I absolutely loved this book! Merry is the girl that lingers inside of each and every one of us, trying to get out- a dark shadow of misery and resentment and manipulation. I love the relationships within her family that Bernheimer set up. Merry's denial of her misery is what proves this novel so amazing and made it such a page-turner for me.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
The Complete Tales of Merry Gold
I love love love this book. Yes, triple love. To me, Merry is the dark side in us all. She is selfish, and cocky, mean and manipulative, alcoholic and self hating. In a way she's the tragic hero. Despite her character flaws and sociopathic tendencies I couldn't help rooting for her. Maybe it was our joint love of vodka and sarcastic judgement of others, but I felt connected to the character in the sense of being able to fully picture her and her motivations in my mind. I kept imagining this wonderful Tim Burton inspired character. A little girl with pig tails and black bows who goes around causing havoc. The evil Eloise if you will. I absolutely loved her description of the the joggers and their running suits indicating, " I am a member of Team Loser." She has such a wicked wit, that I both admire and love.
On a structure note, I found the lack of chronological order to fit perfectly with the story. Bernheimer jumps back and forth between POV as well as Merry's childhood and adulthood, crafting an intricate "pattern" of story. At first I found this frustrating as their was little footing for the story but as soon as I let go of attempting to make sense, I easily jumped back and forth throughout Merry's life. I think this fits nicely with the rhythm of Merry's emotions throughout the novel. She goes from elated to depressed and back up several times throughout the course of the book. This peak and collapse pattern conveys the confusion of the story further as well as the unraveling of Merry's life.
On a structure note, I found the lack of chronological order to fit perfectly with the story. Bernheimer jumps back and forth between POV as well as Merry's childhood and adulthood, crafting an intricate "pattern" of story. At first I found this frustrating as their was little footing for the story but as soon as I let go of attempting to make sense, I easily jumped back and forth throughout Merry's life. I think this fits nicely with the rhythm of Merry's emotions throughout the novel. She goes from elated to depressed and back up several times throughout the course of the book. This peak and collapse pattern conveys the confusion of the story further as well as the unraveling of Merry's life.
Themes in Merry Gold
First of all, the more I read this book, the more that I like it. I thought it mixed the thought-provoking darkness of the Brothers Grimm with a modern, alcoholic twist. Merry Gold is an extremely frustrating character who I just wanted to move in a positive direction with her life. Then I realized that Merry is exactly the kind of person who does not have a forward or backward progression, but rather just goes in circles of happiness and being forlorn, with many adventures in between. At one point in the novel, Merry literally runs herself in circles to prove to her sister that she prefers making patterns to fitting in. Merry exclaims, "'Don't I have cause enough to make patterns?' I would ask her. 'I've collapsed on a sidewalk, woken up in a hospital, and now been sent here to live with you. I can't even scald my own fingers (Merry Gold 94).'" Merry cannot fit into regular society, so she weaves her own world both physically and in the fabric that she sews. At the end, I wouldn't say she was necessarily content, but she seems intrigued by all the fantastical elements in her own life. It was these images of her hanging herself by a shoestring, or being turned into a flower that brought her world to life for me.
One of the other major themes I noticed was the use of animals. When we asked Kate what the animals were used for, she mentioned the prevalence of them in most fairy tales. Looking back through the book, I found even more mentions of them, simply in descriptions such as "she had eyes like a snake." Or, more noticably, Merry can talk to mice and sews shirts for frogs. It is this connection to the wild world that makes this novel a true fairy tale; most humans do not associate daily with animals, let alone sew clothing for them or talk to them. I think Kate points out a loss our society has suffered in our rejection of animal contact and even when Merry cannot find happiness among humans, she at least finds satisfaction with her animal friends.
One of the other major themes I noticed was the use of animals. When we asked Kate what the animals were used for, she mentioned the prevalence of them in most fairy tales. Looking back through the book, I found even more mentions of them, simply in descriptions such as "she had eyes like a snake." Or, more noticably, Merry can talk to mice and sews shirts for frogs. It is this connection to the wild world that makes this novel a true fairy tale; most humans do not associate daily with animals, let alone sew clothing for them or talk to them. I think Kate points out a loss our society has suffered in our rejection of animal contact and even when Merry cannot find happiness among humans, she at least finds satisfaction with her animal friends.
