Charles de Lint's The Onion Girl
I finished reading Charles de Lint's the Onion Girl, a few weeks ago. It's only been a few months since I've discovered de Lint, and I've already read a number of his books. The Onion Girl is by far, my favourite, so far, with the Blue Girl following closely behind.
The Onion Girl was not an easy read. It started out depressing, and didn't stop. By one third through the book, I was expecting things to start to turn around for the main character, Jilly Coppercorn, who, having survived childhood abuse, must now contend with being crippled by a hit and run, and being pursued by her younger sister, who's bent for revenge for being abandoned by Jilly to the abusive brother when she was a child.
There is further exploration of de Lint's fantasy world, the Dreamlands or Manidò-akì -- a world just as real as ours, where everything ever imagined exists, and where we journey to in our sleep -- and those who know the doorways, can journey to, wide awake. The moving between the fantasy and normal world is seamless, and makes seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary, easy. The corbæ crow girls make a cameo. The canids, with heads of dogs, foxes and wolves, but human bodies, are the otherworldly tour guides of the Dreamlands. The Greatwood, a forest with towering trees that has branches that disappear into the sky and create a world all of their own, is Jilly's escape from her hospital bed. There she encounters Nokomis, the White Buffalo Woman, the spirit of the woods, and Toby and the Tattersnake, Eadars, who only exist because someone still remembers them. On this landscape, de Lint writes his serious story.
Despite the setbacks hitting Jilly, de Lint fills his character with forgiveness and hope. The book, while depressing as hell, is a hopeful one. It suggests that being positive -- even stubbornly so -- creates the possibility for redemption and rebuilding.
The Onion Girl was not an easy read. It started out depressing, and didn't stop. By one third through the book, I was expecting things to start to turn around for the main character, Jilly Coppercorn, who, having survived childhood abuse, must now contend with being crippled by a hit and run, and being pursued by her younger sister, who's bent for revenge for being abandoned by Jilly to the abusive brother when she was a child.
There is further exploration of de Lint's fantasy world, the Dreamlands or Manidò-akì -- a world just as real as ours, where everything ever imagined exists, and where we journey to in our sleep -- and those who know the doorways, can journey to, wide awake. The moving between the fantasy and normal world is seamless, and makes seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary, easy. The corbæ crow girls make a cameo. The canids, with heads of dogs, foxes and wolves, but human bodies, are the otherworldly tour guides of the Dreamlands. The Greatwood, a forest with towering trees that has branches that disappear into the sky and create a world all of their own, is Jilly's escape from her hospital bed. There she encounters Nokomis, the White Buffalo Woman, the spirit of the woods, and Toby and the Tattersnake, Eadars, who only exist because someone still remembers them. On this landscape, de Lint writes his serious story.
Despite the setbacks hitting Jilly, de Lint fills his character with forgiveness and hope. The book, while depressing as hell, is a hopeful one. It suggests that being positive -- even stubbornly so -- creates the possibility for redemption and rebuilding.
Comments
Post a Comment