Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Night Shade Books (2010), Paperback, 352 pages
Description
This is the story of a place that never was: the kingdom of Prester John, the utopia described by an anonymous, twelfth-century document which captured the imagination of the medieval world and drove hundreds of lost souls to seek out its secrets, inspiring explorers, missionaries, and kings for centuries. But what if it were all true? What if there was such a place, and a poor, broken priest once stumbled past its borders, discovering, not a Christian paradise, but a country where everything is possible, immortality is easily had, and the Western world is nothing but a dim and distant dream?Brother Hiob of Luzerne, on missionary work in the Himalayan wilderness on the eve of the eighteenth century, discovers a village guarding a miraculous tree whose branches sprout books instead of fruit. These strange books chronicle the history of the kingdom of Prester John, and Hiob becomes obsessed with the tales they tell. The Habitation of the Blessed recounts the fragmented narratives found within these living volumes, revealing the life of a priest named John, and his rise to power in this country of impossible richness. John's tale weaves together with the confessions of his wife Hagia, a blemmye -- a headless creature who carried her face on her chest -- as well as the tender, jeweled nursery stories of Imtithal, nanny to the royal family.… (more)
Media reviews
Few writers have a voice and vision as unique as Catherynne M. Valente’s when she’s delving into arcane realms of myth and legend. She went there in The Book of Dreams (2005), and now in The Habitation of the Blessed. . .
Filled with lyrical prose and fabled creatures, this languorous fairy tale is as captivating as Prester John's original letter.
User reviews
LibraryThing member BeccaStareyes
This book hits a few loves with me. First off, the narration structure. The book is based around the legend of Prester John, a medieval European legend of a priest-king who ruled over a land of legend off somewhere in the east. In 1699, a group, lead by a Brother Hiob, sets out to find traces of
The three interwoven narratives are John's own accounts of his travels, a memoir of Hagia, one of the locals who eventually ends up as John's queen, and a book of stories, which do a lot to explain how the country of Pentexore came into being and fill in the history that Hagia knows and John never asks about. It's a really cool device for a story like this, which is based on medieval legends rather than modern fantasy, even if the peoples of Pentexore are just as fantastic as elves and dwarves and vampires and werewolves.
Which is another point in its favor. A friend of mine is a fan of reading ancient Greek and Roman accounts of the wider world (and completely made-up ones, such as Lucian of Samosata's True History) and telling me what happens, and a lot of the legends have similar qualities. It's a welcome change from the current staple of fantasy, and Valente draws some damn good stuff from legends (not just of Prester John, but Thomas the Apostle, Alexander the Great and Herodotus), but gives a modern fantasy author's worldbuilding spin on it.
Valente, in a guest column for John Scalzi's blog, described it as writing a first contact novel, in that John is taken from a world where he fundamentally knows that everyone believes the same basic thing and looks, roughly, like him, and thrown into a place -- alone -- without other humans and without the shared cultural references that everyone takes for granted. Which can be frustrating for the reader, since, from Hagia's point of view, we are already invested in her people and that really makes John seem like kind of an asshole for taking so long to fit this into his worldview. Then again, John is a medieval priest, who doesn't even have the reference a Western reader would have for things like aliens or elves -- in his world, there are men, beasts, angels and demons, and he's not sure what is what or how this fits in with God's plan.
I did really enjoy the book. Valente can turn a phrase like nothing else -- at least, based on reading Palimpsest and parts of The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Boat of her Own Making -- and this is the kind of story that calls for it. Plus, I did really like a lot of the characters, and the old-school legends made the book feel young again. I'd like to see the sequels -- from the bridging story and Hagia's own reflections as she writes, we know Shit Went Down, but there is always a story in telling how.
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his kingdom, and come across a hamlet with a strange woman, who tells them that Prester John is gone, and shows them to a tree with books for fruit, and tells the head of the expedition he can pick three. The narrative is interwoven from those three books and Hiob's comments as he fights the decay of the books -- which, being fruit, don't last long once picked -- to record them and send them back to Europe.The three interwoven narratives are John's own accounts of his travels, a memoir of Hagia, one of the locals who eventually ends up as John's queen, and a book of stories, which do a lot to explain how the country of Pentexore came into being and fill in the history that Hagia knows and John never asks about. It's a really cool device for a story like this, which is based on medieval legends rather than modern fantasy, even if the peoples of Pentexore are just as fantastic as elves and dwarves and vampires and werewolves.
