Among Others

After tragically losing her sister, Mori has to learn to deal with this great loss. She fled to her estranged father who then put her into a well-respected all-girls boarding school. Mori is left alone trying to deal with grief, a new school and her own teenage angst. Among Others is written in a series of diary entries exploring Mori’s coming of age.

While I found it extremely difficult to give a plot overview of this book, it might be easier to just say this is a book about book with a fantasy element to it. The tragic loss of a twin sister would be a difficult subject to write about and Jo Walton has combined some auto-biographical elements within the novel. Mori feels lost and she turns to books to bring her comfort and escapism, she is a fan of science fiction novels and slowly she begins to find the therapeutic value to reading.

Being set in 1979 allows the book to explore the older science fiction novels that I love without going into some of the modern stuff. What I loved about sci-fi novels of the 60s and 70s is there were strong psychological and sociological themes throughout the narratives. I found great joy when books like The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, The Man in the High Castle and Slaughterhouse-Five were mentioned. There was something about reading a fantasy novel about reading science fiction that really tickled my fancy.

The fantasy elements were only a very small fragment of the book and I began to question if this really was a fantasy novel. I would call this book magical realism but the mention of fairies, elves, etc. probably does make it a fantasy novel. These fantastical elements played an interesting part in the book, and I began to question that this world actually existed. However for Mori, it existed and it was her way to hold onto her sister and deal with her death. She treated this world almost like a secret that was for her only and it allowed her to deal with her loss. When she held on to this world too tightly she feels whole again but she also can see how damaging it will become.

This was a fascinating look at grief and since it was a book about the joys of books and reading, I was hooked. It was a bit of a slow burn but I enjoyed the slow pacing and journey. About half way through, I felt myself losing a little interest but then Mori joined a book club and I was right back in. Among Others is a quiet and tender book about life, loss and most importantly books which makes it well worth reading.

This review originally appeared on my blog; literary-exploration.com/2015/02/03/among-others-by-jo-walton/

I don't like books that fawn all over their genre's fans, telling them how smart and discerning they are. That's one of the reasons Niven et al.'s Fallen Angels is the worst novel I've ever read, and the same dynamic hurts this book too. BUT, this is a much better book than Fallen Angels, even if the end was unsatisfying.

The story kept me reading, and Walton's prose is wonderful. This book also serves as a reminder and reading list of the best SF of the mid-20th century. It just doesn't cohere ... you keep thinking it's going to be a modern fantasy, then you think it's a psychological thriller, and then it settles uneasily and finally into a faint magical realism.

This book won both the Nebula and the Hugo. It's certainly a GOOD book, and I'm not going to say it didn't deserve those, but with all the fandom pandering, I'm betting the award runner-ups might deserve a second look.

Mori is one half of twins. After she loses her sister, she runs away from her home in South Wales and finds herself living with her estranged father. She’s running from her mother because she’s a witch and responsible for the death of her sister. Mori is packed off to boarding school where she can stay hidden and lose herself in the science fiction books she loves.

It is a book about a book lover. It doesn’t really matter if you don’t share Mori’s taste in reading matter, you will recognise her love of books in yourself. Set in 1979, her reading list is full of classic sci-fi. Whilst I recognise many of the titles, I haven’t read them, yet I still understood the way they made her feel. These are the reasons we read books. To both escape the world we live and to find answers. It’s told in a diary format and you get a wonderful commentary on the books she is reading as well as her own story.

The magic is subtle. If you are expecting an action-packed fantasy adventure you may be disappointed. In fact, Mori’s magic could be put down to an over-active imagination and coincidence. She is escaping a parent who is dangerous, she lost her twin; the magical world could easily be a coping mechanism. It’s a book you could read in two different ways; one completely believing her and the other looking for signs that it’s all make-believe.

When you mention magic and boarding school, minds are going to inevitably going to want to compare to Harry Potter. It is far too real for that comparison. Her boarding school is completely believable, with its odd customs and bad dinners. She feels alone when surrounded by others who have no chance of understanding her. She isn’t a heroine and she isn’t the centre of attention.

I want to befriend Mori. I can imagine her being a book blogger if it was set in the present day (and of course she wasn’t trying to hide). It’s a bitter sweet tale; with moments that made me laugh out loud and others that made my heart bleed for her. There are so many quotable passages, I urge you to read it and find yourself in complete agreement.