Yume No Hon: The Book of Dreams
Author: Catherynne M. ValenteRating: 5/5 Stars
Reviewer: Todd
Summary: In the mind of Ayako, an old woman in exile on a mountain in medieval Japan, nothing is certain, and nothing holds a familiar shape for long. This is a map of a psyche exalted and destroyed by solitude, and on its contorted surface Shinto philosophy, Greek mathematics, Hawaiian goddesses, Egyptian legend, quantum physics, and Babylonian myth meet and merge... In Catherynne M. Valente's second novel since the critically acclaimed The Labyrinth, language and myth construct a strange new geography of the self. This is The Book of Dreams: open it and walk the shadowy paths of this extraordinary landscape
Review: This isn't the type of book that's easily described.
It begins as if it’ll be an exploration of the world though a mad woman’s eyes, but that deception soon fades. The story is an exploration of the collective unconscious and spirituality, as the dreams of Ayako embody and surpass the constraints of the archetypes that they are in myth.
It is a moving tale that keeps you questioning what reality is and what is the waking dream of madness that belongs to Ayako. But the answer never truly comes; instead we are given the sense that all can be as true as it is false. This is a wonderful read; one that can be read quickly and with something new possibly waiting for you to find it with each new turn of the page.
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