The Goddess Chronicle by Natsuo Kirino

After reading Out and Real World, it is safe to say that Natsuo Kirino is currently one of my favorite authors of feminist noir fiction. She is not afraid to show the dirty and ugly sides of the female of the species, nor the weaker sides. A lot of the times I feel like real issues get overlooked, sometimes intentionally, in the name of feminism. We want to show that women do not have to be weak and live under the shadows of men. True, we do not. But it doesn’t help to sugarcoat things and completely disregard the fact that we are in fact, very different from the male of the species, both physically and emotionally. In my opinion, disregarding the unpleasantries only adds to the problem, not the other way round.

Natsuo Kirino’s protagonists, all women in the three books that I have read so far, are strong. Very much so. But they have weaknesses like real women do. They have limitations as to how much they can do or how far they can go within the socio-economic boundaries that are, sometimes unfairly, set upon us by the society that we live in. Natsuo Kirino is from Japan, so her work of course reflects the Japanese society and issues that are more pertinent to that culture than, say, the western one that we live in. But even so, as women, I think a lot of us can relate to certain characteristics that Ms. Kirino portrays in her characters.

Chime by Franny Billingsley

After reading The Folk Keeper by Franny Billingsley a couple of weeks ago, I simply couldn't pick up any other book. I suppose it was the whole dreamy-ness of the book, the magical world that Ms. Billingsley managed to transport me to, that prevented me from coming back to real life. So, what to do? I picked up another book by this author for which she received several award nominations in 2011 - Chime. Yet another fantastic read, with all the magical elements I have come to expect from Franny Billingsley, and a romance even more gut-wrenching and heart warming than The Folk Keeper.

And what a journey Chime turned out to be! The book starts with the trial of Briony Larkin, the daughter of the town's clergyman. She has been accused of being a witch, which she has confessed to herself, and it is only a matter of time before the judge sentences her to death by hanging -- the usual way for a witch to die in the town of Swampsea. But before she can be hanged, she has to tell the story of her wickedness. It is her story that is the premise for the rest of the book. Briony is convinced that she is a witch. She has a gift, a gift that is common for a witch to have, the gift of the second sight that enables her to see and hear the Old Ones - beings that are not quite human, spirits that linger on this world and feed off of trees, water, forests, sometimes even the souls of human beings. Briony starts telling her story from the day Eldric (the town's new engineer's son) arrived in Swampsea; the day that changed things not only around the town, but also within Briony herself.

Briony's story is a ghastly one where she is as wicked as a witch can get. In her story she is a wicked witch who had caused many a calamity in her life, that resulted in people getting hurt really badly. For example, she managed to call a great wind that caused a terrible accident which has left her twin sister, Rose, with a mental disorder since the age of 7. Briony also remembers calling a great flood that had caused her stepmother to hurt her spine.

The Folk Keeper by Franny Billingsley

Where should I even start? What is this story even about? A Goodreads user by the profile name "Millenia" wrote in her review of this little book (a little over 150 pages) that this story is a "perfect example of the Iceberg Theory". So true are her words!

The Folk Keeper by Franny Billingsley is a book for young adults. On the surface, it is a story about a girl, Corinna Stonewall, born at a time and in a place where being a girl is difficult, and especially so, if you are an orphan or a "Foundling". Regardless, she worked hard to find a place for herself where she belonged. Or at least she thought this was where she belonged. Until one day all of that changed for good.

At a glance, The Folk Keeper is a dark, but fairly straight forward, children's story, full of magical creatures, mystical powers, a strong female protagonist, and a sweet male lead. There is even a villain who would do anything to keep Corinna from her rightful position and inheritance. Doesn't sound very different from Cinderella, does it? But oh no, if it isn't anything but! I'm sure there are plenty of ways one can describe what this story is really about; however, I will tell you what I thought as I kept reading, not quite able to put it down until I read it all the way to the end.

In the beginning, we see Corinna as a feisty little thing who is ready to take revenge on anyone who manages to piss her off. She is quiet, but knows to hold a grudge. She also knows the ways of the World. And she is arrogant. There is a quote quite early on in the book, where Corinna is thinking to herself, "Everyone is afraid, only I am powerful". This pretty much shows her views of the World. She is very good at looking down on others, but to me, it seemed like a defense mechanism. She created a barrier between herself and the rest of the World because that was the only way she knew to protect herself. She never knew love, people only ever mistreated her. But as the story progressed, Corinna met people who showed her kindness; like Finian, and also the old dog Taffy, who surprisingly grew attached to her. While in the beginning she was wary of Finian as well as Taffy, pretending not to care, or even dislike them, eventually she starts to accept that even she can learn to care for others besides herself.