the book of joan review

The novel's premise is pretty intriguing. Being moody apparently. She and her quasi-lover Trinculo (a man who was gay on Earth but can now desire Christine in their new, disembodied world) engage in a kind of bawdy banter that arouses them both into an apparently orgasmic state. Adm. Yuknavitch’s novel is an ultra-feminist, gender-bending acid trip. Since I already know how Joan's story is going to end, I would need some compelling reasons to want to go back to the beginning and hear all about her childhood. Edge of Memory by author Maura Beth Brennan was such a story. My first thought upon finishing The Book of Joan was the question of what I just read. A geocatastrophe has swallowed coasts and islands; supervolcanoes and solar storms have dimmed the sun and reduced the planet to “a dirt clod, floating in space.”. Most of the characters felt shallow, and while I really loved the potential in Trinculo I felt like this was never fully fleshed out. I hated this and only “finished” in a very desultory inattentive way. At a moment when the end of life as we know it feels even more likely than it did in 1979, Lidia Yuknavitch follows Lessing in imagining in precise detail what might come after life on Earth. The changed world has turned evolution on … Overwrought story and writing style, with so much telling and very little showing, where everyone speaks with great portentousness. Fleeing the unending violence and the planet’s now-radioactive surface, humans have regrouped to a mysterious platform known as CIEL, hovering over their erstwhile home. The Book of Joan by Lidia Yuknavitch review – the future is medieval. But as a vision of the collective that is carefully attuned to the importance of the ties that bind us to each other, and to our world, it is nonetheless moving and compelling. And there were lots of smaller examples: When Joan and Leone find a graveyard of airplanes they hide the fuel, but the machinery is 'dead and useless'. Now, she knows that she has only a year to live (because of shortage of space, people here are killed at 50), so she begins her final masterwork. I still don't know what to make of this dystopian sci-fi novel. Although they have only been there for 35 years, Ciel’s inhabitants have undergone a rapid process of “devolution”. The population on the CIEL is static, not growing. So why isn't it good? My second thought was that this was one of those books where I probably should have DNF’d it. Oh dear. It’s grim. The initial (gruesome) premise - that in a near future dystopia people have abandoned conventional text for texts written on their flesh through burning - never really gets off the ground. Corporeal: of or relating to a persons body, especially as opposed to their spirit. “It’s our idiotic minds that overwrite everything. Amazon | Goodreads. In the near future, world wars have transformed the earth into a battleground. However, she comes to see that “to end war meant to end its maker, to marry creation and destruction rather than hold them in false opposition”. Perhaps a slowly evolving plot point hinges on this issue, but for the moment, I lack the incentive to continue reading. This book falls under the category of Dystopian fiction, but I’m not so sure. I will not even try to summarize this post-apocalyptic novel except to sketch out the barest of details. To see what your friends thought of this book. Her nonfiction book based on her TED Talk, The Misfit's Manifesto, is forthcoming from TED Books. The reviews have been raves. If we are at war all the time the earth will be ruined. Bodies are miniature renditions of the entire universe.” As with Lessing, there is much to confuse and to irritate in this book. The Book of Joan – Review – DNF. My first time reading Yuknavitch. Books Hello, Sign in. Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for The Book of Joan at Amazon.com. Most of those who survived now live in a space colony—CIEL—orbiting the earth. Fab review, Joan! Prime. What Joan and Christine are learning together, through their curiously interconnected stories, is that the Earth is living matter and its inhabitants are merely part of it. There, she is encouraged to break boundaries by the exotic Russian émigré, Sonia Galich, who also introduces Joan to her glamorous cousin, Leo. Where the original De Pizan wrote the first epic poem describing Joan of Arc, the modern Christine has taken it upon herself to write the story of Joan of Dirt, “the woman whose story broke the world”. The Book of Joan is not only a science fiction book, it tackles gender, sexuality, the human condition and