Firstly, I thought Martine Leavitt was a lovely, lovely woman. Meeting her helped me to understand her purpose in writing My Book of Life By Angel, which I honestly struggled with. Despite the novel's lack of explicit content, the implicit situations described within the book made me very uncomfortable. I thought her point about using poetry to create a little bit of distance between the reader and the situation was good, but I think it works better on the page than on the audiobook.
The idea of writing a novel like this in free verse is an intriguing one, and I think she does a good job of using different words to describe things that really preserve Angel's innocence as a character. If she had been throwing around words like, "whore" and "slut," the book would have had a very different feel. Instead, the focus is on "Angel" and "girl," words with connotations of goodness and innocence.
I enjoyed Hoilland's work a lot more, to be totally honest. Perhaps her situation and questions were more relatable to me. I loved her mini personal essay on page 20 about becoming a woman and her relationship with her mother. The language she uses is both casual and descriptive, and very emotive. The theme of Heavenly Mother that is present throughout her work is beautifully addressed. It's a very good job of sharing her opinions without them seeming preachy.
That is a really good passage from My Book of Life. That is a great analysis of her use of free verse and how ti functions in her writing.
ReplyDeleteThat same part from One Hundred Birds Taught Me to Fly also resonated with me. I think that Hoiland does a great job at taking what seem like minor events or details and explaining how they shaped her life.
ReplyDeleteI think, like you said, many of us can relate to Hoiland's book a lot more, living in provo, having similar experiences with church culture, and family that is religious. I though that her book was really well written too, but i did have to appreciate the awareness that Leavitt was trying to draw from writing My Book on Life by Angel. It's got me thinking about something I hadn't considered.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your comment about how the audio book is different. I read it and i do feel like the free verse made it a little more light. I almost want to listen to it to see what difference that would make.
ReplyDeleteI can see how the book would be a lot more horrific seeming via audible and that's an interesting point.
ReplyDeleteI agree that 100 Birds Taught Me to Fly is more easy to relate with. It's a lot closer to our experience than being a homeless prostitute is.
I think the forms on both are kind of similar actually and the attention to details made me relate to both a lot easier than I might have if, like you said, the author used words like whore or slut.