I
love the way our literature was so thoughtfully chosen throughout this
semester. I have such a stronger appreciation for Sand Queen coming from reading Here,
Bullet. The tones of these two works of literature differ in such an
interesting way that it’s hard not to compare the stories. Both deal with every
single terrible aspect of war under the sun, but they do it in such different
way. Turner’s approach to the subject matter is to take a more flourish,
lavish, and extravagant way to portray war. That might be a bit of an
exaggeration, but Turner takes a more poetic way in telling his stories. Even
the poems that deal with casualties of war have such care and finesse embedded
in their narrative.
On
the flipside, we have a much more modern/gritty narrative with Kate’s tale.
Maybe it has something to do with age, or maybe it was her “trying-to-fit-in”
demeanor that made her character so relatable. This reliability allowed for to
book to sink its claws deep inside the reader within just a few pages.
Again,
both authors deal with the subject in very different ways. That is not to say
one way is more appealing than the other. Both authors have captured me with
their outstanding style of storytelling.
P.S.
I’m certainly cannot wait to finish reading Sand
Queen.
I agree with you Jonathan on the thoughtfulness of the course readings. I have tremendously enjoyed what we have read even though the content is dark and often depressing, but I have learned how to apply a more informed an intimate view to the different war experiences we read about.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the differences in style between Turner and Benedict, I had never considered age or gender to attribute to their stylistic differences, as silly as that may sound. I had attributed most of those to how the stories were attained. Turner was an embedded poet, who was there in the midst of all the chaos. I am not sure if Benedict was, but I do know that her story is comprised of many stories from many different people.