The Sweet Far Thing (Gemma Doyle, Book 3)
by Libba Bray
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Book Summary Information
Author: Libba BrayEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Format: Deckle Edge
Published: 2007-12-26
ISBN: 0385730306
Number of pages: 832
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Book Reviews of The Sweet Far Thing (Gemma Doyle, Book 3)
Book Review: A Complicated Relationship: A Flawed Attraction, but ultimately a redeeming end to the trilogy.
Summary: 4 Stars
*****CAUTION:
Let me preface this by saying that this has been a complicated relationship, with this trilogy. I have had issues and enjoyments with these books, and this review will tackle some (actually, most) of them. I start with the faults first. Do not think I hate the books. It's complicated.
First of all, I think it too long. The first 300 pages could have been cut. NOTHING HAPPENS. And someone has to tell Libba Bray that it is simply absurd to have these adventures in the realms and then have it all forgotten and cast aside, to have normal occurrences back at Spence. It's like something monumental happens and the next thing you know, everyone's talking about bonnets and balls.
Another thing. Libba Bray's writing can be too convoluted, full of an awareness of its sometimes excellent phrases. Convoluted: in about 3 sentences, Gemma goes from being in Spence to being in the realms. "I reach the door". Oh, so in about 30 seconds, she managed to escape whoever she was talking to, run outside, put her hands on the stone, and enter the realms unnoticed?
Then there are things like the scene in which she looks at gargoyles. She is in her bed, then she "looks at the gargoyles", "turning her head" to do so. For God's sake, she would have to get up out of the bed first and open a window in order to see the decorations that are ON THE ROOF.
I noticed this at the end of "Rebel Angels", the last pages of which was, simply put, chaotic. For a good 50 pages (the last 50 pages), I had no idea what was happening, or, rather, too many things were happening and too few were being explained or understood. Gemma flew between the realms and the "real" world again, while I wondered why she just didn't stay in the realms and sort out the problem if the situation there was so crucial and why exactly she was running around London if the realms were in such a dire situation.
Also, someone needs to tell Libba Bray that her protagonist, Gemma Doyle, is frustratingly, unchangeably STUPID. What kind of person defeats an evil force that was responsible for her mother's death and then, one book later, GIVES THAT IMPRISONED VILLAIN MAGIC?!? What the hell did Gemma THINK would happen by giving CIRCE more magic in exchange for stupid information? That nothing would happen? That this evil person would do nothing? Or that Pippa could be trusted, especially, as we are told OVER AND OVER, as her eyes are constantly shifting from their normal violent to a frightening white-blue? And that her teeth have become sharp? And that there is something unsettling about her now?
And why, WHY is Pippa still around? I thought we dealt with this back in Book 1, for God's sake. It shouldn't take 2 more books to get rid of her. She died, she didn't cross over, she was corrupted. All right, fine. End it. I'm tired of hearing the girls say, "Oh, let's visit Pippa," and the endless reminders of "Boohoo, I'm dead and trapped" and "Boohoo, Gemma, you left me here,"
(Also, does no one else notice a correlation here between these infuriating, 2-syllable, -a sound ending names? Gemma? Pippa? Libba?)
And Gemma NEEDS A BACKBONE. I am sick and tired of hearing "I know I shouldn't go to the realms today but Felicity and Ann want to go" and "I know I shouldn't be doing this, but they're my friends". Oh, yeah. Friends. They're such good friends that Felicity controls every action and conversation, snaps, and dominates, and can be downright nasty and unseeing to both Gemma and Ann. And Ann never sticks up for herself or for Gemma, and even shallowly abandons her to try and be part of Felicity's company.
Too many pages of nothing happen, in which some crucial points are revealed. Those things should be expanded on, not endless depictions of all of the girls at Spence.
Also, someone needs to tell Libba Bray that her frequent face-value injections of "British humour" (on which, the flap tells us, she was raised) are not that witty. Also, they are downright anachronistic. No Victorian girl would say "Right. Jolly good." That sort of terse, modern speech came later; or, if it was used at all in 1895, it would have been by "lower-class" fishmongers or dockworkers, certainly not by a young lady of considerable "upper-class" status.
Speaking of anachronisms, the use of the present-tense is initially startling because it is so thoroughly modern and is not a usual element of historical fiction. One can grow accustomed to it, but sudden sentences (involving contractions), like "I'm running..." scream of the 21st century. Or idiomatic expressions like "I'll get to it" or "Hear me out". I get the sense (or perhaps I get the sense that this is what others will say) that Libba Bray is trying to ensnare modern readers, ones who don't normally enjoy historical fiction. The result is to make those who do wince and become annoyed and frustrated. Too much of that leads to rage against the author, believe me.
And then, just when these blaring things are coming to a head, something like Pippa's and Felicity's love is revealed. It's one of those elements, like the realization of Felicity's father's molestation of her, that make me go, "Wow. Okay.". And the story gains some weight, some splendour. It becomes more dramatic, heavier; I take it more seriously; I respect it more.
