In the third chapter of The Fifth Season<\/i>, Essun seeks out the headman to find her husband, and then makes a life-altering, split-second decision. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read The Broken Earth<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Trigger Warning: For discussion of death and grief, specifically the death of a child<\/b><\/p>\n
What the fuck.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n WHAT THE FUCK, THIS IS THE THIRD CHAPTER!!!! T H I R D. Can I live??? Can this book just give me a chance?<\/p>\n Craft<\/b><\/p>\n It should go without saying that I spent months adoring Jemisin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s writing, and I also want to root my reviews in that sort of praise, too. Like\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 who is writing like this in the field? That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one huge reason I was so impressed by The Inheritance Trilogy<\/i>, and I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just mean diction or style. I obviously have no idea of the larger structure, but even just four reviews in, I can barely wrap my head around the narrative leaps Jemisin is taking. In chapter three, for example, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such an immense power in the second person, as Jemisin doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just use a rare mode of storytelling; there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a whole separate layer within it. Someone is telling Essun her story, but is that narrator reliable? Why do they choose what to tell Essun and what they don’t<\/i> tell Essun? There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a casual distance here because of that. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a story being told to someone else, and we just happen to be bearing witness to that. Yet second person is so fascinating because that distance is simultaneously challenged. There are moments when it is easy to feel like the unnamed narrator is addressing us<\/i>, the reader, particularly in some of the more emotionally intimate moments. Like this:<\/p>\n Okay. You were wrong. Nausea isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t so bad as a response to grief, comparatively speaking.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n As someone still in the throes of grief, this hit close to home. Yet in second person, it feels like the book is reaching out to me in a personal, direct manner that I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t prepared for. Jemisin is playing with tense and point of view in a way that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s jarring for those of us experiencing the story as an outsider, almost as if it is a reminder<\/i> that we are outsiders, that we might relate to events occurring but cannot fully understand them\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 until we put ourselves in Essun\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s shoes. In second person\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 shit. It feels like it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s easier to do that in this mode, rather than first-person or a close third-person.<\/p>\n And look how many sentences took my breath away in the notes below! There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a delicate wordplay here, one that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s possible because<\/i> the narrator is a character unto themself. There are bits of bitter sarcasm, tragic irony, and humor mixed in here that fascinate me. Take this:<\/p>\n Jija\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s boots can also be traded, because soon you will find him, and then you will end him.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Is this phrased this way because the narrator is omniscient, because they know what is about to happen? You could read this as a direct confirmation of what is to come. But because of the point-of-view, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s another explanation, another reading: What is this is the narrator sharing Essun\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s conviction? What if the narrator knows what is in Essun\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s head and heart, what makes up her desire, and this<\/i> is what is being communicated to us?<\/p>\n UGH, I LOVE THIS SHIT. Look, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not gonna try and say I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a veteran in this field by any means, but one thing I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve come to understand is how infrequent engagement is with works by marginalized creators in terms of craft<\/i>. All people seem to want to talk about is representation and diversity. Important conversations, yes, but can we also be asked about style? Voice? Tense? How we structured a story? So that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something I want to be conscious of as I read The Broken Earth<\/i> trilogy, especially since Jemisin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s craft is just\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. This shit is on another LEVEL.<\/p>\n Determination<\/b><\/p>\n This is a craft analysis, too, but I wanted to separate out conversation about Essun\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s characterization to focus on it alone. There are so many examples of gut-wrenching sentences throughout this chapter (some of which I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve pointed out below), and I think I could pick apart the fascinating execution of second person for DAYS. But I also want to talk about how Jemisin is introducing this character to us. Essun has an almost singular focus, not just because of her state of grief and anger, but because of the world in which she lives. Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s go back to an earlier conversation: How the fuck do fantasy writers tell us about the world they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve created? A lot of writers rely on blocky, stilted info-dumping, which I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not generally a fan of. Sometimes, an info-dump can totally work; sometimes, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m reading a book and thinking THIS PERSON DOESN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T HAVE THE RANGE<\/p>\n I truly believe that I would not have been able to write my first published novel without having done Mark Reads for so long. I have virtually no formal training as a writer, and analyzing books feels<\/i> like an education sometimes. SO! Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s talk about Essun and how Jemisin structures worldbuilding around her, which is so fucking impressive that it just makes me FURIOUS because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so good. Look at this passage:<\/p>\n The sack contains papers that prove you and Jija own your house, and other papers showing that you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re current on your quartent taxes and were both registered Tirimo comm and Resistant use-caste members. You leave this, your whole financial and legal existence for the past ten years, in a little discarded pile with the moldy fruit.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n In these two sentences, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so much information packed into the words. We learn how ownership works in the comm; we learn that members of this comm pay \u00e2\u20ac\u0153quartent\u00e2\u20ac\u009d taxes, which I assume is four times per\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, whatever unit of time we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re talking about. This world requires registration in comms (Tirimo) and use-castes (Resistance). It also speaks intensely to how legal rights are conveyed; these documents are so powerful and meaningful that Jemisin refers to them as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153your whole financial and legal existence.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n And what does Essun do with it? Essun\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s behavior speaks to her character and her character\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sudden position in the world. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an emotional act: Essun knows she will no longer need any of these things. She is most likely going to kill her husband, but even if she wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a greater conflict here. Essun knows she can never, ever live in Tirimo again. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s worldbuilding, too. What cultural values exist in this comm? On an even larger scale, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clear that the orogenes are so hated and despised that Essun is giving up rights to her \u00e2\u20ac\u0153whole financial and legal existence\u00e2\u20ac\u009d after what happened to her.<\/p>\n Those documents mean the same thing as a brick of moldy, dry fruit.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n All of this is communicated in just under SIXTY WORDS. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s incredible??? Look at this foreshadowing, too, communicated in FIVE fucking words:<\/p>\n The obsidian skinning knife that Jija insisted upon, and which you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re unlikely to ever use\u00e2\u20ac\u201dyou have better, natural weapons\u00e2\u20ac\u201dyou keep.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ready. I WAS NOT READY FOR THE FULFILLMENT OF THAT PROMISE.<\/p>\n More on that in a second. I just find the economy of Jemisin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s prose\u00e2\u20ac\u201dsomething we saw in The Inheritance Trilogy<\/i> as well\u00e2\u20ac\u201dto be something we can study. Appreciate. GET LOST IN. Because I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to lose sight of the entertainment value of this. This chapter is a slow-burn thriller in a few thousand words. We know that Essun is going to the headman, Rask, in order to get a lead on Jija\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s location, and her determination to get this done fuels the momentum of the action. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s raw around the edges, too, and I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to forget that. Grief is creeping in the shadows of every moment of this chapter, even the end of it. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a specter that Essun tries her best to ignore, even when circumstances are pulling her back to the present.<\/p>\n And that present involves a metaphor about how bodies are treated if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153wrong\u00e2\u20ac\u009d one. Whew, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s SO MUCH here, packed into Essun\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s journey to Rask, like how Essun feels unsafe to just be out on the street. It is, as you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll see int he notes below, an absolute trip<\/i> that I am reading this right now. Because y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all: I am writing this on the day that de Blasio FINALLY lifted that bullshit curfew here in New York City. I am reading this in the time of a citywide lockdown, one that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lasted almost three months straight. I am reading this in the time when Black people cannot be out and about in New York City without being worried about retaliation from numerous sources: the police. Non-Black people. (And I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just mean threats due to protesting. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been doing jail support in Brooklyn and Manhattan for a week straight now as of the time I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m writing this review, and while I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t give details, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve met people arrested for some of the most egregiously bogus \u00e2\u20ac\u0153crimes.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d All but four of them were Black; the others were non-Black Latinx folks.) It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lot. A. LOT. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not that Jemisin is a psychic or has had glimpses of the future; this shit is cyclical. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s happened before, and as long as we in our<\/i> world don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t change it, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll happen again.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n So, even with that stuff on my mind, I was already heading into the Rask confrontation with tension radiating through my body. How much would he hate her? Would he even bother helping Essun locate Jija, or would he, too, blame this upcoming Season on a child orogene? Rask surprised me, though, right up until I learned his backstory: his older sister was murdered by an orogene-hating mob. And now he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s spent his whole life in a city he never would have come to if that had not happened. Of course<\/i> he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d understand Essun on some level. But it goes beyond that understanding. He might have some empathy for her, but look what he does<\/i> with that. He sullies his reputation by walking Essun to the gate and insisting that she be let out and be free to go. Was anyone else crushed by this?