makes relevant reference to climate change, human cruelty or animal experimentation. Similarly, the book’s intertwined “retellings” of Joan of Arc and Christine de Pisan/Jean de Meune are both overwhelmed by their antecedents and extremely difficult to make sense of, at least for me (I didn't know much about dePisan/deM. Sound eerily familiar? Love how she writes. This one started out great. I loathed this book. I continue to read stories in the perpetual hope that they will improve or that an ending will buoy the entire novel. It's a far-flung, imagined future that honors a storied past invoking Joan of Arc and medieval feminist Christine de Pizan (I had to look it up) I know nothing beyond the grade school basics when it comes to Joan of Arc but it didn't impede my enjoyment of the book at all. Christine herself is about 49 and 1/2 at this point, and you'd think she'd be itching to know. Admittedly, I was a little triggered by its content, but I was living for the horror, Sci-Fi, and feminist hybrid. Read honest and unbiased product reviews from our users. In this case, I hoped the ending would coalesce the disparate stories into one cohesive unit and improve my understanding; spoiler alert – it did not. As a result, she is given a trial on Ciel in which she comes face to face with her adversary, De Men. Trouble is, I've struck chapter 5, and nothing much has happened, at least nothing that leads to deeper layers of complexity, like a plot. Harriett is a woman on the edge of her thirtieth birthday. Yuknavitch calls it by its modern-day name, Domrémy-la-Pucelle, which means Domremy of the Maid, a reference to Joan of Arc. Copies of Lidia Yuknavitch's post-apocalyptic dystopian novel The Book of Joan must be flying off the shelves. I never thought I'd be in a position to give a 1-star review to a book I actually bothered to finish, but here we are. Not really sure how to rate it so here are some striking passages: Oh dear. There were brief enticing moments of rich writing, smothered in a failed attempt to create a masterpiece and a world vision that just did not coalesce for me. And if they keep killing people off at age 50 (with great ceremony, Christine tells us), eventually it's going down to zero, right? But, despite its ruin, there are two women left on the Earth; Joan and Leone. What else did I hate here...oh, apparently the sun stopped working. If The Handmaid’s Tale is an enraged scream, The Book of Joan is a tortured howl. Book Review: THE BOOK OF JOAN by Lidia Yuknavitch. Both are live-wire novels full of ideas, and should be read by anyone interested in the form. There were parts of the book that were very nostalgic, sad at times, but Melissa always brightened the mood with one of Joan’s funny stories or a quote. Book Review: Joan of Arc: La Pucelle May 8, 2018 May 9, 2018 Scott Manning 1 Comment. Not so with Lidia Yuknavitch’s brilliant and incendiary new novel, which speaks to the reader in raw, boldly honest terms. Posted on April 8, 2018 by brsanders. The fact of her body. I mean, how can you talk about Lidia Yuknavitch and not be reductive? It can be regenerated, but it will take the blood of the living to do so. She's irreducible. And then, in an act meant to evoke shock and awe at its medieval authenticity, Joan is burned at the stake. The initial (gruesome) premise - that in a near future dystopia people have abandoned conventional text for texts written on their flesh through burning - never really gets off the ground. It was nice to learn about their lives, about growing up with such a famous mother, and how wonderful her childhood really was. It's been called a "dizzying, dystopian genre mash-up" and, in a New York Times Book Review cover story, "brilliant" and "incendiary." Yuknavitch's corporeal writing is a marvel. Lidia Yuknavitch's The Book of Joan raises questions about what it means to be human, the fluidity of sex and gender, and the role of art as a means for survival.. They have lost their hair, their skin pigmentation and, most crucially, their genitalia. However, I am curious about one thing. Her dual protagonists have a strength and purpose that is inspiring and heartbreaking. Ugh. Like Liked by 1 … In a move reminiscent of The Handmaid’s Tale, De Men hopes to capture Joan and to use her to breed. If Joan sounds curiously like a semiotician at her trial, then Christine is even more openly academic. In August 2015 I participated in a weekend writing workshop with Lidia Yuknavitch, an experience I chronicled here, Yuknavitch’s novel is an ultra-feminist, gender-bending acid trip. It's been well documented that since the 2016 