Fantasy Annotation

Gods of Jade and Shadow

by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Synopsis

When Casiopea Tun accidentally releases the Mayan god of death from imprisonment, she is drawn along with him in his search for the stolen pieces of himself so he can reclaim his rightful throne from his insidious twin brother.  

Characteristics that fit into Fantasy

• Pacing: The pace starts out languidly, setting the location in 1927 Mexico. Once the magic appears, the pace starts to pick up, but it's still rather slow, allowing us to enjoy the colorful writing and immerse ourselves in the time and place.
• Characterization: There is a clear difference between Casiopea and the rest of her family, setting her as the good guy and the others as the "bad" guys, or at least the antagonists. When Hun-Kamé, the god of death, appears, we're not sure if he's a good guy or a bad guy and that uneasiness continues for quite a while.
• Storyline: The plot revolves around Casiopea being drawn into a quest with Hun-Kamé, searching for magical items (pieces of the god to restore him to full power) and encountering other magical beings and situations. She eventually sees the quest as a way to break away from her mundane life, even if it is against her will.
• Tone/Mood: The tone is generally optimistic, though Casiopea struggles with a life that doesn't look to change. She does her best to continue to dream and not allow her family members to drain her of her ambitions. 
• Style/Language: The language is highly descriptive, giving us a good sense of the worlds in which Casiopea and the god of death move. Casiopea's is at the same time a dreary and dusty world that nonetheless is brightened by descriptions of exotic Mexican locales and situations. Hun-Kamé's realm of Xibalba, the Underworld, is presented in flowing language and rich details.
• Setting/Frame: The setting is 1927 Mexico, with the story starting in the Yucatan peninsula and travelling across the country to Mexico City and other places, including Xibalba. The setting is drawn from Mexican and Mayan mythology, blending the myth with history in a dark fairy tale. 

Read-a-likes

• "The Ten Thousand Doors of January" by Alix E. Harrow
• "Magic for Liars" by Sarah Gailey
• "The Starless Sea" by Erin Morgenstern
• "The Kingdom of Copper" by S. S. Chakraborty

Personal Note

This fits into the low fantasy mode of fantasy novels. In low fantasy, the magical world can be reached somehow, however far-fetched a method, from our world (e.g., getting to Oz in "The Wizard of Oz," to Narnia in the Chronicles, or to Hogwarts in the Harry Potter series). In high fantasy, the magical world is not connected to our world at all and exists independently (e.g., Middle-earth in "The Lord of the Rings," the worlds in "The Belgariad" or "The Sword of Truth" series). Low and high modes do not have to do with quality, but with the status of the magical realm. Here, the magic of the god comes directly into our world and interacts with Casiopea within her real-world reality in Mexico and the Underworld is accessible.
While I like the story, setting, and characters, the text could have used a more judicious editor, as there is far too much telling of what's going on rather than showing.

Special Topics Paper Summary

Men's Book Clubs in Public Libraries

Women participate in book clubs more than men. But why is this? For many years, women  weren’t encouraged to read or to engage in learning, so men had control over the educational and literary establishments. Men were the librarians in early western libraries and were those one could find making use of those institutions and taking part in reading groups. But then the pendulum swung the other way in the early 20th century, with most public library book clubs becoming overwhelmingly female or female-led and the majority of librarians being women. There are three possible reasons why men do not engage in book clubs as much as women: men do not talk as much as women, nor are modern men public “sharers” of their feelings; they don’t want to read the kinds of books usually found in library book clubs; and they are mocked when they try. Libraries can help with each of these issues to encourage more men to engage in book clubs or groups and to make these groups as welcoming and as open as possible.

There is a belief that women talk an average of three times as much as men do in a day, but it's a myth. Men men may believe this and are thus less inclined to join a book club because of all the talking that will be done by women. Men are not as comfortable sharing their feelings about topics, even books, with others, but are more comfortable doing so around other men. Men also are interested in different types of books than women and find the types of books most book clubs choose to read not interesting. This doesn't mean they aren't interested in literature or literary books, but that the focus of the books are different. The biggest problem seems to be the reaction to men who are in book clubs; the reaction is either they are gay for being in a book club or the type of book club is a threat to women or women's clubs. The shocking news in a 2016 article that men also have book clubs was met with ridicule and concern about how men's book clubs are poisonous, apparently to the existence of women's clubs.