Which is another point in its favor. A friend of mine is a fan of reading ancient Greek and Roman accounts of the wider world (and completely made-up ones, such as Lucian of Samosata's True History) and telling me what happens, and a lot of the legends have similar qualities. It's a welcome change from the current staple of fantasy, and Valente draws some damn good stuff from legends (not just of Prester John, but Thomas the Apostle, Alexander the Great and Herodotus), but gives a modern fantasy author's worldbuilding spin on it.
Valente, in a guest column for John Scalzi's blog, described it as writing a first contact novel, in that John is taken from a world where he fundamentally knows that everyone believes the same basic thing and looks, roughly, like him, and thrown into a place -- alone -- without other humans and without the shared cultural references that everyone takes for granted. Which can be frustrating for the reader, since, from Hagia's point of view, we are already invested in her people and that really makes John seem like kind of an asshole for taking so long to fit this into his worldview. Then again, John is a medieval priest, who doesn't even have the reference a Western reader would have for things like aliens or elves -- in his world, there are men, beasts, angels and demons, and he's not sure what is what or how this fits in with God's plan.
I did really enjoy the book. Valente can turn a phrase like nothing else -- at least, based on reading Palimpsest and parts of The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Boat of her Own Making -- and this is the kind of story that calls for it. Plus, I did really like a lot of the characters, and the old-school legends made the book feel young again. I'd like to see the sequels -- from the bridging story and Hagia's own reflections as she writes, we know Shit Went Down, but there is always a story in telling how.
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LibraryThing member krau0098
I have read a number of Valente's books and absolutely adored them. Like her previous books this book was beautifully written with excellent imagery. The book is told from four viewpoints and was a bit harder for me to read than previous books. As such, it was probably my least favorite book of
Brother Hiob of Luzerne stumbles upon a tree that sprouts books instead of fruit while working at a missionary in the Himalayans. He is allowed to pluck three books from the tree. The first is written by Prester John himself and tells of Prester's journey into magical lands. The second is written by Prester's wife Hagia; an immortal who carries her face on her chest and has no head. The third is a collection of nursery tales by a being named Imtithal who was a nanny.
This book has a lot of what I have come to love from Valente; crazily creative creatures and descriptions that come alive to the reader, beautiful writing that is incredibly rich and weaves wonderfully magical pictures, and tons of mythological references. The story alternates between Brother Hiob, Prester John, Hagia, and Imtithal. As such it progresses slowly and has more of a plodding mythological and somewhat religious tone to it than previous works.
I enjoyed hearing from Brother Hiob who had to alternate his reading because each of the books he pulled off of the tree started rotting as soon as he plucked them off. As such he becomes obsessed with reading these stories before they rot. I also enjoyed Prester John's viewpoint as he stumbles into a magical and wonderful land after crossing a sea of sand. Although Prester John's very catholic religious viewpoints are a bit tiresome at times, it is interesting to see how this new land reacts to his very orthodox viewpoint.
I also enjoyed Hagia's viewpoint. She is immortal and is a blemmye (has no head, but her face is on her torso). She falls in love with Prester John. Although most of her accounts are about her various lives and loves and it is isn't until later in the book she meets with Prester John.
I did not enjoy the sections by Imtithal as much. Imtithal has three children she takes care of and is a being with huge ears that can enfold her whole body. You don't really know how she is related to Prester John until much later in the story. Imtithal tells a number of creation myths to her young charges. I had trouble connecting these with the other parts of the story and constantly had to work on focusing on the stories because my mind would start to wander. I just couldn't relate to the stories or relate them to the overall book.
This book is a slow read. The writing is incredibly beautiful and well done, but you need to take time to read it and really pay attention to understand what is going on. There is a lot of ambiguity here. The constantly switching viewpoints makes the story progress slowly and presents more of a puzzle that the reader needs to piece together than a cohesive story. It is masterfully done, but slow to read.
