The Lives Of Christopher Chant (1998) - Plot & Excerpts
Eu acredito que li quando era mais nova um ou outro volume da série Crestomanci, mas confesso que não lembro de nada. Sei que o conheci à mesma época em que estava folheando meus primeiros Pratchett na Nobel, e que um pouco depois disso descobri o brilhante O Castelo Animado, que é da mesma autora. Aliás, curiosidade: a Jones foi aluna de Tolkien e Lewis em Oxford e professora da Rowling. Mundinho pequeno, não?Minha edição é uma que vem com os quatro volumes juntos, mas aqui no Brasil elas foram publicadas em separado e falarei um pouquinho sobre cada um dos livros, começando por Vida Encantada.Nesse primeiro volume, somos apresentados a Eric “Gato” Chant, um garoto aparentemente comum que está sempre seguindo e obedecendo sua irmã mais velha, Gwendolen, uma bruxa brilhante e extremamente talentosa. Os dois ficam órfãos e acabam indo morar no castelo de Crestomanci, um poderoso e mais que temido mago.Gwendolen tenta de todas as formas chamar a atenção de Crestomanci, de fazê-lo reconhecer seu talento – tornando-se progressivamente mais agressiva. Mas nada do que faz é capaz de forçar Crestomanci a notá-la e isso vai fazendo-a ficar mais e mais furiosa.Enquanto isso, Eric assiste a tudo sem poder fazer nada – para além do fato de que não aparenta ter qualquer poder, ele foi dominado a vida inteira por Gwendolen. Só que existe algo bem mais sombrio por trás dos acontecimentos que sua irmã põe em marcha – acontecimentos que afetam Eric bem mais do que ele imagina.Cá entre nós, Gwendolen é não apenas um porre, como uma forte candidata a vilã do ano. Ela é desnecessariamente cruel e sem qualquer tipo de escrúpulo, o quase exato oposto de Eric.O segundo volume do quarteto – embora aqui no Brasil ele tenha sido publicado como o quarto título da série – é A Semana dos Bruxos. A primeira coisa a se observar aqui é algo que descobrimos já no volume anterior – o mundo de Crestomanci é apenas um entre vários e a história que se descortina por trás das ações de Charles, Nan, Brian e os outros alunos da sala 6B não se passam no mesmo universo em que Eric descobre afinal porque seu apelido é Gato.Esse mundo está cheio de bruxas só que... bruxaria é proibida e condenada com a morte. O mundo inteiro está ardendo em fogueiras e repleto de Inquisidores – e muitas das crianças que estudam em Larwood House, onde a ação se passa, são órfãs de bruxos – tiveram um ou os dois parentes queimados ou presos por ajudarem outros bruxos.Tudo começa quando um dos professores recebe um bilhete misturado às tarefas da turma: “alguém nesta classe é um bruxo”. Tal acusação vai espiralar fora de controle com trocas de recriminações, perseguições e enorme potencial para desastre – e desastres do tipo “o mundo vai acabar” também.Algo importante a se observar aqui é que... Charles Morgan, bruxinho de extraordinários poderes, usando óculos e possuindo um temível olhar, inspirou Neil Gaiman a criar Timothy Hunter da série Os Livros da Magia... que, por sua vez, é apontado como muitos como inspiração direta por trás da criação de Harry Potter.Considerando que Rowling foi aluna de Jones e que existem muitos elementos da série Crestomanci que podemos encontrar em paralelo a elementos da série Harry Potter, eu diria que de uma forma geral, os livros de Jones foram uma das grandes inspirações por trás da criação de Rowling.O volume seguinte do quarteto é Os Magos de Caprona e nesse volume a ação novamente corre no próprio mundo de Crestomanci, só que dessa vez numa Itália ainda não unificada. Caprona é uma cidade-estado, um Ducado, que vem perdendo poder e pode terminar por ser anexada por outra cidade – Florença, Pisa e Siena estão na corrida para isso.Parte do motivo de seu declínio é a rivalidade existente entre duas famílias de magos, a Casa Montana e a Casa Petrocchi – uma rivalidade que parece ecoar aquela dos Montechio e Capuleto de Shakespeare...Há um demônio e uma canção trazida por um anjo; um duque muito louco e teatros de marionetes. Os Magos de Caprona parece em constante ação e confesso ser ele meu favorito dessa série.Para terminar, temos As Vidas de Christopher Chant, que deveria ser na realidade o primeiro volume, vez que ele conta a história do Crestomanci que aparece em Vida Encantada.Por algum motivo, esse livro me fez pensar em Dickens – se Dickens tivesse escrito livros em que magos e bruxas são comuns em Londres e garotinhos podem sair pulando de um mundo para outro em sonhos, visitando deusas e gatos e virando noites para ler As Mil e Uma Noites. De uma forma geral, a série Crestomanci é uma delícia. São histórias mais ingênuas em certos aspectos que as escritas por Rowling – que a despeito de ter vindo depois, tornou-se paradigma desse tipo de história – mas nem por isso bobinhas. Pelo contrário, ela em nenhum momento subestima a inteligência de seu leitor.Foram traduzidos, até onde eu saiba, todos esses quatro volumes de que falei hoje e mais um, Mil Mágicas, todos em belas edições – adoro as artes da capa deles. A série completa compõe-se de seis romances e mais uma antologia de contos, todos mais que recomendados.