So what can we as librarians and libraries do? We can help facilitate book clubs of a different nature that are geared toward men, without making them off-limits to women. Patrons will naturally gravitate to book clubs, groups, and other events where they feel comfortable, wanted, safe, and in which they are interested. If we start and encourage men’s book clubs or book clubs that read material of interest to men and women choose not to attend, we should be okay with that, just as we should be okay with men not attending women-led or -dominated book clubs. This is the current state of book clubs in libraries, in general, and there doesn’t seem to be an outreach to get men to join women in their clubs. As public libraries, we can’t prevent women from attending a “man’s book club,” any more than we can prevent a man from attending a “woman’s book club,” but we can make more of an effort to attract men to quasi-men only clubs. Men need book clubs just as much as women and we as librarians should be interested in getting the men of our communities reading and involved.

Book Club Observation

I observed the "Night Owls" book club that met in a less-than-year-old branch of a major metropolitan library system on a Thursday evening. As a "new member," I asked only to observe for the session and all were happy to oblige me. The title under discussion was "Where the Crawdads Sing" by Delia Owens. The group was comprised of all women, save me. The ages of the members ran from middle age to senior citizen, with a librarian facilitator who looked to be in her late 20s or 30s. The group was happy to have a male attend, finally. There were two other first-time attendees, though I was not aware one of them was new as she not only was already sitting with the group when I arrived but also took part in the discussion like a seasoned member.

There was not a leader of the group, per se, but one of the members who was a "founding member" got things started by having us all introduce ourselves, gave a brief history of the group (having had to move from a closed location to this one after trying others), and started a brief summary of the book. The group did not have a formal question and answer format or prepared questions to follow; rather, it was more free-flowing, with the discussion going off into tangents and being brought back by various members after those discussions trailed off. The questions that were asked were open-ended and grew organically from the discussion, such as "Well, what did you think about  . . . ?" and "Did you get the idea that . . . ?"

All attendees did not participate fully, but most of the existing members did. It took a while for some of the members to warm up to speaking in a group, possibly as a result of three new people being present, and one woman's elderly mother rarely took part, but I suspect it was because she may have been mostly deaf and was at one far end of the table setup. There wasn't one member who took charge and became the focal point, but as with all groups, there were members who were more vocal.

The group was meeting in a small alcove of a room set along the wall of the main section of the library that was also under an upper section accessed by a long ramp into which the alcove was set. It was called the purple room by the group and they found out while I was there that it is officially called the purple room by the library. As the group had reached nine members (without me), plus the librarian, they would henceforth be meeting in a larger room. The room had two rectangular tables, separated, with a long, cushioned bench on the far side of the tables and chairs on the other side nearest the entrance. It wasn't the best set up for so large a group as members at either end of the table had to strain to hear or take part. There was not a door in the glass "wall" towards the main section of the library, so it was good the library was quiet that evening, without much noise or other distractions. Snacks or drinks were not provided.

The Night Owls is not a group that is designed around one particular type of book, it seems, as the books recently finished and the list of upcoming titles for the year varied. The next book was "Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine," while they had just finished "The Goldfinch." Other titles they've recently read include "The River," "The Great Alone," and two non-fiction books about Tennessee orphans. With a classic, "Rebecca," on tap for this summer, the titles seem to be not one particular genre, but they do seem to be the regular types of books a women's book club would choose. And while the Night Owls is not necessarily a women's book club, the fact I was the first male to attend speaks to it functionally being a female book club and the book choices seem to reflect that. Anyone can recommend a title and the group voted on a slate of books for the rest of the year. This was interesting because an article about book clubs I recently read mentioned the owner of a book store who said men are more likely to plan out a schedule of books for a club than women, who are more likely to want to see what new books are published and "go with the flow."

The book club was a pleasant experience and they were all happy to have me and the other new attendees. We were happily asked back for the next month. It was nice the group felt comfortable enough with each other to speak freely, ask questions of each other, and not feel reluctant to say they didn't remember something from the book or not know what happened. There was not any ridicule of members who either didn't finish the book or who didn't know what happened, something that could and does make book clubs into unpleasant experiences.