Livian Grey

“…Seth had no idea how they could even sleep with a stranger in the house” (97).

Livian Grey’s work Into the Other is so deserving of a critical analysis, perhaps from a Jung-style psychological theory or feminist reading.

I actually finished reading it four days ago and it’s taken me all four of these days to decide what angle I want to review the work from. As a simple review to intrigue other readers? Certainly. But the more I pondered the more I realized there was a whole lot going on in this book, and I don’t mean in a chaotic way either.

Starting with Grey’s choice of the word Other in her title made me wonder if Other was solely in reference to the place from which her antagonist hailed, or was there more going on in a subliminal way. Calder, Grey’s bad guy, is certainly different; in a creepy way, which makes one wonder if he’s evil or would he be considered ‘normal’ in a place like the Other?

Grey’s main character Josie is in trouble with the law and she’s pregnant. Enter Calder, offering the only way out for Josie. Spend the rest of her life in prison or relinquish her baby to Calder.
“What are you?” she asked, bewildered and repulsed by him all at once. “Who are you to do this?” (17). Obviously, Calder is something more than human, he can change time, erase memories, even create bogus memories; Josie’s humanness prevents her from challenging Calder in a meaningful way.

Calder takes Josie’s baby girl and rears her between two realms, the human world and the Other, creating a gothic-like duality; Ralla is both human and Other. A changeling with learned magical strengths yet with feelings of not belonging anywhere and out of place.

Like other works I have read by Grey, Into the Other has smooth structure and dialogue disguising a horrific reality even when the story incorporates elements of magic and fantasy, leaving the reader to wonder, what if this really happened?

Grey also gets points for depicting a benevolent character, Papalia, as a butterfly, furthering the allusion of change within each character. FIVE stars!… (plus d'informations)

If tasked to describe "Live to Tell" in one word, overwhelmingly that word would be intrigue or some form of the word. Grey wastes no time grabbing readers by the collar and showing us a mysterious package filled with news clippings, photographs and a diary entry which asks the question, “Why can't I help thinking it's much worse than that?” Grey’s way of tickling the readers’ wound culture curiosities with the stroke of the keys. It had me wanting to know just how much worse things were going to get.
Jacinta Collins proves women’s intuition exist even at an early age. As a teen, she suspects her family has a dark secret and as an adult, she wants those secrets exposed.
A subtle creepiness settles into this story reminding me of M.R. James’s work. But the feeling is made real with a strange man watching from the street as the protagonist, Stephen Brooks, leaves the schoolhouse with his young daughter.
"Live to Tell" is a perfect example of small town secrets seen by some as myth but all too real for others. Enthusiasts of local conspiracy theories about secret societies will enjoy "Live to Tell."… (plus d'informations)