Reading Roundup, February 2023
Mar. 7th, 2023 09:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
phantomtomatoI finished The Fifth Form at St. Dominic’s last month and I loved it. It’s a Victorian boarding school novel and reads as I expected (think: David Blaize, cricket matches and boyish pranks and lines of construes for misbehavior), but the starring boys are much much more fallible and flawed than in Blaize. Our moral compass, Oliver Greenfield, has a terrible temper and acts out physically; our symbol of moral failure, Edward Loman, beats the shit out of Oliver’s younger brother (who is also Loman’s fag). The perspective is split pretty evenly between the two Greenfield brothers and Loman, which is interesting, though I grew a little tired of the younger brother sometimes. He’s only 10 at first. He doesn’t notice as much or provide all that lovely tense friction that we get from the elder Greenfield and Loman.
Greenfield and Loman are extremely shippy. I highlighted all of these moments while I was reading in which the boys interact, fraught with tension over maligned reputations (and all a school boy’s got is his reputation), and I would love to fill those moments in with sordid handjobs instead of pure posturing. This is a dire concept because I don’t know if I have it in me right now to rewrite a smuttier version of this novel purely for my own entertainment. Still, it haunts me. It would be so good.
My favorite detail is definitely the nicknames. The other novels of the genre that I’ve read stick to surnames and full, formal given names, but Fifth Form goes full-out on using nicknames between intimate friends. Oliver is Noll, which is adorable, and Edward is Teddy. I expired on the spot when I first read that. It is precious beyond words. And given that pet names as a symbol of vulnerability or trust is one of my weaknesses, I absolutely need to work it into something. Teddy!
This past week saw me rereading The Great Gatsby, which I remembered as a book I’d read in one sitting as a teenager. I spread it out a bit more, as goes all my reading these days, but it still went quickly. I was not prepared for how much the (era-expected) prejudices would bother me on this go. It’s not like any other 100+ year old work is absent these prejudices, but perhaps they landed harder because I’ve read this book before and managed to forget their specifics. Perhaps it’s more a reflection of my surprise at how many years it’s been since my first read.
Nonetheless, I still love the prose in this. First-person narration is a particular joy for me, and I liked that it was used to emphasize that this was a conscious retelling of events. Nick changes the order of presentation for the reader’s benefit, some events are related purely as narrative rather than more immersive action and dialogue, it really works for me. I’m also more equipped to love the specifics of Nick’s references to the American Middle West in this go round.
I don’t think Nick liked Gatsby very much. That’s a reading I’m still struggling to reconcile—and I’m trying to, I specifically want to understand the appeal of shipping them—but Nick continually insults or is unimpressed by Gatsby’s affect, and only in the briefest moments before Gatsby’s death does Nick seem to attribute anything positive to him. From where would an affection grow? I’m not sure. Perhaps that shared Midwestern heritage, if they can manage not to be trapped forever in New York.
Greenfield and Loman are extremely shippy. I highlighted all of these moments while I was reading in which the boys interact, fraught with tension over maligned reputations (and all a school boy’s got is his reputation), and I would love to fill those moments in with sordid handjobs instead of pure posturing. This is a dire concept because I don’t know if I have it in me right now to rewrite a smuttier version of this novel purely for my own entertainment. Still, it haunts me. It would be so good.
My favorite detail is definitely the nicknames. The other novels of the genre that I’ve read stick to surnames and full, formal given names, but Fifth Form goes full-out on using nicknames between intimate friends. Oliver is Noll, which is adorable, and Edward is Teddy. I expired on the spot when I first read that. It is precious beyond words. And given that pet names as a symbol of vulnerability or trust is one of my weaknesses, I absolutely need to work it into something. Teddy!
This past week saw me rereading The Great Gatsby, which I remembered as a book I’d read in one sitting as a teenager. I spread it out a bit more, as goes all my reading these days, but it still went quickly. I was not prepared for how much the (era-expected) prejudices would bother me on this go. It’s not like any other 100+ year old work is absent these prejudices, but perhaps they landed harder because I’ve read this book before and managed to forget their specifics. Perhaps it’s more a reflection of my surprise at how many years it’s been since my first read.
Nonetheless, I still love the prose in this. First-person narration is a particular joy for me, and I liked that it was used to emphasize that this was a conscious retelling of events. Nick changes the order of presentation for the reader’s benefit, some events are related purely as narrative rather than more immersive action and dialogue, it really works for me. I’m also more equipped to love the specifics of Nick’s references to the American Middle West in this go round.
I don’t think Nick liked Gatsby very much. That’s a reading I’m still struggling to reconcile—and I’m trying to, I specifically want to understand the appeal of shipping them—but Nick continually insults or is unimpressed by Gatsby’s affect, and only in the briefest moments before Gatsby’s death does Nick seem to attribute anything positive to him. From where would an affection grow? I’m not sure. Perhaps that shared Midwestern heritage, if they can manage not to be trapped forever in New York.
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Date: 2023-03-08 05:33 pm (UTC)I read Gatsby in my teens as well, but the book itself never really stuck in my memory as much as its cultural legacy. I've read and enjoyed some Nick/Gatsby fics, but I'm really not sure what I'd make of the canon presentation of their relationship...
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Date: 2023-03-08 09:12 pm (UTC)The schoolboy antagonism is very good in this one. There were so many moments when I had to place the book down for a little while simply to process.
If you happen to remember any of the Nick/Gatsby fic you enjoyed (or authors thereof, if that's what remains), I would be open to those! I enjoyed both characters on the page well enough, especially Nick, but I think I need a few pieces to click into place so I understand them together.
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Date: 2023-03-08 08:55 pm (UTC)Have you read Stalky & Co By Rudyard Kipling?
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Date: 2023-03-08 09:09 pm (UTC)I'm familiar with both nicknames, but I rarely see nicknames based on given names used in these sorts of books, hence my delighted surprise. A villain named Teddy is just darling.
Thanks for the book rec.