REVIEW: The Two Pearls of Wisdom by Alison Goodman
The Two Pearls of Wisdom – Alison Goodman
HarperCollins, 2008
448 pages
RRP: AU$32.99
ISBN: 9780732288006
Reviewed by Kate Smith
Two Pearls of Wisdom was an interesting novel to read but one that had this reader in two minds when considering several aspects of the tale. The story is a very interesting premise and one that to begin with draws the reader in. The first part of the tale, the description of the life of a young girl pretending to be a boy and trying to complete a taxing training regime, is well told. While it may initially feel as though the story is familiar – young girl pretending to be a boy and risking huge penalties if she is discovered – the reader should stay with it and allow the tale to develop. The middle part of the story was not as captivating as the beginning, however, but the ending was good and the reader is well-prepared for the next novel in the series. As a standalone novel the ending was too abrupt and I was frustrated at not being able to continue the story.
While I did enjoy reading this book, I also had a few problems with it. Firstly, the central message of the story appears to be that of being true to who you really are. While this is important, certainly, there was no subtlety in how it was presented to the reader. A younger reader may take longer to pick up on this primary idea, but the adult reader may find their reading of the novel compromised by the way they are slapped around the head with it. Secondly, the history student in me found itself hung up on the location of the story. It would, perhaps, have been better to ensure that the reader was aware ahead of beginning the tale that this was not supposed to be realistic China but a variation of that. Lastly, there were several aspects of the events the central female character experienced which I felt were awkwardly dealt with by the author, one of which was the complexity of the situation she found herself to be in. At times the author made decisions sound simple when they would have been anything but, and at other times the reverse. This novel has a lot of potential yet this reader finished the novel feeling cheated somehow by the manner of the telling.
Having said that, I would very happily read the next book, The Necklace of the Gods on its publication. The story of the central character is far from over and while there were issues which disrupted my enjoyment of the text, I am too interested in the continuation of the tale to leave it incomplete.
