Jam reviewed A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow (Fractured Fables, #1)
Short and decent, but could be better
2 stars
This was a surprisingly short read and it shouldn’t have taken me as long as it did to finish it. The beginning of the book didn’t pull me in at all so I struggled until after around the thirty-percent mark when it picked up the pace.
This book is a feminist spin on a classic fairy tale and I think it was done okay but from a rather white feminist perspective. I think what misled me was that majority of reviewers labelled this as “diverse” on StoryGraph. To an extent, that’s true—the protagonist is terminally ill, and the other two prominent characters are lesbians. But there are no significant characters of colour. I guess people of colour can’t exist in fairy tales or Ohio?
Anyway, that was quite disappointing. White people need to remember that diversity doesn’t and shouldn’t just end at LGBT representation.
The writing also came off …
This was a surprisingly short read and it shouldn’t have taken me as long as it did to finish it. The beginning of the book didn’t pull me in at all so I struggled until after around the thirty-percent mark when it picked up the pace.
This book is a feminist spin on a classic fairy tale and I think it was done okay but from a rather white feminist perspective. I think what misled me was that majority of reviewers labelled this as “diverse” on StoryGraph. To an extent, that’s true—the protagonist is terminally ill, and the other two prominent characters are lesbians. But there are no significant characters of colour. I guess people of colour can’t exist in fairy tales or Ohio?
Anyway, that was quite disappointing. White people need to remember that diversity doesn’t and shouldn’t just end at LGBT representation.
The writing also came off as too frivolous and juvenile at times. Like, what the hell is this:
I wonder if I look hot, sprawled limp and lifeless among the roses.
