Book Review: Chime (Franny Billingsley)

Book Cover

Since her stepmother's recent death, 17-year-old Briony Larkin knows that if she can keep two secrets- that she is a witch and that she is responsible for the accident that left Rose, her identical twin, mentally compromised- and remember to hate herself always, no other harm will befall her family in their Swampsea parsonage at the beginning of the twentieth century.

The arrival of Mr. Claybourne, a city engineer, and his university-dropout son, Eldric, makes Briony's task difficult. My. Claybourne's plan to drain the swamp has made the Old Ones unhappy, particularly the Boggy Mun, who has plagued the village's children with swamp cough in retaliation. When Rose's lingering illness turns into a cough, Briony knows that she must do whatever it takes, even revealing her secrets, to save her sister.

While thwarting the advances of an arsenic-addicted suitor, Briony must also deny her feelings for Elric, even as he helps her solve the puzzle that has become her life.

I initially thought that this was a retelling (I'm a bit drawn to retelling at that moment) and was just about convinced when I saw that Briony had a stepmother. But the stepmother died and she has a sister and the 'prince' was a university dropout and she had a suitor named Cecil. I wouldn't really peg this as a retelling since I cant't seem to think of ny fairy tale which I could compare this to.

Despite the misconception/ conflict with my initial impression, I found the book rather enjoyable and it swept me across the conflicts that when the conclusion arrives, I was surprised with the turn of events. I felt deceived with the revelations (which what Briony might have felt had not the truth liberated her). That Briony, who was full of self-loathing and penance, was actually living a lie. It was for a fact that she was partially responsible for her stepmother's death but there are secrets just as well that made that death sort of significant. I loved how Briony's character made her sympathetic rather than pathetic - as most people with self-loathing actually portray.

The only drawback that I've had with reading the book, were the imagery conjured by the unearthly beings being described. That could be accounted by my lack of patience in perceiving details and it's sad to say that this is one that didn't do better in describing. //