Flemington by Violet Jacob
Sep. 23rd, 2020 05:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
regshoeA short detour on the D. K. Broster read-through...
Flemington (1911) is a historical novel featuring a significant and emotionally fraught relationship between two men on opposite sides of the 1745 Jacobite Rising, and, while the two books are ultimately very different, it was clearly a major influence on Flight of the Heron—which is dedicated to Jacob 'in homage'. Unusually for me I listened to this book in audio form—thanks toluzula for that. :D
The novel is set in Angus in the northeast of Scotland. Archie Flemington, our hero, is the descendant of a formerly Jacobite family who have changed their loyalties; during the Rising he becomes a spy in Government service, and is sent to Montrose to investigate and report on the activities of suspected Jacobite agents in the area, and in particular James Logie, the soldier brother of a local landowner. Archie gains admittance to the house of Logie and his brother Lord Balnillo, successfully deceiving them as to his real motives under the disguise provided by his artistic skills and painting Balnillo's portrait for him, and discovers that James is indeed plotting to raise the country in support of Prince Charles. But then he and James, who's utterly taken in by his disguise and believes him to be a Jacobite, get to know each other a bit better, and things become complicated.
I found it a very frustrating book, and overall I agree withgaronne's assessment on comparing it to Flight of the Heron—what this book does badly FotH does well, and what Flemington does well FotH does better, both objectively and in terms of my own tastes (with just one big exception—the het romance is confined to backstory here). The story is oddly structured, very meandering for such a short book and relatively simple plot. What should be, and feels like it's meant to be, the central relationship between Archie and James is barely developed, and a lot of the time I felt that Jacob was trying to balance far too much emotional weight on a structure not strong enough to support it. Archie and James are together for only a short time at the start of the book, during which Archie is smitten with remorse for his deception of James after James shares his (frankly a little melodramatic, I felt) tragic backstory with him and treats him with generosity and trust. It's a good idea, but it didn't feel like enough, especially in comparison with Part 1 of FotH. After that they barely meet again—only the very brief meeting necessary for James to realise Archie's deception of him—and that's it, until an ending which would have been beautifully dramatic and quite heartbreaking if it had only had more to justify it.
My other main complaint is that I didn't like Archie very much. He has a quality that his contemporaries call 'impudence' and which I think of as 'not taking things seriously', and really dislike in both fictional characters and real people. It's just different enough from Keith Windham's character and development to tip over from something very interesting into something I didn't like—and again, I felt the contrasts and the effect that James has on Archie in this respect just weren't developed enough. Related to this, I found the general tone and mood of Jacob's writing far less generous and kind than D. K. Broster's—and that's one of my favourite things about Broster's writing. It's not hugely different on the surface, but the small differences are enough to make the whole thing feel like a very different sort of fictional world.
I also thought the pacing was too slow—Jacob is very fond of the long narratorial monologue explaining a character's thoughts, personality, backstory or motivations, and considering that the book is barely 250 pages long it spends a remarkably long time getting to the good bits. To be fair, however, it's so rare for me to think anything like this (I mean, my favourite books include Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell and The Lord of the Rings, and the pacing is something I particularly like about both of them :P) that I have to think this isn't all the book's fault. I suspect that listening to it as an audiobook, by making me slow down my reading speed, reduced my tolerance for slow pacing—which is interesting in itself, I suppose.
This review feels much too negative so far! I did actually enjoy this book, but I think the fact that it always comes out the loser in the inevitable comparisons with FotH doesn't work in its favour. Probably the most notable thing I did enjoy was the relationship between Archie and Captain Callandar, a Hanoverian officer with whom Archie works in the later part of the book. Callandar is puzzled, exasperated and intrigued by Archie's contradictions and strange attitudes, and the ending of the book hinges on a horrible choice brought about by Archie's loyalty to James and Callander's to his duty. Again, it wasn't nearly as well-developed as it deserved to be, but there's something very good indeed in there.
Other things I liked include Christian Flemington, Archie's grandmother and decidedly not an Aunt Margaret, who raised him to be the person, the Whig and the spy he is—she's intriguing in her complications. Skirling Wattie, the colourful character who carries messages between Archie and his Government commanders, provides an opportunity for several good Jacobite and other folk songs! And there are some good bits of description and scenery, and the history is pretty interesting—rather than following the famous bits of history surrounding Charles's army, Jacob focusses on the less memorably romantic but nonetheless historically important area around Montrose, dramatising the historical capture of a Government ship by the Jacobites.
