The Weight of Feathers
2015 • 320 pages
Ratings4
Average rating4.3
15
Ratings4
Average rating4.3
For twenty years, the Palomas and the Corbeaus have been rivals and enemies, locked in an escalating feud for over a generation. Both families make their living as traveling performers in competing shows-the Palomas swimming in mermaid exhibitions, the Corbeaus, former tightrope walkers, performing in the tallest trees they can find. Lace Paloma may be new to her family's show, but she knows as well as anyone that the Corbeaus are pure magia negra, black magic from the devil himself. Simply touching one could mean death, and she's been taught from birth to keep away. But when disaster strikes the small town where both families are performing, it's a Corbeau boy, Cluck, who saves Lace's life. And his touch immerses her in the world of the Corbeaus, where falling for him could turn his own family against him, and one misstep can be just as dangerous on the ground as it is in the trees. Beautifully written, and richly imaginative, Anna-Marie McLemore's The Weight of Feathers is an utterly captivating young adult novel by a talented new voice.
Reviews with the most likes.
The Weight of Feathers is a Romeo and Juliet story, with two families feuding over real and imagined slights, and a young person from each family falling in love and fighting their conditioning and the control of their families to be together. McLemore has added a touch of magic to the story, but it's deft enough that at first it can be mistaken for metaphor.
Lace Paloma is the Palomas' youngest mermaid, only just allowed to show herself in the shows, but not yet allowed to interact with fans. A big part of their performance is not being seen out of the water, out of costume, so when the show is over, all the mermaids swim off to deserted edges of the lake they perform in to exit, change, and make their way home. On her way home after one such performance, Lace is caught in the woods when some kind of acid rain from the nearby adhesive plant coats the town. While somewhat caustic, the rain is really only dangerous if it hits cotton clothing, which Lace is wearing. One of the Corbeau boys finds her in the woods, rips off her cotton clothing, and gets her to the hospital. Because she was in her normal clothing and not her costume, he didn't realize she was part of the rival family. This meeting and rescue is not actually the start of their contact with each other; they'd talked briefly in town, when each thought the other was a local, but it does turn it from a passing contact to something more, and when Lace is spurned by her family, she winds up under the Corbeau boy's protection.
The book is about family secrets, corporate conspiracies, abusive families, and control of one's own destiny, swirled together with a touch of magic, feathers, and mermaid scales. While it is definitely a Romeo and Juliet story, McLemore has taken the story and truly made it her own. Both the Paloma family and the Corbeau family have such a mythology woven about themselves that each family really has an identity that defines them. (Feathers and “flying” for the Corbeaus, scales and swimming for the Palomas.) When Lace and Cluck try to bridge the gap between the two, things get difficult.
I really loved this book, and it has made me even more eager to read Blanca & Roja, McLemore's next book. Her writing is gorgeous and surreal and I love it.
You can find all my reviews at Goddess in the Stacks.
Original de: El Extraño Gato del Cuento
Estoy obsesionada con la portada de The Weight of Feathers, es bastante sencilla y no me dice absolutamente nada sobre la historia, lo cual para algunos puede ser algo no bueno, pero en lo personal, me gusta el minimalismo y el misterio. Con solo la portada este libro tenía un lugar en mis lecturas seguras. Además, está escrito por una latina, la verdad es que sentía mucha curiosidad sobre la representación que se le daría en el libro.
The Weight of Feathers trata sobre dos artísticas familias rivales. Estoy en un poco en duda en poner familia cirquera, porque no es propiamente un circo, son dos shows bastante impresionantes, aunque toman algunos rasgos de libros sobre circos que leí con anterioridad.
Estéticamente, y con esto me refiero a vestuario y escenarios, este libro tiene uno bastante impresionante, la familia latina se caracteriza por sus sirenas, mientras la francesa por las hadas. Mis dos seres fantásticos favoritos.
El romance que The Weight of Feathers trae es adorable. Se sale un poco del tópico, en lugar de tener una cenicienta, tenemos un ceniciento, y en lugar de un chico oscuro y confundido, tenemos a una protagonista que se hace querer, no por ser extremadamente dulce, es su persona completa la que la hace un gran personaje. El libro se sale un poquito de las normas de género que generalmente traen los libros.
Y, ¿los dos juntos? Adorables a más no poder.
PERO
Si bien Anna-Marie McLemore trae una historia de romance bastante entrañable y los rastros de magia que se pueden leer al transcurso del libro me dejaron muy intrigada con lo que traerían los siguientes capítulos, la trama del libro se me hizo confusa muchas veces.
Es probable que sea cosa mía, desde que se introdujo el accidente, no lo entendí bien al inicio y, llegado al final no lo entendí al 100%. Y fue duro para mí, porque eso es lo que hace que esta rivalidad entre familias nazca, el problema era que yo no entendía exactamente porqué.
Luego está el tema de las supersticiones. Yo llegué a entender lo de la pluma y cierto color, en este momento no recuerdo bien si solo eran esos dos, porque ya había leído otro libro con esos detalles, Girl On Wire y The Girl Who Walked on Air, en esos libros me explicaron que y porqué eran de mala suerte, si no hubiera tenido la experiencia de los otros libros, creo que al terminar el libro habría quedado confundida.
The Weight of Feathers me ha gustado, fotográficamente sería una película bastante bonita para ver, sobre todo por el final tan wow. No solo por el twist, tengo muy marcada la escena final del libro, a lo photoset de tumblr. Tiene sus cosas que pulir un poquito, pero para ser debut, ha sido bastante interesante.
Además creo que es la primera vez que personas que no tienen ningún conocimiento del español o el francés, se han estado quejando porque no entendían algunas frases. bu bu babies
Me interesa seguir leyendo a Anne-Marie, tendré prioridad con sus próximos libros.
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