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March 24, 2002
STRANGE DEVICES OF THE SUN AND MOON
STRANGE DEVICES OF THE SUN AND MOON
by Laura Goldstein
Published 1993
301 Pages
Comedian Eddie Izzard, in his HBO Show "Dress to Kill," talks about British films being different from American films. British films, he jokes, are films where nothing ever seems to happen, where all the action is folded into the dialogue, and they're often called "A Room with a Staircase and a View of a Pond." And these British films are difficult to eat popcorn while watching, because nothing exciting ever really happens.
Whereas Americans take those films, remake them with tons of action scenes (including some bits that weren't in the original movie), rename them to "A Room with a View of Hell," "Staircase of Satan," and "Pond of Death." And the action scenes entrance the viewer, who shovels popcorn into their mouths, slurp down drinks with abandon, and possibly even take candy from those sitting nearby, without realizing the food is not theirs - they are so entranced by the action on screen.
About halfway through STRANGE DEVICES, I realized I was reading a British arthouse film. Nothing ever seemed to happen in this book. It was filled with beautiful language, wonderful descriptions, but not once did it grab me whole into the book, making me consume every page until I reached the end, tired and spent.
The book takes place in Elizabethan England, with the main protagonists being Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (perhaps best remembered these days as the "other playwright" from the movie, "Shakespeare in Love") and a widowed bookseller named Alice. These two protagonists rarely meet, so each of their stories are told in different chapters, only co-mingling with the background characters and events that drive the story.
The driving force of the story is that Alice's grown and missing-for-some-years son, Arthur, is really the King of the Faeries, and both sides in the Faerie kingdom are searching for him to lead their side to victory. Of course, at this time in England, mentioning rumors of a rightful king on the throne calls out all sort of inquisitors, and it's not long before Alice is called before the Queen to relate what she knows about this treasonous affair. Kit is working as a spy to supplement his income (until he finds himself a patron), and finds himself also on the lookout for Arthur.
While the language and the author's knowledge of the Elizabethan era are wonderful, I can't help but feel I'm too used to reading "American film" books, because the lack of action, the lack of ANYTHING happening in the book, had me taking twice as long to finish reading this book. There was nothing that held my interest enough that I couldn't put it down. In fact, with about 10 pages to go, I was able to put the book down and finish it the next evening.
This is not to say that there isn't some action in the book. There are two battle scenes with the faeries. There is also a tight scene in which charges of Alice being a witch are brought up in front of the Stationers' Guild. And there is a beautifully described scene of faerie revels, and how hapless mortals sometimes get caught up in the otherworldly glamour and get themselves lost.
This book wasn't by any means a bad book. It just wasn't enough to hold my attention riveted throughout. Whether that's a lack of the writing or a lack on my own part, I'll leave it for you to decide.
Oh, and ignore the cover. Once again, the cover artist had obviously never read the book before drawing the artwork that graces the cover.
STRANGE DEVICES OF THE SUN AND MOON gets 3 out of 5 stars/hearts/marks/what-have-you.
Posted by Julia at March 24, 2002 10:01 AM
Comments
It wasn't just you: I remember reading this book. I remember this book being on my shelf. I don't remember that that's what happened in this book, which is what worries me... I do remember feeling that this book took quite a while to "get through," and that I must have been "missing something" from it, either some knowledge of history or a literary scene that I was not conversant enough in to "get it."
Posted by: MT Fierce at March 26, 2002 12:26 PM