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A Review of
Carry On: A Novel
Rainbow Rowell
Hardback: St. Martins Griffin, 2015.
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Reviewed by Jeni Newswanger Smith
I tried to read this novel slowly and savor the mystery and mounting tension, the “they will, but when” of the potential romance at its core. A very meta-story, Carry On grew out of Rowell’s earlier book, Fangirl, in which the main character, Cath, writes fan-fiction based on a (fictional) series about a magical academy called Watford, written by the fictional Gemma T. Leslie. The Watford stories center around a Chosen One, Simon Snow. (Full disclosure: I didn’t enjoy Leslie’s Snow story excerpts in Fangirl and only read bits and pieces of the excerpts of the fan-fiction Cath writes when I re-read the book). While writing material for Fangirl, Rowell discovered she really wanted to explore that world more fully. In the Author’s Note in Carry On, Rowell writes, “I’d written so much about him through these other voices, and I kept thinking about what I’d do with him if he were in my story, instead of Cath’s or Gemma’s…That’s what Carry On is. It’s my take on a character I couldn’t get out of my head. It’s my take on this kind of character [the Chosen One], and this kind of journey.”
Rowell’s approach is refreshing. She explains Snow’s world fully, yet fits it all into one book. I’ve read back over parts of the book several times already and I see how she — easily !– could have turned this book into multiple novels. As a reader exceedingly tired of series fiction, I found this world engrossing and fascinating. And I’m relieved Rowell only wrote one book, a stand-alone that really stands alone, complete and fully-formed. The book itself is lovely and dark and enthralling and wonderful.
Many characters in the novel deal with the unwanted expectations others hold for them; and each of those characters handle these pressures in different ways. Young people discover that no one is wholly bad or wholly good. Things (including sexuality, the “greater good,” the use of gifts, etc) don’t need to be separated into black and white, good vs evil. In fact, instead of creating the typical black and white world of the typical “Chosen One” genre, Rowell creates a world of grays, much like the one we live in. In the midst of the magic and fantasy, it is profoundly real.
C. Christopher Smith is the founding editor of The Englewood Review of Books. He is also author of a number of books, including most recently How the Body of Christ Talks: Recovering the Practice of Conversation in the Church (Brazos Press, 2019). Connect with him online at: C-Christopher-Smith.com
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