Neither thumbs up nor thumbs down for The Magicians by Lev Grossman. Fantasy.
I should never take book recommendations from friends; it always goes wrong. In all fairness, he did warn me that he had his own reasons for liking The Magicians and that I might very well not. I didn’t. Or rather, I think that Grossman is a great writer – inventive and poetic – and his prose is what kept me reading; and it’s also why I’m not giving this a thumbs down. The problem is, I detest his main character. I’ve heard him described by others as “angsty” or “a privileged whiner” but I’m going to throw in for “clinically depressed.” In fact, if you’re looking for excellent portrayals of depression in literature, he’s your guy. But the thing about depression is that it makes you pretty much the opposite of a hero. A hero cares passionately about things and acts vigorously to make sure that what he loves is safe. Quentin cares about very little, except maybe his girlfriend, who is way too good for him and in real life, one hopes, would either ditch him or make him get professional help. I wanted to force-feed Quentin either Paxil, or, if he wouldn’t take it (which I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t), a bullet. Even when he gets to the magical land of Narnia (sorry: “Fillory”) he still manages to mope around doing nothing but feeling sorry for himself. And if you’re wondering, like I was, whether he redeems himself at the end, the answer is no. Sometimes you wish characters were real so you could tell them what a waste of trees they are. Um. Sorry Christopher.
Or later on the test gave him a passage from The Tempest, then asked him to make up a fake language, and then translate the Shakespeare into the made-up language. He was then asked questions about the grammar and orthography of his made-up language, and then – honestly, what was the point? – questions about the made-up geography and culture and society of the made-up country where his made-up language was so fluently spoken. Then he had to translate the original passage from the fake language back into English, paying particular attention to any resulting distortions in grammar, word choice, and meaning. Seriously. He always gave everything he had on tests, but in this case he wasn’t totally sure what he was supposed to give.
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