Finally, I’ve finished this book. I say that with a mixture of both relief and disappointment. Relief, because it took me so long to read – in fact, I think I read about seven other books while I was completing this one. But I’m disappointed too. You see, once I was firmly ensconced back in Martin’s epic world, and travelling with Daenerys, Tyrion, and Jaime, admiring the tenacity of Arya Stark, suffering with Brienne of Tarth and experiencing The Wall with Jon Snow
, I didn’t want to leave.
To say the plot thickens would have to be the biggest understatement ever uttered in the presence of a fantasy saga.
Dances With Dragons begins by returning to the same period that the fourth book, A Feast for Crows covered, only this time, we discover what the characters excluded from that novel have been up to before being carried forward with the rest of the cast so the overall story progresses.
War and the struggle for power occupies the Seven Kingdoms. We return to the beautiful and bold young Daeneyrs in the East, as she seeks to both protect the children of her new realm all the while keeping her eyes trained west. With her Unsullied, growing dragons and a city seething with corruption, murder and disease, ruling is demanding. Plots are rife and the young queen is depicted as both salvation and ruin of those she leads. Rumours of Daenerys and her dragons have reached Westeros and there are those who will do anything to either have the rightful heir to the Iron Throne delivered from the east and brought home or destroy her and her creatures once and for all.
And then there’s the presence of another claimant to the Westeros throne. Is it possible that someone survived the brutal slaying Robert Baratheon orderd and which wiped out all but two Targaryen children all those years ago?
The focus also returns to Tyrion Lannister who, the last time we met had escaped King’s Landing having just murdered his father. Cersei has set a high price on his head and reaped the grisly consequences of that (as does, in a poignant way, Tyrion) and, despite all those who seek to bring the Imp to justice and/or kill him, it’s no surprise that Tyrion not only evades fatal capture but somehow both survives and even profits from the greed and calculations of others. He may be an exile, but Tyrion is still a master manipulator. Yet, as his story progresses, there’s also a humbling of his character, one who always possessed depths and shades that only the reader seems to be able to appreciate. Throughout Dances, these layers are revealed as he is brought lower than you would credit. There’s no place for Lannister pride when your stature is the butt of jokes, what looks you did possess have been ruined, and you’re enslaved, but Tyrion somehow manages to rise above all this. In Dances, his gentler side and spirit of survival comes to the fore alongside that rapier sharp tongue and wit which never fail to satisfy.
Activity at The Wall, with the capture of Mance Rayner and the arrival of Stannis Baratheon and the Red Priestess, Melisandre, keep the new leader of the Night’s Watch, Jon Snow, tested; we also learn the fate of the other Stark children (though Sansa is not included) and the tale of young Bran and Ayra are fascinating. But, perhaps the most shocking stori
es of all are reserved for the two character readers just knew would face terrible consequences for their actions: Cersei Lannister and Theon Greyjoy.
Cersei, who wielded power and abuse with equal measure, misjudging people, failing to read situations correctly, using her erotic capital for her personal gain and control and causing little more than the suffering and destruction of the people she has the privilege of leading (albeit as Regent), pays for what she’s done to the Seven Kingdoms.
Then there’s Theon Greyjoy… while we knew revenge for what he did to Winterfell would arrive, he suffers in ways that no-one, not even a traitor should have to with the maniacal and cruel Boltons. Some of the scenes with Theon are heart-wrenching and difficult to read. They are a psychological study of not only torture, but Stockholm syndrome as well.
Again, Martin writes chapters from different character’s points of view, allowing the reader to experience the narrative more richly and fully. However, he also dedicates some of these to minor characters and while they are interesting and allow you to enjoy (!) the action from an alternate perspective, they are also confusing at times as you have to work out the complicated relationships and loyalties with the major players – who does this character support? Why? What’s their motivation? are questions that tend to hover and interfere as you read.
Like all the books before, Dances ends with questions unanswered, major characters poised on the brink of great change, life and death. However, with the next instalment, The Winds of Winter not expected for some time, we have to wait. That we can expect the book to be around 1500 pages is not as exciting for me as I’d hoped. I adore this tale of power, leadership, love, loyalty and betrayal and the constantly shifting alliances and what folk are prepared to do and what sacrifices are made (by all classes) so rulers can satisfy their lust for power and achieve their goals – or not – but it’s a such a huge investment.
