I was already familiar with the Bluebeard story by Charles Perrault (which, in case you’re worried about clicking the link, is actually a Public Domain story because it’s old as the hills) so I was quite excited to read this adaptation because I’d enjoyed the original so much. ALAS. Strands of Bronze and Gold, in some ways, follows the original quite closely and in other ways it deviates inexplicably into the realm of nonsensical and more than that, pretty bloody offensive. Bluebeard, a nickname (just go with it) in this novel given to the Monsieur de Cressac, remains a mysteriously rich bachelor with a penchant for pretty wives but not so much for the old ball and chain. Sophia, like her original counterpart, is curious, naive and beautiful who is initially fascinated by de Cressac.
De Cressac is as disappointing a villain as Sophia is infuriating as a protagonist and this is because despite the absolutely horrendous crimes he’s committed, the novel and in particular Sophia herself paints him in a very sympathetic light. She consistently views him as a love interest irregardless of his increasing violence toward her; Sophia decides not to leave him because he ‘needs’ her; this is supposed to be a parallel toward the classic Beauty/Beast narrative, in which the benevolent kindness of a beautiful girl changes the ways of the Beast (a problematic trope in itself). EXCEPT WE KNOW HOW THIS STORY ENDS, SO. For another example and trust me, there are plenty, toward the end of the novel when De Cressac has been revealed as the murderer and has ATTEMPTED TO KILL SOPHIA, her first words about it all are that he could have been a great man were it not for the circumstances. Like, I am not here for apologist narratives regarding abuse and victimisation, least of all when that ends in murder.
There is also a bizarre love triangle sub-plot with the town Reverend, complete with secret meetings in the woods and letters hidden in tree trunks. I don’t even know, it was so ridiculous and wasn’t improved in any way by Sophia’s lingering attachment to de Cressac or the obvious instalove aspect of her relationship with the Reverend. Whatever, I kept getting distracted from all the terrible by debating with myself on whether a man of cloth could even take a wife. Can you tell how engrossing this novel was. Can. You.
All of this, however awful, didn’t even come close to my biggest issue with this novel. There is unfortunately a truly gross sub-plot involving slavery and the Underground Railroad. De Cressac keeps slaves on his estate, which our heroine is somewhat uncomfortable about but ignores until, I shit you not, she becomes bored and disillusioned with her trinkets and lacklustre love life so decides to help the less fortunate. Yeah, this novel turns slavery into a plot device for a privileged, spoiled little girl. Sophia claims to care about civil rights and several times states that everyone should be free – well that would be great and all except this same character flits between indifference and sudden White Saviour feels. The novel doesn’t even try to hide this – Sophia, when she’s feeling particularly sympathetic, refers to slaves as ‘Africans’ which is hilarious to me in itself because of the ingrained, infuriating privilege inherent in this comment suggests that in her mind slaves only came from Africa, but then when she has more pressing issues such as a torn dress or woe, unrequited love because the Reverend didn’t touch her or whatever, she reverts back to referring to the slaves as Negros. One term apparently is better than the other but what this novel fails to understand is that Sophia never stops seeing the slaves as just that – she uses blanket terms because when push comes to shove, their plight is just not important to her. Am I seriously meant to view this character as an Abolitionist? U G H.
Then there is the added fun of Sophia repeatedly comparing herself with the slaves and viewing them as luckier than she because they have relationships that she doesn’t or pitying them for their shabby clothing (THIS IS A THING THAT HAPPENS, I AM NOT JOKING). Sophia also displays an astonishing amount of stupidity throughout the novel by advising slaves to just leave. Yes, because they are free to go wherever they please, Sophia. I hate this girl so fucking much. There is even a Magical Negro in this novel who typically is a grandmother living in the woods -_____- Notably, every POC in this book is of a lower class than our protagonist and basically serves to aid Sophia but with no stories of their own. It’s utterly infuriating. And if you weren’t already convinced by how privileged and borderline racist this novel is we can look to the end of the book in which Sophia is captured by Garvey, de Cressac’s right-hand, and a POC. Let’s also add that previous to this Garvey is implied to be a rapist at worst and guilty of sexual assault at best – against two women, Talitha and Odette, one white and one of colour. It is deeply unsurprising that Garvey is only unveiled as a villain once Odette, a white woman formally of upper class and now working as Sophia’s maid, is cornered by him. The end of the novel, which you’re supposed to view as a happy ending, pleasantly has Sophia becoming rich and then wishing to free all the slaves on the estate but still somehow believing that they’ll never leave after then to live their own lives. I just…this book, man.
Also fun stuff:
- Sophia mentions at one point the novel Jane Eyre, which has a POC (Rochester’s wife) living in the attic and described as little more than an animal. Yeah, think about what Sophia’s interest claimed to be and then let that sink in.
- Our lovely protagonist also talks about the women de Cressac has killed and is horrified because, apparently, who could kill a ‘decent’ woman. It’s always fun when a female character distinguishes between the right and wrong kind of woman to be.
- De Cressac is fond of dressing up Sophia in clothing from around the world – she wears a Sari and he compares her to Scheherazade. Who was Persian. Saris originate from India. I cannot.
- This novel is so confused about what it wants to be. Is it a horror? A mystery? A romance? Paranormal, even? WE JUST DON’T KNOW.
In short: don’t read this book. It’s awful and frankly irresponsible. If you don’t know or aren’t willing to put time into research so that a sub-plot about such a significant time in human history makes sense, just don’t write about it. The history and culture of people does not exist as a plot device, nor should it ever become one for the sake of attempting to turn a kiddie pool of a novel into an abyss (thanks, S1 Caroline).
Kristen Williams says
Well, I’m convinced–I’ll not be reading this one. I wasn’t sure if I cared to but your review pretty well lets me know this book is not for me. Thank you for the honest review!
My Friends Are Fiction
Kazhy says
Wow, I didn’t think this book was that bad >_< I still plan to read it but that won’t be any time soon… Maybe in a few years XD Awesome review!
– Kazhy @ My Library in the Making
Katie M. Stout says
BAM! Well, you skewered this book very nicely. lol I haven’t read it, but I’m definitely not going to now. That heroine sounds terribly annoying, and the bit with her godfather also being a murderer AND a love interest…is really weird. haha And I think if you’re going to talk about slavery, especially in America, you better be SUPER careful about how you talk about it. Obviously this author wasn’t careful enough…
Mel@Thedailyprophecy says
Bwahaha. I’ve read this book during the read-a-thon too and I didn’t love it, but I don’t think it was horrible. But, after seeing the points you’ve made.. I think I gave it too much credit. I might even go back and adjust my rating – since I haven’t published my review yet. Thanks, you definitely gave me some things to think about.
Renae M. says
LOL, I keep thinking that maybe I should check this book out, but then I remember all the terrible reviews it’s gotten. That whole cheapening of slavery thing sounds absolutely awful, and Sophia herself sounds…not cool. I cannot imagine this being my sort of book.
Debby says
Oh my god. I didn’t know too much about this book but then I saw your live tweeting and now this… UGH. It sounds HORRIBLE. Just the review alone makes me want to punch the book asdjfkl; I even think I remember some people reviewing this favorably and now I just – cannot – understand.
Thank you for taking one for the team Tatum 🙂 Nice, hah, well, good review!
Judith says
I’m not sure if I should laugh at your review (which, like your live tweeting, was hilarious) or be horrified because this book. Wow. It sounds AWFUL. It makes me sad, because it was one of my most anticipated debuts but after reading your review I DON’T WANT IT ANYMORE EW.