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jselliot's review
challenging
informative
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
3.25
I'll admit I mostly read this book because I was curious what prototypical fantasy would be like, as it predates Tolkein by about a hundred years and is by a female author. In short, it functions more like how we understand the genre of magical realism today. Since the author self-describes it as a whimsical fairytale in the foreword, it's probably an indication not to take the narrative too seriously, but I do feel that the rather dated style kept the reader from full immersion ... and the haphazard use of punctuation. Though I don't know if that was because of Gutenberg or just how the original publication was transcribed. (There were, however, two things that dated the work even more than the casual racism towards indigenous people: First cousin marriage being acceptable/desirable, and 'bedding down in asbestos' even being a phrase.)
Content Warnings
Minor: Racism
blchandler9000's review
3.0
George Sand wrote a Hollow Earth novel? Almost.
This is an odd little book to say the least. The majority of it revolves around the narrator's relationships with geology and his cousin, Laura. His feelings towards minerals is a bit love/hate, but those toward Laura are more adoration/obsession. Along the way, the narrator has visions of being inside a geode with his beloved cousin, and there are evocative descriptions of crystal mountains and gem-laden valleys. The story shifts about two-thirds through and our plucky storyteller joins his weirdo uncle on a journey to the north pole to see if the Earth itself is one giant hollow geode.
At times it seems like the book is a heavy-handed series of metaphors for science vs art, ideals vs realities, obsession vs true love. Maybe it is. The adventure during the last third follows much of what writers of the same era concocted when creating lost lands untouched by humanity, which is kind of fun, but one might expect more from a name as prestigious as George Sand. Sand herself writes in the book's intro that the whole thing's just a fairy tale to amuse, so maybe I shouldn't take it all so seriously.
This is an odd little book to say the least. The majority of it revolves around the narrator's relationships with geology and his cousin, Laura. His feelings towards minerals is a bit love/hate, but those toward Laura are more adoration/obsession. Along the way, the narrator has visions of being inside a geode with his beloved cousin, and there are evocative descriptions of crystal mountains and gem-laden valleys. The story shifts about two-thirds through and our plucky storyteller joins his weirdo uncle on a journey to the north pole to see if the Earth itself is one giant hollow geode.
At times it seems like the book is a heavy-handed series of metaphors for science vs art, ideals vs realities, obsession vs true love. Maybe it is. The adventure during the last third follows much of what writers of the same era concocted when creating lost lands untouched by humanity, which is kind of fun, but one might expect more from a name as prestigious as George Sand. Sand herself writes in the book's intro that the whole thing's just a fairy tale to amuse, so maybe I shouldn't take it all so seriously.
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