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A review by casualskimreader
Soonchild by Russell Hoban
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I found this book incredibly interesting.
The structure of my edition also added to the chaos of the storyline. Chapters started mid page and some pages just had images.
My favourite part of the book was its ability to weave Inuit mythology and the modern world in way that highlights it’s complexity but makes it understandable. I appreciate that every spirit such as Sixteen Face John, Nanuq, Timertik, Ukpika, etc. had their moment in the book. It is explained who they are and how they contribute to John’s journey to finding the songs of the world. I am unsure how much of Hoban’s own imagination is woven into this book but I did find it fun to read.
A smaller aspect I really liked is the onomatopoeia. All of it assisted to engrain me into the world of the North as well as John’s Dream Brew trance.
Another aspect I enjoyed was the names of characters and how they perfectly describe each character. Some names are more practical. Soonchild is called soon child as she is soon to be born and characters such as Mr Ugly highlight his crudeness.
This book also plays with some epistemological questions and has an Everyman type of story structure. John’s journey is spiritual and individual but it is representative of the philosophical journey that we take to help people we love and face our own internal battles.
I appreciated that all the shamans had questions for names. This highlighted that they were wise people as well as reminded me of questions posed in a philosophy class as well as questions that would be asked by young children such as “Where is it?”, etc. Also these names/questions are reminiscent of actual philosophical questions. Soonchild doesn’t want to come into the world because she doesn’t know if there is one. This reminded me of Descartes Meditations. Descartes was famous for this work as it delves into how can we tell what is reality and if things exist. John’s journey is a similar concept. He goes on a journey/into trance to help assist another individual to prove that the world is real. It differs to Descartes in the sense that John is able to pass on his understanding of reality to Soonchild whereas Descartes’ work could only be used to prove to yourself if you are real and experiencing life but you can’t be sure/convince another person that you exist.
In addition to reminding me of Descartes, this journey that John goes on helps him remember his position of shaman, face his fears and restore his sense of reality. This is similar to the morality play Everyman. (I might be rusty with my history and dramatic arts theory) In the play, Everyman is representative of all people and the journey he goes on brings him closer to God and faith. Along his journey he meets characters that embody Christian values and they assist his journey. The purpose of morality plays such as Everyman is to help educate people and assist them in understanding and conceptualising philosophical ideas and religious ideology. Reading this book, it is clear that Hoban mimics this sort of storytelling (knowingly or unknowingly).
Alexis Deacon’s illustrations added to the story. His illustrations assisted me with visualising a journey that is quite fractured and downs necessarily logically follow. It is a journey in trance so we go from one character to the next quite quickly and change location often. So, the illustrations helped me with following the journey as well as highlighting some of the questions physicality of the spirits as well as tension. My favourite illustrations were: Yarluk, Timertik, Nanuq, Ukpika, the wolves of John, the ritual and the journey through the Long White Alone. I think these illustrations managed to get emphasise the power of the spiritual beings as well as how frightening John’s journey is particularly John’s wolves as well as the Long White Alone. The wolves sometimes have human faces and look deformed and the laughing spirits and figures in the Long White Alone were ominous and creepy. They captured various characters that John had/was going to meet as well as John’s fear in the face of death.
The ending seemed a little short but I enjoyed it. I really like that Soonchild wasn’t just a representative character but her existence helped the world from ending. We tend to forget that she is the reason why we still have a word yet she’s such an ordinary person and her father helped prevent the world from ending. Idk how to say it but it’s great.
This was a relatively quick read and the pictures definitely assisted with keeping me focused. The names can be confusing at times but it’s doable if you have minimal distractions.
The structure of my edition also added to the chaos of the storyline. Chapters started mid page and some pages just had images.
My favourite part of the book was its ability to weave Inuit mythology and the modern world in way that highlights it’s complexity but makes it understandable. I appreciate that every spirit such as Sixteen Face John, Nanuq, Timertik, Ukpika, etc. had their moment in the book. It is explained who they are and how they contribute to John’s journey to finding the songs of the world. I am unsure how much of Hoban’s own imagination is woven into this book but I did find it fun to read.
A smaller aspect I really liked is the onomatopoeia. All of it assisted to engrain me into the world of the North as well as John’s Dream Brew trance.
Another aspect I enjoyed was the names of characters and how they perfectly describe each character. Some names are more practical. Soonchild is called soon child as she is soon to be born and characters such as Mr Ugly highlight his crudeness.
This book also plays with some epistemological questions and has an Everyman type of story structure. John’s journey is spiritual and individual but it is representative of the philosophical journey that we take to help people we love and face our own internal battles.
I appreciated that all the shamans had questions for names. This highlighted that they were wise people as well as reminded me of questions posed in a philosophy class as well as questions that would be asked by young children such as “Where is it?”, etc. Also these names/questions are reminiscent of actual philosophical questions.
In addition to reminding me of Descartes, this journey that John goes on helps him remember his position of shaman, face his fears and restore his sense of reality. This is similar to the morality play Everyman.
Alexis Deacon’s illustrations added to the story. His illustrations assisted me with visualising a journey that is quite fractured and downs necessarily logically follow. It is a journey in trance so we go from one character to the next quite quickly and change location often. So, the illustrations helped me with following the journey as well as highlighting some of the questions physicality of the spirits as well as tension. My favourite illustrations were:
The ending seemed a little short but I enjoyed it. I really like that
This was a relatively quick read and the pictures definitely assisted with keeping me focused. The names can be confusing at times but it’s doable if you have minimal distractions.