Tags
As I mentioned before, Jo Walton’s book Among Others struck me as a kind of fictional version of her book of essays What Makes This Book So Great. But Among Others isn’t just chit chat about science fiction and fantasy books in the context of a novel, it is more than that.
The story is told in the form of a diary, but the diary is being written as a kind of memoir. The diary’s author is 15-year-old Mori and the entries date from fall of 1979 to spring of 1980. Mori, who is Welsh, has recently been sent to live with her father whom she has never seen before. He lives in England with his three sisters and they all decide to send Mori to boarding school. We don’t know much at first about why Mori was sent to live with her father, but as the entries pile up, we learn she had a twin sister who was killed not long ago when the two of them, with the help of the fairies, stopped their insane mother from doing some evil magic.
If you are opposed to fairies and magic in your books then don’t bother reading this one. If you are on the fence about them, it might help to know that this isn’t Harry Potter-type magic and the fairies aren’t the prettied up Disney kind. And while the fairies and the magic are a big part of the story, they are not THE story. Because the novel is actually about Mori dealing with the grief of losing her sister and figuring out who she is without her and who she wants to become. Mori is a smart girl, but even smart girls don’t know everything.
You might think the others in the title are the fairies, but that is not the case. Mori escapes a very bad home environment with her mother and in the process is forced to leave behind all of her friends, her beloved aunt and her grandfather to live among other people she does not know. The others are her father and his sisters and the girls at the boarding school. It is an entirely new environment and situation she needs to learn to navigate on her own. She makes friends and enemies and learns a lot about herself and getting along with others; loyalty, ethics, friendship.
A main delight of the book is how important books are to Mori, not just SFF books, though those are her favorite, but books and reading in general. She makes friends with the librarian at her school and the librarians at the public library in town. She is invited to join a book group. She talks about books with her dad and she meets his father who also turns out to be a reader and they talk about books too. It is a wonderfully bookish book.
I mean, how can you not like a character when, right at the start she says:
I have books, new books, and I can bear anything
And, as the person who does all the interlibrary loans at my library, how can I not love Mori and by extension Jo Walton when she says:
Interlibrary loans are a wonder of the world and a glory of civilization. Libraries really are wonderful. They’re better than bookshops, even. I mean bookshops make a profit on selling you books, but libraries just sit there lending you books quietly out of the goodness of their hearts.
This is the first Jo Walton novel I have read. I worried with all the love she gets that I might be disappointed because my expectations were pretty high. I shouldn’t have worried. Now I have the pleasure of knowing there are a whole bunch of Walton novels out there just waiting for me to read. Hooray!
This is the book that made me fall in love with Jo Walton–glad you are falling, too!
LikeLike
Jeanne, yup, I have fallen 🙂
LikeLike
This seems like a book for people who love books…I love that line – “I have books, new books, and I can bear anything” ….so very true!!! 🙂
LikeLike
cirtnecce, isn’t that great? A book-lover’s motto if ever there was one
LikeLike
I can’t wait to re-read this. This is the only Walton I’ve read so far. Here’s to many more bookish joys.
LikeLike
nikki, yes, to many bookish joys!
LikeLike
Interlibrary Loans are a wonder of the world! Haha, I love it. Was/Is Jo Walton a librarian. If you’ve told me that before and I’ve forgotten please slap my wrists, then pat me on the head, and say “there, there, I know you’re getting old”!
LikeLike
whipseringgums, lol, don’t worry you are not getting old and forgetful just yet! As far as I know Walton has never been a librarian. I checked her wikipedia page and there is no mention of it there either. I think she just really loves libraries 🙂
LikeLike
Phew, thanks Stefanie, I’ll relax. As for Walton, then that’s even better isn’t it. Love it when non-librarians promote libraries.
LikeLike
I love it too when non-librarians promote libraries. I always want to say, see, we are still important!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yep, me too .. People don’t see the librarianship and information management still going on.
LikeLike
And not just that, but Google doesn’t have all the answers and everything isn’t online. Sigh
LikeLiked by 1 person
Absolutely Stefanie … it sure doesn’t. And just having it online, when it is, is just the start. You have to find it, and you have to know what you’ve got when you do, don’t you.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m glad you enjoyed it and that it met your high expectations. Other than her essays it remains the only Jo Walton book that I’ve read, one that I’ve read a couple of times already and will probably read again in the future. Her love of books and reading, particularly SFF, touched a cord with me.
