by Marina Warner

 

Once upon a Time is about the metaphor and analogy in fairytales. I found it rather wordy, though it gives some good information about history and cultural influences of various folktales. In some parts it seems to explain metaphor in metaphorical analogy as if the author is intentionally using flowery language, but it gives some good food for thought and I actually found it quite interesting.

 

The explains that not so long ago people believed in fairies and demons, but supposedly not as much now. It goes into the language of fairy tales and the symbolic landscape used in this form of storytelling.

There is some interesting history of well known tales and authors. Some of the tales mentioned included stories about Queen Mab, Robin Goodfellow and Puck. The book explains how fairies were prettified and the roles of magic and anthropomophised animals in fairy tales.

It also goes into the magic of words and the place of fairytales in culture, and how many original fairytales often had sinister elements, like Cinderella planning to murder her stepmother.

The book postulates that there is effectively a template of fairytale structure and that things don't always have to make sense. I particularly found it interesting to read about the history behind such recognizable names as Mother Goose and the Brothers Grimm, especially how many tales by the Grimm brothers were gathered with substantial effort or based on real life events.

 

Overall I found it a very interesting book and I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in this story form.

This was my pick for Read Harder 2017's Task 19. There are actually several characters of color who go on spiritual journeys. A Tale for the Time Being has two protagonists, both are women of color and then some second tier characters have their own spiritual journeys as well. The book opens with Nao, who I would call the main protagonist. She is one of those characters who live between cultures and is therefore harder to understand and has a harder time relating to people of either culture. She's lonely at school where she can't relate to other students who grew up in Japan, but also at home. Her parents have enough of their own issues that they don't have the awareness to deal with hers, until Nao's issues practically hit them in the face.

Ruth is the other protagonist. This part of the story is a little more familiar for Western audiences despite that Ruth is a protagonist of color. Also of Japanese heritage, she takes a special interest in Nao's diary after it washes up on the shores of her local beach in Canada along with other items from Japan. The assumption around town is that these items were washed away in the tsunami that had hit Japan in 2011. More than anything else that has washed up though, this diary and the few things with it are more personal to Ruth. Her character arc and spiritual journey is just as pronounced as Nao's as she searches for what may have happened to Nao.

For me, Nao's journey is by far the more interesting one. She goes through so much and her family had been through so much. There's also a magnificent shifting of perspective and the way they know and see each other. Its a multigenerational kind of story that has several beautiful layers but also several horrific and triggering scenes. Some triggers to expect in this book are suicide and suicidal thoughts, rape, bullying, depression, and child prostitution.

With triggers like that, I was also surprised to find the rather perfect way it resolved. There's some magical realism that comes into play, but it had been there from the beginning too. And perfect does not mean that life goes on as if nothing ever happened, quite the contrary. There are still mysteries left to the story too, but these are the kind if mysteries that are true to life. Sometimes we just don't get to know about some things we are looking for. I rather liked that.

Altogether, it's one of my favorite books this year.

This book just didn't work for me. It's written well, but it just isn't my kind of story. It made me feel depressed.

This is a story about drift. Drift in the sense of ocean currents that wash artifacts up on a distant shore. Drift in the sense of our lives, as we bob along, hopefully keeping our heads above the waves but sometimes finding it easier to let ourselves sink down to the bottom. And I think that the best headspace to read this book in, is to allow yourself to drift through the story.

 

It is a story that winds the lives of our two narrators, calling into question the role of reader and storyteller by way of quantum physics and Buddhism. Curious? Confused? Either you'll really get into A Tale for the Time Being, or it won't be your cup of tea. I suspect that fellow Murakami lovers will enjoy the existential nature of it.

 

So I'm not going to tell you any more. I'm not going to dissect character or give you more plot than you already have. Get comfortable, open it, take a deep breath, and plunge.

Ahh, magical realism. What a delightful read!!