Too much politics, or too little

[nancylebov]

Dianna Wynne Jones' _Conrad's Fate_ is pretty basic Jones--emotional abuse (including neglect) and the pain it causes, weird time/space events, sharp characterization, pleasant prose, and a happy ending that gets the reality-based characters away from those who are absolutely committed to not knowing what they're doing.

It's better than _The Merlin Conspiracy_ (two high-angst viewpoint charcters that, imho, weren't different enough from each other) or _Hexwood_ (I know there are people who love it, but I couldn't get into it), but not as wildly inventive as _Archer's Goon_ or as intense as _Fire and Hemlock_.

In any case, it's very vivid about the soul-killing pointlessness of being stuck as a servant in a noble house. The physical conditions aren't great, but they aren't awful--the emphasis is on what it's like to spend most of your time, and if you aren't lucky, your whole working life, repetitively smoothing the path of people who you're supposed to make sure don't notice you.

Jones gets points for emphasising that those upper class people aren't awful--they're just ordinary and oblivious.

There's a moment of genuine horror

when we find out that the whole elaborate probability distorting plot is the result of a man who wants to restore the manor house to its former glory, and we've been given at least a hint of the routine cost of that glory.

Unfortunately, part of the happy ending is that the servants from the shut-down noble house get similar jobs with the King. Imho, this is emphatically not good enough--it might be plausible, it might be better than the likely outcome, but a happy ending is supposed to make the reader happy, and I wasn't.



Odds and ends: This is a Crestomanci novel. For a change, the mother is neglectful and the father is vicious. The only other "being a servant sucks" fantasy novel I can think of is _The Ill-Made Mute_ by Cecilia Dart-Thornton.

Comments

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

In any case, it's very vivid about the soul-killing pointlessness of being stuck as a servant in a noble house.

I get a bit twitchy about books about this, as I have direct experience of family members saying this is far from a universal.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

That sounds interesting--details?

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

Details go a bit past what I'm happy posting in public - remind me and I'll mail you when I have a bit more time.

In summary, being in service is a two-way contract that works, long-term, only if it's of mutual benefit, and having servants does not preclude being wise enough to recognise this and acting accordingly.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

Hokay. I was hoping you could file off the serial numbers enough to discuss it in public, but if not, then not.

It occurs to me that having that sort of job be decent would depend both on the quality of the employers and on how the servants treated each other.

Vaguely related: I've heard that there were some Abolitionists who didn't focus of the sufferings of slaves--instead, they were outraged that slaves didn't have a reliable opportunity to build up their lives. I'm still trying to put a finger on the effect of that shift in emphasis.

[(Anonymous)]

I recall reading a book a long time back by John Kenneth Galbraith where he said that being a servant was one of the worst jobs there was, based on the fact that it was always the first labor pool to dry up when times improved.

For an ObSF, there's a bit in Flint & Weber's 1633:

>>>
"When a German nobleman or noblewoman addresses a servant, John, they do not say 'please' or 'thank you.' In fact, they don't even address them at all. They summon the servant and never look at them. Simply gaze at the wall, as if the servant does not exist, and give their orders in the third person. 'He will bring us tea.' 'She will clean the bedroom.' "
<<<

http://www.webscription.net/10.1125/Baen/0743435427/0743435427__49.htm

About 10 paragraphs before the end.

(This is actually in the Baen Free Library despite the webscription.net domain.)

- Captain Button

[doomspark.livejournal.com]

I recently got interested in this after watching "Gosford Park" (very good movie, IMNSHO). That lead me to read "Upstairs, Downstairs", and "Not in Front of the Servants" (sorry, don't have them handy to provide authors). All deal with the class / caste system that used to be prevalent in Great Britain - they're not fantasy as such.

"Gosford Park" is a nominal murder-mystery, although the dynamics between the upstairs people and the downstairs people becomes much more important than the solving of the murder as the movie goes on. It has Dame Maggie Smith and Stephen Fry and a host of other good actors.

"Upstairs, Downstairs" is a novel that was made into a TV mini-series at one point - I've seen the boxed set of DVDs at the local bookstore. It's a harsh look at the contrast between the lives of the servants and their "masters".

"Not in Front of the Servants" is a non-fiction description of what life was like during the heyday of the landed gentry. It explains a lot of the terminology in "Upstairs" that I found confusion. Good read for background.

[thnidu.livejournal.com]

_Hexwood_ (I know there are people who love it, but I couldn't get into it)

I was totally baffled by it on the first try and didn't get very far. The second time I got it, or it got me, and I finished it. Confusing but enjoyable.

Connie Willis's Doomsday Book took me three starts. Boy, was that ever worth it!

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

If you're a stubborn reader, try Greer Gilman's _Moonwise_. It took me a bunch of tries to get through it, but it was worth it.