Three, Three, Three
Through out the second half of "The Complete Tales of Merry Gold" I noticed Bernherimer used a sequence of three items. It first appears on page 62 "Out of my window, I watch their mother prepare the dirt for some plantings. She appears to have bought some flats of daisies, marigolds, pansies." This is obviously a play on words of marigolds= Merry; pansies= Ketzia; and daisies= Lucy. Another instance is on page 80 when Merry is talking about her two friends from Design School, Semyon and Tibor. "Tibor made some infants' caps by decapitating stuffed animals and gutting them: monkeys, lions, and dogs." The next instance is on page 87, "The second and third day the child came and went again." Next on page 91, "When I was a very young child, I would wake my dolls up, three-in-a-row in their pink dollhouse bedroom." Bernherimer continues this sequence of three on the next page "I would line up three outfits in three different sizes, on three little chairs in their room; I myself sewed these outfits." Page 93, "I had a big pile of clothes I had made for class and would wear everything: woolen pants, knitted sweaters, furry caps." These are just a few examples of the usage of the sequence of three.
What's so special about the number three? I looked up the number three on wikipedia (So I know it may not be the most "accurate" source of information, but it's nicely organized) and it said that there are three Greek and Roman gods, one each ruling, Heaven, Earth, and the Underworld. It is often believed that people die in threes (this only impacts the people you interact with on a day-to-day basis). So what does this have to do with the book? WELL, that is a good question. I think that the definitions I listed above can be related to the text because in a way, Merry Gold, is the ruler of the underworld- she is constantly talking up a good game and is a bully. Ketzia is the ruler of the earth, always doing as others tell her, especially Merry Gold. Lucy is the ruler of the Heaven because Merry Gold and Lucy get along better than Merry Gold and Ketzia, she agrees to play the games with Merry Gold.
As far as the definition of people dieing in threes and how this relates to the text... hmmm... um, I'm not sure about how this relates to the text, I guess I just thought it was an interesting random fact.
What's so special about the number three? I looked up the number three on wikipedia (So I know it may not be the most "accurate" source of information, but it's nicely organized) and it said that there are three Greek and Roman gods, one each ruling, Heaven, Earth, and the Underworld. It is often believed that people die in threes (this only impacts the people you interact with on a day-to-day basis). So what does this have to do with the book? WELL, that is a good question. I think that the definitions I listed above can be related to the text because in a way, Merry Gold, is the ruler of the underworld- she is constantly talking up a good game and is a bully. Ketzia is the ruler of the earth, always doing as others tell her, especially Merry Gold. Lucy is the ruler of the Heaven because Merry Gold and Lucy get along better than Merry Gold and Ketzia, she agrees to play the games with Merry Gold.
As far as the definition of people dieing in threes and how this relates to the text... hmmm... um, I'm not sure about how this relates to the text, I guess I just thought it was an interesting random fact.
The Avant Savant gets kinky...
New book. And so comes the habitual google. I was directed to many a blogs and an interesting theory approached my periphery of literary analysis. And in the fog of the googling blog arose The Page 69 Test. or sometimes traded in for the The Page 99 Test. For discussion purposes, we shall gold star the original school of thought: The Page 69 Test.
It's as simple as a pie, unless you are Keri Russell.
One book determined on one single, solitary page.
Whiz threw through the pages like a whisper through a batch of marigolds, and we are now on the determinant page 69 and all of discussion will rely solely on this one page. Revolutionary? Revolutionarily lazy?
However, I think this is trusty barometer. I love this book and I love page 69. It is smack-dab in the middle of my favorite chapter of the piece and it is build-up to some of my favorite lines:
"I remember being exhausted. I remember seeing my face stare back at me from the black window. I remember the shiver of the cold on my spine. Sometimes snow would blow into the room and cover our bodies."
Wonderous. Her writing is as meticulous as Merry Gold, the seamstress. There is a lot to be explored in the straddling page 69. With just the quote above, it brings many themes present throughout the text. The parallel structure of three is utilized throughout. Kathleen, I know has touched upon the whole concept of the grouping of three. These three lines of four show the make-up of the three. While life usually moves in three, the make-up is not entirely connected. As the first two lines proceed the "I remember" with -ing verbs and the third one proceeds with a noun. Even within the simple syntax of the middle of the page 69 demonstrates a faulty and phony bond that Merry Gold aches about whether it be with her parents, her sisters or her two best friends. She may feel a place and an order at one point, but she will always disappear from this equation, usually from her own nature to distance herself from the constantly evolving world around her [she wants to immobilize herself (the whole talk of cutting off her legs on page 92 and her fascination with the wooden-leg neighbor)].
Another element to explore within this page is the concept of color. Like autobiography, it is purposeful. We are told later on and maybe before I cannot place at the moment that Merry revels in the grey area, but many times she must encounter stark colors to that--many times it is the color of black and white, marrying the hueful extremes to mate grey. There is black in this scene with Danilo and then it contrasted with the white girl in the white dress who falls through the white ice. Leaving as always Merry Gold in the dichotomy, in the grey. The grey slithers throughout the piece. We usually, through nurtured connotation, perceive the colors in an inanimate sense; black as evil and white as pure. The grey is the slime we see coating Merry and her intimate interactions with men. Danilo is a creeper, how cavalier is he with making her a puppet, making her dance and engaging in something as so innocent of having Merry place her head on his shoulder. The actions contrast in the underbelly of emotion. It's a simple act, convoluted in the "narrowed eyes" of these hard characters like Merry and Danilo.