DWJ Book Toast, #2Diana Wynne Jones is one of my favorite fantasy authors, growing up and now, and I was saddened by the news of her death. I can't say I'm overcome with emotion - as personal as some of her work is to me, its not like I knew her after all - but I wish I could put into words how I feel about her no longer being out there, writing new adventures and laughing at all of us serious fans thinking so hard about her words when we should simply get on with the business of enjoying them.And that's...what I'm going to do. She's left behind a huge body of work, a large amount of which I haven't read yet, so I'm going to reread all my old favorites (and hopefully some new).*Sometimes linear just doesn't cut it. The Lives of Christopher Chant is the fourth book written for the Chrestomanci series and chronologically the first, set some 25 years before Charmed Life. Why is it then named second? Diana Wynne Jones suggested it, and her having been a very smart lady I think it wise to agree with her.This book is the story of how the Chrestomanci of Charmed Life came into his powers, met his future wife Milly and decided a number of things about how Chrestomanci Castle would be run when he was in charge. So why not read it first? I think its because, even if this book is a superior one to Charmed Life it explains so much that it would undermine that books best points.Think about the Chronicles of Narnia. The trend has been (and I'm afraid will stay) to present the books in order of their internal chronology, that is have The Magician's Nephew come first. Doesn't that spoil it a little? When Lucy pushes through the fur coats and finds herself in the middle of a snow-covered forest staring at a solitary lamppost, instead of a sense of wonder, one goes "Oh yeah, from the piece of iron accidentally planted when Aslan was making Narnia." No mystery there. The same goes for when Edmund stumbles into the path of the Ice Queen's sleigh, one goes "Oh, it's just that bitch Jadis from Charn." It's better to see Christopher Chant and Milly young only after their adult identities have been established, the joke of the nicely plain Milly having once been the living incarnation of an exotic goddess or Christopher fuming at the formal, distant Chrestomanci, and other things are much better that way.Jones is in her element here, the story zooms along and the magic is as real as it is unexplained (little is so tedious as an author trying to explain how magic works). There is danger and horrible moments as well, the realization of what happened to the silly ladies chief among them for me, that Jones uses to keep the story interesting and reminds us of the importance of personal responsibility. Great, great book.Conrad's Fate, one of the last Chrestomanci books is listed on Jones' official website as her preferred 3rd book, but I don't have that on hand so Witch Week it is.*I think I'm going to head all my Jones reviews with this for now.
What do You think about The Lives Of Christopher Chant (1998)?
I read this series as a 5th grader. In fact, my copy got confiscated by the terrifying 4'9" Mrs. Wasserman because I was reading it under the desk and trying to look innocent. I was delighted to reread this and realize that these books really ARE captivating, and maybe I did have some literary taste as a kid.I loved the way the adolescent hero has a terrible shock discovering that he is not adorable, and that he may in fact be an arrogant jerk. What a perfect insight into being 13! And Jones is a master of the dangerous mistrusting gulf between children and the adults around them. How can adults and children understand or trust each other? Who is reliable and who is dangerous? Very -- dare I say it? psychologically realistic-- in a magical alternate universe.
—Rebecca
I really appreciate the way these books, particularly this one and the first, Charmed Life, talk about the way children can be manipulated by adults. Like I know sometimes that's a trope, but whatever. Anti-authoritarianism, for the young and forever. I just think it's important that children be introduced to what emotional abuse looks like.The premise of the Place Between and the Almost Anywheres is great. I enjoyed the way it was described and the mechanics of traveling. There's some pretty distasteful othering talk of heathens and exotic lands. Christopher is kind of a rude jerk and doesn't seem to get over it with age, which I thought he'd have grown out of by the other books. It's not endearing that he can't remember anyone's name. He's one of the most powerful enchanters in many worlds. Surely, if he put his mind to it, he could cast a spell to make himself remember people better. But he doesn't. So...
—Samrat
This book has a similar plot to the first one in the series, Charmed Life, in that it follows the soon-to-be Chrestomanci's struggles to adjusting to life as a nine lifed enchanter in Chrestomanci Castle - except this time it's Christopher Chant instead of Cat/Eric Chant. It's also similar in that Christopher was an obnoxious little brat about everything in the castle, and he acted like such a disrespectful twat and thought the most important thing in the world was cricket. That being said, he does grow up dramatically and watching his maturity unfold is quite wonderful. It happens very slowly and doesn't seem preachy or wannabe inspirational at all. I loved this book mainly because it dealt mainly with the theme of travel between different worlds. In Charmed Life I was intrigued by the 12 series' of worlds and couldnt wait to hear more. I long for the day when it's announced that other worlds and other dimensions exist - although hopefully not in a style akin to The Mist by Stephen King :| I loved that all these worlds were so radically different, some had been industrialised and some were simply old-school fantasy with mermaids and dragons. Series 11 was the most intriguing of all, and I'm glad they explored it during the book because the author had been fairly tight-lipped before that. I loved the idea of a world that had sealed itself off from the others and that conducted nefarious activities behind closed doors (or portals/gates, if you will). Travel through time and space is a theme that I can't possibly spend enough time wondering about, and Diana Wynne Jones does it in such an intriguing and cute way :) I mentioned in my review of Charmed Life that I'd read a couple of books in the series before, probably #3 and #4. In those ones Chrestomanci had come into his full power and title and was quite an eccentric character. It's great to read book #2 and compare it to those ones, but also to compare it to his character in #1 - particularly seeing how he developed his manner of looking vague all the time. Overall, this is a great kids fantasy book! Diana Wynne Jones has a knack for developing complex fantasy worlds with easily understood mythology. I find a lot of the time that I pick up an adult fantasy novel and the mythology is terribly complex and never fully explained, so that I feel like I'm reading a different language and wishing for a glossary (J R Ward actually added a glossary for each of the Black Dagger Brotherhood books which helped a LOT).I really wish more people were exposed to this series. I picked it up at the library years ago as a total fluke while I was browsing the teen section, and I'd never even heard of it before. I ended up falling in love with it, and I wish more people would too.
—Janelle Dazzlepants
