Rating: 4.5/5
About the imprint:
Plot:
Seventeen-year-old Dinah needs to leave her home, the weird
commune where she grew up. She needs a whole new identity, starting with how
she looks, starting with shaving off her hair, her 'crowning glory'. She has to
do it quickly, because she has to go now. Dinah was going to go alone and hitch
a ride down south. Except, she ends up being persuaded to illegally drive a VW
campervan for hundreds of miles, accompanied by a grumpy man with one leg. This
wasn't the plan. But while she's driving, Dinah will be forced to confront
everything that led her here, everything that will finally show her which
direction to turn...
My thoughts:
To say I was intrigued by the concept and basic premise of the book would be a severe understatement. I think it takes a lot to be able to breathe new life into classic stories while also making them appeal to both those familiar with the source material and to those approaching your work as a singular entity. To say Kit De Waal does so successfully would also be an understatement.
Becoming Dinah is such a powerful exploration of obsession and the many stories people tell themselves about who they are and what the world around them shapes them to be. There is an equally powerful thing about seeing a story such as Moby Dick, a story that few if any would associate with coming of age and teen girls, recentered in such a way that at the end of the day it makes you wonder why, at the very core, Moby Dick wouldn't be about a teen girl navigating the world and trying to make sense of it as well as of herself.
The book opens at a moment of metamorphosis - Dinah, our young protagonist, shaves off all her hair, her most prized and distinguishable feature, in an attempt of preparing herself to leave behind the only life that she has ever known. The rest of the book respects this tone set by the exposition: Dinah's journey, both literal and metaphorical, is one continuous renewal of who she is and who she would like to be. From chopping off her hair, to changing her name, to associating herself with people she wouldn't have chose to do so with before, Dinah's story follows a series of multiple small choices and changes that lead up to the simple, yet powerful choice of where to go next, both in terms of space and in a much deeper sense.
It is arguable, then, that at its core, this is very much a story about a young woman trying to come to terms with multiple sides of her identity and how those facets of who she is, as well as her previous experiences, alter the way she navigates the world. It just so happens that this is done with her grumpy companion found in the form of Ahab as they drive down the country in hunt of a white campervan that in some (if not all) ways, shapes and forms is meant to represent the solution to all of Dinah and Ahab's problems.
(as the reader might assume, this isn't quite as easy or likely to happen, so Dinah will naturally be confronted with the way this event in itself changes her new order)
A tale of identity, disillusionment, growing up and not just finding, but actively creating your path, Becoming Dinah is the hopeful reaction to complicated dilemmas that I think many teens would need in their lives. And it is a YA, female centric,purely on land retelling of Moby Dick. What else could one ask for?
I must also add, as I know many would appreciate, that Dinah is a biracial, queer girl. At least on the biracial side, that's an #ownvoices story for you folks!
I must also add that while overall this was a fabulous read, there was also an instance of unnecessary casual fatphobia that we could have definitely done very well without, so I had to knock off half a star from my rating because of that.
I love the idea of what Bellatrix as an imprint is attempting to do and I think this was a very exciting novel to start their journey with!
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