soph (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sophia_sol) wrote2013-04-02 08:20 pm
sophia_sol) wrote2013-04-02 08:20 pm
A Company of Swans, by Eva Ibbotson
I find Eva Ibbotson to generally be a SUPER CHARMNG writer. Imperfect, of course, but certain aspects of her id really jive with mine.
However! I found the end of this one rather frustrating, because it.... idk, it became too much about Harriet's helplessness. It's possible I just don't like Ibbotson's idea of romance. I love her children's novels! Journey to the River Sea, for example, which I couldn't help comparing to this one as they are both about the Amazon.
I love Harriet and how she DAMN WELL FINDS A WAY to realize her dream, and I love love love Marie-Claude (and her Vincent), and I love Simonova and Dubrov, but -- maybe actually my problem is that I do NOT love Rom? I think I might have liked his younger self before he got his heart broken but he just...idk, he seems too possessive and too I Am Definitely In Charge and when you add that to the age difference, and wealth, and social class, and gender, and pretty much EVERY AXIS on which power might hinge, and then on top of all that the extremely precarious situation Harriet's in, it makes it all very uncomfortable to me. I was LOVING this book right up till it started to get serious about the romance aspect. How frustrating!
Now I want to read some of her other romances to see if it's only this book I have a problem with or if it's her romances in general. Or maybe just go back to her children's books. Sigh.
However! I found the end of this one rather frustrating, because it.... idk, it became too much about Harriet's helplessness. It's possible I just don't like Ibbotson's idea of romance. I love her children's novels! Journey to the River Sea, for example, which I couldn't help comparing to this one as they are both about the Amazon.
I love Harriet and how she DAMN WELL FINDS A WAY to realize her dream, and I love love love Marie-Claude (and her Vincent), and I love Simonova and Dubrov, but -- maybe actually my problem is that I do NOT love Rom? I think I might have liked his younger self before he got his heart broken but he just...idk, he seems too possessive and too I Am Definitely In Charge and when you add that to the age difference, and wealth, and social class, and gender, and pretty much EVERY AXIS on which power might hinge, and then on top of all that the extremely precarious situation Harriet's in, it makes it all very uncomfortable to me. I was LOVING this book right up till it started to get serious about the romance aspect. How frustrating!
Now I want to read some of her other romances to see if it's only this book I have a problem with or if it's her romances in general. Or maybe just go back to her children's books. Sigh.