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A review by atticmoth
Grand Canyon by Vita Sackville-West
adventurous
dark
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
SPOILERS IN LAST PARAGRAPH:
This is definitely a book with a purpose, as declared in Vita's "Author's Note" at the start. I almost wish I hadn't read that, or had gone into this knowing nothing, because I think I would have enjoyed the worldbuilding a good deal more. For me the greatest value of this was its historicity-- this was published in 1942, which makes the alternate history scenario much more terrifying, because it was written by someone who literally didn't know how the war was going to end! That also may be why this book never became a "classic" and is so hard to find, too. It's definitely intended for a contemporary audience rather than enduring.
"Grand Canyon" is divided into two parts, at the hotel and in the canyon. I actually found the first part more interesting, where nothing happened. I could honestly see Kazuo Ishiguro writing something like this, with all the themes of reminiscing on a bygone era and all. (Maybe this is what happens if Lord Darlington's plan in Remains of the Day actually worked out! lmao). It's very very British, and kind of funny to read about the Southwest from such a British voice, but I did kind of like the comedy of manners that she plays with.
The actual attack is more than halfway through the book, and while not exactly anticlimactic I found the second section less interesting than the psychological novel bits in the first. The worldbuilding went from subtle to lazy, and at this point I got kind of sick of the rambling conversations which seemed more like vessels for philosophical jargon. Needless to say yes there is a twist and I'll mention it down here... it's a massive spoiler!
SPOILERS BELOW
So, I read a first edition copy I got from UT's library, and in my copy part 1 ends with "She carried his poor little naked corpse carefully down into Bright Angel Trail. A bird’s body is very light."
However, the version on Project Gutenberg ends part 1 with:
"She carried his poor little naked corpse carefully down into Bright Angel Trail. A bird’s body is very light. What Madame de Retz did not realise and what the others did not realise, was that they had all been killed on their way to the head of the trail. Grigori had died outright because he had no soul.
The others went on. They had to go on. They had to complete their fate in spite of their apparent death."
The version I read keeps the literal M. Night Shyamalan plot twist until the very end, and just drops it in a really jarring way that I'll admit did shock me, though I saw it coming with all the miraculous healing. I'm really glad I didn't read the digital edition of this, because I would have liked the book a lot less if that had been spoiled for me before even getting to part 2.
This is definitely a book with a purpose, as declared in Vita's "Author's Note" at the start. I almost wish I hadn't read that, or had gone into this knowing nothing, because I think I would have enjoyed the worldbuilding a good deal more. For me the greatest value of this was its historicity-- this was published in 1942, which makes the alternate history scenario much more terrifying, because it was written by someone who literally didn't know how the war was going to end! That also may be why this book never became a "classic" and is so hard to find, too. It's definitely intended for a contemporary audience rather than enduring.
"Grand Canyon" is divided into two parts, at the hotel and in the canyon. I actually found the first part more interesting, where nothing happened. I could honestly see Kazuo Ishiguro writing something like this, with all the themes of reminiscing on a bygone era and all. (Maybe this is what happens if Lord Darlington's plan in Remains of the Day actually worked out! lmao). It's very very British, and kind of funny to read about the Southwest from such a British voice, but I did kind of like the comedy of manners that she plays with.
The actual attack is more than halfway through the book, and while not exactly anticlimactic I found the second section less interesting than the psychological novel bits in the first. The worldbuilding went from subtle to lazy, and at this point I got kind of sick of the rambling conversations which seemed more like vessels for philosophical jargon. Needless to say yes there is a twist and I'll mention it down here... it's a massive spoiler!
SPOILERS BELOW
So, I read a first edition copy I got from UT's library, and in my copy part 1 ends with "She carried his poor little naked corpse carefully down into Bright Angel Trail. A bird’s body is very light."
However, the version on Project Gutenberg ends part 1 with:
"She carried his poor little naked corpse carefully down into Bright Angel Trail. A bird’s body is very light. What Madame de Retz did not realise and what the others did not realise, was that they had all been killed on their way to the head of the trail. Grigori had died outright because he had no soul.
The others went on. They had to go on. They had to complete their fate in spite of their apparent death."
The version I read keeps the literal M. Night Shyamalan plot twist until the very end, and just drops it in a really jarring way that I'll admit did shock me, though I saw it coming with all the miraculous healing. I'm really glad I didn't read the digital edition of this, because I would have liked the book a lot less if that had been spoiled for me before even getting to part 2.