Hello all,
A few folks have asked, so I thought I’d confirm that yes, I am hosting a discussion of Judith Ivory’s Black Silk here tomorrow. I guess I have to start bowing to Romanceland convention and remind, remind, remind!
Janine and Robin posted terrific back to back reflections on the book over at Dear Author yesterday.
I enjoy hearing what people think, whether it’s a report of their opinion or a postmodern feminist analysis. If you have read it and have any thoughts at all on it, I hope you’ll feel free to share them. People who hated Black Silk with the passion of a thousand fiery suns are also encouraged to singe us with their wrath.
I went & got myself a copy last night, solely because of their two reviews, and although it seems the majority of Regency & Victorian British Romance bores me (due to the excess use of tropes), this one really stands head and shoulders above the rest. It’s marvelously unlike the majority of its brethren — so I can see why some folks might loathe it for not playing any of the usual games. It has a feel and a depth that, if I found it more often in historical romance, just might win me over completely to that genre.
Oh, it’s tonight? I wonder what is 7pm EST my time?
Hm, according to http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/, it’s 2am GMT? If so I’ll check in tomorrow. I’ve promised myself that I’d not post any proper response until I finish that Monster response, though!
It’s so long that I might have to take to my blog. Hm, I’ll try to edit it to reduce the length. I’m digressing, sorry.
I hope you do post in the morning. I am well aware that the timing is not good for folks in the UK and Australia. I hope people feel comfortable continuing the thread, as they would any thread, when it suits their schedule. Someone actually just posted a comment on the Anne Stuart discussion form last month, which is terrific!
Maybe if I got my act together I could get official cohosts across the pond to take over shifts!
And re: Monster — I welcome as long a comment as you care to make. If you’d rather host it on your blog and link here, though, that would be great too.
Commenting so I can get the comments sent to e-mail.
I’ve only just started the book. I apologize. Great intentions but Black Silk’s style wasn’t one that I was in the mood to read this week so I’ve been dragging my feet. Now I’m getting ready to watch the Vikings play. So I’ll be back tomorrow. Probably won’t have finished the book but enough to at least add some general impressions on my part although nothing on the order of those wonderful dual reviews at DA.
Have fun!!
@AQ: Hey, you’ve subscribed to the wrong thread! Next post ahead, ma’am.
There was so much I loved and admired about this book (which I just finished within the past hour), but ultimately my enjoyment was compromised by the fact that – and I feel vaguely provincial and stupid admitting this – I cannot wholeheartedly invest myself in a hero’s journey of self-discovery, and pursuit of an ideal mate, when he has two adolescent children.
I was constantly reminded of something you said in your review of Anna Campbell’s Tempt the Devil:
For me, something similar was going on here. I know it’s completely anachronistic, in view of what Victorian fatherhood entailed, but I couldn’t shut up that little voice at the back of my brain yelling, “Dude! It’s not about you anymore! Suck it up and be a father to those kids!”
That said, I am in slackjawed awe at Ivory’s prose, and her uncompromising refusal to resort to broad brushstrokes. I love that, by the end, Henry’s motivations are really no clearer to us than when we began.