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sunnyskywalkerWhy read-through?
Chapter One
Chapter Seven
My disappointment about gender roles on BSG lately reminded me of my disappointment about gender roles in another beloved 'verse, and I realized I've been remiss in continuing myexorcism read-through of The Courtship of Princess Leia. I still cannot give up on this book. Chapter Eight has the setup for a great confrontation, some nice moments contrasting the past and present of the relationship, and a few funny bits and good one-liners. There's just the little problem of kidnapping and mind-control being presented as an excess of romantic devotion. And the occasional splash of purple (or stupid). Maybe Wolverton was trying to make his readers share Han's and Leia's frustration by making his book act like a really frustrating SO you just can't bring yourself to dump?
Looking back, I am shocked to see how much longer (too long) the earlier chapter reviews are. This one is much more readable.
- Leia wakes up in the Falcon's smuggling compartment, irate that someone is still out there swigging Polyjuice and impersonating her. Maybe she can escape now that the Imperius has worn off.
- No, wait. I mean that after three days, the Yeerk in her head has died, and Leia realizes that Han's behavior was an act to lull the Yeerk into a false sense of security until he could lock her up to save her.
- Okay, okay. The real story is that Han is a mind-controlling, kidnapping jackass. We are supposed to think this shows the depth of his love and desperation. Unfortunately for Wolverton, I don't find this at all romantic. I'm more worried about what would have happened if Chewie and Threepio hadn't heard Leia shouting after she broke her air exchanger.
- Blah blah blah Leia doesn't trust the Falcon because it's always breaking and the three droid brains bicker and sabotage each other. Wait, what? I don't believe Han would let his ship's brains sabotage his beloved ship. Dave, it is just not worth it to wade through irrelevant details of the Falcon's floor plan for a not-so-subtle metaphorical commentary on relationships.
- Threepio said, "Princess Leia Organa, why are you hiding in there?" "I've come to kill Han," Leia said, "and this is the only way I could sneak aboard the ship." Ahaha! I will give Dave credit for having great one-liners. Too bad he continues with, "What do you think I'm doing here, you turbopowered dummy, Han kidnapped me!" Dummy? Welcome back to first grade.
- Chewie offers to beat Han. Leia wants to shoot Han with the Gun of Command. I'm with Wash: "Can I make a suggestion that doesn't involve violence? Or is this the wrong crowd?"
- Han wants Leia to spend seven days with him, because he thinks their love is "something special, something I would gladly die for." If she doesn't fall back in love with him, he'll take her back to Coruscant. Yeah, because seven days is plenty of time to get over the whole drugging-and-kidnapping thing! That'll sure convince a girl to marry you! He also says he won't "let" her throw away their future and calls Isolder "some other prince." The "romance" is killing me.
- Now that she thought about it, he had only seemed reckless because he so often risked his life for her. And for himself, and Chewie, and Luke, and the Rebellion, and for kicks... Han would almost throw it away for her whim. What she had once deemed an almost inhuman courage was really a sign of his unflagging devotion. Or, you know, codependency and insanity. Whichever. His "unflagging devotion" also prompted him to violate her mind with the Gun of Plot Device.
- And Leia felt her heart pounding in fear at the thought that someone could love her that much. This is a nice, relatively subtle indication of Leia's low sense of self-worth. Too bad it comes during Han's Anakin-like phase of psychotic attachment. So I am not that happy that Leia agrees to the deal.
- Luke's Supah Powaz tell him Leia is not in the Roche system the instant he leaves hyperspace.
- The NR ambassador is busy and can't be bothered to care about little things like Leia getting kidnapped days ago. Really, what's the big deal? It's only a little kidnapping. Of one high-profile figure by another. During negotiations with a scary powerful nation that is now mightily pissed. No reason to worry at all.
- Luke is "puzzled" at the ambassador's rude treatment and guesses he didn't know who Luke was. I didn't think he was that rude. He took time out of his busy schedule to tell some random schmuck (as far as he knew) about the rumors surrounding the kidnapping. On the other hand, I guess you would expect an ambassador to be polite. Either way, Luke sure has gotten used to special treatment.
- Han is trying to make a fancy candlelit dinner. Open flames in a tiny spaceship sounds like a bad idea.
- I almost wish we could have seen Han shopping for the fancy food to bring on this trip. "I know! How about tongue?" I'm sure tongue is a delicacy in some places, but blech.