Overall I really enjoyed this book and continue to enjoy Valente's beautiful writing and the absolutely crazy and wacky creatures and worlds that she weaves. This book was a slow read and one you really need to pay attention to and think about while you read. I wasn't crazy about the changing viewpoints and the way you had to piece the story together. I also had some trouble relating Imtithal's sections to the rest of the story. If you are a fan of mythology and beautiful writing and don't mind some ambiguity I can definitely recommend this to you. I didn't find it to be quite as magical and wonderful as previous books I have read by Valente, but it was still very well done.
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hers to date, that being said it was still incredibly creative and beautifully written.Brother Hiob of Luzerne stumbles upon a tree that sprouts books instead of fruit while working at a missionary in the Himalayans. He is allowed to pluck three books from the tree. The first is written by Prester John himself and tells of Prester's journey into magical lands. The second is written by Prester's wife Hagia; an immortal who carries her face on her chest and has no head. The third is a collection of nursery tales by a being named Imtithal who was a nanny.
This book has a lot of what I have come to love from Valente; crazily creative creatures and descriptions that come alive to the reader, beautiful writing that is incredibly rich and weaves wonderfully magical pictures, and tons of mythological references. The story alternates between Brother Hiob, Prester John, Hagia, and Imtithal. As such it progresses slowly and has more of a plodding mythological and somewhat religious tone to it than previous works.
I enjoyed hearing from Brother Hiob who had to alternate his reading because each of the books he pulled off of the tree started rotting as soon as he plucked them off. As such he becomes obsessed with reading these stories before they rot. I also enjoyed Prester John's viewpoint as he stumbles into a magical and wonderful land after crossing a sea of sand. Although Prester John's very catholic religious viewpoints are a bit tiresome at times, it is interesting to see how this new land reacts to his very orthodox viewpoint.
I also enjoyed Hagia's viewpoint. She is immortal and is a blemmye (has no head, but her face is on her torso). She falls in love with Prester John. Although most of her accounts are about her various lives and loves and it is isn't until later in the book she meets with Prester John.
I did not enjoy the sections by Imtithal as much. Imtithal has three children she takes care of and is a being with huge ears that can enfold her whole body. You don't really know how she is related to Prester John until much later in the story. Imtithal tells a number of creation myths to her young charges. I had trouble connecting these with the other parts of the story and constantly had to work on focusing on the stories because my mind would start to wander. I just couldn't relate to the stories or relate them to the overall book.
This book is a slow read. The writing is incredibly beautiful and well done, but you need to take time to read it and really pay attention to understand what is going on. There is a lot of ambiguity here. The constantly switching viewpoints makes the story progress slowly and presents more of a puzzle that the reader needs to piece together than a cohesive story. It is masterfully done, but slow to read.
Overall I really enjoyed this book and continue to enjoy Valente's beautiful writing and the absolutely crazy and wacky creatures and worlds that she weaves. This book was a slow read and one you really need to pay attention to and think about while you read. I wasn't crazy about the changing viewpoints and the way you had to piece the story together. I also had some trouble relating Imtithal's sections to the rest of the story. If you are a fan of mythology and beautiful writing and don't mind some ambiguity I can definitely recommend this to you. I didn't find it to be quite as magical and wonderful as previous books I have read by Valente, but it was still very well done.
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LibraryThing member JeremyPreacher
When I was a kid, the library had a set of books of mythology from various countries. They were small and mysterious and smelled good, and I have mostly forgotten their contents but I remember where they were on the shelf and how excited I was to go get another one. Valente has written a book that
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pulls in all of those vaguely remembered remarkable characters and weaves them in with sex, religion, gender, and cultural politics to make something that smells just like those old, beloved volumes and fits in the same place in my head. Show Less
LibraryThing member Mav.Weirdo
“The Habitation of the Blessed” by Catherynne M. Valente is surreal. I do not mean that as complaint, but I do think that if the reader has this infomation going in then they are more likely to appreciate this book. The author does not ease the reader in slowly. From the very beginning the
The story’s dreamlike quality is most prevalent in the presence of human characters. The parts of the story told from the perspective of non-humans, while still unusual, feel more grounded to me. I am guessing this is a case of, “the alien landscape seen through the eyes of an alien looks more natural.” It may also be a result of the author’s skill at portraying humans from a time and culture far removed from my own, making their foreign worldview unexpectedly stranger than the non-humans. There is a lot of good detail about many mythical non-human races, but there was so much of it I was at times wishing for an appendix.