Overall, then, I found this book a bit of a disappointment, but it was still very much worth the read, both for its own sake and for the Broster connection—and it has a lot of potential which I do feel could be developed further in fic!
Flemington (1911) is a historical novel featuring a significant and emotionally fraught relationship between two men on opposite sides of the 1745 Jacobite Rising, and, while the two books are ultimately very different, it was clearly a major influence on Flight of the Heron—which is dedicated to Jacob 'in homage'. Unusually for me I listened to this book in audio form—thanks to
luzula for that. :DThe novel is set in Angus in the northeast of Scotland. Archie Flemington, our hero, is the descendant of a formerly Jacobite family who have changed their loyalties; during the Rising he becomes a spy in Government service, and is sent to Montrose to investigate and report on the activities of suspected Jacobite agents in the area, and in particular James Logie, the soldier brother of a local landowner. Archie gains admittance to the house of Logie and his brother Lord Balnillo, successfully deceiving them as to his real motives under the disguise provided by his artistic skills and painting Balnillo's portrait for him, and discovers that James is indeed plotting to raise the country in support of Prince Charles. But then he and James, who's utterly taken in by his disguise and believes him to be a Jacobite, get to know each other a bit better, and things become complicated.
I found it a very frustrating book, and overall I agree with
garonne's assessment on comparing it to Flight of the Heron—what this book does badly FotH does well, and what Flemington does well FotH does better, both objectively and in terms of my own tastes (with just one big exception—the het romance is confined to backstory here). The story is oddly structured, very meandering for such a short book and relatively simple plot. What should be, and feels like it's meant to be, the central relationship between Archie and James is barely developed, and a lot of the time I felt that Jacob was trying to balance far too much emotional weight on a structure not strong enough to support it. Archie and James are together for only a short time at the start of the book, during which Archie is smitten with remorse for his deception of James after James shares his (frankly a little melodramatic, I felt) tragic backstory with him and treats him with generosity and trust. It's a good idea, but it didn't feel like enough, especially in comparison with Part 1 of FotH. After that they barely meet again—only the very brief meeting necessary for James to realise Archie's deception of him—and that's it, until an ending which would have been beautifully dramatic and quite heartbreaking if it had only had more to justify it.My other main complaint is that I didn't like Archie very much. He has a quality that his contemporaries call 'impudence' and which I think of as 'not taking things seriously', and really dislike in both fictional characters and real people. It's just different enough from Keith Windham's character and development to tip over from something very interesting into something I didn't like—and again, I felt the contrasts and the effect that James has on Archie in this respect just weren't developed enough. Related to this, I found the general tone and mood of Jacob's writing far less generous and kind than D. K. Broster's—and that's one of my favourite things about Broster's writing. It's not hugely different on the surface, but the small differences are enough to make the whole thing feel like a very different sort of fictional world.
I also thought the pacing was too slow—Jacob is very fond of the long narratorial monologue explaining a character's thoughts, personality, backstory or motivations, and considering that the book is barely 250 pages long it spends a remarkably long time getting to the good bits. To be fair, however, it's so rare for me to think anything like this (I mean, my favourite books include Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell and The Lord of the Rings, and the pacing is something I particularly like about both of them :P) that I have to think this isn't all the book's fault. I suspect that listening to it as an audiobook, by making me slow down my reading speed, reduced my tolerance for slow pacing—which is interesting in itself, I suppose.
This review feels much too negative so far! I did actually enjoy this book, but I think the fact that it always comes out the loser in the inevitable comparisons with FotH doesn't work in its favour. Probably the most notable thing I did enjoy was the relationship between Archie and Captain Callandar, a Hanoverian officer with whom Archie works in the later part of the book. Callandar is puzzled, exasperated and intrigued by Archie's contradictions and strange attitudes, and the ending of the book hinges on a horrible choice brought about by Archie's loyalty to James and Callander's to his duty. Again, it wasn't nearly as well-developed as it deserved to be, but there's something very good indeed in there.
Other things I liked include Christian Flemington, Archie's grandmother and decidedly not an Aunt Margaret, who raised him to be the person, the Whig and the spy he is—she's intriguing in her complications. Skirling Wattie, the colourful character who carries messages between Archie and his Government commanders, provides an opportunity for several good Jacobite and other folk songs! And there are some good bits of description and scenery, and the history is pretty interesting—rather than following the famous bits of history surrounding Charles's army, Jacob focusses on the less memorably romantic but nonetheless historically important area around Montrose, dramatising the historical capture of a Government ship by the Jacobites.
