Customer Reviews

Juniper, Gentian, and Rosemary

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I've read it three or four times, and each time I recognize a few more quotes, see a few more things hidden in the plot. In brief, the book is about a very intelligent family, focusing specifically on the middle daughter, Gentian. Genny is fourteen and all her relationships are going through a lot of changes -- especially the one with her next-door neighbor, Dominic. I did not find the characters unrealistic; not to be egotistical, but they are rather like my group of friends and myself: interested in quotes, literature, and being intellectuals. I even have a friend named Becky who wants to be a writer when she grows up. (I, however, bear no resemblance to the Stephanie in the novel.) The most poignant parts in the novel, I feel, are those dealing with the friendship between Gentian and Becky.

That said, I don't find it a perfect book. I continually compare it to _Tam Lin_, and it does fall short of that. They do have something in common, however; a very long exposition and rising action, and the entire plot of the ballad in the last forty to fifty pages. I happen to like it, because it gives the side-plots a much better chance to develop: the friendships, the maturing, the literary references. What I didn't like was that there simply wasn't enough about certain characters: Genny's parents, for two. I do adore the style, and the feel, and I would recommend it to anyone who likes any of the following: literature, intellegentsia, Pamela Dean, literary fantasy, coming-of-age stories, books with nifty purple covers . . . (Ok, the last was a joke.)

But my point is taken. Buy it, but try _Tam Lin_, too.

When I finished Tam Lin, I felt like I had been spun around with my eyes closed - I was dizzy, but profoundly changed from how I had been before. When I finished Juniper, Gentian, and Rosemary, I felt almost the same way - dizzy, but slightly ill. Pamela Dean has so much more potential than she exhibits here!

The characters are bizarre and lovely, the atmosphere enchanting, the literary quotes intriguing but overwhelming, and the plot weak. When I read the last page, I thought, "Surely there must be more!" The ending was akin to "And then I woke up; it had all been a dream."

I liked most of the characters, but I want more Juniper and less Gentian. The Giant Ants are interesting, but with the exception of Becky, are less than three-dimensional. The prose is beautiful and humorous and lively, but ultimately is not enough to carry the novel past the poor ending.

I liked Dominic, and as I read, I thought I understood his motivation, but as it turned out, I never got the chance to find out. He was never allowed to explain himself or his actions. The ending was simultaneously too easy and too harsh.

Please do yourself a favor and read Tam Lin before you attempt this one!

I wondered how the author managed to get enough inspiration from a relatively short ballad to produce a 350 page book. I quickly discovered the answer is tremendous amounts of wholly irrelevant padding. In the first 50 pages of the story, an intriguing mystery is presented. It is thereafter ignored, except for occasional hints that it will be resumed, for the next 200 pages. Even when the author gets back to it, the story plods and plods then, in the last 10 pages, races to an unsatisfactory conclusion although it finally touches on the core of the ballad that supposedly inspired this trite tome. My copy of this book proved to be defective: some 60 pages were missing. Not a problem - the gap made no difference as the story was so stagnant I quickly realised nothing of value had happened in the missing segment. Most of the book is taken up with examining the lives and interrelationships of a group of teenagers so atypically brilliant and carefree they themselves are the most fantastical elements of the book; pity they are also unbelievably dull. About the most interesting thing they do is constantly make literary quotations and cultural references that will go straight over the heads of most young adult readers. Worse, the characters are so unnatural and so tedious they do not inspire a reader to take an interest in the source or meaning of the quotations or references. If this book had been offered to a publisher by an unknown writer as a first work, I have no doubt it would have been deservedly rejected. As it is, this is an astonishing disappointment from an author I know is capable of very interesting work.

You don't read Pamela Dean books, you fall into them and forget the world. She remembers what it feels like to be a child, and especially what it feels like to be a bright girl. Can't wait for her next book.

This book was like reading a dream. It seemed to be one of those young adult books where everything is based upon the main character's coming of age in a universe skewed just a little crueler and more pointedly pessimistic than reality ... at first. However, I found the book in the science fiction section and it was marked fantasy, so I stuck it out. When I was through, I felt as though my world had been turned inside out and reality was in the book, where I ought to be, and I was in the dream, where I really didn't want to be. It intrigued and delighted me, and, in the places where I would normally have skipped text or description, I found myself forced to read onward. The prose was tightly woven and the references, though many, were appropriate. It reminded me of a Mary Gentle text, yet it was much more powerful and reverberating, in the same way that Patricia McKillip's writing can be memorable. I suggest it to anyone liking to curl up with a deeply intricate heroine and a masterful case of enchantment. After I finished it, I read it again, then I went out and found other books by Dean ... just to see if she wrote like that all the time. She does.

After reading and adoring Tam Lin, I rushed out to buy Juniper, Gentian, & Rosemary, but after the first few chapters I was bewildered, and finished the book out of duty, hoping it would take off. The literary references in Tam Lin inspired me to check out things I meant to read in college but never got around to, where as the references in Juniper, Gentian, & Rosemary just seemed pretentious. ( I guess one expects references from a university crowd, but not from young high school students) I kept waiting for something intriguing to happen, some element of Faerie, but when it revealed itself I was alternately relieved that I had finished the book, and disappointed that there was nothing more.

After checking out The Dubious Hills from my local library and loving it, I immediately checked out the only other Pamela Dean book that they have, that obviously being this one. I almost never put it down and got through it in a few hours, not because the plot was that absorbing, but because I was trying to find out what the plot was. There's a lot of poetry and quotes, there's a lot of astronomy, there's a lot of interaction between Gentian and her friends . . but when the book was over I still didn't know who Dominic was or why he did anything that he had done.
Most of the book is about the life of Gentian Merriweather, an atheist astronomer who has a group of friends who refer to themselves as the Giant Ants. Sure, there's the weird guy who lives next door to her in an ugly red house, but that's really not the main focus. And then, suddenly, on page 298 (out of 350) Dominic and his 'science project' become the main focus of the story.
Although I really tried to like this book, I finished it with the impression that it was boring, confusing, and full of characters that I didn't like and couldn't relate to.