Spinning Silver | Imamother

youngishbear

Sat, Apr 06 2019, 9:40 pm

Before I plunge right into a long night of Pesach cleaning, I want to share a few thoughts about Spinning Silver, which I finished over Shabbos.

Here's a general spoiler alert for whatever follows.

The book was off to a slow start when I began reading it, so I took a boredom break and came back to it after a week. The timing couldn't have been more perfect. At an important stage in the plot, a character recites the bracha on fruit trees that we say from Rosh Chodesh Nissan, which was this shabbos! I thought that was cool.

The Jewish theme in general was interesting, though improbable, taking the historical context into consideration. But hey, it's fantasy, right?

Miryem's decision in the end broke the fun of the fantasy, though, reminding me why a nice Jewish girl doesn't belong in a fairy tale in the first place. At least not one with happy endings that involve nonJewish princes and kings. Still, it was very cool to have familiar touches sprinkled throughout a fantasy fairy tale.

I love that the important characters are strong women, even the one who delivers the final blow, and they're not motivated by the finding of a Prince Charming. Even those that start out resigned to their fate, find a voice and carve out an alternative purpose for themselves, earning the respect of others. The ending is what I would expect from a fairy tale... A bit too much so.

I appreciate that the characters' motivations all become clear, if not sooner then later.

And now... Does anyone have a good Scourgify spell lying around?