A review by marcatili
Cloven Hooves by Megan Lindholm
4.0
This is a difficult book for me to rate. As a big fan of 'Robin Hobb' novels, I've been looking forward to reading something with Megan Lindholm's name on it. 'Cloven Hooves' seemed thematically right down my alley, and in many ways it did not disappoint.
The author is a master at frustrating the reader by putting the protagonist through one injustice after another. Unlike works by Hobb, these injustices take place in the most mundane, domestic of settings. Be prepared to read a lot about cleaning houses and doing the shopping. The injustices build gradually higher until they're as unbearable for the reader as they are the protagonist. Escape becomes necessary.
Cloven Hooves is a complex book exploring the expectations put upon women. The protagonist, Evelyn, tries so hard to meet those expectations, but within her is the desire to be free. To be wild. This manifests in her love for the faun, which exists at the edges of her reality, urging her to leave the house and go into the forest.
Yet while Evelyn has a simmering strength of character below the surface, she is so often a passive protagonist, going where she is led and rarely standing up for herself in any way that goes beyond mere whining. Though her character journey from passive wife to free individual is part of the theme of the novel, she never escapes being reliant on men in her life.
The author is a master at frustrating the reader by putting the protagonist through one injustice after another. Unlike works by Hobb, these injustices take place in the most mundane, domestic of settings. Be prepared to read a lot about cleaning houses and doing the shopping. The injustices build gradually higher until they're as unbearable for the reader as they are the protagonist. Escape becomes necessary.
Cloven Hooves is a complex book exploring the expectations put upon women. The protagonist, Evelyn, tries so hard to meet those expectations, but within her is the desire to be free. To be wild. This manifests in her love for the faun, which exists at the edges of her reality, urging her to leave the house and go into the forest.
Yet while Evelyn has a simmering strength of character below the surface, she is so often a passive protagonist, going where she is led and rarely standing up for herself in any way that goes beyond mere whining. Though her character journey from passive wife to free individual is part of the theme of the novel, she never escapes being reliant on men in her life.