Nydia Hetherington

‘’Let’s begin with hope, then. My words are a labyrinth into which we can wander. As I write these tales, I can follow each path, each fallen leaf, in the hope they might take me to the person I seek.’’

And I thought I would absolutely love this book but I ended up bored to tears and frustrated…

Mouse, our narrator, takes us into the heart of circus life. Her mother, Marina, is a famous ‘’mermaid’’ and ‘’tamer of alligators’’. Serendipity Wilson is the one who actually takes care of Mouse and teaches her how to be a funambulist because Marina simply and utterly loathes her offspring for reasons undisclosed (to me, at least…) for 275 pages. The themes of serendipity, isolation and independence spiced up with the use of fairy tale elements should have produced a far more interesting result. However, I was unable to appreciate the story, the characters or the writing.

Please, when you want to make use of Titania, Oberon and any other Shakespearean play, proceed with caution. Ignorance is horrifying.

The never-ending, repeated - every - other - page pseudo-feminist message became extremely tiring. All the constant whining and misery and self-loathing exhausted my poor mind and I fear that Mouse is not the most interesting of narrators. And why does every mother hate her child in this story?

The chronicle of Treblinka was almost dull, devoid of any trace of solemnity. Not to mention that it felt like a cheap gimmick to justify a mother’s cruelty. I’ve had enough of writers turning the nightmare of the Holocaust into a literary fad to add a supposed depth to their below-average stories. When the writing is melodramatic and pseudo-grandiose resulting in a written form of a low-quality Meditteranean (no countries named, I’m being politically correct…) TV soap opera, exploiting History and themes done to death won’t really help…

Two stars for Serendipity’s Manx tales which deserved a book of their own. I’d be more than happy to read it. This novel, in my opinion, was a thundering disappointment…

Serendipity Wilson’s Tales:

The Termagant Wife: A tale about a feisty, no-nonsense, all-around brilliant queen who refused to be silenced by her ignorant husband.

The Wife of Ballaleece: A young woman is carried away by the fairies and her husband has to put up with a shrew. And I don’t care about Wilson’s stupid ‘’message’’, I felt sorry for the poor couple…

The Sad and Tragic Story of Nora Cain: An enchanted island, a newborn baby and a tragic love in a story rich in the spirit of the sea and the islanders’ superstitions.

Fairy Cakes: A violent, haunting tale of a squad of mischievous fairies and a girl who became wise the hard way…

Many thanks to Quercus Books and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.… (mehr)

With one of the most attractive cover designs of the year, A Girl Made of Air is the debut novel by Nydia Hetherington.

Beginning as an interview for the New York Times, our narrator slowly begins to share her life story. The reader learns upfront she was the The Greatest Funambulist Who Ever Lived and now finds herself searching for a lost child. (Fun fact: A funambulist is a tightrope walker).

Mouse was born into a circus family but remained an outcast within the unusual circus community. Her mother and father didn't take an interest in her upbringing and Mouse was left to her own devices and withdrew into herself. When Serendipity Wilson came along, Mouse's entire world changed.

This story is told by Mouse in her later years as she reflects on her life and shares details that build towards her search for a person lost in time. In order to piece together her history, Mouse shares her memories, letters and journal entries in an attempt to pull together the story of her life. She also includes stories within stories that were felt like fables, myths and folklore. The style put me in mind of The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern and Flyaway by Kathleen Jennings; both read earlier this year.

The narrator gives us the impression of a table covered with snippets that she is crafting into a cohesive story but I found it was too piecemeal for me. I didn't find this method particularly effective and it felt a little disjointed for my liking. It'd be interesting to know if the story was 'carved up' into this style to suit the narrative or whether it was written in this style and the narrative grew up around the content to explain the various 'entries' and insertion of different material.

Adding to the disrupted flow was the lack of dialogue punctuation and the use of italics to indicate when certain characters were speaking. I know this is a popular literary device, however I'm one of those readers who struggles without punctuation for speech.

Given the circus setting, I'm sure comparisons will be made between A Girl Made of Air and The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, but I haven't read The Night Circus so it didn't influence my reading experience of this novel in any way; positive or negative.

A Girl Made of Air is an historical fiction fantasy novel touched by magical realism with characters you will remember. The narrator often addresses the reader (or interviewer for whom this text is intended) directly, and I'll leave you with an example from page 318:

'Are you wondering if there's to be a happy ending? I wish I could tell you. We must find the answer together.' Page 318

If you enjoyed The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern, I think you'll love this.

* Copy courtesy of Hachette Australia *… (mehr)

Life in the circus.
This is a rather sad tale centering around an unwanted daughter who lives in a run-down travelling circus. I could imagine her, unwashed and unloved, hiding under the wagons just hoping for a sign of recognition from her parents. Fortunately, things improve when Serendipity Wilson joins the circus. Serendipity Wilson is a high wire act, a funambulist, who teaches 'Mouse' the tricks of the trade. Mouse practices constantly and eventually becomes skilled on the wire.
Life in the circus is tough and complicated, and Mouse learns information about herself that she could never have guessed. I don't want to say too much more about the plot however, and spoil it for other readers.

I enjoyed the varied characters and thought the narrator, Natalie Pela, did a great job, five stars to her.
My main issue with the book was the fairy-tale morality stories, supposedly told by Serendipity Wilson, that popped up during the narrative, I'm afraid I found them irritating and rather unnecessary.

While I did enjoy this, I recognise that anyone setting a book in the circus has two tough acts to follow: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern and Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. I wonder if my expectations were therefore unreasonably high.
This is the author's debut novel and will certainly be interested to see what she comes up with next.… (mehr)