Customer Reviews

The Wild Swans

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I must say I really enjoyed the premise for this book - the fairtale retelling of the Wild Swans matched with a modern story of a young man who is also searching for family. I found that the author DID make a lot of connections between both "worlds" and that there was poignancy and meaning to both as well. Unfortunately, I found that the characters weren't passionate enough for me. Some of Elias' thoughts just seemed to be words on paper and not heartfelt emotions - or at least the author didn't choose words that conveyed the emotion to me...

At any rate, it's still an enjoyable book - one worth reading.

I purchased this book solely because of the author. After having read Emerald House Rising, and finding it breath taking, I was willing to give anything by Peg Kerr a chance. I was not disappointed. I picked up the book one morning and finished the following evening, the whole time loathing each interval where I had to put it down, as it was completely captivating. The Wild Swans entails two parallel plots that do not seem entirely parallel until you reach the end. The two tales are so different that it is an astounding feat of the author to have tied them together so perfectly. Ultimately each left the imprint that family is precious, and must be fought for despite persecution, sought for despite apparent disappearance If not for the author, I never would have chosen to read this book, as it is in no way related to the normal choices of my reading. Yet I found it to be fascinating, as well as eye opening. The characters are well developed and presented, consistently conveying emotion in both action and speech. Both story lines are well thought out and flowing, each making you desire to keep turning pages. Altogether an enchanting, not to mention horizon broadening, read.

Not-quite-parallel, but related stories set 300 years apart, tell the stories of two young people who may or may not be related by blood but are definitely related by misfortune. "The Wild Swans" is partly a reworking of Hans Christian Anderson's fairytale about a girl who must save her brothers from a spell which has turned them into swans, and partly a tale of a young man rejected by his family because he's gay. It's a remarkably apt connection to have made because the message of the AIDS activists - Silence = Death - is so important to both stories. There are many points at which the stories can and do meet, but one of the most elegant is the idea of the weaving of the nettles (for which, substitute grief and memory) into the shirts (read the AIDS quilt) which will release the swan-men from their enchantment (a symbolic gesture of solidarity and support for AIDS victims and AIDS research.) Without beating her readers over the head with a message, Kerr manages to express all the most important ideas and emotions in a graceful narrative that has moments of remarkable beauty. Highly recommended.

This book is one of the most beautifully structured books I've ever read. I found the parallels effective and subtle, and thought that they added a lot to the story, especially some of the less-obvious ones. However, neither of the stories felt "bent" to fit the other; each proceeded on its own, but the parallels were there. The characters were complex and interesting, and the description is especially striking. I found Elias's story as his friends fell to AIDS one by one to be absolutely chilling. I highly recommend this book.

I had the pleasure of watching this book being written, as Peg Kerr and I are members of the same critique group. So I was delighted when its editor asked me if I would supply a cover-blurb. I kept it short, but as usual, it got cut for space in the final cover design. It read in full:

"Peg Kerr has written a breathtaking book. It has three parts: fairy tale, reality, and the silent spaces in between. Like music, the silences are as vital as the tones. And like music, it will play in your head long afterwards."

All most assuredly meant.

I think the Kirkus reviewer must have been reading in his sleep. Elias is not a descendant of Eliza so much as a reincarnation in another universe; the connections, sometimes playful, sometimes profound, between the two threads of the book run through a sort of thematic hyperspace, and are to be found on nearly every page. I think it was most brilliantly and delicately done, and I recommend it to your attention.

Best regards, Lois McMaster Bujold.

This novel is actually two stories woven together by images and thematic inferences rather than plot. Both stories are told in very spare, simple prose (though one feels distinctly more "modern") and I was intellectually engaged and certainly emotionally provoked throughout. I read the last hundred pages in one sitting, unable to tear myself from what felt like twice the attraction. It has been a long time since I have cried at the end of a book and although this alone cannot recommend your time, it is indicative of how much I grew to care about the characters and the troubling patterns of hate and intolerance throughout our history. I can see where critics would fault the not always subtle symbolism that connects each story, but the traditional purpose of stories like this Hans Christian Andersen's retelling was to warn, teach and ultimately transcend evil and danger. I think that Kerr captures and holds many universal and heartbreaking struggles within her fairy tale "net." More importantly, she will reach many people who might never have read one or the other story alone but when juxiposed with the more familiar, will open their heart in a whole new way. I was swept away and truly apreaciated the ride.

