Kim AntieauRezensionen

When her older brother was accused of rape, Nadira paid the price. By Pakistani law, the other girl’s kinsmen could defile a woman in the accused man’s clan. Nadira was brutally beaten, and her face and body were scarred in the attack. As a result, she was considered damaged goods and not eligible for marriage. Then, her father dies, and the family becomes dependent on her Uncle Rubel for support. So, Nadira hires out as a maid to help support her mother and little brother, Umar, her one joy in life. When Umar disappears, Nadira suspects that Uncle Rubel sold the boy to camel racers who use small boys as jockeys. Nadira cannot stay home and wonder what happened to her brother. Disguised as a boy, Nadira searches for Umar amongst the camps. She witnesses first-hand the cruelty and danger that the young camel jockeys face. Not only are they in constant peril of death during the races, but the boys are also worked hard and fed little. The atmosphere of the camps also breeds ruthlessness and mob mentality in the boys. Nadira protects her little band when she pacifies the camp bullies with masala chai and tales from the Arabian nights.
©2024 Kathy Maxwell at https://bookskidslike.com

This was my introduction to Kim Antineau, and boy was it ever great! This story will haunt you, inspire you, maybe make you weep a little. So good, rich and vast and intimate. Thank you, Kim.

Oh my goodness, did I ever love this! If you like to cook. If you like to eat. If you like a multi-layered magical tale. Or just something deliciously different, Kim is a wonderful story-weaver. Highly recommended.

I read this a while back so I don't remember that much, but this was a really strange book where the main character has delusions of becoming an angel to justify her disordered eating habits. The story is told through Mercy's eyes, so you can really see just how warped her perspective of herself and her situation is. The book was really short and fairly simple in how it dealt with eating disorders, and everything was resolved pretty quickly.

Waste. Of. Time.

"Myla Alvarez, novice, walks into the Sonoran desert near Tucson, Arizona and begins telling stories about the Old Mermaids who were washed ashore onto the New Desert when the Old Sea dried up. In this mystical new world, they lived, created, and walked in beauty. Myla finds sustenance and meaning their lives and stories. But she worries tht Homeland Security may discover the illegal immigrants she harbors at the Old Mermaid Sanctuary. When an old friend reenters her life, Myla begins the doubt herself and the wisdom of preserving the Old Mermaid Sanctuary. Will the Old Mermaids come to her aid? Church Of The Old Mermaids is a tale of redemption, love, compassion, and mystery."
~~back cover

OMG -- what an incredible book! I couldn't get into the first few chapters, but as I kept reading ... the mystery and lyricism and hop drew me in, and I walked the wash with Myla and the Old Mermaids. This isn't a book that can be easily explained; it weaves itself between many different layers and textures, often with the old orange rope, to make certain no one gets left behind. You'll just have to read it, to experience the joy and love of the Old Mermaid Sanctuary for yourself.

This is a delight tale of Ruby who sees the world in a wonderful, magical way. Despite the continual negativity directed toward her by her grandmother, Ruby thrives. Without triteness or corniness, the author weaves a beautiful story of Ruby who makes wonderment for all.

When Hurricane Katrina hits New Orleans, LA, and the leeves break, Ruby and her grandmother are able to climb to the attic. As the roof is blown away, they witness the incredible devastation.

In grand denial, Ruby's grandmother refused to leave. When her grandmother's boyfriend leaves before the hurricane hits, leaving them to fend for themselves, it is obvious that Ruby must be the strong one to navigate them to safety.

Tiptree honours/shortlist 2003. Surprised myself by liking it a lot more than I expected. It often seemed to be about to slip into cliches - neurotic woman "discovers hersef" and finds a man, or neurotic woman discovers hippy-dippy spirituality - but always recovered through solid doses of common sense, and ended up being about a young woman growing up and making her own decisions. The fantasy bit wasn't too jarring and the descriptions of desert were very evocative.

That being said, Ms Antieau is also quite an accomplished author. Sad to say, I'm not

familiar with others of her books, but I intend to be. Based on my reading of "Her Frozen

Wild," I can hardly wait!

