Wise Children
Angela Carter
1991
Around 240 pages
I recently proclaimed that I like any novel that pays homage to Shakespeare. Well, this is awkward. I guess I should stop making such blanket statements. I promise to never make an empty promise again!
Look, I'll give you the summary of this novel, but please don't ask me to construct a family tree for these characters. The story begins on the 75th birthday of identical twin sisters Dora and Nora Chance. So we are off to a wacky start. The twins were once a famous song-and-dance team of the British music halls, and I'm totally picturing the two sisters in White Christmas. The sisters are the illegitimate and unacknowledged daughters of Sir Melchior Hazard, the greatest Shakespearean actor of his day. I'll leave the rest of the twists and turns for you to discover.
Angela Carter and I have never clicked, and unfortunately, this novel only deepened our divide. Her novels are always carnivalesque, and I never feel like I get my bearings with the characters and plot. Of course, she is deliberately creating this chaotic atmosphere, but that doesn't make it enjoyable for me. She has a strangely jolly approach to the subject of incest, and I'm not sure what to make of it.
I can see what the tone of this novel, and Nights at the Circus, would appeal to some, but it's not my cup of tea.
RATING: **---
Interesting Facts:
Carter wrote this novel after being diagnosed with lung cancer.
UP NEXT: Senor Vivo and the Coca Lord by Louis de Bernieres
1 comment:
I wonder if the diagnosis of lung cancer gave her the push to write the novel.
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