This book must be placed on a par with Mercedes Lackey's Last Herald-Mage Trilogy. The book is touching as it causes you to understand the hardships both characters faced. The thing that I found very interesting is the parallels between the 1600s and the 1980s. The author took two completely different stories that should have had nothing to do with each other and combined them into one. There are cross-over phrases that are used in both stories and two versions of the same character (e.i. Jonathon/Sean, William/Bill) that were truely interesting. The ever present symbolism of the swans and the white rose toward the end of the book made the stories more poignant and thought provoking. Though some may say that the two stories have nothing to do with one another, they actually do in fact parallel each other to create a story that will be remembered. I forsee Peg Kerr becoming one of the major voices of fantasy in a few years.

Both stories were well-written but I would have enjoyed them better as separate stories. Having said that I would never have bothered to read Elias' story if that happened - and Elias' story is more sensitively written. You can see him growing and can truly experience his emotions. You don't feel the same for Eliza, though the male characters - William and Jonathan - are drawn much better.

I knew there would be two threads from the start, but expected them to converge rather than run parallel. There were tantalising echoes of one story in the other, in the choice of people's names and their attitudes, but those echoes did nothing to actually further either plot, and could have been omitted. The lamest part was the way the 11 brothers were woven into the AIDS story. They didn't impinge on Elias' life so it wouldn't have mattered if they hadn't been there.

Read this book on the assumption that there are 2 separate stories, and you will enjoy it. Be warned that Elias' story doesn't have a happy ending, though it has closure.

Nothing is ever said of what happens to the Countess, who should be justly punished, or for that matter what happens to Benjamin with his wing (does he get his arm back at night?). A sequel might be in order here.

I would have given it five stars. Although, ironically, had I known in advance that half of the book was devoted to the relationship of a gay male couple, I doubt I would have purchased the book, since I was looking for a fantasy/romance.

Still, Sean and Elias' half of this book is the only one that came alive to me. As two gay men in NYC at the dawn of the AIDS era, watching their friends and acquaintances all becoming struck down by what then was known as "gay cancer," it was tragically obvious what their fates must be. And yet, Kerr makes them so very real that you read on until the bitter end because, just as if they were your friends in real life, you simply have to "be there" for them when they draw their last breaths.

As I watched Sean befriend the younger Elias and help him come to terms with his homosexuality, while denying his own mortality (a denial which leads to the ultimate tragic consequence for both Sean and Elias), I saw something that felt so human and so real, that I almost felt like a voyeur. The scenes where Sean and Elias wordlessly "bond" in the face of this realization are, quite simply, breathtaking.

By contrast, the "Eliza" (of the many swan-brothers) half of the book seemed composed of far too many disparate elements. Eliza herself turned out to be that creature in fantasy fiction I dislike most - a heroine who is just too good and too beautiful to be true. Totally undeveloped as a character, passive, yet impossibly noble and, ultimately for me, incredibly dull. The attempt to cobble Eliza's story to the New England witchcraft trials and the repressed sexuality theme of The Scarlett Letter (albeit in this book the repression is a homosexual one) seemed stale and predictable. I just never cared what happened to her, or her umpteen interchangeable brothers (too bad when Kerr was doing the adapting she didn't whittle their number down somewhat, although I doubt it would have made much difference).

The connective-tissue swan imagery was nice and all that, but any competent author can establish a mood for a book with that kind of thing, and that's not what impresses me when I read a book. More than that, I want characters who make me feel something, whose fates I truly care about, and I want to feel uplifted when when their story is done.

Sean and Elias did that for me, in a milieu with which I'm not at all familiar. I thought they had a story worth telling and Peg Kerr told it well. But I felt Eliza's story has been told too many times before and while this version did add some new elements, those elements simply added to the PLOT. They didn't add to the STORY.

What a haunting an evocative beautiful book. I couldn't put it down. It was like reading two separate stories, yet they seemed interwoven. It takes incredible talent to work different plot lines, and different characters into one book and still keep the reader's attention.

I remember well the times she wrote about in the 1980s... We had friends who lived that carefree lifestyle, never realizing until too late the fatal error. Innocence woven into decadence! This book works!

Each story was so rich in content that you started each chapter with an "ah," here we go again... Such joy to return! I am blown away by this author and I will watch for her books in the future.