sacred country
Sep. 13th, 2010 01:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
threeplusfireSo many things to say, but I feel everything fly out of my head each time I sit down to write them. We left the house yesterday because I couldn't stand the silence in my own head and it was a good thing because an electrical substation just north of us caught on fire and all the power went out in the area. We got to spend a good evening hanging out with Stacy & Eric, eating sandwiches and watching Riff Tracks. I'm not sure I can scrub my brain enough to get rid of the utterly moronic mess that was The Happening. But I really loved the guys singing about pork and apparently people used to think it was a good idea to wash clothes in gasoline at home!
A couple days ago I read Sacred Country by Rose Tremain. This is a fascinating story about Martin Ward and his struggle to find his way back to the right body. I suppose after a lifetime spent reading science fiction and fantasy it doesn't seem so hard for me to relate to someone living in a completely different time and setting than my own. Martin is born as Mary and grows up on a farm in the English countryside. When the story started shifting perspectives to other family members and even other people living in the village, my first reaction was "No, no, no, I need to be with Mary/Martin." I didn't want to have to empathize with the drunk father or the awful little sibling. But I found it gave me a fuller picture of Martin, and Martin's world, without forcing me into some painful reconciliation with the others. In the end I was glad for it, because it allowed the story to happen.
There's a lot of sadness and missed things, a lot of cruelty to the life in the pages. But it comes round to something like peace and a greater sense of happiness.
Reading Sacred Country has made me think about what I want for myself.
A couple days ago I read Sacred Country by Rose Tremain. This is a fascinating story about Martin Ward and his struggle to find his way back to the right body. I suppose after a lifetime spent reading science fiction and fantasy it doesn't seem so hard for me to relate to someone living in a completely different time and setting than my own. Martin is born as Mary and grows up on a farm in the English countryside. When the story started shifting perspectives to other family members and even other people living in the village, my first reaction was "No, no, no, I need to be with Mary/Martin." I didn't want to have to empathize with the drunk father or the awful little sibling. But I found it gave me a fuller picture of Martin, and Martin's world, without forcing me into some painful reconciliation with the others. In the end I was glad for it, because it allowed the story to happen.
There's a lot of sadness and missed things, a lot of cruelty to the life in the pages. But it comes round to something like peace and a greater sense of happiness.
Reading Sacred Country has made me think about what I want for myself.