Hello fellow book lovers,
This is the second installment of my blog and I’ve just
finished my second book for this little project. Now one note- rereading my
last post it felt a bit more formal and “academic” then I would have really
preferred. I think going forward I am going to strive for a bit more relaxed
tone: less “English teacher” and more “book lover” ( and not that I have a
problem with English Teachers: It was my dream to be one but unfortunately that
fell through. C’est la vie)
For my second review, I read Martin Millar’s “The Good
Fairies of New York”. This is a book that also came recommended to me from a
friend but unfortunately sat neglected on my book shelf. I was deciding what to read after finishing
“American Gods” and happened upon it as I was reviewing some of my personal
collection.
Martin Millar is a Scottish writer whose novels carry a lot
of themes of urban decay and British sub-cultures. I actually became a fan of Martin Millar with
the books: The Lonely Werewolf Girl ( 2007) and Curse of the Werewolf
Girl (2010) Martin’s style is one
that focuses using irony, humor and
invocative characters with an ever presence sense of “tongue in cheek-ness”. In a sense, his novels are very Austinian (as
in Jane Austin) in tone, but instead of polite and refined characters, you have
punks and never do wells. You honestly feel like you should be listening to
punk (as in the Sex Pistols and Ramones) while drinking tea and biscuits. In the first two novels I read, I discovered
he has a great skill in building up serious dilemmas and absurd situations to
climatic explosive scenes, and seamlessly tying it all in a conclusion. (Which is also very much like Jane Austen)
The Good Fairies of New York is actually one of his
earlier works, published in 1992. The
tale focuses on the adventures of a group of Scottish fairies (Heather
MacKintosh, Morag Macpherson, Padraig, Petal, Tulip and Maeve) who have all ran
from Scotland to New York. Each fairy has their own reason for leaving their
home lands: Petal and Tulip are fleeing their father due to a rebellion against
him, Padraig is following Tulip and Maeve is along with them. Heather and Morag have ran from Scotland for a
series of crimes (for which of course they can’t be blamed for), including
trying to start a fiddling style with Ramones songs, and the destruction of a
fairy clan banner. The novel focuses
mostly on the interaction of Heather and Morag and the humans Dinnie MacKintosh and
Kerry. Dinnie is described as “an
overweight enemy of humanity” and “the worst violinist in New York” (Martin 1).
Kerry is beautiful, an artist, a victim of Crohn’s disease and a chronic shoplifter. Kerry is also
obsessed with finishing a Celtic Flower Alphabet for a community arts
competition to humiliate her ex-boyfriend Cal.
The novel starts off with Heather
and Morag fluttering into Dinnie’s apartment and promptly puking on the floor,
assuring him that “fairy vomit is no doubt sweet-smelling to humans” (Martin
1). Dinnie attempts to chase away the two offensive fairies and only manages to
really chase away Morag who ends up in Kerry’s apartment just across the
street. Where Dinnie attempts to badly
earn his living by playing violin on the street, and chase Heather from his
apartment, Kerry and Morag become shoplifting buddies and attempt to find the triple
bloomed Welsh poppy for Kerry’s Alphabet. Things go completely awry in a
variety of ways: First, the poppy for Kerry’s Alphabet is lost, stolen and lost
again, which means Morag and Kerry spend a great deal of the novel just trying
to recover it, and then only losing it once more. Dinnie, also has an unrequited crush for
Kerry, and is the owner of the famed “ MacPherson Fiddle”. Heather makes a deal
with Dinnie: she helps him win Kerry, and he gives her the fiddle. Meanwhile,
Morag also learns of the fiddle and attempts roughly the same idea (just
without making an actual bargain with Dinnie). Mixed up in all of this we also
have a Scottish civil war brewing over the fact Tala the King has turned their
kingdom into an industrial community, with a rebellion attempting to place
Petal and Tala on the throne. There is
also a series of battles with every nationality of fairy you can find in New
York (essentially, if there is a culture in New York, they have a fairy
community), the Scottish Macleod sisters who are seeking Heather and Morag for
destroying their family banner, and a ghost named Johnny Thunder ( who is also
Kerry’s musical idol) attempting to find his lost guitar.
It’s a lot to take in and admittedly, this novel was a hard
sell at first: I appreciated Martin’s sense of humor and irony. I enjoy how he
sets scenes and slyly comments on his own characters, making the reader see
their absurdity. However the characters Dinnie and Kerry are difficult to like
at the beginning of the novel: Dinnie is
just entirely unlikeable to start-he’s a rude, obese, untalented and lazy jerk.
Kerry, is dreamy, kind, and seeks to
make the world beautiful, but she is also obsessed. Still, she’s a bit easier
to sympathize with due to her disease.
The humor of the fairies (arguing over everything from fiddle playing,
talent, beer, who did what to whom) plus the unfortunate series of events
(fights with Italian, African American and Chinese fairies) carries the novel
and once the story starts going, it’s a more enjoyable read. Martin has a gift for weaving various plots points
into one insanely chaotic but satisfying whole (I won’t give it away, but the
poppy saves the day for –everyone- except for maybe King Tala).His skill also
mimics an Austin novel in that as those had a tendency to have a whole host of
characters and plot points that all came nicely together in the end. However, I can tell this is still one of his
earlier works: The Lonely Werwolf
Girl and The Curse of the Werewolf Girl each have better pace and
sense of continuity then The Good Fairies of New York. There are points
where you feel like the story is dragging a bit: the descriptions are great,
the dialogue is hilarious, but you
almost feel like “ Okay, and then?”. However, by the end of the novel I ended
up forgiving Millar. Because as unlikeable as the character start out, they become
more likeable by the end. In a sense, Kerry and Dinnie find a bit of redemption
in each other: Dinnie starts to become a more likeable human being and Kerry
finds someone else to care about beyond herself and her vengeance against Cal.
The fairies Heather and Morag are still complete trouble makers, but they at
least do their best to make things right and the fairy community avoids war.
Now comes the question: Would I recommend this book? Yes, but the warning of the pace being slow
to start stands. I’d also recommend that if you want to get a full feel of
Martin’s scope of talent, to immediately follow this novel up with The
Lonely Werewolf Girl and The
Curse of the Werewolf Girl. Also
picking up some 70’s-80’s punk wouldn’t hurt while you are at it.
Until next time, Rock on!
Wayfarer.
Citations:
Millar, Martin. The
Good Fairies of New York. Berkley. Soft Skull Press. 2006. Print
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