From: "Nigel Price" 
Subject: RE: (urth) General opinion of Pandora
Date: Sun, 19 May 2002 05:51:39 +0100

For what it's worth, I really like "Pandora". I think it's charming.

I like it as a detective story, I like it as a mildly satirical Nancy Drew
pastiche, and I like it as a gently almost-magical evocation of the area
where GW actually lives. I like the way that GW changes the names of local
towns and suburbs without really changing them, sometimes slightly altering
them, sometimes, as in "Dawn" for "Aurora", substituting their meaning for
their name, as in the "Soldier" books. I like the subtle intrusion of a
shaping mythological framework, where the meaning of the myth is itself a
detective story, with the different versions and interpretations of the myth
competing in the manner of possible suspects in a murder mystery. I like the
way that the romance between Holly and Aladin is done. His house and his
household always seem slightly magical to me. His way of life is in stark
contrast to Holly's privileged existence and her discovery of an alternative
mode of living right in the middle of the area where she lives has always
seemed to me somehow analogous to discovering the world of Faerie in the
woods at the bottom of your garden.

On a personal and highly subjective note, "Pandora" always strikes me as a
book written by a man who has and loves his daughters. For sentimental
reasons, that appeals to me.

I make no claims for this as a great book, but I do find it a very likeable
one. It's a light book, and light books are difficult to do well. I think
that GW has written this well.

Nigel


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