And then the reveal of Gideon as the first person narrator on top of it? Incredible. So reading a whole book in that POV? YASSSS. (A bias that is definitely not related to my thoughts on Frisk vs Chara vs The Player in Undertale, what are you talking about, ahaha.) Second person where “you” is meant to be You The Reader, You The Self-Insert makes me instinctively roll my eyes. But it’s specifically second person where the “you” is a defined, in-universe character. Last but the opposite of least: I actually really love Second Person POV! If anything, that’s often the most natural POV for me to write fanfic in, for whatever reason. It’s a strong way to show that Gideon genuinely cares about Harrow, serving as a welcome contrast after an entire book of every other character ignoring and often actively trying to erode Harrow’s boundaries. But the point is also that she’s determined to be considerate of Harrow’s privacy, even to an absurd degree. Is it over-the-top and did I laugh? Absolutely. See, even relatively tame and mainstream anime (Shinkai’s “Your Name” springs to mind) still feel the need to kick off their body switching plots by having one character immediately and nonconsensually grope their love interest’s body when the switch happens.īut instead of doing that, Gideon keeps apologizing, desperately trying to protect Harrow’s body, and even declaring she’ll take showers fully clothed. ![]() ![]() Another random, tiny moment that stood out to me: Gideon’s response to waking up in Harrow’s body. And the sheer uncomfortableness and background radiation of polite disappointment that entails. For example, I am neither neurodivergent nor mentally ill (afaik), but I still related so hard to Harrow’s food sensitivities, her touch-shyness, her obsessions, her completely broken sleep schedule… I mean, oh gosh, the thing with John’s tea and biscuits? I have never before read something that so perfectly captures the feeling of someone giving you food and you would like to eat it to please them but you just. ![]() And that’s without getting into a whole bunch of other really weird, really specific things about her/HtN that were precisely my thing. Yeah, so remember that “I’m a sex-averse-ish ace” thing I mentioned in the previous post? And how I really wanted Less Swords More Bones Please And Thank You? Needless to say, Harrow won me over as a protagonist instantaneously. I Swear This Book Was Made To Appeal Directly To Me? But first things first: my thoughts on the book! Luckily I had brought other books with me to read I don’t know how I would have staved off my cravings to dive into fandom analysis otherwise. (I do wonder what his secondhand impression of these books is, haha.) I was just as confused and uncertain as Harrow, and it was delightful.Īnd after finishing, I continued my tradition and proceeded to gush incoherently about it to my younger brother the next sleep-deprived morning. In other words: my memory of the events in that book was extremely unreliable, which, I have to say, only enhanced the surreal atmosphere of HtN. And as mentioned, I’d marathoned GtN over the course of a single night several months prior. Like a Smart Person, I’d also neglected to take my copy of Gideon the Ninth with me on the trip, and I didn’t have internet access either. Oh, we had to get up early to drive the next day? I didn’t care, I just waited for everyone else in the room to fall asleep and then stayed up until 2am curled up on the tiny bathroom counter to finish it. Probably made for an amusing picture!)Īnyway, it was a good thing I wasn’t called on to help drive during that trip, because I started the book in the morning and was only barely able to put it down for meals and checking into the hotel. (So yes, there was Poster Child For A Liberal City Girl aka Me casually wandering around some deep red rural parts of the country with “the necromancers are back, and they’re gayer than ever” emblazoned on the book I refused to put down. For various reasons, I found I had to go on a long family roadtrip and needed something to do in the car… and I thought “hm. ![]() Those sections do contain spoilers for the other stories, so feel free to skip or read them accordingly!Īfter finishing GtN, a few months passed. Note: This post also includes marked sections where I compare certain Harrow the Ninth plot elements with first the When They Cry series and then Madoka Magica: Rebellion, because that’s just the way my brain works. Similar to my post on Gideon the Ninth, this is a questionably organized collection of impressions, opinions, and a recounting of my experience in reading this book!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |