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Little, Big by John Crowley
Nov. 24th, 2019 09:21 pmLittle, Big
3/5. Generational epic about a family entwined with fairy.
Extremely beautiful and at least 60% not for me. I get why people love this – it's really as good as you can get if you like that sort of thing. But I generally bounce off generational stories, as they seem concerned with notions that I have no truck with – that there's sort of a familial character, that you can be explained by where your grandfather came from, etc. This book isn't really that. It's weird and elusive and doesn't really bother to tell you what it's even for until it's nearly over. And it is lovely in its every strange, elaborate gesture. And what I really appreciated is the way this book sits comfortably with a whole range of different ways of believing or not believing in magic. There's an entire sprawling household of people, and every one of them seems to have their own unique relationship with the numinous – thoughtlessly accepting, miserably believing but excluded, secretly unbelieving, and on and on. It's all managed so confidently, I spent half this book taking mental notes on technique.
But still. Not for me. Too abstruse, too generational. Too fairy.
3/5. Generational epic about a family entwined with fairy.
Extremely beautiful and at least 60% not for me. I get why people love this – it's really as good as you can get if you like that sort of thing. But I generally bounce off generational stories, as they seem concerned with notions that I have no truck with – that there's sort of a familial character, that you can be explained by where your grandfather came from, etc. This book isn't really that. It's weird and elusive and doesn't really bother to tell you what it's even for until it's nearly over. And it is lovely in its every strange, elaborate gesture. And what I really appreciated is the way this book sits comfortably with a whole range of different ways of believing or not believing in magic. There's an entire sprawling household of people, and every one of them seems to have their own unique relationship with the numinous – thoughtlessly accepting, miserably believing but excluded, secretly unbelieving, and on and on. It's all managed so confidently, I spent half this book taking mental notes on technique.
But still. Not for me. Too abstruse, too generational. Too fairy.