Saturday, 19 December 2015 06:16 pm
Book Review: She
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
deckardcanineYup, one short and lame title, typically appended in other editions with "A History of Adventure." Why didn't I pass? Mainly because it's the first story in an H. Rider Haggard collection and I'd already seen a film version of King Solomon's Mines. The other story, Allan Quatermain, is named for the protagonist of KSM, so I decided to hold off on it.
Here we have first-person narration by Professor Ludwig Horace Holly, typically called Holly, because that wasn't considered effeminate in the 1880s. Dying friend Vincey gets Holly to agree to raise Vincey's son Leo to adulthood, ensuring that his education includes things like ancient Arabic. As part of the deal, Holly opens a box when Leo turns 25, revealing documented evidence of a legend of personal ancestral significance and inviting them to search for a lost kingdom in eastern Africa. They don't quite believe the outlandish claims of Vincey, but they're up for an adventure. Or so they think.
Only four people make it ashore after a rough sailing: Holly, Leo, semi-comically unhappy servant Job, and obviously doomed Captain Mahomed. Enter the Amahagger, descendants of a once glorious empire who now live in caves that double as ancient tombs. As usual for turn-of-the-century novels, the tribe is quite barbaric, but it has a few likable characters in it. None of them, however, is more interesting than the titular She -- often called that even as the object of a sentence, with "She's" as a possessive. It is by her queenly order that the nastier Amahagger refrain from cannibalizing all the visitors.
The tale becomes outright fantasy once Holly learns how true the legend is. She, secretly named Ayesha, was born B.C. and doesn't look a day over 30. She has other phenomenal abilities, as demonstrated in healing and killing -- mostly killing, because she finds ruthlessness the most effective way to rule. She insists that none of it is magic, but she gives no hint of how it works. Her only reason for living in this hellhole is a prophetic expectation that the lover she killed in jealousy will return to her, reborn in his scion. (Hmm...)
And she lets very few people see her face, because it's irresistible, no matter what culture you come from. That may be the single most old-fashioned aspect of the story. I can more easily accept the claim that Holly is ugly to everyone he meets, tho that makes no difference to the plot. Ayesha's beauty and grace, by contrast, get Holly and Leo to overlook her every evil. OK, her millennia of wisdom may help, but she doesn't impress me that way.
There are other old things about the book, of course. For example, Ayesha hates the Jews for rejecting her as a leader and takes pleasure in Holly's fully confident report that they got their messiah, rejected him too, and are now scattered from their holy land. (Interestingly, she takes an agnostic position, neither denying nor embracing Holly's faith.) Even the presentation in this edition looks old; I anticipated long paragraphs, but the font evokes a typewriter. The latest date I found toward the front was 1951, but I'm sure a pre-owned paperback in good condition can't be that old.
Like KSM, She takes a leisurely pace for an adventure, with few action scenes. The upside to this is heavy immersion. You can well imagine how Holly feels during the multi-week expedition. And once you get past the silly premises, it makes for an engaging tale whenever it moves forward. I just wish Holly knew enough to explain the resolution instead of positing several theories.
Now up for something modern, I've picked up Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. It certainly smacks of their work.
Here we have first-person narration by Professor Ludwig Horace Holly, typically called Holly, because that wasn't considered effeminate in the 1880s. Dying friend Vincey gets Holly to agree to raise Vincey's son Leo to adulthood, ensuring that his education includes things like ancient Arabic. As part of the deal, Holly opens a box when Leo turns 25, revealing documented evidence of a legend of personal ancestral significance and inviting them to search for a lost kingdom in eastern Africa. They don't quite believe the outlandish claims of Vincey, but they're up for an adventure. Or so they think.
Only four people make it ashore after a rough sailing: Holly, Leo, semi-comically unhappy servant Job, and obviously doomed Captain Mahomed. Enter the Amahagger, descendants of a once glorious empire who now live in caves that double as ancient tombs. As usual for turn-of-the-century novels, the tribe is quite barbaric, but it has a few likable characters in it. None of them, however, is more interesting than the titular She -- often called that even as the object of a sentence, with "She's" as a possessive. It is by her queenly order that the nastier Amahagger refrain from cannibalizing all the visitors.
The tale becomes outright fantasy once Holly learns how true the legend is. She, secretly named Ayesha, was born B.C. and doesn't look a day over 30. She has other phenomenal abilities, as demonstrated in healing and killing -- mostly killing, because she finds ruthlessness the most effective way to rule. She insists that none of it is magic, but she gives no hint of how it works. Her only reason for living in this hellhole is a prophetic expectation that the lover she killed in jealousy will return to her, reborn in his scion. (Hmm...)
And she lets very few people see her face, because it's irresistible, no matter what culture you come from. That may be the single most old-fashioned aspect of the story. I can more easily accept the claim that Holly is ugly to everyone he meets, tho that makes no difference to the plot. Ayesha's beauty and grace, by contrast, get Holly and Leo to overlook her every evil. OK, her millennia of wisdom may help, but she doesn't impress me that way.
There are other old things about the book, of course. For example, Ayesha hates the Jews for rejecting her as a leader and takes pleasure in Holly's fully confident report that they got their messiah, rejected him too, and are now scattered from their holy land. (Interestingly, she takes an agnostic position, neither denying nor embracing Holly's faith.) Even the presentation in this edition looks old; I anticipated long paragraphs, but the font evokes a typewriter. The latest date I found toward the front was 1951, but I'm sure a pre-owned paperback in good condition can't be that old.
Like KSM, She takes a leisurely pace for an adventure, with few action scenes. The upside to this is heavy immersion. You can well imagine how Holly feels during the multi-week expedition. And once you get past the silly premises, it makes for an engaging tale whenever it moves forward. I just wish Holly knew enough to explain the resolution instead of positing several theories.
Now up for something modern, I've picked up Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. It certainly smacks of their work.