tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5500247109010734075.post8774487313712003841..comments2024-03-15T03:20:54.442-04:00Comments on Fossils and Other Living Things: Paleontologist Mary Anning Deserved BetterTony Edgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11636818323982123697noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5500247109010734075.post-84229367125246898052010-11-21T17:11:17.390-05:002010-11-21T17:11:17.390-05:00Thanks Tony.
Well, Thomas stays with one narrator...Thanks Tony. <br />Well, Thomas stays with one narrator and thereby avoids the somewhat artifically sounding first person voices - one too naive and the other too patronizing, I found. And Thomas builds a more believable romance... I agree with your comment on the limits of artistic licence. What is a good balance between fact and fiction? that is always the question. I have corresponded with Thomas on her book for a bit. She wanted to stay, deliberately, as close to the real person as possible. There was enough drama in her life... <br />FriederikeFKnabenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5500247109010734075.post-49911438963390218202010-11-21T15:56:53.615-05:002010-11-21T15:56:53.615-05:00F Knabe:
Just read your Amazon review. Very nicel...F Knabe:<br />Just read your Amazon review. Very nicely done. Fascinating that Thomas and Chevalier both felt the need to divide the narrative. Thomas' may have been the better choice.<br />TonyTony Edgerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11636818323982123697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5500247109010734075.post-86954442051981488722010-11-21T15:51:34.681-05:002010-11-21T15:51:34.681-05:00Thanks for the comment. I didn't know about J...Thanks for the comment. I didn't know about Joan Thomas' book and will certainly read your Amazon review of it. I don't think writers of historical fiction have to adhere strictly to the facts and are certainly free to depict the larger truths. But there is a limit to the playing with the facts and Chevalier exceeded it in my mind.Tony Edgerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11636818323982123697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5500247109010734075.post-29993328925686163012010-11-20T22:25:07.758-05:002010-11-20T22:25:07.758-05:00Hi, I am just finishing the Chevalier novel and ha...Hi, I am just finishing the Chevalier novel and have to agree with your assessment very much. I am about to read the Emling biography of Mary Anning. I became aware of Mary Anning through another historical fiction work (written about the same time as Chevalier's) by Canadian author Joan Thomas, "Curiosity". While she also takes some fictional liberties with Mary's life, it appears that she comes closer to the real Mary Anning than Chevalier and, e.g. Birch is given the character and role that he apparently had in real life... I find her book to reflect more realistically also the social circumstances in which Mary had to operate as well as her intellectual development over the years. In case you are interested, the Thomas book has been reviewed on amazon.com by me.F Knabenoreply@blogger.com