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Brides of Rollrock Island Margo Lanagan Books

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Brides of Rollrock Island Margo Lanagan Books

After a few recent disappointments, it was so refreshing to read a book like this. The language was so lovely and I adore how new words are constructed. Listen to this — “when they had found flipper-footing they began to gallop toward me, as sheep hurry over their snowy field to a fresh-dropped hay bale, or pigs cross a sty at the clink of a slop bucket.” Flipper-footing. I have a new favourite word.

I had before never ventured into the realm of selkie fantasy fiction, but I’m glad to start here. Lanagan really captured the silent heartbreak of tearing these seal-women from the sea, the injustice and the cruelty of it. Although frankly, by the end of this book, I would’ve quite happy to stand around with Miskaella and Trudle and watch the men stay miserable. Having stolen wives for at least two generations (my math is probably not up to snuff), I thought they deserved all the misery they got. (But maybe I’m just being very uncharitable.)

The book certainly did a good job of illustrating what an unhealthy love looks like, because none of these marriages, save that of Dominick’s mam and dad, were healthy. Misskaella enchanted the men and trapped the women; the men could not look beyond themselves enough to set their wives free; the seal-women loved their husbands but loved the sea more.

The seal-wives were extremely docile for much of the book; stealing their skins seemed to sap them of the spirit to protest their circumstances. That was frustrating, especially since only Daniel seemed to have the guts to release them. However, the seal-women found strength enough to do what was needed to escape and protect their children.

I also appreciate the glimmer of hope there at the end, with Lory and Daniel's second meeting, him smiling. While slightly contrived, it was refreshing, like two souls breaking out of the shadows of the last generation. And Trudle… I didn’t expect to ever like her, but the final chapter from her perspective was so moving. I was happy that she was content as the island revived around her, that she discovered the last of Misskaella’s secrets.

All in all, a lovely read and one I’m proud to have on my bookshelf.


Tags : Amazon.com: Brides of Rollrock Island (9780857560339): Margo Lanagan: Books,Margo Lanagan,Brides of Rollrock Island,David Fickling Books,0857560336,Children's Books - Young Adult Fiction,Social Issues - Emotions & Feelings

Brides of Rollrock Island Margo Lanagan Books Reviews

Caveat Was a book club selection & would not be a book I woul generally purchase. It's a short YAF which makes for a quick read, & it's easy to empathize with the main character.
A bit challenging to read until you are in tune with the dialect of the characters. There are many characters so it Would it have helped to have a reference or family tree to keep better track of generations.
This book was a little confusing at first, with so many names and POV's... but after I got going, I couldn't put it down! Lovely and original!
This was a page turner that left me with more questions than answers, and I wish there were more explanations but I loved this story anyways. Margo Lanagan is a true artist.
I enjoy selkie stories and this was about various selkie women. Some stories were more interesting than others.
Selkies really are the ultimate mail-order brides, aren't they?

There they are, in a strange land, trapped into a marriage, with only their domestic duties and their children to comfort them.

I hesitate to call this book a story -- it is not narrative in the classical sense, with a rising and falling pattern of action. Instead it is sequentially episodic. Here is where she teaches herself to be a witch. Here is where he makes a bad decision. Here is the perpetuation of the cycle. Nothing is resolved or changed between the beginning and the end of the book, except that a whole lot of people lead lives of frantic desperation.

Which is not to say the book is without merit. I enjoyed it, and found it compelling.
"I had been ugly once; I must remember that, remember how to be ugly again now that I knew I was beautiful, remember how to be ordinary now that I'd seen the wonders inside me."

"power welled up in me like tears, and was held in check as tears must be held, for this business must be done right."

It could be read as a meditation on the cycles of abuse and poverty, or about the weird spaces that sex selection leaves, or a number of other things, but I think it's also true and valid that it is a tragedy of desire, and like all tragedies, it's not going to be easy to break out of it.

Read if You like thoughtful, evocative books. You are ok with dire.

Skip if You were really hoping for a plot. Women in servitude is going to crawl right up your nose.

Also read Far From the Madding Crowd, in case you need more of tragic inevitability.
I did not know quite what to expect from this book. Some websites identify it as YA, but though it's not a very long book I would not call it that at all. It is about men and women, parents and children, society and families, and how dependent all are on each other. The language is just slightly eccentric and gorgeous, the sentences varied and flowing even as they are expressing ideas in the native speaking rhythms of relatively uneducated people. Also I am awed by the way she chose a very precise selection of stories to tell, moments to describe, personalities to reveal, in the perhaps 75-year span of the entire story. It's a beautiful example of telling just enough to enable the reader's imagination to fill in vast landscapes around the story.

And again, I would not call it YA, because it reflects many bits of knowledge that are deep and clear to me now (and I am over 50). but that would have meant entirely different things to me ten, twenty or thirty years ago. There are many things in this book that I do not believe a teenager would truly understand, but perhaps that's a very good reason for them to read it to plant ideas that they can think about for years. This book is weighed down with a lifetime's worth of learning about people. My highest praises, and thanks, to the author.
After a few recent disappointments, it was so refreshing to read a book like this. The language was so lovely and I adore how new words are constructed. Listen to this — “when they had found flipper-footing they began to gallop toward me, as sheep hurry over their snowy field to a fresh-dropped hay bale, or pigs cross a sty at the clink of a slop bucket.” Flipper-footing. I have a new favourite word.

I had before never ventured into the realm of selkie fantasy fiction, but I’m glad to start here. Lanagan really captured the silent heartbreak of tearing these seal-women from the sea, the injustice and the cruelty of it. Although frankly, by the end of this book, I would’ve quite happy to stand around with Miskaella and Trudle and watch the men stay miserable. Having stolen wives for at least two generations (my math is probably not up to snuff), I thought they deserved all the misery they got. (But maybe I’m just being very uncharitable.)

The book certainly did a good job of illustrating what an unhealthy love looks like, because none of these marriages, save that of Dominick’s mam and dad, were healthy. Misskaella enchanted the men and trapped the women; the men could not look beyond themselves enough to set their wives free; the seal-women loved their husbands but loved the sea more.

The seal-wives were extremely docile for much of the book; stealing their skins seemed to sap them of the spirit to protest their circumstances. That was frustrating, especially since only Daniel seemed to have the guts to release them. However, the seal-women found strength enough to do what was needed to escape and protect their children.

I also appreciate the glimmer of hope there at the end, with Lory and Daniel's second meeting, him smiling. While slightly contrived, it was refreshing, like two souls breaking out of the shadows of the last generation. And Trudle… I didn’t expect to ever like her, but the final chapter from her perspective was so moving. I was happy that she was content as the island revived around her, that she discovered the last of Misskaella’s secrets.

All in all, a lovely read and one I’m proud to have on my bookshelf.