Panguitch Gets in Touch with His Inner Girl
Written: Jul 15 '08
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Product Rating:
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Pros: A low-key melding of the historical and the fantastic.
Cons: It's a YA historical romance, so why's a pot-bellied old man like me reading it?
The Bottom Line: If you're less prone to sigh wistfully than the average teenage girl this might not be right for you.
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| panguitch's Full Review: Sally Warner - Twilight Child |
Since I'm not a teenage girl I'm not exactly in the target demographic for Sally Warner's Twilight Child. But while this young adult novel is positioned as a historical romance, the protagonist does see and speak with an array of creatures from folklore, which, I've tried to reassure myself, makes it a fantasy novel and nothing for me to be ashamed of.
The Story
Eleni grows up in Inkoo, a small town on the Gulf of Finland. She was born at twilight on Juhannus (Midsummer's Eve). As a Twilight Child she can see and communicate with the spirits of Finnish folklore, the tonttu that lives in the sauna and the peikko of the forest.
At the end of the Eighteenth Century Finland is caught between Sweden and Russia. Eleni and her best friend Matias see their fathers sent to serve in the Swedish front lines. Eleni also serves, as a maid in the household of the local Swedish aristocrat. Eleni's mother is ill, and when she dies her father, now a rebel, steals Eleni away from Inkoo on his decrepit ship.
Eleni is frightened by the hardened sailors, and even by her father, who is like a stranger to her. The Baltic and North Seas do their best to send the ship to the bottom while Eleni mourns her mother, misses her home, and pines for Matias. But as a Twilight Child she is befriended by spirits, both at sea and on Scotland's Isle of Mull, where she eventually makes a new home, though Finland and Matias will always be in her heart.
My Thoughts
Eleni is an orphan-like figure, as sympathetic as Cinderella. Unlike Cinderella she winds up in a home filled with supportive sister and mother figures. As she grows into a beautiful young woman she finds herself fending off suitors even though her hope for Matias seems impossible. The image of the lonely, lovely girl walking along a Scottish lake, wondering if love will ever find her, is sure to resonate with teenage girls.
Personally, I found the depictions of Finland and Mull and Eleni's interaction with creatures from folklore more interesting than her love life. These elements constitute the world in which her life unfolds, and Warner properly treats them as background, never dwelling too long on details. While I would have enjoyed something more lively, like a description of a Juhannus celebration, Warner's attention to foot-rubbing and Eighteenth Century laundry techniques creates a simple, homey feel that matches her protagonist's concerns.
The fantastic elements are similarly low-key. The various spirits play a supportive role as confidants in Eleni's life, but leave her to act for herself. Unfortunately, she is rarely an active protagonist. She is first a servant, then a veritable captive on her father's boat, then a prize for young men to fight over. For the most part, she is a passenger in this story, not a pilot.
Still, she's sympathetic, and I imagine the target audience readily identifies with her. In any case, I was able to tap into my inner girl just enough to enjoy Twilight Child. The resolution to Eleni's romance is coincidental and tidy, but gratifying nevertheless, and I enjoyed Warner's light touch in developing the atmosphere of both Finland and Scotland.
- Panguitch
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
panguitch
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Location: Springville, UT
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"Realism is quite incapable of describing the complexity of contemporary experience." -Ursula K. Le Guin
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