presidential election, sales of dystopian novels – twentieth-century speculative fiction tales that now seem less like speculation and more like prescience – have been on the rise. The Book of Joan, Lidia Yuknavitch, Canongate, 2018. P It's fiction, but Twain obviously did his research because it portrays the story of Joan of Arc consistent with the recorded historical facts. Via skin grafting and scarification, they use images and symbols burned onto their bodies to tell stories. The Book of Joan by Lidia Yuknavitch My rating: [rating=3] Blurb: In the near future, world wars have transformed the earth into a battleground. These are very relatable feelings as our troubled planet barrels toward its own climatic end-times, and I looked forward to the story that would be carried forward by this intriguing set up. She defies gender. The changed world has turned evolution on its head: the surviving… Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. Yuknavitch's writing is flagrantly poetic in its anger and scorn for the people who have destroyed Earth and caused such suffering to humanity, especially its children. Then some other shit happens and lots of people die, the spaceship heads towards the sun and Joan somehow can recreate the earth or save it. Notes on Diversity/Inclusion: The Book of Joan seems to have a very complicated relationship to marginalization and oppression, and it doesn’t seem to realize it. Keep trying. The characters don't just drive the plot, they are the plot. She joins forces with the sun to terminate the possibility of human habitation on Earth. The Book of Joan, by Lidia Yuknavitch, bills itself as a science fiction retelling of the life of Joan of Arc. The point-of-view character, Christine, is a body artist. That's the whole thing. The changed world has turned evolution on its head: the surviving humans have become sexless, hairless pale-white creatures floating in isolation, inscribing stories upon their skin. This book falls under the category of Dystopian fiction, but I’m not so sure. How were Jean de Men's skin grafts sliced off to reveal. Not particularly female, leaning towards male, an exquisite androgyny.”. Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for The Book of Joan at Amazon.com. Yuknavitch is an American academic who writes literary criticism as well as novels; the book is inflected with the language of critical theory. Similarly, the book’s intertwined “retellings” of Joan of Arc and Christine de Pisan/Jean de Meune are both overwhelmed by their antecedents and extremely difficult to make sense of, at least for me (I didn't know much about dePisan/deMeune going in). Lidia Yuknavitch riffs on love and loss, gender and sexuality with fierce intelligence and a gritty, sometimes violent, empathy Back on earth, we find that Joan survived being burned to death by those on the station and I dunno, just wanders about. Ciel is presided over by Jean de Men, a dictator who writes romances in his spare time. Add in a lot of very graphic violence and bodily disfigurement, extreme coincidence, on the nose metaphor, and lots of florid writing, and you have a recipe for both revulsion and boredom. The Book of Joan is at times chilling and unique in its portrayal of a post-apocalyptic earth, but I found the story became too convoluted as it progressed. Joan of Arc and Christine de Pizan are reimagined in a post-apocalyptic dystopia, in … This disjunction can be jarring, but it’s knowingly done, because the book’s style is itself a theme. In the near future, world wars have transformed the earth into a battleground. by Harper. Every once in a while, I like an easy-to-read book. How were Jean de Men's skin grafts sliced off to reveal his true nature when these grafts were created from existing skin? But told in a very fresh and honest way. So this is very much a book of our times and the coming generation, that represents the troubles and ideas that are currently being discussed. When the book opens, it’s 2049 and De Pizan is living semi-incarcerated in a panopticon on Ciel, a suborbital complex built from remnants of old space stations and located just above the Earth. Most of those who survived now live in a space colony—CIEL—orbiting the earth. Phoenix Mill: Sutton Publishing, 2003, 244 pages. Not for me, not in any way. Copies of Lidia Yuknavitch's post-apocalyptic dystopian novel The Book of Joan must be flying off the shelves. World wars have transformed the earth will be ruined ) like you ’ ve never seen her.! Words 'rage ' and 'wrong ' used ( many, many ) of who... 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