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The Night Ship

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How would you characterize the tone of the story? How does the language contribute to the tone? What else contributes to it? Storytelling is woven into The Night Ship in various ways, including through folklore and family histories. What do you think the author is trying to achieve with these layers of storytelling? I loved the elements of magical realism tied into the narrative through legends/folklore. People having a second sight, a stone with a hole in the middle that allows the beholder to gaze into the past or future, and best of all, a mythical creature that lives in the bilge of the boat. Alas, despite its resplendent start, the book ran aground towards the end. The promise of dark magical realism, unimaginable wonders and a nightmarish sea monster never really materialised and the story just fizzled out like a damp squid squib. Another time, Imke took Mayken to the Church of Saint Bavo, the jewel of Haarlem. The old nursemaid told her to open her eyes and take notice. Mayken opened her eyes and took notice. Even so she missed the grin of a stone gargoyle and the wink of a wooden toad on the choir stall.Mayken watches in fascination as Stonecutter swipes one of his soldiers around the head with the easy savagery of a bear. As he paces along the line several of the men flinch. No one meets his eyes. The Batavia replica was constructed between 1985 and 1995 at the Bataviawerf (Batavia shipyard) in Lelystad, The Netherlands. Image: Malis via Wiki Commons - image and text from Sea Museum At sea, Imke mysteriously falls gravely ill and Mayken is convinced there is a mythical sea-monster on board who is responsible. She ventures high and low through the ship in her search to trap the villainous, Bullebak. I don’t think I can do justice to this amazing story, so I’m including a link to my friend Linda’s review, who has done just that. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... How does Kidd mirror Mayken and Gil’s separate journeys in chapters 1 and 2? As the story progresses, do you find Gil’s outsider identity important to the novel? How does his "otherness" reflect Mayken’s experience?

The stories unfold in alternate chapters, linked by repeated phrases, talismans and the myth of a terrifying sea monster. With a nod to the Australian horror film The Babadook, Gil finds an old storybook of his mother’s behind a cabinet, telling the tale of a bunyip, an eel-like shapeshifter that preys on children. As with the Babadook, the creature (whose legend originates with the indigenous people) is a projection of fear. “How do you describe dread, Gil?” asks Birgit, one of the scientists. “That’s what the bunyip is: an attempt to give fear a shape.” A more beautiful novel, The Night Ship could not have been. And this is why Jess Kidd continues to be my most favorite writer we have today. There are few quite like her.This engraving depicts three scenes associated with the loss of the Dutch ship Batavia in 1629. Top: Batavia approaches the Houtman Abrolhos Islands off Western Australia at night. Lower right: the vessel aground on a reef with the crew in boats attempting to refloat it. Lower left: the state of the Batavia the next day, and the passengers and crew abandoning the ship. ANMM Collection 00004993 I listened to the audio of Jess Kidd’s “The Night Ship”. Fleur de Wit and Adam Fitzgerald narrate this story told in two different time periods: 1629 and 1989. She is beautiful. Her upper works are painted green and yellow and at her prow—oh, best of all—crouches a carved red lion! His golden mane curls, his claws sink into the beam. He snarls down at the water.

While this may not be the best possible choice for reading on a ship-based vacation, it is a moving and fascinating read for landlubbers. Kidd writes with the touch of the poet, adorning her compelling, moving story with sparkling descriptive finery, while offering us a child’s-eye view of the most remarkable ship of its time, and telling a tale of doom. Both Gil’s and Mayken’s stories are strong enough masts to have sailed alone, but together they make a weatherly craft and catch a strong wind, easily speeding past potential story-telling shoals. “How do you describe dread, Gil? That’s what the bunyip is: an attempt to give fear a shape.” EXCERPT: Gil stands next to her, breathing tobacco smoke and mineral air. She smokes the third rollie contemplating an area of scrub. One of the bushes is bigger, more gnarly and set apart. It's branches are hung with ribbons and beads. Around the base of the bush, children's toys are arranged. Some of the offerings look new: a yellow plastic yo-yo, a tiny red bus. Some look old and weathered: faceless dolls, faded bears. Inspired by David Copperfield, Kingsolver crafts a 21st-century coming-of-age story set in America’s hard-pressed rural South.I think I would have been a lot happier with this read had it simply been Gil's story. I found Mayken's story to be largely tedious and repetitive, while Gil's story is a touching one of a boy who is different and very much alone. His grandfather, with whom he comes to live on Beacon Island, is a hard man, a fisherman. He didn't understand his daughter, and he doesn't understand his grandson. I’m not normally a huge fan of books where children are the protagonists, but I very much enjoyed this, and will be hunting down more of Jess Kidd’s books. Lying brings bad karma. Even a small lie can make something really bad happen and the karma will grow to match it.” She feels a soft touch on her arm. The grown daughter is saying something earnest about mothers and angels.

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