In structure this book is a tale within a tale (with sometimes additional layers of tales), told by a self proclaimed “bad historian”, who is in turn transcribing the accounts of an unreliable narrator (Prester John), a blemmye scribe, and a panoti royal nanny. Together these journals give a taste of the realm of Pentexore; its beginning, its middle and hints of its possible end. They are read in turn, side by side, chapter by chapter, so that sometimes knowledge of the later times precedes knowledge of the beginning. As the chapters advance the transcription of the journals becomes more challenging, and less complete.
I like this book. I find that I am becoming attached to the characters. Many of their actions and motivations speak to me; Imtithal’s willingness to make sacrifices, Hagia’s devotion which is both a virtue and a fault, Hiob’s desperate attempts to preserve knowledge in spite of judgment. Of all the characters in the book my least favorite is Prester John. Some might think it strange to like a book but not like the central character, but I do not consider Prester John the central character. I feel that the land of Pentexore is the, “central character,” and Pentexore is what I am most interested in learning more about in the next book.
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reader enters a world where things most people would expect to be metaphors are interpreted literally. The story’s dreamlike quality is most prevalent in the presence of human characters. The parts of the story told from the perspective of non-humans, while still unusual, feel more grounded to me. I am guessing this is a case of, “the alien landscape seen through the eyes of an alien looks more natural.” It may also be a result of the author’s skill at portraying humans from a time and culture far removed from my own, making their foreign worldview unexpectedly stranger than the non-humans. There is a lot of good detail about many mythical non-human races, but there was so much of it I was at times wishing for an appendix.
In structure this book is a tale within a tale (with sometimes additional layers of tales), told by a self proclaimed “bad historian”, who is in turn transcribing the accounts of an unreliable narrator (Prester John), a blemmye scribe, and a panoti royal nanny. Together these journals give a taste of the realm of Pentexore; its beginning, its middle and hints of its possible end. They are read in turn, side by side, chapter by chapter, so that sometimes knowledge of the later times precedes knowledge of the beginning. As the chapters advance the transcription of the journals becomes more challenging, and less complete.
I like this book. I find that I am becoming attached to the characters. Many of their actions and motivations speak to me; Imtithal’s willingness to make sacrifices, Hagia’s devotion which is both a virtue and a fault, Hiob’s desperate attempts to preserve knowledge in spite of judgment. Of all the characters in the book my least favorite is Prester John. Some might think it strange to like a book but not like the central character, but I do not consider Prester John the central character. I feel that the land of Pentexore is the, “central character,” and Pentexore is what I am most interested in learning more about in the next book.
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LibraryThing member kmaziarz
In 1165, a letter purportedly written by the Christian priest-king Prester John caught the imagination of medieval Europe. Prester John’s distant kingdom, placed by some in India or “the Orient,” was described in the letter as a place of great wonder, populated by myriad strange and beautiful
Compelling, layered, dark, and intense, Valente’s fable captures some of the richness of myth and retains the power of allegory.
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creatures and cultures. Though Prester John himself was Christian and had converted his subjects, he was ringed on all sides by Muslims and pagans. In Valente’s novel, she takes this medieval wonder-tale as truth, but truth told slant. In 1699, a group of monks lead by Brother Hiob search out the land of Prester John. All they discover is a small group of strange, taciturn people who guard a tree. From this tree, books sprout like fruit and Hiob is allowed to pluck three volumes which, like fruit, decay almost faster than he can read them. One volume is the journal of Prester John himself; the second is the journal of his wife, the beautiful blemmye Hagia—a woman with her face in her torso instead of a head; and the third is the memoir of the elephant-eared panoti once named Imtithal. The stories interweave, revealing that nothing about the truth of Prester John’s fabled kingdom was quite as fabulous as anyone in Europe had imagined.Compelling, layered, dark, and intense, Valente’s fable captures some of the richness of myth and retains the power of allegory.
