Read All About It: The Slow Regard of Silent Things

Every thing has a perfect place. Thinking about it, even this book has a perfect place on my shelves. It's been there for a while--I bought it about three years ago, but could never quite bring myself to read it just then. It wasn't the right time. It followed me when I moved away from home and to college, had a place on any shelf or in any box that moved with me. Sometimes I considered it, but always put it off for another day. But yesterday, when I was examining my tiny bookshelves in my tiny room in my tiny apartment, I felt like it was time.

This post is already a bit more sentimental than I usually am. I'd apologize, but if you've already read this book you understand, and if you haven't read it yet, you will. But beware--Rothfuss wrote a very special foreword, warning you that this book might not be a book you'll like. And I get that--it's strange, it's not like the first two books of his chronicles, and it's a completely different narrative. But I loved it.

Image Source: goodreads.com

This book focuses not on Qvothe, but on Auri, the wonderfully mysterious girl who lives underground and takes care of things on her own side. She doesn't seem quite normal, and in fact she herself recognizes that she may be a little bit broken, and that's what makes her so capable. Auri's world revolves around making peace with her surroundings, understanding how the items in her domain fit together, and how she can work to take care of the needs of herself, her things, and even of Qvothe.

If you feel completely normal most of the time, you likely won't empathize with Auri in this novella. However, I empathized with her heavily. She has an interesting state of mind, and her own empathy for the world around her is uniquely tangible and freeing. She is so focused on setting things to rights, and it's a refreshing break from less-detailed novels. The Slow Regard of Silent Things takes traditional story telling and throws it out the window, instead giving the reader an intensely personal first hand view of the minutia a single character's life and duties. The bittersweet glimpse we get into Auri's life is remarkable for it's descriptions, empathy, and general brilliance.

I've been reading a lot lately, as you've seen, and I've discovered that novellas have to power to make me stop and think. Just stop, and wonder at how they've changed my life. From humorous ones like Sarah Gailey's River of Teeth to haunting ones like Seanan McGuire's Every Heart A Doorway, novellas put more punch into a smaller package, and really leave an impact behind. I've thought about the novellas I've read lately more than I have the full-length novels, and I think it's a great thing! Here's hoping there are more novellas like these three shining examples out there for me to devour, that will change how we read.

I eagerly await the third and final book in The Kingkiller Chronicles, but I am definitely willing to wait so that Rothfuss has ample time to create the best novel he can. He deserves all the time he needs to make that book as remarkable as the first two.