Shiri
by D.S. Taylor begins unlike any other novel, especially the way it opens; “She was born a woman, and her father had yet to forgive
her for that.” (p. 6). The protagonist Shiri is a 15 year-old girl who
lives with her parents in the small town of Yaham, in Palestine. The Shepherd
King sends his soldiers to recruit men from towns and villages to fight the
Pharoah Tuthmosis.
Ethan, a friend of
Shiri’s, tells her that Princes wear gold. Accordingly, one of the significant
images in the first part of the novel is related to gold and how it contrasts
between characters and their personalities. When Shiri sees Prince Amenhotep
for the first time, “[her] eyes widened as a
chariot gilded in a strange yellow metal that seemed to shine like the sun
pulled up before them. Gold … the chariot is covered in gold” and “Astride the chariot like some hero of old stood a warrior
trimmed in gold.” Shiri later realises that this so-called Prince is “no hero; no prince come to save the day. This was a demon,
a monster wreathed in cold, unfeeling gold.”
I loved these
images and how one of the most precious metals is depicted as harsh, “cold and unfeeling”.
I liked how the
author showed Shiri’s childish infatuation with Joseph; Taylor conveys the
struggle in a teenager’s heart very well.
The most important
theme in the novel is that of sacrifice and ironically the one who sacrifices
the most is Shiri herself, the young shepherd girl from a small and distant
town. One would think that the one with the most to sacrifice would be Joseph
since he seeks to avenge the death of his father and the abduction, rape and
murder of his mother; but in truth it is Shiri who sacrifices the most for
everyone. And worst of all, her sacrifices go unnoticed until the end.
Other themes
include love, betrayal, slavery, abuse, the master-slave relationship, and
immorality, especially that of the temple priests.
I also loved the
contrast in personalities; Shiri is a 15 year-old peasant girl and yet she has
a stronger character than the Shepherd Prince himself and not just on one
occasion but throughout the novel. She is intelligent, strong-willed, voices
her opinions and is never afraid to fight back – unless it will hurt someone
she loves. In fact, her ability to speak broken Egyptian impresses Joseph. “He raised an eyebrow clearly impressed; few amongst the
peasant folk could speak so much as a word of any tongue but their own.”
(p. 82)
We see Shiri’s
character develop and age through the troublesome experiences she undergoes.
She is wise beyond her years and gains more wisdom as the novel unfolds and as
she moves from orphaned shepherd girl to slave to mother. She progresses,
handling every stage in her life and every hurdle thrown at her all the while
bearing a specific cause in mind. She is strongly contrasted to Joseph, the
Shepherd Prince.
The novel contains
a lot of abuse both verbal and physical, while some of it bothered me a bit, and
only because I wasn’t expecting it, I would still recommend that the novel be
read by adults over 18 or better over 21.
The most amusing
character for me in Shiri is Solon, the old weapons-maker for the
Godking Tuthmosis. Solon is like the court jester in medieval plays; he is
honest, wise, sarcastic and funny. He makes for excellent humour and comic
relief in the novel.
The novel moves at
a quick and enjoyable pace. It is quit hard to put Shiri down and when
it ends, the reader cannot believe it. I couldn’t imagine waking up the
following morning and not seeing what Shiri will do next!
No comments:
Post a Comment