Imaginary Interviewer: Another month, another book! What are you reading for June?
Me: Next up is 'The Mists of Avalon', a fantasy novel about the Arthurian story by Marion Zimmer Bradley.
II: What can you tell us about it?
Me: To be completely honest, I knew nothing about this book before we started with the list. I'm not sure I'd ever heard of it before. If I saw it in a bookstore, I scanned past it. As I said, though, it's King Arthur time in Great Britain but told differently than before.
II: How so?
Me: It's told through the perspective of the various women in the story. This means that it is a feminist telling. (I'm sure this is true through one of the early waves of feminism but I'm not fluent enough in them to know if modern feminists care for the story.) But whatever the lens, it's incredibly good.
II: You hadn't read it before?
Me: No. I usually start the books early so that I can be prepared before the month starts. Because of the size of this one, I started earlier than usual. I have found the story to be engrossing and an absolute pleasure to read. But it is a big book. According to my spreadsheet, it's the sixth biggest one on the list. In addition to page count, I'm not finding it to be a fast read. But I don't want to push people away from it. This has been a great reading experience.
II: That's good. What do you know about the author?
Me: Um, this is usually the place where I talk about literary awards and the like but MZB has something that overshadows the boring biography bits. The timeline is something like this:
1983: 'Mists of Avalon' is published. Big success, lot of sales and a TV mini-series.
1999: MZB dies.
2014: MZB's daughter alleges child sex abuse and assistance in child sex abuse. The allegations seem credible.
II: Wow!
Me: I know! Her daughter said that she didn't speak out earlier because she knew that her mom's work meant so much to so many women. I can completely understand that point.
II: Will you still read her?
Me: I'm a strong believer in focusing on the art, not the artist. Despite the awful secret in her life, MZB has written a wonderful book. I hope everyone will give it a shot.
