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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not the Best To Judge Her By, December 24, 2000
This review is from: Juniper, Gentian, And Rosemary (Paperback)
After I read _Tam Lin_, I found myself intrigued by Pamela Dean's unique writing style: her pacing, her characters, her use of allusions--all seemed to cry out for more study. As such, I was very pleased to find _Juniper, Gentian, and Rosemary_ at the local library. I was somewhat less pleased by the time I finished it. Now, don't get me wrong. This book has its strengths and bright points: Gentian herself is a wonderful character, and though she and her friends may be somewhat erudite for their age, it makes sense within the world of the novel. The myriad references to the stars made me want to go raid my savings for the money to buy a telescope. It was no chore to me to read about Gentian's daily life and mundane exploits. If you come to be interested in her character, they are likely to entertain you similarly. The problem here is one which showed up in _Tam Lin_, but taken to greater extremes: though alluded to throughout the book, the 'main' plot is one which only really shows up in the rushed and contrived ending. And this time there isn't even an explanation given for it. What precisely is Dominic? What does he want to build a time machine for? Why on earth would *anyone's* parents allow them to fall under an otherworldly sway for upwards of ten months? The lack of outside interference could be believed with _Tam Lin_'s Janet, but here seems ridiculous. Further, though Gentian solves her own problems, she does not consciously do so. There is no sense of triumph after reading the climactic scene, only bemusement and one lingering question: "What just happened?" I'm really only giving this book four stars because I was on the whole pleased with it until it reached its ending, and because three and a half stars isn't an option. Anyone who is more interested in the plot of Sisters vs. Demon than in the character of Gentian specifically may wish to subtract a star; anyone who is also annoyed by puzzles, rampant literary quotations, and a dream-like fairy tale atmosphere would probably do better to read something by another author altogether.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Intelligent heroine, portrait of great family life, November 29, 1999
This review is from: Juniper, Gentian, And Rosemary (Paperback)
slips almost unnoticed into fantasy. I understand why people found it slow and were frustrated that things don't happen quickly for a long time, but I so enjoyed all the slow parts -- the rich, detailed sense of life in a busy family, the thoughts of a smart girl in high school, the schoolwork, the battles with siblings, that I didn't mind at all. The ending was a bit enigmatic for me, but if I could have given it four and a half stars I would have. Though I didn't think it totally worked, I loved it.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Breathless with Wonder, November 16, 1999
By A Customer
I am in love with this book. I've been a fan of Pamela Dean from the start, and only become more of one with this novel. Her prose is beautiful, and the closing poem alone quite literally came close to bringing tears to my eyes. I lost myself in the language, and the story, and the way she could evoke a feeling by a simple single turn of phrase. In a way, her prose is the most beautiful when she abandons the literary references for a few pages, and lets her own writing support itself. The referances themselves are pleasant for those well-read enough to identify (or to puzzle over), and by incorporating most of them into one character, and that the antagonist, she is playing with them in a new manner, unlike in her previous books, where everyone inside the story used the words. My one worry regarding them is that Pamela has too little faith in her own prose to risk abandoning them. I hope someday to see a full novel of hers with her prose, bare of literary and musical quotation; she has done it in her short works, and is fully capable of creating a wonderful work there. I do not deny that the book has flaws. Pamela's way of unfolding a plot is not the usual one. She creeps instead like a fox watching prey; minutes of stealth, slow, almost unmoving, then a single instant of leap and capture. I like this, and I find it works for me, yet I am willing to understand that others do not. Likewise, the children seem excessively mature for the ages they are assigned; yet with the exception of Tam Lin, this has been true of all of Pamela's work to date, and within the realm of the story, if not of the real world, it seems reasonable, even normal. My largest complaint is that the girls' parents, otherwise shown as responsible, leave Gentian alone to resolve her own torubles for as long as they do. And yet I'd have been madder at a Deus ex Machina ending, with the parents saving her instead of her saving herself.
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