A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow

A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow is the story of two high school juniors, Effie and Tavia, who are unrelated but living as sisters. Effie's mother used to play a mermaid in the Ren Festival and Effie plays a similar role. Each year, she is Euphemia and her courtship is a story that continues from one season to the next. Effie doesn't know who her father is but she wonders if she's a real-life mermaid. However, her grandparents, who put her with Tavia's family for her safety, won't answer her questions about her father.

Tavia is a siren who thinks if she tries hard enough she might be able to communicate with her deceased grandmother, after hearing that even a dead siren can speak through bodies of water. To avoid talking when she gets the urge to make one of her siren calls, Tavia has been faking a condition for years in which she seemingly loses her voice regularly. When she doesn't want to speak, she signs, instead. Effie uses sign language to communicate when she's playing a mermaid so she's able to translate for Tavia when she chooses to sign. Tavia worries about the fact that being a siren could put her and her family in danger. The public sentiment is that it's best to mute sirens. So, she has a secret support group where she lives in Portland and she keeps the fact that she's a siren quiet, otherwise.

There is a gargoyle living on the roof of the home where Effie and Tavia live, which Tavia believes to be there for her protection. But, nobody really knows. Meanwhile, strange things are happening with Effie. Occasionally, her skin peels off, revealing scales, her hair will do a weird floaty thing where it looks like it has a life of its own, there's a weird effect around her like she's looking through water, and recently people have been turning to stone when she's nearby. What is Effie? Is there any way she can find out whether she's a mermaid or a sprite or some other mythological creature? What can be done about the people turning to stone?

There's a lot more going on in A Song Below Water but it's best to actually read the book and find out all those details, although I'll share a few that I found interesting. Effie and Tavia are both black and Tavia is obsessed with the wildly popular Instagram account of a woman who does tutorials on how to style black hair, for example. What does that have to do with anything? Well, I can tell you from both the book and my experience as a person who has lived in a state with a high black population for decades that hair is very, very important to black women. At times, I've found myself envious of the elaborate things they can do with their hair. They style it like sculptures! Seriously, it's amazing.

There are also many references to being black and how that makes a person vulnerable. At one point, Tavia has a run-in with the police. She's doing nothing wrong and yet she somehow ends up with a warning. Why? Because she's black, nothing more, nothing less. Morrow does an excellent job of showing how difficult it is to live with the fact that being black can be a death sentence.

The author also touches on the cliquishness and popularity of certain people with the eloko characters. I had to look up elokos (they're from African mythology -- a kind of forest spirit that's a bit hairy-looking if you google it) and the way the author portrayed them was not at all like what I found on the Internet. Not that that mattered. The point was that in this world, elokos are the popular crowd. They make a delightful trilling sound and they have a melody that they can show off by blowing on the bell each individual wears around his or her neck. It's a detail but one that will undoubtedly resonate with young readers who've experienced being on the outside of the "in" crowd.

Recommended - I think I mentioned the fact that I had difficulty getting into A Song Below Water but once I became accustomed to the author's voice, I had no problem in my Monday Malarkey post. It's worth it to stick out the beginning, when the author is setting things up and parts of it are a little on the confusing side. Once I became accustomed to it, I found Tavia and Effie's world fascinating, unique, and a little weird ("Keep Portland Weird" is oft-repeated; it's clear she chose the setting very deliberately). I also loved the way many very timely subjects were treated. Could the idea that the public sentiment that it's best to mute sirens be a comment on how the white world tries to silence black female voices? I think so. There's quite a bit of depth to A Song Below Water. And, as a side note, the gargoyle was a surprisingly fun character.



©2020 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

A Most Extraordinary Pursuit by Juliana Gray

I suppose scorn makes one feel more clever, in the same way that indignation makes one feel more moral. 

~p. 197

Emmeline Truelove was the personal secretary to the Duke of Olympia, till his recent death. Now, a young man by the name of Maximillian Haywood has inherited the duchy. But, he has gone missing. At the behest of the newly widowed duchess, and with the charming and dashing Lord Silverton accompanying her, Miss Truelove must head for the Mediterranean to unravel the mystery of the future duke's disappearance.

A Most Extraordinary Pursuit contains a wild, almost bizarre blend of adventure, mystery, characters who may or may not be entirely what they seem, potential for romance, ghosts, time travel, magic, and some very informative history paired with mythology.

The vast majority of the book follows Truelove and Silverton as they pursue clues to Haywood's whereabouts. Somewhere along the way, they pick up another man, a gentleman and scholar by the name of Mr. Higganbotham. Silverton is a gorgeous spy and a cad, Higganbotham an, at times, slightly daffy intellectual. After finding a fresco that appears to be fake in the palace of Knossos, which is being dug up and preserved, and repeatedly facing danger, the myth of Ariadne takes on a deeper meaning. But, what does the myth have to do with the missing duke? And, will either of the men pursue an understanding with Truelove or are they toying with her?

Recommended with postscript - I was absolutely immersed in A Most Extraordinary Pursuit, all week. It's only about 430 pages long (technically, that meets my old definition of "chunkster" from the days when I came up with the Chunkster Challenge, but it's not far over the line) but there's so much happening that it took me a long time to get through the book. I love the fact that A Most Extraordinary Pursuit has interesting characters but is plot-heavy. I love the Edwardian time period and the language. I really love-hated Lord Silverton. I pictured him with the face and hair of Luke Norris (Dr. Enys in Poldark) but with a wicked twinkle in his eye, Edwardian clothing, and a bit of a swagger.

There were portions, however, that didn't work for me. There are two ghosts: the ghost of Queen Victoria and Truelove's father. Both visit Miss Truelove but it's Queen Victoria who tries to guide Emmeline and the ghost of her father contributes little. There are two men who may have romantic interest in Truelove, but one is known for enticing and abandoning women. The other is a either an enigma or exactly what he seems. Higganbotham almost completely fades away within the last 100 pages; he's there, but he's no longer key. Are we to distrust Higganbotham or simply dismiss him? Has his interest waned for good or will he appear in the next book? Because, herein lies another issue. A Most Extraordinary Pursuit is not a stand-alone. Although it's mostly wrapped up, at least one bright red thread is left dangling; clearly the story will continue.

Also, toward the end of the book, the mythology became extremely confusing. I thought the author did a fairly good job of interspersing bits of the tale of Ariadne and Theseus between chapters and explaining the characters (I'm not knowledgeable about mythology) till that last 50 pages or so. Then, it became suddenly overwhelming, to the point that I began to skim over the mythological portion. I didn't mind the craziness -- there is even a paranormal aspect, a magical touch -- but the author nicely warned her readers that she'd asked permission to take the book to extremes and it was granted. Well, she certainly did that. The book is wildly adventurous but it's also rather strange.

In the end, I gave the book 4 stars and I would, in fact, like to see where Juliana Gray (more commonly known as Beatriz Williams) takes Miss Truelove in future installments, but I also felt a slight bit let down and perplexed after the last 30-50 pages. And clearly I need to bone up on mythology.

There was also one particular feature of the book that I believe could have been minimized, if not left out entirely, and that was Truelove's repetitive seasickness. It was neither important to the plot, nor necessary for character development at any time, in my humble opinion, although perhaps it was meant to show us that Silverton could display compassion and kindness. I would have preferred that the author minimize those scenes; they were not fun to read at all.


©2016 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.