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A review by versmonesprit
Briar Rose by Robert Coover
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.0
This was going to be my first Coover, but then I began with Spanking the Maid because I thought it would pale in comparison to Briar Rose. What a misjudgement!
Don’t get me wrong, Briar Rose has phenomenal writing at times. And maybe had I read it first, I would have loved it too, but after such a profound and allegorical book like Spanking the Maid, Briar Rose was too obvious, too shallow.
It did begin with immense promise, with emotional and tender characterisation, with the symbolism of the slumber and the dream; but then became too obvious, too repetitive in a way that unfortunately did not offer any depth. Perhaps there’s something to be lauded in the way the characterisation of the princess goes from tender to almost hateful, since the book deals primarily with the generation of violence, the compulsive desire to destroy beauty.
Though I feel like everything from this to the possibilities offered by The Woman Longing (a “trope” I love beyond measure) was a missed opportunity. There was so much more length to go for Coover, but he didn’t. Depth of meaning was sacrificed in favour of beauty of writing, which itself was not fully attained (at least for me) because the myriad reimaginings of the fairytale offered very little language (or meaning, for that matter).
If you remove the middle, I think you have the perfect, emotional, melancholic story. Briar Rose could be that AND profound, and I wish it were.
Don’t get me wrong, Briar Rose has phenomenal writing at times. And maybe had I read it first, I would have loved it too, but after such a profound and allegorical book like Spanking the Maid, Briar Rose was too obvious, too shallow.
It did begin with immense promise, with emotional and tender characterisation, with the symbolism of the slumber and the dream; but then became too obvious, too repetitive in a way that unfortunately did not offer any depth. Perhaps there’s something to be lauded in the way the characterisation of the princess goes from tender to almost hateful, since the book deals primarily with the generation of violence, the compulsive desire to destroy beauty.
Though I feel like everything from this to the possibilities offered by The Woman Longing (a “trope” I love beyond measure) was a missed opportunity. There was so much more length to go for Coover, but he didn’t. Depth of meaning was sacrificed in favour of beauty of writing, which itself was not fully attained (at least for me) because the myriad reimaginings of the fairytale offered very little language (or meaning, for that matter).
If you remove the middle, I think you have the perfect, emotional, melancholic story. Briar Rose could be that AND profound, and I wish it were.