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novel love
It doesn't happen often that I really fall in love with a novel. It's even rarer that I fall in love with a book on tape when the recording is flawed. In the case of Mary Doria Russell's A Thread of Grace, I am so intrigued by the story and the characters that I overcame my real dislike of the reader (more about this below) and now I can't stop thinking about the book. I'm only a third of the way through it, and it's following me around like a puppy.
Historical fiction is an easy sell for me, that must be clear to anybody who reads this weblog regularly or who knows my novels. Well written, carefully researched historical fiction with good, solid characters -- impossible to resist. This is one of those novels. It's not an easy read (or listen); Russell doesn't coddle her readers, and you've got to be prepared to pay attention. There are a lot of characters, and there are multiple plot lines. The opening vignette is staggering in its simple power and the way it sets up what is to come. I'm so nervous for these characters -- Jews in Italy after Mussolini handed off to Hitler -- that I sometimes get an adrenaline rush thinking about them. Because (here's the big announcement) as this is an audiobook, I can't jump ahead and read the resolutions. And it's really painful, the waiting.
Apparently Doria tossed a coin to resolve the fate of some of the characters, an idea which I find absolutely terrifying, and terribly gutsy. I couldn't do that with my characters. Impossible. Right now one of them is missing (my characters, that is). There's a penny sitting on the desk in front of me. Should I let a toss of that coin decide his fate?
Can't do it. I have no idea what this says about me, or about Doria, or about anything at all, except this: it's a rare book that puts me into this state. I keep finding excuses to go run errands so I can listen some more. Normally I do just the opposite. I'm fighting with the urge to go buy a hard copy.
One of the rationalizations for buying that hard copy would be this: I dislike the reader's approach. She decided that whenever a character would logically be speaking language x, she would read that character's dialogue (but not the internal monologue or narrative) in English with the accent of that language. As we are dealing here with characters from Belgium, France, Germany, the Ukraine, Austria, a whole range of Italian dialects, I find this very distracting. A grandmother who is a native speaker of Ukrainian speaking German -- try reading dialogue in that accent. I'm not saying the reader is bad at languages, just the opposite. She reads the occasional Italian or German or French phrase very well -- just that this was a strategic decision that really doesn't pay off, in my opinion. However, I'm so in love with the story that I'm almost able to ignore the accents.
My question (and one reason I'm so tempted about the hard copy) is whether or not Doria wrote the dialogue that way. Which I sincerely hope she did not, for reasons I've gone into elsewhere and have now reposted (below), in the hope that y'all might have some thoughts on the matter.
Pink Cadillac from the album "Tracks" by Bruce Springsteen
March 15, 2005 01:11 PM
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Comments
I think that, as you are an expert in the field of writing dialects (I absolutely loved how I started thinking in a gaelic accent after reading your stories too long at one go), you would probably be able to tell if the reader was reading well-written dialect, badly. Or would you? Maybe it's an expert reader successfully interpreting badly written dialect. Interesting problem. Worth at least a trip to the library to look up the hard copy, eh?
Posted by: Pam at March 15, 2005 04:39 PM
I'm glad you are writing about Threads of Grace. I wanted to buy a copy from the bookshop but they don't have any here in Australia so I'd have to get them to order it specially so its good to know that the effort might be worthwhile. Did you end up reading The Sparrow?
Posted by: Jacqui at March 15, 2005 05:31 PM
I've just sent my copy home with my best friend, but I'm pretty sure the only instance of dialect is in the epilogue. I think Russell might have twisted grammar once or twice, but she didn't bother with spelling things phonetically until those last few pages.
Posted by: Stephanie at March 15, 2005 07:23 PM
Jacqui -- will definitely read The Sparrow, now that I've got a taste of Russell's style from A Thread of Grace. Just haven't got to it yet.
And Stephanie is right; I checked today at the bookstore and except for the epilogue, there's no phonetic spelling that I could see (flipping through, checking specific passages) anywhere in the novel. Which now makes me really unhappy with the person who recorded the audiobook. Who makes such a decision? The person reading, the person producing, who? Because I think that the went way too far, in this case, in their interpretation of how the story should sound. As much as I like and admire the book, I'm very peeved about the recording, and would give it low marks, indeed.
I think I'll have to read the book now, to get the memory of those elaborate accented passages out of my head.
The problem is, I do know alot about accents and dialects and I can't put aside what I know. The German accents especially are so overdone in places, it's almost funny.
At least the mystery is solved, and I'd much rather be unhappy with the recording than with the author.
Posted by: sara at March 15, 2005 10:19 PM
The Sparrow is a magnificent book; it's one of the few I feel I can recommend to everyone (it was my pick for a Category 7 awhile back). I like it so much that I'm a little afraid to read Thread of Grace, which doesn't make a lot of sense. Can't wait to hear what you think of it.
Posted by: Anamaria at March 16, 2005 12:25 PM
Just wanted everyone to know that I absolutely agree: the fake accents in the audiobook version of A Thread of Grace are AWFUL.
I told the producer, "The Italian city folks should sound a bit British, okay? Cultured, sophisticated, right? The Germans' dialog should be read with an American accent, because they're rougher, more soldierly. Finesse is not part of their game." This advice, as you have noted, was completely ignored.
Just to demonstrate that I don't hold any grudges about your review: on Sunday, there will be two boxes of audiobooks (CD and tape) put out with the rest of the trash. I simply can't give up closet space that could be used by more important items. Like, say, camping gear my husband hasn't used since 1989.
Posted by: Mary Doria Russell at March 25, 2005 04:24 PM
Whew. Mary, thanks for commenting. I'm glad I didn't offend, and: I do truly admire this novel, from every direction.
Posted by: sara at March 25, 2005 05:37 PM
Sara,
Thank you for recommending Thread of Grace. I loved it. I could see all of their faces. I finished it last night and didn't sleep well. I loved the character of Renzo. I wanted to love him and save him from himself. One of the haunting passages was when he had got himself a shave and was feeling better. Then...the next sentences found him with a noose around his neck.....The chair underneath him wobbling....haunted me..... Tosses of coins it was.....I loved them and hated them. Their fates as they turned out had no justification. Hazzards of war. I didn't sleep...
Cynthia
Posted by: Cynthia at May 17, 2005 12:40 PM
Cynthia,
I'm so glad you liked this novel. I'll probably end up giving away ten copies for Christmas, just so more people will read it.
Posted by: sara at May 20, 2005 11:07 AM