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The Sleeping Soldier, by Aster Glenn Gray
Aug. 14th, 2023 02:45 pmDamn, another real banger from Aster Glenn Gray! She's just so good at historically-grounded character-rich retellings of stories from the folk tradition.
The Sleeping Soldier is an m/m Sleeping Beauty retelling. Russell, a Union soldier from the US civil war, falls asleep for a hundred years and wakes up in the 1960's to a different world. Caleb is a college student who meets the newly-woken Russell and takes it upon himself to be Russell's guide to the world he's ended up in.
I love how real the social mores of both the 1860's and the 1960's are in the narrative of this novel - both are clearly realized, and different from each other and from today. What does same-sex friendship look like? what does dating look like? what does it mean to have sex with someone else, what does it mean to have sex with a friend, what does it mean to be gay?
In sum - what are the expected patterns of the shapes of different kinds of relationships, and how do these assumptions work when you're from two different cultures separated by the gulf of a hundred years?
And god, the way it kept coming up over and over all the different ways in which it was no longer acceptable for men to express affection and closeness to one another, physical or emotional, platonic or otherwise! PAINFUL, and so true, and something that hasn't actually changed from the 1960's to today. The days of romantic friendship are gone.
Russell gives it his all to throw himself into finding ways to be happy and comfortable and to fit in in this new life of his, and Caleb is so, so earnest and caring and brave and scared. It's scary to be gay in the 1960's! It can literally mean your death!
I really appreciated that although the main focus was on the Russell/Caleb relationship, and the various other communities and relationships they're a part of and which are meaningful to them as well, we also got to see a bit about romantic friendship between girls in the past as well, via Caleb's historical research project. And I loved how much he loved the girls in the letters he was studying!
I also appreciated that it came up more than once what a stark difference there was in songbird populations between 1865 and 1965, because yeah, the enormous decline would be noticeable.
Anyway the book was amazing and I nearly cried at the end and I definitely stayed up way too late last night reading it but regret nothing.
The Sleeping Soldier is an m/m Sleeping Beauty retelling. Russell, a Union soldier from the US civil war, falls asleep for a hundred years and wakes up in the 1960's to a different world. Caleb is a college student who meets the newly-woken Russell and takes it upon himself to be Russell's guide to the world he's ended up in.
I love how real the social mores of both the 1860's and the 1960's are in the narrative of this novel - both are clearly realized, and different from each other and from today. What does same-sex friendship look like? what does dating look like? what does it mean to have sex with someone else, what does it mean to have sex with a friend, what does it mean to be gay?
In sum - what are the expected patterns of the shapes of different kinds of relationships, and how do these assumptions work when you're from two different cultures separated by the gulf of a hundred years?
And god, the way it kept coming up over and over all the different ways in which it was no longer acceptable for men to express affection and closeness to one another, physical or emotional, platonic or otherwise! PAINFUL, and so true, and something that hasn't actually changed from the 1960's to today. The days of romantic friendship are gone.
Russell gives it his all to throw himself into finding ways to be happy and comfortable and to fit in in this new life of his, and Caleb is so, so earnest and caring and brave and scared. It's scary to be gay in the 1960's! It can literally mean your death!
I really appreciated that although the main focus was on the Russell/Caleb relationship, and the various other communities and relationships they're a part of and which are meaningful to them as well, we also got to see a bit about romantic friendship between girls in the past as well, via Caleb's historical research project. And I loved how much he loved the girls in the letters he was studying!
I also appreciated that it came up more than once what a stark difference there was in songbird populations between 1865 and 1965, because yeah, the enormous decline would be noticeable.
Anyway the book was amazing and I nearly cried at the end and I definitely stayed up way too late last night reading it but regret nothing.
