Book Review: John Winchester's Journal

[chasingtides]

tahirire and samidha, I must thank you. I did not want to buy this book. I emotionally rejected the idea of buying a companion book to a television series, no matter how cult that television series is. I thought that I would be feeding the great Entertainment Machine and that I would have read better written fanfiction. I was so wrong, so, so wrong.

I liked John Winchester from the Supernatural television series. I have always been firmly in the camp that he was trying his best to be the best father that he could, even if he didn't always measure up.

This book proved all of that and more. The journal takes us from November 16, 1983 ("I went to Missouri and learned the truth.") to October 28, 2005, days before we meet Sam and Dean in the television show. It illustrates two notoriously close-mouthed characters (John and Dean) in ways we never seen on screen. (And I swear, if we learn that Sam knows about what John and Dean have done for him and still went off to college and still talked to them the way he did in season one, I will cease to like him. Because, wow.) On that same note, the fact that John and Dean didn't want Sam to go to college makes infinite more sense in light of the journal - in a way that doesn't make them come off as controlling and unhealthy.

However, something made me love John Winchester (and the author of this book, Alex Irvine) more intensely than I would have said was possible. There were several things that made me happy, put a grin on my face, caused me to laugh. I loved John's notes; they closely resemble many of my story notes I have drifting around my computer and any place I spend a significant amount of time (my room, the kitchen, my desk at work). The sketches are great and his notes, to my knowledge, bear a great deal of accuracy.

I love his notes on werewolves, vampires, and where they overlap. When I took a novel writing class in college, I wrote a novel on werewolves living in Vermont. I spent over a year in research before I attacked the writing and I still have over forty typed pages of notes on the folklore, mythology, and legends regarding them. It gave me great joy to finally be able to look over a published work and nod and smile at the werewolf information. John was right most of the time and even got the dates of an actual "vampire" killing in Eastern Europe. He also mentioned Vortigern and... I was such a happy person. Vortigern!

But the crowning glory of this book, the piece that made it for me, was that he quotes Marco Polo.

I realise that no one else cares about this. No one cares about Marco Polo. Many academics don't realise he wrote a book. Many academic books either misquote him or misconstrue what he did. (Calling him a coloniser and/or an imperialist *does* misconstrue what he did/did not do. He is hard to categorise, but he's no more a coloniser than Ibn Batuta was.) I've slaved for years, plural, looking for people who care enough about this man to mention him in a single paragraph of a book.

So, the quote from the book (page 157) is this:
Marco Polo: "In an attempt of Kublai Khan to make a conquest of the island of Zipangu, a jealousy arose between the two commanders of the expedition, which led to an order for putting the whole garrison to the sword. In obedience to this order, the heads of all wee cut off excepting of eight person, who by the efficacy of a diabolical charm, consisting of a jewel or amulet introduced into the right arm, between the skin and the flesh, were rendered secure from the effects of iron, either to kill or wound. Upon this discovery being made, they were beaten with a heavy wooden club, and presently died.

From my copy of The Travels (Penguin Classics, Latham trans., page 247):
Let me tell you next of a great marvel that occured when these two barons took several prisoners in a castle on the island. As they had refused to surrender, it was ordered that they should all be beheaded. The order was duly carried out. All the prisoners were beheaded except eight men only, whose heads could not be cut off. This happened by virtue of certain stones that they carried on their persons. For each one of them had a stone embedded in his arm, between the flesh and skin, so that it was not visible on the surface. This stone possessed a magic property whereby anyone who had it on his person was proof against steel. When the barons were informed of the reason why these men could not be killed by the sword, they ordered them to be beaten to death with clubs, whereupon they died instantly.

(To note, in my copy, the island is called Zorza and the prisoners are soldiers.)

I am perfectly willing to accredit the slight variance to a different manuscript and different translator (there is no prime manuscript for Polo). I have enough experience with different copies of Polo to know that the variants between the two quotes are reasonable.

I AM SO HAPPY ABOUT THIS. I HAVE NO WORDS.

Comments

[jameserin.livejournal.com]

i was on the fence about buying this. i might now.

[chasingtides.livejournal.com]

The medieval stuff pushed it over the edge for me, but the character building, etc made it totally worth it.

I am seriously tempted to write Alex Irvine a letter saying, "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much for including Marco Polo. You have made my life better." However, I think that might frighten him.

[rugbybaby.livejournal.com]

Consider me persuaded, when my next paycheck comes around. Thank you for your informative book review!

[zed-pm.livejournal.com]

This is awesome. NO I WANT IT.

[samidha.livejournal.com]

April has borrowed my copy and I already miss it intensely omigod. omigod. I'm seriously thinking of getting another copy, I am that weirded out having this particular book in her room right now. Because there's a relevent bunny and auuuuuuuugh. Yeah. Oh John, oh Dean, oh Sam.

(I could never not love Sammy. No matter what, there's an extent that he couldn't really comprehend everything... especially not as a teen... but yeah. I also think that some of it was kind of retroactively constructed or else he does not make sense.)

[chasingtides.livejournal.com]

I agree that it's a complicated issue. But I do think that it casts John and Dean not wanting Sam to go to college into a better light. (Hello, if my brother were being kidnapped and/or had people trying to hunt him down and kill him regularly, I really wouldn't want him going off to college and one main reason would be that he'd be in one place for four years and easy to find.)

My personal canon is, right now, that Sam has no idea. This would make Sam not very observant and John and Dean rather sneaky, but, as far as I can, it's the only way to mesh with season one Sam without wanting to pull out my (or his) hair. I might have to rewatch some relevant episodes, but Sam does, in my recollection, seem to be rather surprised when people want to kill him in the series while Dean tends to be more prepared for it. That would mesh with this.

[summersiren.livejournal.com]

OMG I was thinking about how I want the book and now you have convinced me to buy it. XD