Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Wise Children - Angela Carter



wise children
angela carter
c. 1991
240 pages


This book is number 96 on the London Observer's "100 Greatest Novels" list, and more than likely, had it not been for me finding that list and deciding that I was going to read them all, I probably would never have heard of this books, much less have read it. And so I would like to say, "Thank you, London Observer!"

I was greatly surprised and delighted by the book. It is so much different from the things I normally read. As we have pretty firmly established, I am a historical fiction girl, and by that we generally mean British history around the time of Henry the VIII or American History around the time of the American Revolution. And this, instead, is Britain and a small bit of America in the 20th century revolving around the theater.

The characters of Nora and Dora Chance are hilarious. They are funny and sad, smart and frivolous, and Dora tells the story of their lives so colorfully and shamelessly. I absolutely loved them, and definitely plan on looking into reading more by Angela Carter.

This book did bring to a head a question I have started to develop after reading other books, generally by British authors, but...do the British have a different idea of what constitutes incest? Is it okay for people to...do stuff with their aunts and uncles? Hmmm...maybe this is a question for my sister's British boyfriend.

5/5

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