Anima Rising, by Christopher Moore *spoilers *
This book asks: What if the story of Frankenstein ran into the art scene in pre WWI Vienna, snagging the father's of psychoanalysis along the way?
And throws in mythology, trickster gods and a dog named Geoff for goos measure.
This was my favorite book of last year.
There are very few of Moore's books that aren't a home run for me, but this one is in the realm of the Fool series.
Moore always writes strong woman characters, they are funny and usually the reasonable center of of the story, even when they aren't they are seldom the the engine of silliness (possible exception being Abby in the vampire books).
This one is different, Judith and Wally are both strong and smart and goofy as all get out.
Judith is more in line with Pocket than she is with a character like Julliet from Sacre Bleu.
Pocket is a rascal with humor shaped by a varied and often painful life. He survives by his wits and his humor, but he can and does do dumb things. His humor is both in born and taught, he is a performer under it all. Judith spends much of the book in an in-between space of remembering her past and trying to figure out her future. She is funny and a little dingy but still self assured and intelligent.
Wally has had to do what she has had to do to make it. She is practical and pragmatic smart beyond her 17 years, but still positive and happy she balances doing what she needs to with the wild potential of still figuring out what she wants to be when she grows up.
Together, they model, and navigate various weirdness.
Honestly while Judith reminds me of Pocket, the story feels a little like if we flipped the perspective of Sacre Bleu.
In Bleu we followed artists and how they get inspiration, Anima Rising follows the models.
And seeing how Wally navigates the moody artists and still stays herself is really interesting. Judith as a model is sort of insedetal because the big thing is her finding out who she is and how. She is basically the perfect subject for Freud and Jung.
A blank slate for Freud to impose his theories onto, an uncomfortable confirmation for Jung.
Judith perceiving that Freud is judging and looking down on her is perfect because she accepts his help to learn about her past without internalizing his bullshit. Her interactions with Jung are warmer and more collaborative, but that makes sense considering that she is the unintentional personification of the collective unconscious.
I love that we see the early stages of psychoanalysis through the lens of this slightly buggy woman!
Unlike in Sacre Bleu, where art was the focus, in this one art is in the background d and only a couple of artists are main characters.
Gustav Klimt in this book is basically a kind and slightly bumbling person. He gives money freely and willingly takes care of anyone in his life. Now, granted he has four kids around the city that he is supporting but not raising, the impression, though is this is less through a lack of responsibility and more a lack of focus on anything but art and it was generally known that if a woman modeled for Klimt it was a given that she was willing to share his bed. Though on the book this is not the case for Judith.
There are some uncomfortable elements of the book. After all, when writing about actual people and actual lives, you can't ignore parts that don't fit with the current culture. The age of consent in Vienna at the time was 14, that is too young, but that's what it was, and it does come up in the story where Klimt and other artists are concerned.
Sexual assault is also in this book, but it isn't described in detail and is used as another layer to the horror of the events.
I really like using Frankenstein as a framing device.
I like Frankenstein, but it has never been one of my favorites
I like how Moore takes the story and turns it a tad sideways. I know that in most readings, the monster is the sympathetic character and that works. Moore takes it in a different direction. The monster is miserable, not because he is lonely, not because he has been rejected, but because he is not supposed to exist. Adam is definitely one of the villains in the book, he has no redeeming qualities and lives in torment because he has no soul. He doesn't want a companion to be happy, he wants someone to live in torment with him, even if he has to make her hell himself.
Frankenstein on the other hand isn't as visibly evil, but his casual disregard for human life as long as it wasn't someone close to him is evident. And Judith is just caught up in allnof this mess trying to make the best of things.
All in all, the blending genres, humor, psychoanalysis, mythology and culture make a book that manages to be thoughtful, funny, and deeply satisfying. When everything wraps up, bad guys have been punished and our heroines have found purpose and peace.
