Hide Me Among the Graves by Tim Powers
My rating: 5/5 cats
byron is not in this book.
at all.
which is a shame.
when this came in to the store, greg handed it to me and grunted something like, “here. byron.”
and i was like “yayyyy!” because of all the millions of books i have read that have byron as a character, tim powers is the only one who ever got it “right.” and i skimmed the dust jacket and saw polidori’s name and saw byron’s name, but didn’t really read it too closely because i knew i had to borrow it immediately.
and i kept waiting for byron to appear, in some form or another, despite it taking place years after his death.
but alas, this is not a story about byron.
at all.
however, tim powers has done it again.
he has written a densely plotted book that somehow SOMEHOW manages to work freaking vampires into a story about poets without it being even one bit silly, and instead being genuinely tensely scary and—convincing.
this is an amazing accomplishment.
he has redefined the vampire mythology in a way that is eminently satisfying and it is just stunningly crafted.
here the focus is on the grown son of the characters from the first book, and the major poets in this one are the rossettis and swinburne, about whom i know nothing. trelawny comes back as a major player, and he manages to redeem that damn pirate, and even account for some of the less savory aspects of his personality. and, yes, polidori.
when i was reading The Stress of Her Regard, i knew a ton about byron, and more than enough about shelley and keats to see how the fragments of their works sprinkled throughout could quite easily be read as something other than what they were—something supernatural. the plot, although it involves freaking VAMPIRES, seamlessly inserts itself into actual events from the lives of the poets, and interprets their sometimes incomprehensible life-choices through this filter of FREAKING VAMPIRES that feels authentic. seriously, i don’t know how he did it, but you gotta believe me—that dog HUNTS!
again, i know nothing about the lives of the poets covered in this book, but i am confident that powers has done his research, and he manages to once again assign supernatural explanations for events actually occurring in the lives of these people, and the poetry reprinted here certainly does tip the cap to the spectral and the occult.
stress blew my mind, even though it was a slow start. this one also suffers from a slow start, for me all the more because i kept being so impatient for byron.
but once it gets going…i forgot all about byron and i loved loved loved it.
johanna. one of the best characters i have ever read.
and i have read a book or two.
cats. i can’t even talk about how great they are in this book, and the scene that comes towards the end IF YOU READ THIS BOOK YOU WILL KNOW WHAT THIS SCENE IS is so noble and made my heart get all pudding-y.
however—i do not recommend reading this book without first reading stress.
i mean, do what you want—who cares what i think. but know that this vampire mythology is so dense and complete, it is better to become exposed to it as nature intended.
powers writes hard. not that it is difficult to understand, but there is something almost claustrophobic about his prose. sometimes it feels like he expects you to know what he is talking about before he remembers to tell you. but it is a really great technique. and kind of amazing the way he pulls it off. there were times when i became lost a little, and then in the next paragraph, this light would shine on my brain as he backtracked, and i would be all “tim powers, you’ve done it again!” it sounds clumsy, but when he does it, it is ballet.
i don’t know why i liked this particular passage so much, but i did:
Booths crowded both sides of the street, and in the space of six yards Trelawny could have bought bootlaces, tin saucepans, or a smoked codfish nearly as tall as himself; and he threaded his way between gentlemen in silk hats, tradesmen in caps and leather aprons, and headless dummies wearing embroidered waistcoats and Norfolk jackets. From all sides rang the din of vendors announcing their wares: “Hot chestnuts!” and “What do you say to these cabbages?” and “Three a penny, don’t pass it up!” and “Here’s your bloaters!” as if Trelawny had misplaced the disreputable fish in question and had been looking all over the city for them.
that passage just comes alive for me, as do so many in this book. i loved this book. i am going to go back and give stress five stars, too. because the more i think about what powers has done here, the more i am in awe.
even without byron.
oh my god, and i haven’t even mentioned boadicea!
who is not as developed as i would have liked, but man, just even to have included her…
thank you, tim powers, i love you like candy.
maureen, this book, if it were candy, would be reese’s peanut butter eggs. in other words, divine.
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