The Crane Wife by Patrick Ness

The Crane Wife by Patrick Ness

Publication Date: 1/23/2014

 

“There were as many truths—overlapping, stewed together—as there were tellers.  The truth mattered less than the story’s life.  A story forgotten died.  A story remembered not only lived, but grew.” 

Since reading the Chaos Walking series, Patrick Ness has been my “It” author for the past year.  After reading A Monster Calls, I fell even harder for his masterful literary logic.  It almost seems as if everything Patrick Ness writes turns to gold; alas, this is not a Greek myth and Ness is not King Midas.  The Crane Wife did not fill me with hope, anger, and understanding for my fellow human beings; well, not completely.  I understood the themes, the story and most of the characters, but what was lacking was the ability to completely translate all those emotions, themes, and actions into this book.  At times the two stories (one story is about our Protagonist, the other story is a myth of The Lady and The Volcano) seemed to be spliced inadequately.

I don’t want to muck the book’s reputation; it indeed did deliver a sort of Ness-ness that you would expect.  I enjoyed the breakdown of love, and how it is equated with forgiveness.  My favorite message is that one cannot be forgiven by someone, unless they ask to be forgiven (or are ready to receive forgiveness).    The feelings of love (of, or lack thereof), anger, and forgiveness were a repetitive theme that stayed constant.  I did like this book in the way people like Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, it is a glimpse in a very normal life and how our choices and our acceptance of ourselves shape our life experiences.  This book just happen to be wrapped with a myth as well.  I do not want to sit here and explain the story, because I feel like it wouldn’t make sense.  This is a story someone should read in order to understand what the book is about.  It is a story that will have different meanings for me, than Patrick Ness, than Goodreads’ members, or anyone else.  It’s a personal message, that doesn’t make sense unless it is speaking to you directly.   Trying not to compare this book with other Ness’ work, I would tell others to give it a chance.  The story might not mean anything to you, but you will find similarities of your own feelings and experiences streaking through the words in the book. 

 

Thank you Edelweiss for the ARC.