November 23, 2013
Today is the first day of my nine day break from work and classes! I really needed this time off. I'll have to be productive with this time, unfortunately, as I'd like to knock out all of my assignments left for the semester, and get a leg-up on planning for my classes at work, in addition to doing some housekeeping that I've been neglecting. I was able to knock out another book today, an enjoyable read, plus my last book for my YA course. I've already downloaded two books from the public library, since I'll have some extra time to read this week.
This is the fourth book by Anderson that I've read. Of course, I've read Speak, what I would consider to be her breakout novel. I've also read a couple of other historical fiction works, including Chains, the predecessor to this novel. I used that one with my former 8th grade class, but not many of them took to it. I wonder if they would have appreciated this sequel better; I don't necessarily think they would have needed to have read the former in order to get this one. It has the same main characters, Isabel and Curzon, but this time the story is told from his perspective. After running off with Isabel at the end of the last book, they were together for several months as runaway slaves, then separated after a fight. We don't learn the details of this argument until later on, when they are unwittingly reunited after they are both enslaved by Curzon's former master, Bellingham, who is a dick.
It took me a little bit to get into this particular book, but it definitely picks up as Curzon, recruited into the Continental army, is camped out at Valley Forge for the winter with thousands of poorly supplied troops. What I love about this book is how it gives the human side of the Revolutionary War. Since I'm reading this book for my class, I'll note that if I were to teach this book, I would use it alongside history studies of the Revolutionary War. As I've been teaching a U.S. history course at my teaching assignment, I have wanted to find supplementary materials that would do just that for the topics we've been studying. It would be great to find a good quality novel about a time period that we'll be studying; unfortunately, it seems that Anderson's YA works mostly center on very early American life.
The characters in this work are what drive the story, and Curzon is a likable narrator. In this book, the origins of his interesting name are revealed (his mother had been a slave from Brazil, and having died in childbirth, his father named him after the Portuguese word for 'heart'); he and Isabel also kiss, finally. Duh, kiddos, you love each other. I would say that Curzon and Isabel are my favorite couple in YA literature; screw those fucking vampires and werewolves, what's-their-faces. But most important were the descriptions of slaves' living conditions, and those of the poor soldiers in Valley Forge. The descriptions of standing in the snow with inadequate shoes, going for days with nothing to eat but burned flour-paste; men dying in their sleep, or eating inedible objects out of desperation. And the treatment of the slaves is horrifying; the description of Isabel being 'collared' by Bellingham for her frequent escape attempts is backed up by a quote from one of Anderson's resources, describing the similar treatment of a young girl in slavery.
Understanding the real stories of history (even through fiction), seeing the ugly facts and the raw details, can help us to better understand human nature. The way things really are in the world. To be able to trace back where we've come from, even if that past is shameful. I love good quality historical fiction if it teaches me something real about history. I know that Anderson writes in a variety of YA genres, but I hope that she puts out some more historical fiction. I know there will be a follow-up to Forge, but I think the date is still up in the air. I hope that we learn what happened to Isabel's sister Ruth, a young girl who suffered from seizures who was abused, then sold, but Isabel's cruel, former mistress in the first book. If the books are switching perspectives, I might wonder if this third one would be told from hers?
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| Damn, it would have sucked to be at Valley Forge that winter. |
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| This would have sucked even worse. I imagine that the collar on Isabel wasn't so dissimilar to the iron collar in this drawing. |
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