LikeLike
Carl, it’s a wonderful book and I can see reading it again. It kind of reminds me of when I was a kid, not that I talked to fairies or did magic (oh how I wished that I could!), but the discovering SFF and feeling like no one else read it and the joy of meeting other people who did. So I can definitely see how it touched a chord with you!
LikeLike
I tried this on audio but did not finish it. There are some books that you just can’t read while driving since driving takes (or should) so much attention. It was months ago so I can’t recall if perhaps I didn’t like the narrator. But I got it from the library mainly because everyone who said anything about it at all said very good things. Maybe the paper version would be different?
LikeLike
Grad, ah that’s a shame. I agree though, some books are better read in print than listened too. If you ever decide to try the book in paper, I hope you enjoy it!
LikeLike
I have heard so many good things about this and have been tempted by it each time I read someone’s post about it….like Station Eleven I should really follow your lead (you haven’t steered me wrong yet…). Of course I *really* should read Ali Smith, since she won the Baileys award and I DID Have to buy it in hardcover after you had such good things to say about it. I know, I know….I can already hear you now! 🙂 I do have her alternate history books about England after WWII, too……..
LikeLike
Danielle, you are going to slowly turn into an SFF reader if you aren’t careful 😉 You definitely need to read the Ali Smith book first though, Jo Walton can wait.
LikeLike
Glad to hear your take on this one – I’ve not read her before but ladies in my book group really enjoy her and have tried to get us to read this one before. Maybe when it’s my turn next to suggest books I’ll bring this one back up!
LikeLike
Laila, it’s quite enjoyable especially if you have read a lot of SFF books though that is not a requirement. If you give a try I hope you like it!
LikeLike
I cam across Walton through her novel ‘Farthing’ and I really enjoyed that. ‘Among Others’ didn’t catch my attention however, and unusually for me, I didn’t finish it. My point being that I don’t think she is a writer about whom you can generalise and enjoying one is no guarantee that you will enjoy the others. (Sorry to dampen the atmosphere!)
LikeLike
Alex, I’ve heard good things about Farthing. I will be getting to that one eventually 🙂 And don’t worry, you did not dampen the atmosphere! She is a writer who doesn’t write the same book over and over which in itself is wonderful, but it does sometimes mean a reader might not like everything she writes.
LikeLike
I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about this when I read it, not being a natural SFFer or all that keen on fairies, but I really did enjoy it. I completely agree with you that it’s essentially a book about adolescence and grief and how important books can become if you fall in love with them at that age. And the fairies are very good and un-fairyish. I would have imagined you enjoying this before you read it, so I’m very glad you really did!
LikeLike
Litlove, knowing you aren’t generally an SFF reader I was surprised when you read it but I am glad you enjoyed it. I did like that the fairies were more “natural” and the magic more “realistic.” The book had a sort of nostalgic feeling to it and reminded me a bit of my own childhood/teen years in terms of reading and friendships.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Never heard of her, but the idea of fairies kind of cooled my enthusiasm. I need more gritty realism these days. Maybe during the winter?
LikeLike
smithereens, it’s a very realistic fantasy novel but you still have to be ok with fairies and magic or it won’t work.
LikeLike
Among Others remains my favorite of hers. The Small Change trilogy were good, but I didn’t love them this same way. And Tooth and Claw didn’t do it for me at ALL, which surprised me very much. I’ll be interested to hear what you think of her future books!
LikeLike
Jenny, didn’t really like Tooth and Claw? I thought that might be the next one of hers I try. Won’t be for a while, but I will report back. 🙂
LikeLike
I’m glad you liked it. I also remember worrying about it living up the raves. I’m not a big fan of fairies, so I like how the nature of them and their magic is still fairly ambiguous. I’m looking forward to reading her Just City this summer.
LikeLike
Isabella, I’m not a fan of fairies either but she did them really well. Just City seems really interesting. I’m not sure that I will get to it this summer and I might wait until she has finished the series, but I am looking forward to reading them sometime! I hope you enjoy it 🙂
LikeLike