"Her Frozen Wild" begins with an expedition in Siberia that uncovers a woman's body replete

with markings like tattoos. It is obvious to all the archaeologists involved that the woman

is some kind of shaman/princess. Her mtDNA which apparently matches Ursula Smith's, an

American archaeologist, brings them all together to solve the mystery of the frozen

princess's history. Ursula's mother's disappearance 30 years prior in the same location,

her instincts and her connections with her Russian male counterpart to the scientific

research work together to create the foundation of this startling novel. What makes this

book unique to others that may have been read with similar backgrounds is the mystical way

Ms Antieau puts thing together. There are some elements that will bring to mind Clan of the

Cave Bear in terms of the early exposure to cave people and magical thinking we experienced

in writing and reading in the early 1970's. There are some elements that are skating the

edges and outer limits of syfy or magical thinking today. This is a book couched between

different worlds, viewed through the eyes of different characters, captured in a landscape

so odd and so pristine, yet so foreign to most civilization that it's like an alien planet.

"Her Frozen Wild" is a strange and beautiful tale.

Before I go too far in this review, I want to reference for you a guest post Ms Antieau gave

earlier this month on a blog in which she explores how Her Frozen Wild became a concept to her. She was dreaming frequently about bears. She eventually connected that bears and ancient peoples were connected in forms considered to be healing totems and such. Or, that humans took on bear spirits or connections, and when they did so, they were known or seen to have healing powers...shaman powers. It was through her own recurring dreams and her reading about an actual discovery in Siberia of a frozen shaman woman with tattoos that she began her exploration of this novel.

Dreams and subconscious impressions undoubtedly inhabit this novel and overlap the story.

The characters are rich in this covering. This is one of the most unique novels

I've read because of the employ of this method, and the use of it so masterfully. And, I fell in love with Ursula and Sergei immediately. Ursula is a complex character, a beloved child who is brought up by a knowledgeable and mystical grandmother to guide her, as well as a mother who had the calling to another time and dimension through archaeology. This book has a storyline that is carried out in a most captivating way.

I recommend the book to those who love a mystery, but also who are looking for a change in

pace from the ordinary. Ms Antieau is an extraordinary writer. If nothing else, this is a

rare trip into the often unexplored side of creative writing. It's an amazing and beautiful

novel.

Oh, the many ways I hated this one. First there's the creepy rapey, near necrophiliac prologue. I would have pulled out there, but this book was a gift from a friend who counts it as a favorite. Next strike was the voice of the narrator. The premise of this book is that its heroine is a updated, near contemporary Frankenstein monster. She's been put together out of three dead women, and has the scars to prove it. It might have been easier to believe in Keelie if we had more distance from her--but her first person voice? Well, first I just can't believe this is a real woman who has been through anything like this, and then I believe she's an absolute idiot:

I went to him. His fingers touched mine. I wanted to drop into his arms. Yes, this was the reason for my existence. Him. It had to be.

I smiled. Pierced together to be a love machine for this gorgeous hunk of a man.

Later she has sex with this guy with a hairy back who asks her not to turn on the lights. And when Victor (his real name, and she thinks of him as "Frankie") is puzzled the next day by her references to them having made love, she's still clueless someone else took advantage of her. After this, a woman named Lillith--an obvious jealous rival--tricks her, but Keelie still believes what she has to say. Riiiiiight. I couldn't believe they had really attached a working brain to her body. Oh, and just about every male in the book is a sexual predator or abuser.

But then the fatal thing? The clanging New Age feminist Pagan twaddle where we're told how once upon a time women ruled the Earth and there was World Peace! The last straw was on page 79 where I was told nine million were killed during the "Burning Times" "because the women remembered a time when god wasn't in heaven and women and nature were sacred." First, we're talking about most probably 40,000 and at most 100,000 people who were executed as witches over about a 500 year period. And not all of them were women--a good number, maybe a quarter of them, were men. There's no evidence it had anything to do with Paganism either. Or that paganism has ever been linked with egalitarianism or matriarchy. Or that ancient times were ever more peaceful than our own other than they didn't have the population or technology to pull off genocide with our panache. But goodness they tried. Look up Pagan Roman history sometime.

So, as far as I'm concerned, what we have here is a badly written ill-conceived book filled with neopagan propaganda. There were interesting questions raised about what was really going on with Keelie, but by page 100 I couldn't stand the thought of lasting to page 340 to find out. Hell, I just couldn't stand her.

