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Feb 20, 2012

Book Review–Sea Hearts by Margo Lanagan

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I have been captivated by Margo Lanagan’s skill as a writer since I read her short story Singing My Sister Down. I don’t recall any other short story evoking such emotion before or since. 

I discovered Tender Morsels last year and that was another powerful display of skill, this time in novel form.
 
Sea Hearts 1 continues this showcasing of her skill, with language and narrative.  Reading Lanagan is like watching the world through aged glass.  The world and its characters are identifiable but there is a ripple, a distortion that separates us. 

It’s in this distortion that Margo plays, drawing on folklore and legends, weaving them with the mundane, creating modern day folktales, presenting us with scenarios but passing no judgement. 

She’s often pigeon-holed as a YA writer ( no doubt in part due to her very early works) but she’s had more than a toe dipped in the speculative fiction community for some time now.  I tend to view her work as mature fiction, with depth and power.  I would certainly recommend her to any intelligent reader 14 years and up.
An example of the depth of the novel is the multitude of angles that you can approach Sea Hearts from.  It’s a clever weaving of the legend of the Selkie into a moving narrative; it’s a comment on relationships between men and women, mothers and sons, the value of women, love, bullying, justice and revenge.

In simple plot terms, it’s the story of the Witch Misskaella who summons seal women from the sea to partner the men of the island and the ramifications of this action.  The story is told from the perspective of various people, from different generations, who are connected to the consequences or the Island in some fashion.

One of the highlights is Lanagan’s talent in shaping the English language to her own ends.  She’s joyously crude in some instances;
She snorted and matter flew out of one of her nostrils and into  the blanket. She knitted on savagely.  The bone’s rustling in the weed sent my boy-sacks up inside me like startled mice into their hole.
Daniel Mallet on meeting the witch Misskaella
and powerfully understated in others
Ean, Froman, Hugh. Where do I begin with the questions I cannot ask her?….’But whose?’ I say. ‘Whose are you? What man of this isle got you on our Miss?’
Trudle Callisher on discovering Misskaella had been a mother.

Whereas the folktale often presents black and white characters – the handsome prince, the evil witch; Lanagan gives us a villain( if one can call her that), who is both a victim of a community and her own actions.   Misskaella’s actions cause others grief, pain and loss, but there is a sense that her actions if not justified, are human and understandable.

I was storm tossed by this novel, sympathising with Misskaella in one chapter, finding myself disgusted with her the next.  Whether a story is a comedy or a tragedy often depends on where you stop the telling.  We finish on a happy note with Sea Hearts but the reader has had to sail through a storm of sorrows to get there.

Sea Hearts will captivate and manipulate you. It will raise questions for you. When you emerge from Lanagan’s spell you won’t quite be the same.

This book was a review copy provided by Allen & Unwin
Sea Hearts is available in both Ebook and Paperback from Australian online retailer Booktopia.


1. The US/UK title is The Brides of Rollrock Island

awwc2012This review is part of the Australian Women Writers Challenge 2012.  Please check out this page for more great writing from Australian women.


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Comments (17)

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Just picked this up from the library! Looking forward to reading it!
My recent post Time Out by Jill Shalvis
1 reply · active 681 weeks ago
Tissues and that's all I'm sayin'. :'(
Thanks so much for bringing this author to my attention. Her work sounds wonderfully original. I have made a note :)
1 reply · active 681 weeks ago
A pleasure. When people criticise SF&F for being unsophisticated I'd point them in Margo's direction and they never come back complaining :)
Black Juice was the first book by Lanagan I read, and I was likewise blown away by Singing My Sister Down, although I think my favourite in that collection was the elephant one. Little Pippit.

I've actually just bought a few of her older books for the library where I work. I think everyone should be reading them.
My recent post Josephine Butler
1 reply · active 681 weeks ago
I like the sensibility that she brings to her speculative fiction shorts. Wherever she rites she makes the world, the characters distinctly her own.
I really liked the hope the ending offered - it didn't ring false or erase any of the pain that had come before, which is a trap happy endings to sad stories sometimes fall into. I thought it did something similar to the ending of Tender Morsels, actually, though I know a lot of readers have read that one VERY differently.

Anyway, I really loved this book as well. I'll be very very surprised if it doesn't make my top 5 of the year.
4 replies · active 680 weeks ago
Do you think this realism sets it above other works in YA (i don't read enough to make a judgement) literature. I always feel uncomfortable labelling Margo as YA, the work seems, as I said in my review, mature.
No, I definitely don't. I mean, I think she's an absolutely extraordinary writer, but to say something is "above" your average YA makes me really uncomfortable because I think it relies on simplistic generalisation about what an "average" YA novel is. I read a fair amount of YA and the quality and level of complexity and sophistication are as varied as those of any other marketing niche. That's the other thing about YA: I see it as much more of a marketing niche than as a genre, so being labelled as YA says less about any given book and than about who the publishers decided they could market it to. Of course, this can have the unfortunate effect of making some readers go "eww, YA, definitely not for me", but then again the same is true of fantasy in general.

Sorry to ramble; obviously I have a lot of thoughts on this :P One of these days I'll turn them into a proper blog post, and Margo Lanagan's novels will be a great example to use.
My recent post Feminism is for Everybody by bell hooks
Please ignore the extra "and" in one of those sentences :P
My recent post Feminism is for Everybody by bell hooks
Bad wording on my part possibly more complex/layered? :D
Must read this...been hearing SO many good things.
1 reply · active 681 weeks ago
*mind control* must read Sea Hearts *mind control* ^_^
Great review, Sean. I have wanted to read Margo's books for sometime and I think I will start with Sea Hearts.
My recent post The Reluctant Hallelujah by Gabrielle Williams
1 reply · active 681 weeks ago
Thanks. I don't think you will be dissapointed.
<div class="idc-message" id="idc-comment-msg-div-302757872"><a class="idc-close" title="Click to Close Message" href="javascript: IDC.ui.close_message(302757872)"><span>Close Message</span> Comment posted. <p class="idc-nomargin"><a class="idc-share-facebook" target="_new" href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fbookonaut.blogspot.com.au%2F2012%2F02%2Fbook-reviewsea-hearts-by-margo-lanagan.html#IDComment302757872&t=I%20just%20commented%20on%20Adventures%20of%20a%20Bookonaut%3A%20Book%20Review%E2%80%93Sea%20Hearts%20by%20Margo%20Lanagan" style="text-decoration: none;"><span class="idc-share-inner"><span>Share on Facebook</span></span> or <a href="javascript: IDC.ui.close_message(302757872)">Close Message Couldn't agree more! I had to read this after researching her writing as she is being celebrated at Adelaide Writers Week which starts ths weekend. I saw her blog about this book and was sucked in immediately. Went to Dymocks and purchased a copy within the week. Such a delicious novel full of magic and humanity. I was so swept away by this book and keep raving to all about it to anyone who will listen. Cheers to you Sean for highlighting Margo in a tweet several weeks ago. :)
1 reply · active 680 weeks ago
Thanks Carolyn.Are you going to hear Margo speak?

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