September Book Study: The Last Unicorn

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Fenika

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Welcome to the F/SF Book Study. For the month of September we will be discussing The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle.

***Spoilers*** will be streaking naked through this thread unpredictably. You have been warned!


Here are the previous book studies (feel free to continue the discussion):

2008:
Ender's Game (August)
Lies of Locke Lamora (September)
A Deepness in the Sky (October)
A Fire in the Deep (November)
Storm Front (December)

2009:
I Am Legend (January)
The Onion Girl (February)
Lord of Light (March)
Small Gods (April)
Beggars in Spain (May)
The Once and Future King (June)
Foundation (July)
The Graveyard Book (August)
Neuromancer (September)
The Last Wish (October)
The Knife of Never Letting Go (November)
One Hundred Years of Solitude (December)

2010:
Battle Royale (January)
Jhereg (February)
Cyberabad Days (March)
Tigana (April)
Next (May)
Perdido Street Station (June/July)
Boneshaker (August)
His Majesty's Dragon (September)
Never Let Me Go (October)
The Child Thief (November)
Solaris (December)

2011:
Lirael (January)
Blindsight(February)
Lavinia (March)
Hugo nominees (April)
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (May)
Dawn (June)
Good Omens (July)
The Hunger Games (August)
 

Filigree

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I've read eight from that list. But that's more my problem than a comment on the books. I've trimmed both my reading time and book-buying dollars the last few years, so I'm not that familiar with stuff published since 2002 or so. If I notice a lot of hype about something, I'll read a sample and go ahead with a library copy. Pratchett, Brust, and Gaiman have my attention no matter what. I'm an old Zelazny fan, so LORD OF LIGHT was a great used-bookstore find recently. N.K. Jemison's debut disappointed me because it didn't match either the hype or the book's potential. Whereas Scott Lynch may have created two of the most perfect fantasies I've read in 30+ years.

Will we be discussing both the book and the animated movie this round, or just the book? For all its faults (a unicorn that looked like a duck, Mia Farrow sounding stoned during her narration) I thought the movie did a good job of bringing the book to life.
 

KimJo

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I've only read two from the list, but I've also read The Last Unicorn, though it's been a long time. And now I have the theme song from the movie version playing endlessly in my brain...
 

Etola

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Whoa, we're doing the Last Unicorn? Man, this is what happens when my attendance at AW is sporadic...

Anyway, the Last Unicorn is one of my favorite books of all time, and I am super glad we're discussing it! I reread it just a few months ago, and in fact read it aloud, just for a novel (ahem) experience. I really love the rhythm of Beagle's writing. I found it extraordinarily lyrical.

I think the biggest takeaway for me was that it was one of the first fantasy books I ever read that I felt successfully captured the inexplicable otherness of magic and magical creatures. That the unicorn and the harpy, for example, worked on this completely different level than the mortals caught up in the story. And I like how that was tied into the theme of "true" magic versus trickery.
 

Fenika

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I finally finished The Last Unicorn so I hope folks are still around to discuss it.

I liked the themes too and the writing was fun. Though The Princess Bride (novel) was a satire, I saw some similarities in the prose. Even when it got a little colorful or long winded, I enjoyed it, probably because the narrative style was fairly laid back. It didn't try hard to be serious or dramatic or anything. It just fit.

I liked the end and how the unicorn's humanity and her need to avenge a man she cared for (loved?) allows her to face the bull and drive it to the sea. She doesn't kill it, so she was right about it being older than she was. I might have been let down if she suddenly did kill the thing just from sheer determination and vengence. It also gave the denounment the right feel.

And I loved how that princess showed up just in time for Schmendrick to point her towards the despairing hero :D Epic.

No complaints here. It was a quick read and money well spent. I got the illustrated version and that was a nice touch.
 

Fenika

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We can discuss the movie in general, but please don't give away any major plot points that are different, like the end or critical details, for those who haven't seen it (or like me, haven't seen it since around age seven).

You could put a big SPOILER warning upfront though, and then write your text in white in small font. Others shouldnt quote this as white show up way better in a quote box.

Minor differences are fair game, and any style differences or such you liked.
 

Kelkelen

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Oh! I'm very new to the site, and still finding my way around -- and just realized that there's a book discussion on a fantasy book I've read and loved! (And hello to Etola, who is the reason I even know this site exists. *sheepish wave* I came here so often to read the fora, I finally came out of hiding!)

I think the things that stand out the most for me about The Last Unicorn are:

-- The beauty of the prose. The way Peter S. Beagle is able to *describe* beauty. Just that opening page, with the different hues of white, and the different styles of animal grace! His sentences make me want to read them aloud. Oh, the descriptions of the Red Bull, too.

-- The concept of the immortal being. For some reason, this book brought it home to me more effectively than anything else I've ever read. I recall reading it for the first time (maybe a decade ago!) and having these daily revelations comparing the Christian concept of Jesus, of God-made-man, with the corresponding concept of the Unicorn, an immortal being whose understanding of the world must be fundamentally different *because* she has forever, doesn't age, and by nature creates, tends, and *is* life and beauty. The Unicorn-made-woman. The difference that awareness of mortality makes; the sudden urgency of existence, the realization that you *don't* have forever, the loss of power, and yet the sudden value in all ephemeral things.

-- Robin Hood and Maid Marian. Yeah. Those two always get my vote.