In the meantime, I have the wonderful HBO series to enjoy and to remind me of events that now feel like they occurred another lifetime ago.
.
xed bag this book was! As the sequel to the magnificent, The Forever King, I have to say, The Broken Sword is more than a little disappointing. Picking up a few years after the events in the first book, it continues the story of Arthur Blessing, Mr Taliesin – the Merlin – and Hal. Just like in the first book in the trilogy, there is an evil force embodied in a man, trying to claim the grail cup and destroy Arthur. And so the adventure continues – from the Middle East, to Europe and the UK and ultimately, New York.
Buying an old refectory in Norfolk, UK, one-day, Bryson starts to become extremely curious about the reason we do certain things or why certain behaviours have become normalised, if not ritualised, within the home (as one does 
). He ponders, as an example, about why salt and pepper, of all the spices and herbs available to us, are the ones given premium spot upon kitchen and dinner tables and are liberally sprinkled over food practically to the exclusion of all others. He considers why suits often have buttons sewn down the sleeve, serving no ostensible purpose but decorative. These types of questions lead him to move room by room through his house and investigate the history of its purpose and, in the process, discover many amazing facts about rooms, the people who inhabited them and what they did while in these (and many, many other things): in other words, investigate subjects, ideas and practices that we often take for granted.
kept reading snatches aloud to my partner, who can’t wait to get his hands on the book and share my enthusiasm. I have no doubt he’ll be reading his favourite bits to me and, though I have just devoured them, I will delight in hearing them again.
that marked her as a Tudor, she was already showing signs of the intellect and perspicacity for which she would become renown. In this novel, Weir chooses to focus on Elizabeth’s early years and adolescence against the backdrop of her father’s tempestuous marriages, other relationships and struggles with the church and his nobles. All the characters familiar from history appear only, this time, the reader sees them mainly through Elizabeth’s eyes, thus painting them in a new and often fascinating light.
commercialised one that was governed and taxed and, for a long period, thrived, to being ubiquitous across parts of the Northern hemisphere.
old lives in order to experience not just a sea-change but a cultural exchange, and in the process learn about themselves – generally, I love them. One of my favourite Venice stories is Marlena de Blasi’s 1000 Days in Venice and its sequel (just found out she has a new book out as well, set in Tuscany) – but there are many that recount the joys and sorrows of trying to fit into the elusive and sometime aloof society of Venice – a city that defies everything, including the imagination. The Venice Experiment is another in this genre and is the tale of Barry and his lovely wife, their dog and cat and the year they spend in the marvellous La Serenissima having moved from Florida.
roles into which the book is divided. Delightfully written, it explores the diverse period of almost six hundred years commonly referred to as ‘Medieval times’ examining life, death and everything in-between from a range of angles and points of view. As mentioned earlier, chapters focus on specific roles over this period such as ‘knight’, ‘monk’, ‘damsel’, ‘minstrel’, ‘king’ and ‘peasant’ to name a few. Jones also examines the origin of various myths such as Robin Hood, and presents the quite radical notion that outlaws were essential to effective governance during this time (the argument is a persuasive one!). Covering wars, religious beliefs and attitudes, secular ideologies, sex and professional and personal relationships, the book is packed with well-known facts, witticisms and some wonderful vignettes (eg. How a minstrel changed the world at the Battle of Hastings), and explanations such as why a particular branch of monks don’t wear underpants. Seeking to explain and debunk many of the myths and stereotypes that exist about the Middle Ages and the people that lived throughout this turbulent period, Jones does a stellar job. But, it is an overview and quite broad and sweeping and while it explains, for example, that Richard the Lionheart only spent six months of his ten year reign in England, it still adheres to the predominant view that the man was a bastard without looking at some of the revisionist work that has been done. This occurs a few times, where one side only about specific roles or famous individuals or even myths or tasks is given and other interpretations are shunted to the side. But that’s fine: this is, after all, Terry Jones’ Medieval Lives as the title says and he’s well within in his rights to provide his version. A damn fine one it is too that I enjoyed very much! There is also a BBC series based on this (or vice-a-versa) which I will now make a point of tracking down.
