The Other Side of the Sun by Madeleine L'Engle

The Other Side of the Sun by Madeleine L'Engle
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5/5.0 stars - nothing like any other Madeleine L'Engle book I have previously read. I kept thinking Gothic novel while reading this, so I looked up the elements and found:
1. Setting in a castle or old mansion. The action takes place in and around an old castle or an old mansion, or the ruins of an old castle or mansion. The castle often contains secret passages, trap doors, secret rooms, trick panels with hidden levers, dark or hidden staircases, and possibly ruined sections. This describes the family home, Illyria, with its hidden rooms and dark secrets.

2. An atmosphere of mystery and suspense.The work is pervaded by a threatening feeling, a fear enhanced by the unknown. The Dark Riders and the White Riders threaten the sanctity of life.

3. An ancient prophecy is connected with the castle or its inhabitants (either former or present). Not so much prophecy, but journals that tell parts of the dark past.
4. Omens, portents, visions. A character may have a disturbing dream vision, or some phenomenon may be seen as a portent of coming events. Honoria and Belle can both see the future.
5. Supernatural or otherwise inexplicable events. I can't really think of examples of this, except for when they kidnap Stella and perform rituals.
6. High, even overwrought emotion. The aunts.
7. Women in distress. A lonely, pensive, and oppressed heroine is often the central figure of the novel, so her sufferings are even more pronounced and the focus of attention. The women suffer all the more because they are often abandoned.Stella is kidnapped several times in one night, and her life is endangered. She has been "abandoned" by her husband, through no fault of his own, who is on a mission for the government.
8. Women threatened by a powerful, impulsive, tyrannical male. Tron, among others.
9. The metonymy of gloom and horror. Lots of dark and stormy nights.
Fall Reading Challenge: November/4. November Birthday: C.S. Lewis and Madeleine L'Engle/c. Read a book written by either C.S. Lewis or Madeleine L'Engle.
Book 139 of 2020.


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