<\/p>\n But for the moment what matters most to you is this moment of public decency, which is a kindness and an honor you never expected to receive.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n When you live in a world that offers you no decency because of who you are, sometimes even the most basic act of kindness can feel life-changing.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Which is why what happened next just DESTROYED me.<\/p>\n Eruption<\/b><\/p>\n Jemisin does not pull punches here, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m so fascinated by the dichotomy of Essun. She does something undeniably violent and horrific when Karra gives permission to a gate-minder to assassinate Essun. In a moment\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s notice, Jemisin tells us exactly<\/i> what those \u00e2\u20ac\u0153natural\u00e2\u20ac\u009d powers are, and\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ready. I just fucking wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. One part of this that I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t expect (ALL OF IT, IT WAS ALL OF IT) was the SNOW. The freezing! I just associated the boiling earth and the quakes with heat, so just on a detail level, that part was both immensely cool and FRIGHTENING. But as Essun lashes out, Jemisin shows us two very different emotional elements to her defense:<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You killed him,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d you say to Rask. This is not a rational thing. YOu mean you-plural, even though you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re speaking to you-specific. Rask didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t try to kill you, had nothing to do with Uche, but the attempt on your life has triggered something raw and furious and cold. You cowards. You animals, who look at a child and see prey<\/i>. Jija\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the one to blame for Uche, some part of you knows that\u00e2\u20ac\u201dbut Jija grew up here in Tirimo. The kind of hate that can make a man murder his own son? It came from everyone around you.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n This is such a bold moment, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also an incredible condemnation of something much, much bigger. First, though, let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s acknowledge the brilliant meta-commentary here, as this is all happening in a chapter where Jemisin is ALREADY toying with the you-plural and the you-specific. THIS SATISFIES ME SO DEEPLY. But there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an emotional catharsis here, one that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mixed up with the shame that will follow what Essun has done. That catharsis comes from what Essun knows deep down: that the culture in this place stinks so horribly that it gave way to the tragedy of Uche. Notice how Jemisin does not only include the loudest, most violent voices: everyone<\/i><\/p>\n These people killed Uche. Their hate, their fear, their unprovoked violence. They.<\/p>\n (He.)<\/p>\n Killed your son.<\/p>\n (Jija killed your son.)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Oh, these little asides, these internal voices\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 ugh. IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S SO GOOD. Because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not like Essun feels overjoyed or relieved by what she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s done. In fact, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the opposite. It broke my heart to see her blame herself<\/i> for Uche\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s death; if she had just not been his mother, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d still be alive. Which isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t fair to herself, of course, but remember, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so much grief mixed up in the rage. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a grief based on the societal, systemic hatred that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lived with, too, and it fucking HURT to read that.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know if this is Jemisin writing about the notion of self-hatred and how oppressive worlds can cause us to feel this way about who we are, but it resonated with me in that context. Guess what? A lot of us who have lived in a world that hates us have learned to hate ourselves, to blame ourselves for what the world does to us.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Is that how Essun will feel by the end of this novel? This series<\/i>? Actually\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 given the POV shifting in Inheritance<\/i>, I probably shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t assume Essun is the main character the whole time. AH. Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t wait to read more of this. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so immediately incredible!<\/p>\n NOTES<\/b><\/p>\n Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n – You can now pre-order my second YA novel, Each of Us a Desert<\/i>, which will be released on September 15, 2020 from Tor Teen!<\/a> In the third chapter of The Fifth Season, Essun seeks out the headman to find her husband, and then makes a life-altering, split-second decision. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read The Broken Earth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569,570],"tags":[571,572],"class_list":["post-5214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-broken-earth","category-the-fifth-season","tag-mark-reads-the-broken-earth","tag-nkjemisin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5214\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\n– Not only that, but my very first pre-order campaign is now live for North American readers! If you submit proof of pre-order, you can get a limited edition print that comes with the book<\/a>.
\n<\/strong>– If you’d like to stay up-to-date on all announcements regarding my books, sign up for my newsletter<\/a>! DO IT.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"