- Han says mating is probably easier for Chewie, who could probably just bite a girl on the neck and drag her back to his tree. Han, just shut the frak up.
- Leia acts snotty, calling for dinner before her blood sugar drops too low and asking Han to slice the tongue for her. She's totally justified in being nasty to him, I think. On the other hand, it isn't that much different from her behavior earlier in the book. No wonder Han accuses her of being too used to having servants around.
- Not that Han is any better in this scene. He doesn't get why she hasn't warmed up to him after he's been cooking and cleaning for her for four days. Give me a minute. I'm sure I'll think of something.
- "madder than you should be"? I beg to differ, Han.
- I do very much like his brief memory of them sharing rations on a battlefield contrasted to the present, though. It's a natural, unobtrusive way to show how things have changed, and another hint that they don't know how to handle life after the war.
- Another good spot: Leia says that by kidnapping her and running off, Han has betrayed the New Republic. Finally, a good point! She says he has to uphold his iconic image as Hero, which is kind of a good point but also dangerous (trying to be what people expect is tricky, and really bad if you don't notice their expectations are bad). But it's a good insight into her state of mind.
- But then Han promises to be and act however she wants, forever, and something in her features softened. You mean all this time she has wanted him to be submissive and have no personality of his own? Ugh. No wonder she thinks Hapes sounds so great. Yay sexism and dictatorship!
- Dathomir is swarming with Imperial ships. Han trying to smooth-talk the flight controller is kind of funny, and it sounds in-character for once. (I really had to giggle earlier, trying to imagine Han saying, "I refuse to be bound by anyone's preconceived images of me.")
- The signal jammers fry the navcomputer and the hyperdrive. Oops. Some lasers in space, Han is clever about TIE fighters' design flaws, they hide in a Frigate and plan to ride down to the surface undetected, and we get some ESB-style snarky banter. Only the banter feels less light-spirited than ESB because they've been so horrible to each other in this book.
- Leia's Force-visions sound like emo teen poetry: "I see... drops of blood on a white tablecloth. No--more like sunspots, black against the brilliance. Only the black spots are filthier than that--loathsome..."
- "Oh, Han, we can't go down there! It's like a bad early-nineties TV show!"
Sigh. Is wanting a romance that does not follow the "Pamela and Mr B" model too much to ask? I do so prefer my romances without helpless damsels, the use of force, blatant gender stereotypes, and the occasional touch of Stockholm Syndrome. But if you're like me and want to keep reading anyway, follow the Force to Chapter Nine.
Chapter One
Chapter Seven
My disappointment about gender roles on BSG lately reminded me of my disappointment about gender roles in another beloved 'verse, and I realized I've been remiss in continuing my
Looking back, I am shocked to see how much longer (too long) the earlier chapter reviews are. This one is much more readable.
- Leia wakes up in the Falcon's smuggling compartment, irate that someone is still out there swigging Polyjuice and impersonating her. Maybe she can escape now that the Imperius has worn off.
- No, wait. I mean that after three days, the Yeerk in her head has died, and Leia realizes that Han's behavior was an act to lull the Yeerk into a false sense of security until he could lock her up to save her.
- Okay, okay. The real story is that Han is a mind-controlling, kidnapping jackass. We are supposed to think this shows the depth of his love and desperation. Unfortunately for Wolverton, I don't find this at all romantic. I'm more worried about what would have happened if Chewie and Threepio hadn't heard Leia shouting after she broke her air exchanger.
- Blah blah blah Leia doesn't trust the Falcon because it's always breaking and the three droid brains bicker and sabotage each other. Wait, what? I don't believe Han would let his ship's brains sabotage his beloved ship. Dave, it is just not worth it to wade through irrelevant details of the Falcon's floor plan for a not-so-subtle metaphorical commentary on relationships.
- Threepio said, "Princess Leia Organa, why are you hiding in there?" "I've come to kill Han," Leia said, "and this is the only way I could sneak aboard the ship." Ahaha! I will give Dave credit for having great one-liners. Too bad he continues with, "What do you think I'm doing here, you turbopowered dummy, Han kidnapped me!" Dummy? Welcome back to first grade.
- Chewie offers to beat Han. Leia wants to shoot Han with the Gun of Command. I'm with Wash: "Can I make a suggestion that doesn't involve violence? Or is this the wrong crowd?"
