Monday, February 1, 2016

The Dark is Rising: Midwinter's Eve

New book, new protagonist, new setting.  Also, happy new year.  My apologies for the delay; real life happened, and then I found myself stuck on the first chapter.

Anyway, The Dark is Rising, sequel to Over Sea, Under Stone, is the second book of the "The Dark is Rising" sequence.  The first chapter introduces us to our new main character, Will Stanton; he's a day shy of 11 years old, and is the youngest in a family of eleven.  Will, his parents, and eight of his nine older siblings live in semi-rural England: the family is working class and fairly self-sufficient. This, of course, show up in flashes of detail: the home-made handcart, Dad's old van, the chicken money being needed to buy "nine Christmas presents".  A reference to radio and brother Max's "long hair" hint at a 1960s/70s time-frame for the story (which was published in 1973), but it's not otherwise dated, so far.

What really threw me off with starting this post was how to handle this first chapter.  On one level, very little happens: we follow Will around as he feeds the rabbits, runs an errand to the neighboring farm, eats tea/supper with his family, and has trouble sleeping during a winter storm. At the same time, there are numerous bits of foreshadowing and characterization thrown in, and it's hard to decide what is worth mentioning.

That being said, a chapter of exposition really showcases Cooper's main strength as a writer: she's great at creating and showing characters who feel real, like they existed before the story started and have their own lives outside of their interactions with the point of view characters.  We see the bustling Stanton household just before Christmas: Mom cooking and reminding James and Will to do their chores, sister Mary guarding the radio in a crowded kitchen so no one changes the station, Dad and the twins investigating a mechanical device.  Smells, sounds and conversation give depth to each scene.

As for the overall plot, it's only hinted at so far: something weird is going on around Will.  He's feeling uneasy, and strange things seem to be happening all around him: domestic animals suddenly fear him, the wild rooks are acting oddly agitated, and the radio crackles whenever he walks past. Mr. Dawson, the neighborhood farmer, seems to know something; instead of dismissing Will's and James's remarks about the bad weather and a strange "tramp" seen on the lane we get this:
"The Walker is abroad," he said again.  "And this night will be bad, and tomorrow will be beyond imagining."  
He then gives Will a palm-sized ring of iron shaped like a quartered circle, and tell him to keep it nearby and to not discuss it. This piece of iron demonstrates no unusual properties, beyond ignoring thermodynamics: it's cool to touch when the farmer takes it from his pocket and hands it to Will. It's warm following the "rook incident."  After being in Will's jacket, indoors, all evening, it's cold enough to numb one's fingers.

The bit with the rooks happens when James and Will on are on their way home from the farm.  On the lane by the church, the strangely-behaving birds attack the mysterious old man.  What gets weirder (beyond James pointing out that rooks don't normally do that), is that Will observes the incident "running out of James's mind like water": he goes from being surprised and alarmed to not remembering it in a matter of minutes. Excepting the lack of obvious actors who might be causing James to forget what he saw, my thoughts went right to Mr. Hasting's mind-control in Over Sea, Under Stone.

Later that night, when Will is alone in his room and has just noticed the iron's new deep-freeze setting, he experiences a sudden "wave" of fear.  It's repeated twice more during a sleep-less night: a sort of abrupt intense sensation of fear, beyond the jitters of being alone in an attic room during a night-time blizzard.  The third and final one ends with the arrival of Paul, who heard a noise (the skylight in Will's room crashing open), and arrives to help.  He does a lovely job of reassuring Will without condescending to him: finding reasonable explanations (heavy snow and an old latch), confessing that he'd have been scared to be alone, and helping to clean out the snow and secure the skylight.  He then gives Will his own bed to use, staying in the attic himself (and sparing Will's feelings by playing it off as a chance to escape his twin's snores).

The Cast Thus Far:

The Weasleys Stantons
Dad- A jeweller.
Mom- SAHM, from a long line of farmers. Raises chickens and rabbits, and takes fox threats very seriously.
Stephen- Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, has been away for "years", writes to Will, not actually appearing in the book so far.
Max- Growing out his hair.  Not dating Maggie from the farm.
Gwen--Eldest sister.  Sings while cooking.
Barbara- Sixteen.  James finds her bossy.
Mary- Fourteen, plump, likes pop music. Possibly the designated brat. James finds her chatty.
Robin- The jock twin.
Paul- The sensitive twin. Plays a mean flute. Possibly is on to some of the weirdness around Will.
James- Used to share a room with Will.  Doesn't like how loud/crowded the house is.
Will- Eleven years old as of the end of the chapter.  Normally gets along well with animals, rather quiet.
[Age-rank approximate.  It's not explicit that Robin & Paul are older than James, but they act more mature and Will and James seemed to be grouped together.  Exactly how the girls' and boys' respective ages compare is slightly nebulous.]

Raq and Ci- Welsh collies.
Chelsea- A rabbit that's Will's particular favorite.
Diverse other rabbits and chickens.

In the Neighborhood
Farmer Dawson- Runs a farm near the Stantons and sells them hay; buys chickens and rabbits. Makes cryptic pronouncements and gives Will the One Ring as a birthday present.
Old George- Cowman
Maggie Barnes- Dairy maid at the farm (they still have those?), apparently has a crush on Max.
Angus Macdonald--Friend of Will, not seen by reason of being in Scotland for Christmas.
Mike- Friend of Will, not seen by reason of visiting his grandmother in Southhall.
The Walker- Subject of cryptic remark from Mr. Dawson, likely the "old tramp" Will and James see near the church.

2 comments:

  1. One thing I think this opening does very well is ground Will in a day-to-day context - large, busy and loving family; neighbours he's very familiar with, a place he's spent all his life in.

    Which is why I found the makers of the film version switching Will and his family to recent immigrants and him to a bullied and displaced-feeling boy extra bizarre. But then the film was a remarkably clueless adaptation anyway...

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  2. Yay, more Dark is Rising. It's difficult to deconstruct something that's actually well written and palatable? Talking about which, since genesistrine brought up the movie, are you going to deconstruct that after the book or will it just be given the treatment it deserves and be forgotten in the mists of time?

    Amusing coincidence, "rakki" is Finnish for certain type of mutt. For some reason I didn't pick that up when I read the books. :D

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