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timevictorious's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
kaybiasotti93's review
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
Try Not To Be Strange is a fascinating work of literary and Caribbean history told with a quaint, romantic quality that makes it sound and feel like fiction but is in fact true.
Redonda is a tiny island near Montserrat and under Antiguan governance (officially). In the late 1800s it is gifted to a teen boy, M.P Shiel, by his father, who makes the boy King of the island. Shiel largely ignores its existence, only mentioning the island by name once in his long writing career, but nevertheless names poet John Gawsworth as successor of this tiny, uninhabitable island "kingdom". Gawsworth, whose given himself the name King Juan I, turns it into a widespread inside joke: "Redonda under King Juan would be defined by a total, straight faced commitment to the bit."
While the kingdom was of very little consequence to Shiel, Gawsworth takes his title and runs with it, even giving noble titles to his friends and contemporaries. The entire concept straddles the line between fiction and reality for over a century, with new kings being named and others claiming the throne the entire way. Flags (made of pyjamas) and a national anthem are even created, pushing Redonda closer to legitimacy and blurring the line even further. Redonda is so small and of so little consequence that the Antiguan government, for their part, lets the eccentric writers, artists, and academics have their fun.
Overall, a spellbinding, lighthearted, fun read. Highly recommend!
bekahbeth's review
adventurous
funny
informative
lighthearted
relaxing
slow-paced
3.5
This is a fascinating truth-stranger-than-fiction tale. The writing is decent and the story a good one.
I think sometimes Hingston delved into less interesting bits than he could have -- lots of doddering about by aging white male writers of questionable output that seem quite stuffy and incredibly priveleged, for example -- but there were some great vignettes and crunchy bits of storytelling to make up for it. M.P. Shiel's background and work are fascinating, for example, and the book makes a very compelling case for visiting Montserrat. I wanted to hear more about the folks who live and work there, as they seemed much kinder, more real, and more down-to-earth than just about anyone else in the book.
Most of the other characters aren't really that likeable, and I was repeatedly struck by how few of them would be worthy of a tale on their own, but somehow they were all woven into a story that's much more charming than most of them seem to have been. The relative lack of women in the history/mythology of Redonda hurts the story, I think (and I really think that, I don't think I approach everything through the lens of feminism as a general rule -- I was just trying to put a finger on what felt sort of unsatisfying about the characters and the story, and I legitimately think that's part of it).
I find myself completely unable to pin down one or even a handful of themes of one or two words each. The story, in its nature, is all over the board. That's part of its fascination, but also makes its appeal a little challenging and certainly makes it difficult to classify.
I do love the title.
I read a digital ARC via Edelweiss thanks to the publisher. This is my honest review.
I think sometimes Hingston delved into less interesting bits than he could have -- lots of doddering about by aging white male writers of questionable output that seem quite stuffy and incredibly priveleged, for example -- but there were some great vignettes and crunchy bits of storytelling to make up for it. M.P. Shiel's background and work are fascinating, for example, and the book makes a very compelling case for visiting Montserrat. I wanted to hear more about the folks who live and work there, as they seemed much kinder, more real, and more down-to-earth than just about anyone else in the book.
Most of the other characters aren't really that likeable, and I was repeatedly struck by how few of them would be worthy of a tale on their own, but somehow they were all woven into a story that's much more charming than most of them seem to have been. The relative lack of women in the history/mythology of Redonda hurts the story, I think (and I really think that, I don't think I approach everything through the lens of feminism as a general rule -- I was just trying to put a finger on what felt sort of unsatisfying about the characters and the story, and I legitimately think that's part of it).
I find myself completely unable to pin down one or even a handful of themes of one or two words each. The story, in its nature, is all over the board. That's part of its fascination, but also makes its appeal a little challenging and certainly makes it difficult to classify.
I do love the title.
I read a digital ARC via Edelweiss thanks to the publisher. This is my honest review.
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