The Reckless Oath We Made, Bryn Greenwood, G P Putnam's Sons, 2019, 434 pp
Bryn Greenwood is another author I have followed since her first book. This is her fourth novel and once again she writes about the often overlooked, often stereotyped people of Middle America. Her territory is Kansas.
I love her books because they are unflinching looks at these people and because she is one of them, one who bootstrapped herself up and is well on her way to creating her very own genre.
Zee is a woman with burdens, including an easily triggered temper, a housebound hoarder of a mother, and a gullible sister. She does what she must to cover the many expenses of her life as well as the huge holes in her psyche.
When she meets Gentry, a young man somewhere on the spectrum who sees himself as a medieval knight, she finds herself with a champion for the first time in her life.
Gentry actually speaks in Old English, is killer with swords, and lives by a code of honor pretty much lacking in our modern world. Of course Zee, with her long sad history of making a mess of everything she attempts, does not handle this well.
Reading The Reckless Oath We Made requires heaps of suspension of disbelief. It might not be for everyone. However, it is full of so much soul and compassion that I was not worried about trying to understand Gentry's weird language. I loved how Bryn Greenwood created such a hard ass, shoot-herself-in-the-foot female with a heart bigger than Kansas.
If you love a quirky kind of story that makes your own problems look puny in comparison, if you secretly wish there could still be fairy tales in this heartless world, this is the modern fractured fairy tale for you.
anything with a hero that speaks Old English has to have something going for it? i wonder if the author is familiar with that dialect... the pronunciation, to be accurate, needs the speaker to have a pebble in his/her mouth (that's what a teacher told me once, haha)
ReplyDeleteThe author credits three individuals "for their assistance in creating a version of Middle English that is accessible to modern readers." So, see I was wrong, not Old English but Middle English. Do you know the difference?
DeleteI found it an entertaining part of the story and of Gentry's character.
i read Chaucer in Middle English; it's strange and a glossary helps a lot, but not too bad once you get used to it... Old English is like Old Norse: definitely a foreign language...
DeleteThat is impressive, mudpuddle! Thanks for the distinction.
DeleteOh yes, there is a BIG difference between Old English and Middle English! Both are fun and frustrating to try to read, but Old English is definitely a whole different language. I have also heard the 'pebble in the mouth' thing too!
DeleteI loved her first book so much but, had trouble with this one. Gentry's strange speech made this a challenge for me.
ReplyDeleteWell, I can understand that, Diane. I somehow just got used to it.
DeleteThis actually sounds really cute!
ReplyDeleteBottom line: it is.
DeleteA character who speaks in Old English and sees himself as a medieval knight - wow! You do find the most interesting books.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Dorothy. I try!
DeleteI am sort of intrigued by the Middle-English-Speaking-Sword-Master-Knight. I enjoy quirky characters, but that might be almost too much for me.
ReplyDeleteWell, if you find it somewhere you might want to take a chance!
DeleteYour review makes me think that this book is something I'd really enjoy!
ReplyDeleteI'm just not so sure about the Old English, since English is not my mother language...
Really the Old English, which I got wrong, it's Middle English, is not that hard to read. It is part of what makes the story so interesting.
DeleteI have not heard of this author. I love Old / Middle English writing - usually so much charm and beauty in that language. I'll have to explore this author's books.
ReplyDeleteShe is rather one of a kind.
DeleteThe book sounds different and creative. Gentry sounds like an out of the box character. So many books fall into routines it is a very good thing when an author is creative.
ReplyDeleteFolks living in middle America really are stereotyped too much.
I am drawn more and more to books that fall out of routines!
DeleteI have not read this author yet ... seems to me a new voice ... she seems to think out of the box. I will keep her books on my radar .... thanks. Which one of her novels is your favorite?
ReplyDeleteWell, I have loved three out of her four novels and even the one I didn't love was good. Her first one, Last Will, just blew me away. I knew I was in good hands as a reader. The second, Lie Lay Lain, did not live up to that promise for me, but the next one, All the Ugly and Wonderful Things did and now this one. I have had a relatively privileged life and still messed it up in various ways. Her characters have not had that privilege and yet they are heroes in their own ways. I don't know, she just gets to me.
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