By Julie Sara Porter,
Bookworm Reviews
Spoilers: The Heroines by Eileen Favorite could be considered every book lover's dream. But in some ways it could also be every book lover's nightmare. It portrays a world in which female literary characters take a break from their story lines and relax inside a Bed & Breakfast.
The Prairie Homestead, owned by Anne-Marie Entwhistle, is the go-to place where literary heroines arrive to get some tea and sympathy from its proprietor and snorts of derision from her daughter, Penny. It is the type of place where, on any given day, Emma Bovary could arrive in tears about Rodolphe deserting her. Where Daisy Buchanan takes long baths after she kills Myrtle Wilson with her car. Where Ophelia lounges on the hammock outside and mourns her deceased father, Polonoius.
For Anne-Marie, this is a great privilege as she welcomes the Heroines with open arms. She has a few set rules such as keeping her vast private library locked so the Heroines never accidentally learn of their fates. ("The last thing (Anne-Marie) wanted was for Anna Karenina to accidentally discover that she was bound to take her life on the railroad tracks," Penny explains in her narration.) She also doesn't let the Heroines know about their fate. She just offers nods of sympathy, non-committed, "Yes I see"s or analytic "What do you think you should do?"'s to the Heroines as they bemoan their fates that their authors put them in.
Favorite captures the interactions between Anne-Marie and the Heroines well. One of the interesting aspects of the Heroines is how non-eventful and anti-climactic their arrivals are. They don't appear out of some magical vortex, dressed in period appropriate clothes, and yell at modern conveniences like wondering how the tiny people got inside the television sets. They appear in ordinary clothing and sign into the register like any other guests. In fact Penny and Anne-Marie are unaware that the women are literary characters until they start talking about events in the book.
Anne-Marie takes their arrivals in stride offering rooms and continental breakfasts with no amazement or surprise. Of course she has been seeing the Heroines since she was five years old and first met Rapunzel, so this is bound to be a regular occurrence to her.
Favorite also captures the Heroines' verbal cues and more elevated language rather well like they are characters still trapped in their own time periods, their problems, and situations. Hester Prynne soothes her sobbing daughter Pearl and apologizes to Anne-Marie by saying, "I am truly sorry, mistress. Pearl, thou art a disgrace to me." Franny Glass lies on the Homestead sofa and recites the Jesus Prayer to block out Anne-Marie's feminist rants and declares "Power's an illusion. Often power and wisdom are revealed through the most lowly-the poorer and children." They may have changed locations and are wearing modern wardrobe, but they can't stop being who they are.
Favorite also captures the adolescent angst of Anne-Marie's daughter, Penny. Penny is irritated by the Heroines' arrival because she feels they get their mother's attention. Many of their arguments are based on the Heroines such as when Penny tries to warn Emma Bovary to go back to her husband which only results in her mother's slap. Penny also is angry when she believes that her mother puts the Heroines' needs above her own such as giving Dierdre, a character from Irish Mythology, her room. Favorite captures those vulnerable times when a teenage girl begins to feel sexual urges for the first time and has to deal with her developing body. Just when she needs her parents the most, but acts like she doesn't. (And in Penny's case, when she feels abandoned by her mother the most, because of her concern for the Heroines.)
At Penny's most vulnerable moment is when she encounters for the first time, a male character driven to take back a Heroine in this case, Dierdre's husband, Connor. Even though Penny has a definite Villain vibe about him, she is drawn by his raw sexuality, handsome looks, and roguish charm. She is also a young girl alone in the woods and definitely has some naughty thoughts about the handsome Irish king in front of her. She offers to "help" him by getting Dierdre hoping to get some alone time with the man. In the typical mother-daughter interaction, Penny believes her mother "doesn't understand" Penny's attraction to Bad Boy, Connor but we Readers later discover that through Anne-Marie's youthful infatuation with another literary Bad Boy, Wuthering Heights' Heathcliff, she understands more than Penny is aware.
Talking to and befriending literary characters seems like a plum dream come to true, but Favorite also refers to the responsibilities of living such as life: that they can't let anyone know about it. Penny realizes this too late when Anne-Marie consents to having Penny institutionalized after she accidentally reveals the family secret to the police. She also tells another patient in the (very scary and underfunded) Unit for mentally ill girls. The patient cruelly mocks her in a Group meeting. Penny seriously wonders if she and her mother aren't a little crazy imagining this scenario of literary characters. Thankfully a rescue from her friend, Albie and Connor (who sees and speaks to Connor) convinces Penny that she and her mother aren't the only ones that see and interact with literary characters. This plus a later conversation between Connor, Anne-Marie, and a police officer (which brings a finality to Dierdre and Connor's fates) shows that a life of befriending literary characters can bring its own share of stress and trauma in trying to change the characters' fates as well as the Entwhistle's.
The Heroines is a wonderful book in which Eileen Favorite explored some strong female characters both hers and other author's. She captures their interactions and friendships as well as the love between mother and daughter. It is the type of book that isn't afraid to ask "WWSD" "What Would Scarlett (as in O'Hara) Do?"
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