But you see why this have been a complex relationship. The story is absorbing but sometimes rushed, frenzied, unclear, and convoluted. The characters are NOT one-dimensional, but they are all frustrating (or can be), Gemma above all. I predicted each realization (like Circe's escape from the well) that sluggishly hit her 100 pages in advance.
Sometimes Bray doesn't take care with the details of the realms. Maybe I should have re-read the 2nd book before I started the 3rd, but the intricacies of the who exactly Philon, Creostuc, Asha, and everybody else are need to be clearer.
This review may sound vitriolic. It is not necessarily meant to be. I have all 3 books. I bought each with excitement and happiness. I read this last one in one day straight. I did nothing but sit on my bed from noon to two in the morning and read. I am eager to talk about them, and I do like them, alright, even (this last book has allowed me to saw it) love them, but at times the issues I have with the characters, ploy, and Bray's writing take head and make me frustrated.
I think this book in particular is too long. The first 300 pages of it needn't have existed. I am not sure why they did. I was utterly unable to name a single important thing that happened during them. All it does is set up Wilhelmina, the visions, etc., etc.
I understand when books need to/ want to simply "establish a mood", but really, this is too much.
HOWEVER, THAT SAID: I have said this a complex relationship. Frustration/Enjoyment. I enjoy, enjoy, enjoy, love, enjoy many parts of this book.
There are nice, even lovely sentences, metaphors, and especially, imagery. (Though this sometimes does not placate me towards the other flaws.)
And I get the sense that this book is really more (or that Bray has tried to make it more) about *existence*. During the battle in the realms, the backdrop of 1895 faded away and when Gemma returns, the Victorian world of its "corseted" truths (I also really liked Bray's use of the corset imagery with the truth that Victorian society--and, in that message, ours too--restrains and the blinders its people desperately employ to survive with a minimum of pain) and putting on appearances seems inconsequential and shallow. It is what Gemma has been battling against. This book is about existence, disobedience, truth, appearances, doubt, the necessity to know the truth always, about ourselves and others, the necessity not to lock away but to confront.
So really, the ending of "The Sweet Far Thing" was quite touching. And the very end, Gemma's and her friend's fates, didn't strike me as part of this master plan to show the reader the message of "Do what makes you happy", "Do what you want", "Be who you are,". I think this is because one of the things Bray does do is that she has proven Gemma's journey to us, so when she embarks on her decision to "be who she is", we know who that person is, and we have been her fighting her way through confusion and doubt, through sorrow, through utter loneliness and distrust, into clarity and determination, out of necessity, out of survival. We have seen her make choices, accept the consequences, fight, live, die. It's like a great catharsis; at the end, we must simple be. And yet, the complexity that I love about it is that even as Gemma stands in the middle of her debut ball and forsakes it for its shallowness and appearances, she acknowledges that some people need those appearances and illusions, and that someday, when they are ready, they will cast "the bricks" (more good imagery) down, confront the light of truth and honesty, and then perhaps built more illusions. But, instead of feeling complete and utter contempt, she leaves these people to it, because she understands. She herself has relied on illusions; now she has broken them down. But she knows that not everyone can, and must do it in their own time.
I suppose the sweet far thing to which the title refers is the bell in Yeat's poem that calls us onwards, to death or life. But really, the book advocates the sweet *near* thing: the immediacy of existence, the present consciousness of oneself, because only then--or rather, here--can that thing become sweet. It becomes self-actualization and understanding of the world. But perhaps the element of the far enters when one views this from afar, and sees the journey that one must take to achieve the sweet near thing.
Complicated feelings: there are flaws in this trilogy, but this third book somewhat redeems them.
Any book that can get me to think of existence and that can impart such a feeling, a message, that even though it is clearly written out, also lingers unspoken, in the very feel of the book, is worth consideration and understanding.
I felt changed by this book.
That said, there are some lingering problems. Why is Circe suddenly good? What is it with the Tree?.....
Damn you, Libba Bray. Bravo, Libba Bray.
Summary of The Sweet Far Thing (Gemma Doyle, Book 3)
IT HAS BEEN A YEAR OF CHANGE since Gemma Doyle arrived at the foreboding Spence Academy. Her mother murdered, her father alaudanum addict, Gemma has relied on an unsuspected strength and has discovered an ability to travel to an enchanted world called the realms, where dark magic runs wild. Despite certain peril, Gemma has bound the magic to herself and forged unlikely new alliances. Now, as Gemma approaches her London debut, the time has come to test these bonds.
The Order - the mysterious group her mother was once part of - is grappling for control of the realms, as is the Rakshana. Spence's burned East Wing is being rebuilt, but why now? Gemma and her friends see Pippa, but she is not the same. And their friendship faces its gravest trial as Gemma must decide once and for all what role she is meant for.
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