Blackwater
1 journaler for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by anathema-device from Wien Bezirk 20 - Brigittenau, Wien Austria on Wednesday, December 12, 2018
Birthday present from Sue & Shandy.
The Blackwater series was originally published in six volumes:
"The Flood"
"The Levee"
"The House"
"The War"
"The Fortune"
"Rain"
The Blackwater series was originally published in six volumes:
"The Flood"
"The Levee"
"The House"
"The War"
"The Fortune"
"Rain"
The Flood:
Finished the first book today and am... pleasantly surprised. It's quite obvious that Elinor is some kind of water snake woman, and maybe she kills and/or eats the occasional person... but her overall values seem to be quite okay, at least until the last couple of pages. Obviously this leaves us with a sort of cliffhanger.
Finished the first book today and am... pleasantly surprised. It's quite obvious that Elinor is some kind of water snake woman, and maybe she kills and/or eats the occasional person... but her overall values seem to be quite okay, at least until the last couple of pages. Obviously this leaves us with a sort of cliffhanger.
The Levee:
Yay, more of the supernatural plot that provides a sort of undercurrent to the family saga! I really enjoyed the ritual with the chicken heart, and sort of enjoyed (because how could you) the chapter about the "cornerstone". I have a suspicion about why Queenie woke up that night, and that clutching her baby may have saved the boy's life.
Yay, more of the supernatural plot that provides a sort of undercurrent to the family saga! I really enjoyed the ritual with the chicken heart, and sort of enjoyed (because how could you) the chapter about the "cornerstone". I have a suspicion about why Queenie woke up that night, and that clutching her baby may have saved the boy's life.
The House:
Whoa, more gore. Also a quite unsettling passage (in more than one sense), which might contain some poetic justice... or not. The water-snake lady is ambiguous as ever, and the final scene about the little ghost leaves us with a nice cliffhanger... again.
Whoa, more gore. Also a quite unsettling passage (in more than one sense), which might contain some poetic justice... or not. The water-snake lady is ambiguous as ever, and the final scene about the little ghost leaves us with a nice cliffhanger... again.
The War:
Wow, things are really changing for many of the characters now. I sort of enjoyed what's happening to Frances (if "enjoyed" can be used in this context), I really like the new little farm, and I really liked the ending too. One of the nicer ghost stories.
Wow, things are really changing for many of the characters now. I sort of enjoyed what's happening to Frances (if "enjoyed" can be used in this context), I really like the new little farm, and I really liked the ending too. One of the nicer ghost stories.
The Fortune:
This book contains my favourite enraged speech about human rights so far - when, on page 528 of the omnibus edition, Frances refers to herself as "deformed", and her mother goes, "Is Zadie Sapp deformed because she was born with black skin? [...] Are Grace and Lucille deformed because they have given up men and live out at Gavin Pond Farm together? [...] That's how they were born, darling! [etc.]" I love this so much. And from a white male writer, too.
The ending was a bit sad but also happy (for Frances), so for now I'm choosing to read it as Fantasy rather than some of the more obvious metaphors, although they can't be fully disregarded. Anyway. Really curious about the last book in the series now.
This book contains my favourite enraged speech about human rights so far - when, on page 528 of the omnibus edition, Frances refers to herself as "deformed", and her mother goes, "Is Zadie Sapp deformed because she was born with black skin? [...] Are Grace and Lucille deformed because they have given up men and live out at Gavin Pond Farm together? [...] That's how they were born, darling! [etc.]" I love this so much. And from a white male writer, too.
The ending was a bit sad but also happy (for Frances), so for now I'm choosing to read it as Fantasy rather than some of the more obvious metaphors, although they can't be fully disregarded. Anyway. Really curious about the last book in the series now.
Rain:
This book had my favourite (and pretty scary) hauntings. Also, like in The Elementals, McDowell's ghosts aren't easily categorisable as such. The ghosts in Blackwater can interfere with objects and touch, injure, and even kill people. In my view this makes them quantum weird/hauntological (like the ghosts in M.R. James, cf. China Miéville's essay on them here).
This big fat omnibus of Blackwater is now in my **** Permanent Collection ****.
This book had my favourite (and pretty scary) hauntings. Also, like in The Elementals, McDowell's ghosts aren't easily categorisable as such. The ghosts in Blackwater can interfere with objects and touch, injure, and even kill people. In my view this makes them quantum weird/hauntological (like the ghosts in M.R. James, cf. China Miéville's essay on them here).
This big fat omnibus of Blackwater is now in my **** Permanent Collection ****.