Overall, then, I found this book a bit of a disappointment, but it was still very much worth the read, both for its own sake and for the Broster connection—and it has a lot of potential which I do feel could be developed further in fic!
no subject
Date: Sep. 25th, 2020 02:24 pm (UTC)I did very much like Flemington/Callandar though--and that epilogue is pretty great.
no subject
Date: Sep. 25th, 2020 06:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Sep. 25th, 2020 08:07 pm (UTC)Very interesting to read your thoughts on this!
He has a quality that his contemporaries call 'impudence' and which I think of as 'not taking things seriously', and really dislike in both fictional characters and real people.
Hmm, yes. It wasn't until my second reading of this book that I realised one of the things I didn't like so much about the novel was the character of Flemington himself, though I couldn't put my finger on why. I think I would have liked to see him take his own cause more seriously (I kind of get the feeling he's a Whig only because his grandmother is) and maybe also see him struggle a bit more about the conflict between his own loyalties and the loyalties of the Jacobites among his immediate ancestors. (At least, to me there is a conflict, but he doesn't seem too bothered by it!)
no subject
Date: Sep. 26th, 2020 10:20 am (UTC)Yes—the Flemington family backstory is potentially pretty interesting, especially as regards Christian, but Archie's situation there was another thing that wasn't developed much. He clearly suits being a spy very well (until he meets James :D), but I didn't get the impression he particularly cares about spying for the Whigs as such. Well, if he had more time with James on more honest terms, perhaps they could talk about politics...
no subject
Date: Sep. 26th, 2020 04:15 pm (UTC)I absolutely agree with you in that Jacob's style is less generous and kind (and maybe less romanticised) than Broster's, but I think this makes her characters be very realistic! Anyone who can create unlikeable characters that a reader can still feel for, and be touched by their story is doing something right as a writer! ;)
I also liked Madame F, she is such an interesting character (even if she is not a nice one, being driven by vengeance and bitterness) and her "downfall" after her meeting with Cumberland (as everything crumbles around her and she realises she is not as powerful as she thinks) is sad and painful. Still, it's always great to see a strong, badass female character at the centre of a story!
And Archie is definitely unlikeable and impudent, but to me, that makes the story work. He is carelessly going through life, working for a cause that's not truly his own, and maybe that's why he is the way he is--not taking things very seriously can sometimes be a coping/defence mechanism. His reaction to James might seem a bit OTT and hardly justified by the story, but I see this unexpected friendship and moment of compassion as the drop that overflows the glass...the random spark he needed in order to change his worldview and make his own choices, even if it costs him everything. So I felt he came a long way, and I could sympathise with him, and it was definitely worth reading about this "flawed" road towards honour and loyalty. Compared to Tfoth, maybe it's a less "fated" story, with no especially deep revelations, only the need to be true at the very end. But I still enjoyed it a lot (and approved of the significant birds, of course!)
Also, I like the fact that Archie seems to be aware of his flaws, but he is proven wrong at the end. Callandar said it better: "you said you were not a true man. You lied"--well, it's something like that, you'll probably know the bit I mean! (By the way, I also wanted to see more of their relationshp... definitely something very good there! I'm still not over That Ending, and it's begging for a fix-it, so I totally agree with you about the fic potential!)
And I'm a slow reader, but I found the story was over too quickly, so I also think that it could have been developed a bit more! Still, I found it very interesting, more so after reading that Jacob used some of her family history for inspiration! It's totally possible that she based Archie on herself--she was an artist as well as a writer! And Skirling Wattie's songs are some of her own poems, how cool is that? :D
no subject
Date: Sep. 26th, 2020 04:56 pm (UTC)I agree about Madam Flemington's 'downfall' scene. She's on the winning side, but still ends up the loser—it's a good bit of tragic irony.
That's a good idea that Archie's cause is 'not truly his own'—and related to what
Oh, that's very interesting that it was Jacob's own poetry Wattie was singing! I had assumed they were traditional songs that I'd just not heard of, haha. Very nice.
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Date: Sep. 26th, 2020 05:12 pm (UTC)And I also thought that the songs were ones that I didn't know, which wouldn't be surprising, so I looked them up, and found her poetry. And then I downloaded some from the NLS, and it's very nice--lots of nature-related imagery there! <3
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Date: Sep. 26th, 2020 06:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Sep. 26th, 2020 06:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Sep. 26th, 2020 06:51 pm (UTC)