- Han wants Leia to spend seven days with him, because he thinks their love is "something special, something I would gladly die for." If she doesn't fall back in love with him, he'll take her back to Coruscant. Yeah, because seven days is plenty of time to get over the whole drugging-and-kidnapping thing! That'll sure convince a girl to marry you! He also says he won't "let" her throw away their future and calls Isolder "some other prince." The "romance" is killing me.
- Now that she thought about it, he had only seemed reckless because he so often risked his life for her. And for himself, and Chewie, and Luke, and the Rebellion, and for kicks... Han would almost throw it away for her whim. What she had once deemed an almost inhuman courage was really a sign of his unflagging devotion. Or, you know, codependency and insanity. Whichever. His "unflagging devotion" also prompted him to violate her mind with the Gun of Plot Device.
- And Leia felt her heart pounding in fear at the thought that someone could love her that much. This is a nice, relatively subtle indication of Leia's low sense of self-worth. Too bad it comes during Han's Anakin-like phase of psychotic attachment. So I am not that happy that Leia agrees to the deal.
- Luke's Supah Powaz tell him Leia is not in the Roche system the instant he leaves hyperspace.
- The NR ambassador is busy and can't be bothered to care about little things like Leia getting kidnapped days ago. Really, what's the big deal? It's only a little kidnapping. Of one high-profile figure by another. During negotiations with a scary powerful nation that is now mightily pissed. No reason to worry at all.
- Luke is "puzzled" at the ambassador's rude treatment and guesses he didn't know who Luke was. I didn't think he was that rude. He took time out of his busy schedule to tell some random schmuck (as far as he knew) about the rumors surrounding the kidnapping. On the other hand, I guess you would expect an ambassador to be polite. Either way, Luke sure has gotten used to special treatment.
- Han is trying to make a fancy candlelit dinner. Open flames in a tiny spaceship sounds like a bad idea.
- I almost wish we could have seen Han shopping for the fancy food to bring on this trip. "I know! How about tongue?" I'm sure tongue is a delicacy in some places, but blech.
- Han says mating is probably easier for Chewie, who could probably just bite a girl on the neck and drag her back to his tree. Han, just shut the frak up.
- Leia acts snotty, calling for dinner before her blood sugar drops too low and asking Han to slice the tongue for her. She's totally justified in being nasty to him, I think. On the other hand, it isn't that much different from her behavior earlier in the book. No wonder Han accuses her of being too used to having servants around.
- Not that Han is any better in this scene. He doesn't get why she hasn't warmed up to him after he's been cooking and cleaning for her for four days. Give me a minute. I'm sure I'll think of something.
- "madder than you should be"? I beg to differ, Han.
- I do very much like his brief memory of them sharing rations on a battlefield contrasted to the present, though. It's a natural, unobtrusive way to show how things have changed, and another hint that they don't know how to handle life after the war.
- Another good spot: Leia says that by kidnapping her and running off, Han has betrayed the New Republic. Finally, a good point! She says he has to uphold his iconic image as Hero, which is kind of a good point but also dangerous (trying to be what people expect is tricky, and really bad if you don't notice their expectations are bad). But it's a good insight into her state of mind.
- But then Han promises to be and act however she wants, forever, and something in her features softened. You mean all this time she has wanted him to be submissive and have no personality of his own? Ugh. No wonder she thinks Hapes sounds so great. Yay sexism and dictatorship!
- Dathomir is swarming with Imperial ships. Han trying to smooth-talk the flight controller is kind of funny, and it sounds in-character for once. (I really had to giggle earlier, trying to imagine Han saying, "I refuse to be bound by anyone's preconceived images of me.")
- The signal jammers fry the navcomputer and the hyperdrive. Oops. Some lasers in space, Han is clever about TIE fighters' design flaws, they hide in a Frigate and plan to ride down to the surface undetected, and we get some ESB-style snarky banter. Only the banter feels less light-spirited than ESB because they've been so horrible to each other in this book.
- Leia's Force-visions sound like emo teen poetry: "I see... drops of blood on a white tablecloth. No--more like sunspots, black against the brilliance. Only the black spots are filthier than that--loathsome..."
- "Oh, Han, we can't go down there! It's like a bad early-nineties TV show!"
Sigh. Is wanting a romance that does not follow the "Pamela and Mr B" model too much to ask? I do so prefer my romances without helpless damsels, the use of force, blatant gender stereotypes, and the occasional touch of Stockholm Syndrome. But if you're like me and want to keep reading anyway, follow the Force to Chapter Nine.
