of a Religious Society and an Atheist Society, twin ships against the black of space who could not take the time to talk. It shows, and shows quite well, I think, that isolationism and fundamentalism are TERRIBLE ideas. Yes, Waverly and Seth are afraid of Kieran's faith...but he needs it, and it was healthy when he began. AND THERE WAS AN AMAZING MUSLIM CHARACTER WHOM I LOVE AND THAT ALMOST NEVER HAPPENS! They need to work together, and...I think that's the whole point.
I'm glad that Seth wasn't the villain, because I kind of like him more than I like Kieran. But mostly, I love Waverly. I love that, even while she was thinking things like "and then our parents will save us" and "I wish Kieran would save us!" she arranged for them to save themselves and she did it by using her brain. The part in school, when they figured out how to communicate? I CHEERED OUT LOUD.
But of course Waverly is close to the edge of something ugly too, just like Kieran and Seth are. I think the three of them are really going to need each other, and I have no idea how the triangle will play out (though right now I'm leaning towards Kieran dying heroically and Waverly choosing herself and Seth...being supportive).
The other character I really loved, of course, is Felicity, who bore the horror of being pretty in a culture obsessed with fertility, and when she found out she was in a place where they would pretty much deify her and leave her alone, she decided to stay.
I had my doubts about this book. Right from the beginning. Really? I thought. That's what you're saying about religion? But that's not what happened. Like Abnegation in Divergent, this book showed the good and bad of religion, and, in the end, it was the good in Anne Mather's followers that led to Waverly's, well, I'll let you read that for yourself. I hope she remembers that, when the revolution comes. And I hope that she can communicate that to Kieran, before he does something stupid.
(There are some rather large reproductive rights landmines that I haven't touched on, because my feelings about that sort of thing are well recorded and this is a public post. Needless to say, parts of this book made me INCANDESCENT with rage, on both sides, and I was prevented from loving Amanda by one life choice she made. Felicity's response to the whole thing made me incredibly happy, though. As did Waverly's, fwiw.)
I'm going with 9/10, for making me feel. And then think. And then feel.
Generally speaking, I like things cut and dried. Moreover, I like them cut and dried in a particular way. I like my good guys good and my bad guys to die in a fire (or by explosive decompression, whichever is more convenient). And Glow? Did none of that. At all. And yet I kept reading.
A bit of that is my own stubbornness. I am trying to finish as many books as possibly by Friday, and if I didn't read Glow, I'd have lost out on getting a book until Monday, and that would put me behind schedule. Everything happens for a reason, I guess.
But really. I kept reading this book because it was an interesting story, because it deals with about nine things I am really intrigued by, and because the plot just kept getting thicker.
I think (I think), that this book is about something exceptionally brave. More than questions about life (and there were those), and more than warnings about abuse (and there were also those), this book was about the fine, fine line people of faith have to walk, the challenge of being true to yourself and your beliefs, and not becoming a raging lunatic.
This book is about the failure of a Religious Society and an Atheist Society, twin ships against the black of space who could not take the time to talk. It shows, and shows quite well, I think, that isolationism and fundamentalism are TERRIBLE ideas. Yes, Waverly and Seth are afraid of Kieran's faith...but he needs it, and it was healthy when he began. AND THERE WAS AN AMAZING MUSLIM CHARACTER WHOM I LOVE AND THAT ALMOST NEVER HAPPENS! They need to work together, and...I think that's the whole point.
I'm glad that Seth wasn't the villain, because I kind of like him more than I like Kieran. But mostly, I love Waverly. I love that, even while she was thinking things like "and then our parents will save us" and "I wish Kieran would save us!" she arranged for them to save themselves and she did it by using her brain. The part in school, when they figured out how to communicate? I CHEERED OUT LOUD.
But of course Waverly is close to the edge of something ugly too, just like Kieran and Seth are. I think the three of them are really going to need each other, and I have no idea how the triangle will play out (though right now I'm leaning towards Kieran dying heroically and Waverly choosing herself and Seth...being supportive).
The other character I really loved, of course, is Felicity, who bore the horror of being pretty in a culture obsessed with fertility, and when she found out she was in a place where they would pretty much deify her and leave her alone, she decided to stay.
I had my doubts about this book. Right from the beginning. Really? I thought. That's what you're saying about religion? But that's not what happened. Like Abnegation in Divergent, this book showed the good and bad of religion, and, in the end, it was the good in Anne Mather's followers that led to Waverly's, well, I'll let you read that for yourself. I hope she remembers that, when the revolution comes. And I hope that she can communicate that to Kieran, before he does something stupid.
(There are some rather large reproductive rights landmines that I haven't touched on, because my feelings about that sort of thing are well recorded and this is a public post. Needless to say, parts of this book made me INCANDESCENT with rage, on both sides, and I was prevented from loving Amanda by one life choice she made. Felicity's response to the whole thing made me incredibly happy, though. As did Waverly's, fwiw.)
I'm going with 9/10, for making me feel. And then think. And then feel.
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no subject
Date: 2012-01-08 03:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-21 12:19 am (UTC)And I couldn't agree with you more. One of the things that I really REALLY loved about this book was how well she showed both ships having taken destructive paths of absolute values. I love how slowly the veil was removed from Waverly's eyes (though I was suspicious of Something Lurking the second Felicity showed up) and how honestly and organically Kieran came to find strength in his faith - a strength he could share. I could see their conflict coming ten miles away, yet I was hopeful and anxious about it. It's just SO HONEST. So completely honest and believable that Kieran would be excited to share and Waverly would react badly.
I loved Seth. I had such deep compassion for him right away and it wasn't destroyed by his actions....even the unsavory ones. I LOVED HIS MOMENT WITH KIERAN IN THE SHUTTLE.
I want to see him and Kieran and Waverly come together and be wonderful.
So....this is really one long post to say I agree with you and I'm so happy to have someone to babble to about the enormous tasks this book took upon itself.
no subject
Date: 2012-03-21 02:48 pm (UTC)I was rereading my original post and your comment again last night, and thinking about how IMPRESSED I am at the scope of this book. I mean, it's ENORMOUS, but it's doesn't overwhelm the story at all. It's very...brave.
And yes, I am hoping for WONDERFUL in the next book. I can't wait until it comes out!