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If you’re wanting to read outside of your bookish comfort zones, let us help you!  Virtual Book Club is one way we can do that.  If you love thrillers or don’t know them well (or even if you hate them), you’re invited to join us in reading When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole.  We’re staying in our “Alyssa Cole” comfort zone, but into the “thriller” zone, which is not so comfy for us.  Come along on this reading journey with us and sign up here to see how it all shakes out on Friday, April 22 at 7:30 p.m. CST!

“There was and there was not” a theme in mind, a set of books on hold, and an interesting way of arriving at the selection of today’s book to be shared with you.  Let’s journey through and see when you pick up on the theme since these months are not leading with Mondays recently so we’re a bit discombobulated, sort of like Soraya.  In Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust, Soraya cannot be touched, lest she kill any living being who touches her.  She’s been this way since she was a baby, and she’s grown now, twin sister to the Shah, but hidden away because she can’t move through the court, or through life, as her brother does, as everyone else does.  The book is her story, and as in most amazing books they take me back to psychology 101 and a favorite phrase of my professor – “Things are complex.”  This story is complex, and layered, which is one of my most favorite things.

I want to say more about Girl, Serpent, Thorn, but I also don’t.  The marketing copy says a smidge more, if you want to go that route, but as usual, I find the author’s notes have the real gems.  The story is inspired by the Shahnameh, the legendary Persian epic that tells the history of the Persian Empire and was completed in the early eleventh century.  Two thirds of the Shahnameh is rooted in myth and legend, rather than actual history, like the last third.  Bashardoust used the first section as the inspiration for the world of this novel, and it’s rich in descriptions that remind me very much of my beloved Winternight Trilogy in feeling, even if not in tone.  As in that text, we have a young woman who is living in a restricted environment, and through the story she finds herself, and not who they told her she was, or who she longed to be, but her true self, and her place in her complex world of demons, court, and lies.  This isn’t just Soraya’s story though, it’s also the story of her mother as a girl, then a young mother, and eventually the woman Soraya knows.  Just as in The Red Tent, this story of a woman needs to start with the story of her mother.  What a happy little accident that this story rooted in the complexity of these women and other females is the title leading us into Women’s History Month.  While that wasn’t a factor in selecting our books for this month, I suspect we may find several titles are a great fit.  

I’m giving Girl, Serpent, Thorn 3.5 stars and rounding up to 4.  Bashardoust paints a gorgeous picture of a complex world and tells a fantastic story.  She exposed me to new ideas and myths both through the story and the author’s notes, which are a treasure trove of explanations about where the pieces of her world come from in Persian myths.  Bashardoust also gets some of the biggest life goals, which is to be at peace, and to be loved, thorns and all.  I’m not likely to reread this, but I’m very interested in Bashardoust’s writing now, backlist and anything else that comes after.  

~Nikki

It’s a little strange to admit that Nikki and I read an author’s sophomore novel before the debut. Mostly because we read a lot of series and duologies and obviously those need to be read in order, but we usually hear about a debut novel first. I will also admit that I’m surprised that I didn’t hear about Melissa Bashardoust’s debut novel, 2017’s Girls Made of Snow and Glass, until researching this blog post. I enjoyed Girl, Serpent, Thorn, Bashardoust’s 2020 release, so very much that Girls Made of Snow and Glass is officially on the TBR. I’m excited to add a feminist retelling of Snow White to the always growing list, even if it is a YA title. Bashardoust lives in Southern California “with a cat named Alice and more copies of Jane Eyre than she probably needs.”

Back to that whole adding YA to my TBR list, remember how I was a little burned out by YA these past few weeks. I don’t know what it was about Girl, Serpent, Thorn but even having read it during what feels like Heart.Wants.Books YA Extravaganza 2022, I was sucked in and kept wanting more for and about Soraya. It might have been the exotic locale of ancient Persia, the constant battles with the Divs – demons sent by the Destroyer to terrorize humans, or according to Soraya herself (and many times because of the simple decisions she makes and the complex siutations she places herself in), she is the monster in her own tale. I loved being privy to her inner monologue and decision making even though the book is written in the third person. It’s the genius of an excellent author who can make you feel like you’re reading first person point of view, even when you’re not!

Nikki mentions above about how a woman’s story always begins with her mother, and since I discussed generational trauma over dinner with a dear friend from childhood this evening, I would feel remiss if I didn’t discuss Soraya’s trauma and how it began with her mother. I think the greatest problem for Soraya and Tahmineh was how Tahmineh communicated with her daughter in fables rather than in memories. I don’t want to say too much and spoil the book, because it is glorious and a 4 star review from me, but these two women need some therapy for sure.

We know Nikki appreciates a good trainwreck…So, what book did you just have to keep reading because of the relationship drama, particularly between family members, not lovers? 

~Ashley

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