Double standards for women in the workplace
May 15, 2012
This is the unedited version of my column which appears in the Courier Mail, 16 May 2012.
If there’s one thing our culture is absolutely superb at, it’s promoting double standards. Over the last few days, this has become more than apparent, once again, in the area of women’s appearances.
First, there was the fuss over 64-year-old Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State and one of the most powerful women in the world, having the gall and/or gumption, to appear without make-up when she was addressing an official meeting in Bangladesh.
That her appearance au naturel made global headlines and was labeled “brave” by some is an indication of how much emphasis is still placed on women’s looks.
Why are we so obsessed with this? Photos of stars with and sans make-up sell. While it might be argued that these are offered as an antidote to photo-shopping and function to debunk the unrealistic expectations set around women’s appearances and help with self-esteem issues, they also reinforce these and feed insecurities by continually drawing attention to them.
While “dressing-up” and wearing make-up etc. are associated with certain display-based occupations such as modeling, dancing, acting, and other fields where a woman’s looks are integral to her job, as far as other professional spheres are concerned, it’s been a woman’s performance, her capacity to do her job well, that’s important.
Lately, however, this has shifted.
Last week it was revealed that some of Australia’s top law firms, banks and accountancy companies are not only engaging stylists to “advise” female workers about make-up and dress standards, but providing lists of fashion dos and don’ts by which it’s anticipated the women will abide.
Workers at a Brisbane parking firm received a memo regarding dress codes and changes to rules a few weeks ago telling the women to “wear conservative make-up at all times,” even when they didn’t engage with the public. Confused workers wondered not only what constituted “conservative”, but also for whom they were being asked to do this.
While on the one hand, reasonable dress codes are important and professional firms do have a reputation to uphold, on the other, advising women to avoid lip gloss, dangly earrings, wear matching shoes and handbags, sheer stockings and conservative make-up, appears to be more about asserting control, policing women’s bodies and satisfying the eye as opposed to job criteria.
In response to accusations of discrimination, firms such as Westpac, Clayton Tuz and Pricewaterhouse Coopers defended introducing these codes saying they’re about offsetting the increased “casualisation of the workplace” which they attribute mainly to Generation Y.
In her book The Beauty Myth, feminist Naomi Woolf writes about what she calls The Professional Beauty Qualification, and how many professions in which women have made strides are being “reclassified – so far as the women in them are concerned – as display professions.”
She argues that women continue to experience the “dualistic experience of being ‘feminine’ and ‘business-like’ at the same time, while they do not perceive men experiencing the same contradiction.”
Social commentator, Nina Funnell, states “isn’t there something a little bit patronising about a company that trusts you to manage multimillion-dollar deals but doesn’t trust
you to pick out your own earrings?”
There’s no doubt that we literally fashion identities for ourselves through clothing. Whether it’s Peter Slipper reintroducing the traditional regalia of the Speaker and trying to insert some gravitas into his role (and thus onto himself), going to a job interview, dressing for a school formal or donning a uniform for work.
However, this policing and sexualizing of women’s workplace dress and therefore their bodies by specifically dictating what they can and cannot wear potentially sets up different expectations of appearance, accountability and treatment of women – by colleagues and the public – by emphasizing the feminine over and above the professional; a person’s sex over their abilities.
It dresses up conformity and control as professionalism.
It turns the workplace into a catwalk.
Meow.
My grandmother always told me to dress – not to impress – but to respect. Don your daily clothes to show the people with whom you interact, publicly and privately, that you respect them. If you’re attending a function – show your respect for the nature of the event through your attire. If you can’t – don’t go.
But respect needs to go both ways.
While some people may require help with what not to wear, and need to understand that when they’re at work, they’re the public face of a private firm, dress codes must be reasonable and not sexist.
Suggesting or prescribing aspects of a wardrobe or make-up is neither equitable nor appropriate.
These stringent “professional” dress codes are of a concern, just like the negative reactions to Clinton’s “natural” look, not because they reflect a company style, but because they’re about reinforcing a cultural version of acceptable femininity that has nothing to do with a woman’s capacity to do her job.
They tell women that how we look is more important than what we do.
Posted in Appearances, General Social Commentary, Popular Culture | 2 Comments »