As I said, a friend of mine does adore this book. She says there are few books out there that hit the spot for her when it comes to her own Pagan beliefs. That there are fantasies out there that might reflect some, that have elements of the paranormal or Goddess worship, but that isn't the same thing. I hold unorthodox views myself in politics, and there was a time especially early on when a kind of "libertarian pornography" appealed to me just for the pleasure of seeing my own beliefs reflected in a fictional world, although these days I don't like books that are too preachy even when they do reflect my own beliefs. And if they are preachy, then they better have strong enough virtues in the writing to make up for it. So I do get the appeal of this sort of book for some. But this book most definitely doesn't do it for me.½

Ruby, a teenager with a vivid imagination, has grown up with her grandmother who has told her all her life that her parents were dead and she was an only child. When Hurricane Katrina hits Louisiana. Ruby learns the truth about her background and her grandmother and finds a way to move forward past the destruction.

Great book!

Um...I have NO CLUE what I want to say about this book. It's very different from the things I usually read and i can't tell what it was trying to say exactly. I think this is a book that could be taken many different ways. There is the story of the troubled young girl who has lost many things and feels it's her responsibility to keep her family happy. Then there's all the political issues and there's the story about anorexia. I'm not sure what I take away from this book.

I didn't really like the way it ended. I mean I did but it seemed a little unresolved because I never found out what had happened after Suzy-Q's "death" or where Mercy had been. It all got very confusing at the end too. I couldn't tell who was who because the author suddenly switched how she was referring to everyone. Mom and dad were suddenly Nancy and George and Mercy had no name.

I guess I didn't really like this book. I'm still not sure what to say about it. I give this book 3 stars.

The story had a historical fiction feel, but yet there were computers and televisions mentioned. I'll admit that I am a sucker for the poor, strong female overcoming huge obstacles type of book.Set in Pakistan it involves customs that are foreign to us. The story started out strong, but I felt the ending was too "pat". This was an enjoyable read, but not a great one. Unfortunately, I will probably not be able to get any students to read this book...they don't seem to be interested in anything "multi-cultural".

Funny and painfully honest, this novel tells the story of anorexia from the viewpoint of Mercy, 15, who denies she has an eating disorder. Mercy is becoming an angel. She can feel her wings sprouting from her shoulder blades. They itch. Sometimes she even hears them rustling. And angels don't need to eat. So Mercy has decided she doesn't need to either. She is not sick, doesn't suffer from anorexia, is not trying to kill herself. She is an angel, and angels simply don't need food.

A beautiful story about a young girl who has to dress as a boy to find her brother when he was taken away. This is such a short read, but with powerful words packed into every part of it. The amount of courage it would take to do that is tremendous, and I admire the main character for that!½

Tiptree longlist 1996½

Reviewed by JodiG. for TeensReadToo.com

There is a big storm coming. A "Big Spin," as Ruby calls it. Ruby knows the storm is coming because Ruby Butterfly told her, and the Big Oaks told Ruby Butterfly. So it must be true. But, should Ruby tell anyone else? Her grandmother, Mammaloose, says that Ruby just makes things up. Mammaloose probably wouldn't believe her. She would just say it's one more thing from Ruby's imagine. Kind of like Ruby's memories of her sisters and living in the swamp. Just Ruby's imagine.

Not real at all.

Ruby lives in Louisiana with Mammaloose and Uncle Gilbert. Ruby has a special way of talking. Her friend JayEl says it is like Ruby paints a picture with her words. Its just one more thing that makes Ruby stand apart from other people.

Mammaloose isn't particularly loving towards Ruby, but she has her good friends, human and otherwise. The flying people, the rooted people, Samuel Beckett Sparrow and Maya Angelou Hummingbird, Mr. Lagniappe and JayEl, all seem to understand Ruby better than her own grandmother. And Ruby loves everyone. And she warns them that the storm is coming. The storm is real, and it is coming straight toward them. Everything Ruby knows and imagines is about to change because the storm is bringing more destruction than anyone could have imagined and more truth as well.

As Ruby sees her neighborhood swallowed up by the water, she also finds out the truth about the family secrets that have been kept from her for too long. As it turns out, not everything was just Ruby's imagine.

RUBY'S IMAGINE is a true gem of a novel. You become immediately immersed in Ruby's world through her use of highly evocative words and her pure feelings for everyone and everything around her. The story is set during the destruction of Hurricane Katrina. Along with a moving story about family and community, there is a very real message about the environment, a subject that is becoming more and more important to every one of us.

Most importantly though, Ruby is a character to cherish. Someone who is as in tune with nature and the people around her as she is with herself. Someone who is nonjudgmental, loving, and forgiving. Someone who likes to make a difference. She is guaranteed to be a character that you will remember for a long time to come.