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LibraryThing member alwright1
I love Catherynne M. Valente: her writing, her stories, her characters, her worlds. I loved the citizens Pentexore in this book, the strange, legendary, immortal creatures said to populate an Eden-like far-away land. But I had a much harder time being as generous as they were to Prester John, the
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priest who sets off in search of the tomb of St. Thomas, or Brother Hiob, the priest who many years later follows in search of Prester John, so I didn't always soak the world in as I have many of her other works. I would start elsewhere if you are looking to try out her writing, as this isn't as accessible, but still, good. Show Less
LibraryThing member nnschiller
Edit: On the second attempt to listen to this book, I had a very different experience.
Oh dear LAWD the WORDS that writer uses. I adored reading the book.
I don't have much more coherent to say. Just, THE WORDS.
ns
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There is so much
update: I'm going to have to admit that I'm stalled out in the middle of this one and not likely to return to it. It is a pity, since the book deserves to be read.
Oh dear LAWD the WORDS that writer uses. I adored reading the book.
I don't have much more coherent to say. Just, THE WORDS.
ns
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There is so much
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to love about this book. I'm just losing my way and taking a break from it.update: I'm going to have to admit that I'm stalled out in the middle of this one and not likely to return to it. It is a pity, since the book deserves to be read.
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LibraryThing member Vinculus
Became more engaging as the separate story lines began to coalesce. You need to be willing to hold on to things for a while and trust that the apparently different stories really will come together.
LibraryThing member KateSherrod
Proceeding IMMEDIATELY to the sequel.
LibraryThing member devilwrites
The premise: ganked from Amazon.com: This is the story of a place that never was: the kingdom of Prester John, the utopia described by an anonymous, twelfth-century document which captured the imagination of the medieval world and drove hundreds of lost souls to seek out its secrets, inspiring
Brother Hiob of Luzerne, on missionary work in the Himalayan wilderness on the eve of the eighteenth century, discovers a village guarding a miraculous tree whose branches sprout books instead of fruit. These strange books chronicle the history of the kingdom of Prester John, and Hiob becomes obsessed with the tales they tell. The Habitation of the Blessed recounts the fragmented narratives found within these living volumes, revealing the life of a priest named John, and his rise to power in this country of impossible richness. John's tale weaves together with the confessions of his wife Hagia, a blemmye--a headless creature who carried her face on her chest--as well as the tender, jeweled nursery stories of Imtithal, nanny to the royal family. Hugo and World Fantasy award nominee Catherynne M. Valente reimagines the legends of Prester John in this stunning tour de force.
My Rating: Like, Not Love: This rating may have been different if I hadn't taken a month-long break from the book. Remember me saying my reading of this was a funny story? I started the book was immediately sucked in. It was right before bed, and when I dreamt, I literally dreamt of Valente's prose (high praise, when an author's prose lingers and infiltrates my dreaming). Then I hit a chapter I had a horrible time focusing on, and I never found my focus. This was in February, when focus was a problem ANYWAY, and I was anxious about reading our book club selection in time (in hindsight, I needn't have worried), so I put this aside until I was ready to pick it up again. And when I did, I still wasn't convinced it was the right time, but gave it a go regardless. And was sucked in and sorry to see it end. The good news is, this is the first of a trilogy, so I'll get to immerse myself in Valente's special brand of wonder and weird twice more in terms of this world, and that'll be interesting, because I wasn't sure where this single volume was leading to, let alone where the trilogy is going to end. I look forward to the journey of finding out.
