Among Others

by Jo Walton

[empressbrooke]

I keep going back and forth between 2 and 3 stars. I should have really loved this book, but I found myself more annoyed than charmed. Although it appears we're supposed to take the main character's story at face value and believe that the magic and fairies and her evil mother are real, I found myself writing it all off as her way of coping with a more mundane unstable mother and car accident. I think what pushed me over the edge into disbelief was the scene with the aunts and the earrings. I mean, what was that except some belligerent child who's playing make believe and throwing a tantrum? And we're supposed to believe she's 15! And as much as I love books, read and eat and breathe books, I wanted her to get her head out of them and be in the real world for a bit and have conversations that were real. There's something to say for being a well-rounded person with multiple interests. I realize I sound awfully harsh regarding a fictional girl whose twin just died; maybe it was the over-use of the word "brill" to describe everything she liked. You'd think someone who read so much would have a larger vocabulary!