-- The way that Schmendrick's personal weaknesses are written without them being explicitly named; ditto for his growth.

-- The continual contrast between Schmendrick's ordered, scientific, masculine, self-centered, limited-supply, controlling view of magic, and the actual nature of the Unicorn and of magic itself. The way Molly reacts to the Unicorn's appearance, and the fact that of course the Unicorn can still come for her.

-- I need to re-read the book again, but I remember feeling very strongly that it was one of those books where the last page made a great deal of difference; where you just wouldn't have the whole story unless you had the final paragraphs.
 

pandaponies

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I LOVE The Last Unicorn. Loved the movie as a kid and got the book when I was a little older.

The ending is my first favorite part that comes to mind. It's not a complete triumph (I like books with a little loss tossed in with the victory - it's far more realistic, I think), it's beautiful and melancholy. "I am full of tears and hunger and the fear of death, though I cannot weep, and I want nothing, and I cannot die. I am not like the others now, for no unicorn was ever born who could regret, but I do. I regret."

Molly and the unicorn are my favorites. <3 I found the scene where she gets transformed into a human to be particularly potent (plus Molly's "You are an idiot!" quip, which has always amused me). I agree with everything Keleklen has said on immortality. The transformation is so much more poignant for the way mortality is treated - the way she tears at her skin and says "What have you done to me? I will die here! I will die here, I will die!" because she's never even had to consider death before. And Molly just cries and pets her because Molly gets it.

The first time I saw the movie (I was about seven), I was expecting some lighthearted kids' cartoon about a unicorn and was absolutely enchanted when I found how much deeper and darker the story is than that. It's truly enthralling, one of my favorites of all time. <3
 

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The depth was one factor that I really loved, when I first read it. Beagle shares with Pratchett and Gaiman an ability to merge bits of camp with subtle ethical discussions, without either suffering or being too obvious.

I'd also liken Beagle's elements of Greco-Roman myth and Celtic folklore to the songwriting and performance skills shown by some classically-trained Progressive Rock bands. This isn't some one-chord RockBand kind of writing, but true literary fantasy that knows its roots and riffs on them.

THE LAST UNICORN is one of those books I rec to people who haven't read a lot of fantasy, and who are afraid of the sheer length and complexity of Jordan or George R.R. Martin. These readers have a vague familiarity with fairy tales, usually through Disney. They're expecting stock characters: the wizard, the princess, the hero, the evil king. In short, they're fresh victims for my campaign of creating new fantasy readers. 'If you liked that one, here's another title you might check out...'
 

Fenika

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Re: Schmendrick- I did like some of the subtleties around his character, but by the end Beagle had lost me a bit. I didn't really understand the whys of his transformation other than He Just Did, so that's something I would have liked to see a bit more fleshed out or for him to have worked at finding his magic other than Lo! Robin Hood! Lo! Unicorn to Woman! Woman to Unicorn!

It would have been better for me if he'd had some sort of epiphany through his travels.
 

Fenika

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Letting go of doubt makes sense. Ego, from what I recall, was pretty steady but there were prolly little things I missed.

I liked how he had his own immortality that tied in to the novel. And even though he was ancient he always said 'You won't have heard of me' :)
 

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The ending is my first favorite part that comes to mind. It's not a complete triumph (I like books with a little loss tossed in with the victory - it's far more realistic, I think), it's beautiful and melancholy. "I am full of tears and hunger and the fear of death, though I cannot weep, and I want nothing, and I cannot die. I am not like the others now, for no unicorn was ever born who could regret, but I do. I regret."

...The transformation is so much more poignant for the way mortality is treated - the way she tears at her skin and says "What have you done to me? I will die here! I will die here, I will die!" because she's never even had to consider death before. And Molly just cries and pets her because Molly gets it.

I agree -- I love that the ending is bittersweet. In a story that deals with mortality, loss, change, growth, and regret, it would be cheating to have everything perfectly joyous at the end. And yet, it manages to end with light hearts for some, and hope for all, so it's not a downer of a story. Just... true. It feels right.

I love the line in the movie (not sure if it's in the book or not) during that post-transformation scene: "I can feel this body dying all around me!" The movie is very nicely scripted, since the author himself did the screenplay.

@Fenika -- I do think that Schmendrick subtly gets over himself; his ego ends up thwarted in many ways, not the least of which is that the unicorn is much more attuned to Molly than to him, and that Molly is often right about things he's wrong about. It seems like one key to his magic working is that he has to actually be wanting to do something for someone *else* -- not just showing off or hoping for greatness. He starts out wanting to have a reputation as an amazing magician, but ultimately, his best magic comes when he's protecting or serving someone else. Also, initially, his ego really prevents him from getting close to another person and respecting them, but by the end, he's gone from swaggering and condescending to seeing Molly as a peer.
 

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YES, that was one of the best lines in the movie! I love the screenplay. It was very faithful to the novel, and I don't mind the little changes that were made at all.

Everyone who watches it with me scoffs at first (they see the cover and the animation and are like "Really? ...You're really making me watch this?") but is quickly sucked in by the dialogue and the amazing story.

I have nothing else to add on Schmendrick because Kelekelen said it perfectly, IMO! :) (Also, I love Schmendrick and Molly; they're cute together and she'll always be good for smacking him upside the head when he's being a moron. I "awww"ed when he said "Come with me" at the end. <3)
 
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