Oh gosh, there is so much. Questions to be had on this page: why is Merry (cold rhymes with gold ever notice that, came up with that right now--has to be purpose too since coldness is always what she is) Gold, with a name reminiscent of the flower, always compared to animals and insects and flowers? Is there purpose to her eating the leg of the chicked, as leg has been a focal point before?
Look one page and I am writing a novel. yet. a. gain.
Brilliant job Kate; you passed The Page 69 Test. This book is a gem--and with a glimmer in the cold light--a eerily-warm beauty.
It's as simple as a pie, unless you are Keri Russell.
One book determined on one single, solitary page.
Whiz threw through the pages like a whisper through a batch of marigolds, and we are now on the determinant page 69 and all of discussion will rely solely on this one page. Revolutionary? Revolutionarily lazy?
However, I think this is trusty barometer. I love this book and I love page 69. It is smack-dab in the middle of my favorite chapter of the piece and it is build-up to some of my favorite lines:
"I remember being exhausted. I remember seeing my face stare back at me from the black window. I remember the shiver of the cold on my spine. Sometimes snow would blow into the room and cover our bodies."
Wonderous. Her writing is as meticulous as Merry Gold, the seamstress. There is a lot to be explored in the straddling page 69. With just the quote above, it brings many themes present throughout the text. The parallel structure of three is utilized throughout. Kathleen, I know has touched upon the whole concept of the grouping of three. These three lines of four show the make-up of the three. While life usually moves in three, the make-up is not entirely connected. As the first two lines proceed the "I remember" with -ing verbs and the third one proceeds with a noun. Even within the simple syntax of the middle of the page 69 demonstrates a faulty and phony bond that Merry Gold aches about whether it be with her parents, her sisters or her two best friends. She may feel a place and an order at one point, but she will always disappear from this equation, usually from her own nature to distance herself from the constantly evolving world around her [she wants to immobilize herself (the whole talk of cutting off her legs on page 92 and her fascination with the wooden-leg neighbor)].
Another element to explore within this page is the concept of color. Like autobiography, it is purposeful. We are told later on and maybe before I cannot place at the moment that Merry revels in the grey area, but many times she must encounter stark colors to that--many times it is the color of black and white, marrying the hueful extremes to mate grey. There is black in this scene with Danilo and then it contrasted with the white girl in the white dress who falls through the white ice. Leaving as always Merry Gold in the dichotomy, in the grey. The grey slithers throughout the piece. We usually, through nurtured connotation, perceive the colors in an inanimate sense; black as evil and white as pure. The grey is the slime we see coating Merry and her intimate interactions with men. Danilo is a creeper, how cavalier is he with making her a puppet, making her dance and engaging in something as so innocent of having Merry place her head on his shoulder. The actions contrast in the underbelly of emotion. It's a simple act, convoluted in the "narrowed eyes" of these hard characters like Merry and Danilo.
Oh gosh, there is so much. Questions to be had on this page: why is Merry (cold rhymes with gold ever notice that, came up with that right now--has to be purpose too since coldness is always what she is) Gold, with a name reminiscent of the flower, always compared to animals and insects and flowers? Is there purpose to her eating the leg of the chicked, as leg has been a focal point before?
Look one page and I am writing a novel. yet. a. gain.
Brilliant job Kate; you passed The Page 69 Test. This book is a gem--and with a glimmer in the cold light--a eerily-warm beauty.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Merry Gold
I enjoyed this novel, especially chapter 23 "Merry Comes Back". I think that the trees being fake, the daughters having to straighten their curly hair, and her restlessness in her childhood bedroom showed how Merry feels about her life and the unfillfulment in it. I felt compassion and anger for Merry Gold as she tried to find happiness, only for her evil ways to get the best of her.
I thought this book was brilliant! Bernheimer is completely honest about the thoughts of an older sister. Though Merry appears to be malicious in her actions (especially toward Ketzia) I think all of us who have sisters or close cousins have done mean things to them which we regret or put in the back of our minds. I absolutely loved the mention of the "Triple C" children's clothing and Merry's fascination and knowledge of various flowers. I would like to know which fairy tale this book most resembles? I thought it was sort of similiar to the three wicked stepsisters (Merry being one of them) and Ketzia being Cinderella? Anyway, just an idea.
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