Book Review: Misfortune
2005-11-08 2:50 a.m.
In the series of my badly written book reviews I offer you: Misfortune by Wesley Stace. First of all, Wesley Stace is the Folk Singer John Wesley Harding. If I had known that I probably would have shied away from buying his book, not because I dislike his music but I hate people who are gifted in more than one form of art. Really, it's just rude to be that utterly creative. Plus, I would have assumed he was published solely because of his name. The story is set in Goergian England. Misfortune is about a newborn who is ripped from it's dying mother's womb and thrown on a garbage heap. This discarded bundle is carried around by a dog and eventually snatched up by a Lord Loveall and brought home as his daughter and the next heir to Love Hall. First off, Lord Loveall is a bit batty. He never quite got over the death of his sister and has got it into his mind that this infant is somehow his dead sister. Lord Loveall quickly marries his sister's governess, who was kept on in the house as a librarian after his sister's death. They fake a pregnancy and name the foundling Rose. Oh, I should mention that Rose has a penis. The parents ignore this fact and raise her in dresses. This of course, causes some problems when Rose reaches puberty and has to figure out on her own the whole peeing sitting down versus standing up thing. Eventually Rose discovers her true gender and attempts to switch to men's clothing. The extended Loveall family descends upon the manor and kicks everyone out, claiming that Rose is not a true heir - and is a little fruity. Rose leaves Love Hall and the narrative goes a bit hallucinatory. There is allusion to a traumatic sexual awakening involving horny sexually selfish sailors. Rose ends up in Turkey somehow insane and physically incapacitated. A young woman, Franny, tries to nurse her back to health and then hump him. Rose then tries to kill herself by drowning herself in a spring which she thinks will turn her into a hermaphrodite. Her plans are thwarted by her childhood friend Stephen, who rescues her and takes her back to London. Rose finally comes to terms with her sexuality and wears pretty dresses while sporting fancy mustaches. Through some elaborate sleuthing, the familty learns of Rose's true parents, and just like a Shakespeare play, gains back Love Hall for her family with a lot of fanfare and singing. I actually enjoyed this book and found the gender bending to be fairly natural. The characters were well developed and the story line was quite surprising although the ending was entirely predictable. I give it two claws up.
0 People have tried to sell me Viagra