"Secreted away in a garden, a lonely girl spins stories to warm a curious prince: peculiar feats and unspeakable fates that loop through each other and back again to meet in the tapestry of her voice. Inked on her eyelids, each twisting, tattooed tale is a piece in the puzzle of the girl's own hidden history." - Goodreads
The Orphan's Tales is a singular story, with a narrative style unlike anything I've ever read. The writing was so spellbinding that I had to shut my eyes the moment I finished the book, to hold in my mind Catherynne Valente's beautiful prose and the captivating world she'd built, as if opening my eyes would mean letting the words escape.
Initially, I began the book with no idea what I was going into; having already read Deathless (by Valente) I was familiar with her prose and a fan. All I knew of The Orphan's Tales was that it was a very large book that spanned a number of stories, and involved fairytales- so, for a lover of fairytales and multi-narrative tales, the book was a dream.
The narrative is told as a story-within-a-story, in that it begins with a single tale-- told by the eponymous Orphan, who has been cursed to hold a thousand stories tattooed on her eyelids-- and then delves into a new tale. As each character is introduced they have their own story to tell. The novel is a tapestry of stories, delving deeper and deeper, layer upon layer. I think the reason it took me so long to read this book was because as each story ended and a new tale begun, it was almost a break in the action and I felt myself detach from the story-- the one that had just been told, and the story overall. With each new character, I would sometimes lose the thread of the larger story and forget previous characters mentioned; it is a book to be read slowly, with time lovingly spent immersed within a characters' own narrative.
The Orphan's Tales is about many things; the power of stories, adventure, reinventing fairytales and myths, magic. Telling a story is a tool; a story bridges the gap between strangers; it emboldens; it is a warm flame in the dark. The characters in the novel- from the Griffin, to the Marsh King, to the Orphan herself- share stories as a way to reach out, to explain, to find empathy.
Catherynne Valente takes the fairytales we know and tears them apart, subverting every idea and trope and makes them into something darker, seductive, and captivating. When in our imaginations did the word satyr come to mean a goat-man? When did we agree that a Selkie must be a woman? Why does magic mean power? Why can't sons be beauties and daughters be warriors? In The Orphan's Tales, they can. Valente explores feminist ideologies in such subtle, clever ways. The female characters that would be so often demonized in other stories and stripped of their autonomy are given a voice; particular favourites of mine are Magadin, Knife, Saint Sigrid, and the Orphan herself.
The writing sometimes was too rich and description-heavy, much more sprawling and unconstrained in comparison to Deathless, but for the tapestry of voices and stories within the novel, the prose was well-suited and spun beautifully, creating a vivid world on the pages.
I am very excited to pick up the sequel of this book- I have already read that it features some characters from this book, and resolves many tales left unfinished. I continue to be in awe of Catherynne and her writing. The Orphan's Tales showcases her usual skill at storytelling, and enchanting characters.
Rating: ★★★★★ (5/5)
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