Tam Lin

Title: Tam Lin
Author: Pamela Dean
(C)1991
Publisher: Firebird
ISBN:978-0142406526
480 pp.

I would like to apologize to anyone who actually reads this blog. When school starts my life gets a little hectic for a while. It isn't really slowing down (that won't happen until at least February) but it's getting a little more balanced now that the Harvest Party is behind us.

I am never without a book, but honestly, I haven't read much worth telling about. My friend Steph got me hooked on this series of books by Catherine Anderson. They're romance novels, so they're quick reads with a fairly predictable plot and ending. I'm enjoying them, but they just aren't worth talking about at any length.

Then there's Tam Lin by Pamela Dean. I just don't know what it is about this book. I can't seem to get through it. Apparently it's a "cult classic", a modern day telling of one of my favorite ballads.

I can connect to the setting easily; a small private college in the middle of Minnesota. It sounds a bit like the place where I went to college, except that it focuses more on liberal arts than my Alma mater did. Our main heroin, Janet, and hero, Thomas are just...I DON'T KNOW, but I don't like them. And the rest of them...sheesh! There are too many characters running helter skelter all over this book and I can never figure out who's supposed to be with who or why or wherefore!

Maybe it's the time period. It's set in the seventies. I wasn't born then. I grew up nearly two full decades later! And yet, it's not as if they're discussing anything that I shouldn't be able to relate to. Ms. Dean doesn't delve into American history all that much during the story. Instead she focuses her attention on classics...particularly Shakespeare (yeah, there's a good reason for that).

So herein lies the trouble...I can read the book and tell you what happened. Anyone can do that, and that's not really what I want to do with this blog. If you want to truly enjoy a book, I feel like you need to connect with the characters on an emotional level. That's something I just can't seem to do here, so I'm giving up.

Maybe I'll pick it up again in a few years and I'll feel differently. You never know, stranger things have happened.

If you've read it and enjoyed it (or not), I'd dearly like to know your thoughts.