In terms of recommendations, I think everyone who reads Valente needs to be in the right mood to read her fiction. I said she has a special brand of wonder and weird, and she DOES: she doesn't rely on traditional fantasy images so much as subverts them, or finds imagery and creatures who are all but forgotten in today's fantasy literature. Reading Valente is never like coming home to the familiar, and if you pick up this book and you're looking for a fast read, but it down slowly and wait for a time when you need a book to sink your teeth into. Because that's the best way to read and digest Valente's work. This is a good book (probably better if one doesn't take a month-long break like the moron I am), but it's not my favorite of hers, not yet. That may change as I read the upcoming volumes in this trilogy.
Spoilers, yay or nay?: This is one of those books that's difficult to spoil, especially depending on what you've read about it. So I won't spoil anything that can't be found in various summaries found on the internet (I'm looking at you, Barnes & Noble!), but if you're paranoid and/or like me and don't like knowing much of anything about a book before you get it, don't read the full review, which is linked below to my LJ. As always, comments and discussion are most welcome.
REVIEW: Catherynne M. Valente's THE HABITATION OF THE BLESSED
Happy Reading!
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explorers, missionaries, and kings for centuries. But what if it were all true? What if there was such a place, and a poor, broken priest once stumbled past its borders, discovering, not a Christian paradise, but a country where everything is possible, immortality is easily had, and the Western world is nothing but a dim and distant dream?Brother Hiob of Luzerne, on missionary work in the Himalayan wilderness on the eve of the eighteenth century, discovers a village guarding a miraculous tree whose branches sprout books instead of fruit. These strange books chronicle the history of the kingdom of Prester John, and Hiob becomes obsessed with the tales they tell. The Habitation of the Blessed recounts the fragmented narratives found within these living volumes, revealing the life of a priest named John, and his rise to power in this country of impossible richness. John's tale weaves together with the confessions of his wife Hagia, a blemmye--a headless creature who carried her face on her chest--as well as the tender, jeweled nursery stories of Imtithal, nanny to the royal family. Hugo and World Fantasy award nominee Catherynne M. Valente reimagines the legends of Prester John in this stunning tour de force.
My Rating: Like, Not Love: This rating may have been different if I hadn't taken a month-long break from the book. Remember me saying my reading of this was a funny story? I started the book was immediately sucked in. It was right before bed, and when I dreamt, I literally dreamt of Valente's prose (high praise, when an author's prose lingers and infiltrates my dreaming). Then I hit a chapter I had a horrible time focusing on, and I never found my focus. This was in February, when focus was a problem ANYWAY, and I was anxious about reading our book club selection in time (in hindsight, I needn't have worried), so I put this aside until I was ready to pick it up again. And when I did, I still wasn't convinced it was the right time, but gave it a go regardless. And was sucked in and sorry to see it end. The good news is, this is the first of a trilogy, so I'll get to immerse myself in Valente's special brand of wonder and weird twice more in terms of this world, and that'll be interesting, because I wasn't sure where this single volume was leading to, let alone where the trilogy is going to end. I look forward to the journey of finding out.
In terms of recommendations, I think everyone who reads Valente needs to be in the right mood to read her fiction. I said she has a special brand of wonder and weird, and she DOES: she doesn't rely on traditional fantasy images so much as subverts them, or finds imagery and creatures who are all but forgotten in today's fantasy literature. Reading Valente is never like coming home to the familiar, and if you pick up this book and you're looking for a fast read, but it down slowly and wait for a time when you need a book to sink your teeth into. Because that's the best way to read and digest Valente's work. This is a good book (probably better if one doesn't take a month-long break like the moron I am), but it's not my favorite of hers, not yet. That may change as I read the upcoming volumes in this trilogy.
Spoilers, yay or nay?: This is one of those books that's difficult to spoil, especially depending on what you've read about it. So I won't spoil anything that can't be found in various summaries found on the internet (I'm looking at you, Barnes & Noble!), but if you're paranoid and/or like me and don't like knowing much of anything about a book before you get it, don't read the full review, which is linked below to my LJ. As always, comments and discussion are most welcome.
REVIEW: Catherynne M. Valente's THE HABITATION OF THE BLESSED
Happy Reading!
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Awards
Locus Recommended Reading (2010)
The A.V. Club best books (2010)
Original publication date
2010-10
Physical description
352 p.; 5.98 inches
ISBN
1597801992 / 9781597801997