Revelations from an Idiot

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

So I'm reading this book called Mélusine, which is very good and which I would place in the YA category for its focus (the scope of the world is broad, but the focus is very character-specific), but is definitely not for people under 16 due to language and other non-niceties that show up in fiction.  Anyway, recently one of the characters was, shall we say, crippled.  Getting this from his POV was painful.  I did not want him to be crippled.  He did not want to be crippled.  This whole crippled business sucks.  He's having a heck of a difficulty getting back to doing what he normally does.  And I appreciate it from a character and literary standpoint, but it really, really sucks, because he didn't do nothing wrong (what a lie that was), and he's a decent guy, and--

Then I said to myself, "Oh."

And it occurred to me that this must be what gets to people about The Queen of Attolia.

Okay, now I have to explain myself.  As some of you may know, I first met Eugenides through randomly picking The Queen of Attolia off the shelf in my school library because I needed to write a book review for the school newspaper.  I liked it well enough the first time through, and a few months later I found The Thief and read it and liked it too.  Then I went back to QoA and it was like the lightbulb in my head went on, was made out of steel, and bashed me upside the head and it was LOVE.

But for me, Gen getting his hand cut off always had happened, and was going to happen, and had to happen.  When I first found the books, Gen getting his hand cut off was the starting point of the plot.  It was a story about a thief who got his hand cut off and had to deal, and a queen with severe emotional starvation, and the politics between their countries.  Even when I went back and reread TT and reread QoA a second time, I was never--I mean, it sucked that Gen lost his hand, but that was what happened.  It wasn't like this was a character I had read a great deal about and come to love when he was whole and healthy, and then I had to deal with the hand as much as he did.

So, um, I guess my question/discussion thought is--what about everyone else?  Was your view of the hand-cut-off thing skewed by the order in which you read the books?  Is it based on which book is your favorite?  Does your perspective of it affect how you view the characters (especially Attolia)?  Did anyone else feel like me, or am I just an unsympathetic freak?

Comments

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

he is determined to end a war that he thinks his stupidity started?

Good point. And being Gen, he managed to think of a way to end it that accomplished what he desperately wanted, too.

I believe Gen realized as soon as he spoke with the unnamed goddess that his hand was the necessary sacrifice to save Irene. Nothing else could have caused the remorse and compassion she felt afterwards, or given Eugenides the opportunity to keep her from being lost forever--to the Medes or to insanity.

[netslefj.livejournal.com]

And it was when Attolia described how the gods had thwarted his escape that he rushed off to find a sacrifice that might convince them to communicate with him again. So I agree - that's when he put the puzzle together for himself. Do you htink Attolia's seen it too?

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

I think Attolia did eventually, but not right away. All she knew for certain is that the gods caused her to catch Eugenides, then advised her not to kill him (though the final choice, there, they left up to her. She could have killed him, but risked offending gods she didn't believe in up to then.).

Certainly, she thought the gods had betrayed him for some reason, and when he came back alive she probably realized that they hadn't, but that it happened for another reason. I imagine she eventually figured out that his hand was the sacrifice for her. Quite a burden to carry, really. On top of the guilt for cutting off his hand. But Eugenides-and his country-gained from it all as well.

Maybe that's why they both cried on their wedding night. :)

[(Anonymous)]

I've always thought that is the reason. Do you think Gen actually told Dite that in so many words?

Isn't it funny how they are teasing everyone with it, even the allegedly humorless Attolia herself? Really, they are a subtle pair of wags.

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure what Gen told Dite. I'd guess that he said, "Look, the truth is that I love her madly and only want what's best for her. She loves me, and she cried that night because she'd cut off my hand. If you really care about her, cut us some slack and help us out here."

Much more eloquently, and with a great deal more wit, of course.

I suppose Gen could have claimed to be an instrument of the gods, but that might not have gone over with Dite so well.

It was sweet when Irene could joke about it with Relius, as if their emotional outburst was funny in retrospect, and a fond memory. A scene like that can clear the air and bring a couple much closer together.