Six Degrees of Separation: Burial Rites (Or, How Katie is a Big Cheater-Face.)

April 21, 2014 Six Degrees of Separation 33

Greetings Bookworms!

I recently discovered this fantastic new meme through Rory at Fourth Street Review that’s put on by Annabel Smith and Emma Chapman. Once a month Annabel and Emma will choose a book they both enjoyed. Readers will be tasked with creating a 6-degrees-of-separation chain beginning with said book. There’s a ton of room for creativity, because there are no guidelines on the connections. Whatever you feel is fair game, and that’s totally my kind of meme!

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I know it might be a bit presumptuous to cheat this system since it’s my first time at this particular rodeo, but the starting point for this month was Burial Rites by Hannah Kent (my review). I actually came up with several different chains, but I liked the initial connections of all of them SO MUCH that I decided just to make a six lists of one separation… Or something. You’ll see what I’m talking about in a minute, I swear. READY?!

1. A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan: Alright, this connection is tenuous, I’ll admit, but these are the things that jump out at me. YOGURT. While reading Burial Rites, I kept googling things I hadn’t heard of, particularly the food. Skyr is a traditional Icelandic food that is apparently similar to yogurt. There was a point in A Visit from the Goon Squad where they discussed one of the girls’ mothers making homemade yogurt. I didn’t actually like the book but that whole yogurt thing made an impression.

2. Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy: I saw soooo many parallels between Agnes and Tess! The tragic ends and the circumstances and the heartbreak. I just. Yeah. Agnes and Tess are like soul sisters.

3. The Green Mile by Stephen King: It’s hard to not connect this book with Burial Rites, I mean, they’re both about characters awaiting their executions. And they’re both pretty fabulous. It works. (my review)

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4. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson: I couldn’t help but link this series to Burial Rites. It’s got to do with the whole Nordic vibe and the less than awesome justice system Lisbeth and Agnes were subjected to. Plus, the court representatives in both books were pretty big douche canoes, so, yeah.

5. The Road by Cormac McCarthy: I was really struck at some of the description of Icelandic winters while reading Burial Rites. It sounded so darn BLEAK. The only landscape I could conjure up that was anywhere close to the Icelandic winter was the post apocalyptic nightmare Cormac McCarthy put together. And I thought Illinois sucked in the winter. (my review)

6. The Remedy by Thomas Goetz: Nobody can cough up blood without me thinking they have TB, and nobody can have TB without me thinking of The Remedy! The matriarch of the farm where Agnes is held is struggling with some suspiciously tuberculosis-like symptoms. I’m just saying. (my review)

There we have it! Katie’s cheater-cheater version of Six Degrees of Separation. Are there any books that you might link to Burial Rites? Tell me about it, Bookworms!

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33 Responses to “Six Degrees of Separation: Burial Rites (Or, How Katie is a Big Cheater-Face.)”

  2. Shannon @ River City Reading

    When we read it everyone in my book club talked about how much Burial Rites reminded them of Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood (in a goo way). I hadn’t read it, but I went and grabbed a copy at my next library sale and it has a familiar sounding story and sounds pretty great!

    Reply

  3. Jennine G.

    Too much thinking on a Monday morning! Your list is much better than mine would be! I’d list anything in the historical fiction genre! Lol

    Reply

  5. Megan M.

    I like this idea! I haven’t read Burial Rites so I can’t really do it properly, but I know that Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult involves a man who is waiting to be executed so it would probably work.

    Reply

  9. Annabel Smith

    Ermagerd I can’t believe you linked two books via YOGHURT. Haha! That is the best and weirdest link out of all the chains I’ve read. You won the meme, even though you blatantly cheated on the rules! Also love the connection with The Road. Thanks for playing.

    Reply

  10. Melinda

    Like I said, I want to read Burial Rites. I’d like to see if I make the connections to some of the books I’ve read on this list. This is a good meme!

    Reply

  12. Nish

    This is a fantastic meme and I would have totally gone for it too in my blog if it wasn’t for the fact that I haven’t read Burial Rites yet. It does sound like a fantastic book.

    Reply

    • Annabel Smith

      Hi Nish, you don’t have to have read the first book – you can just make your connections based on what you know about it – so you can still join in. If you want to play next month, we’ll be starting our chains with Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar on saturday May 3rd

      Reply

  13. Rory

    You can cheat anytime you want (like I have a say…) if those are the books you include (ahem, King).

    Reply

    • Words For Worms

      That reminds me! I was looking up zombie books (because I like zombies) and Cell by SK was listed. I haven’t read it, obviously, because I’m a chicken, but given my apparent zombie loophole, do you think it’s a good one?

      Reply

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