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hayesstw's review against another edition
3.0
A very strange book.
We've had a copy on our shelves for years, and I've sometimes tried to read it, but never got beyond the first chapter because it was a hardback copy in poor condition, with the binding coming apart, and I didn't want to damage it further. Then last week I found a cheap paperback copy in a second-hand bookshop and read that.
On one level it is a kind of Edwardian history lesson. Two children, Dan and Una, perform the play within a play from A Midsummer Nights Dream, and Puck himself appears to them and promises to show them things more real than any dream. They are then introduced to characters from various periods of English history who bring that history to life by giving a personal view of it. Perhaps school history in those days must have seemed to many children just a boring catalogue of dates and battles and kings. The stories show that they involved real people, with sometimes real conflicts of loyalties.
The stories seem to have a common theme too, and perhaps one that is worth noting in these days of the UK Independence Party and Brexit, and the preaching of a new version of British exceptionalism. Kipling seems concerned to show that the British are not a unique "pure" race. They are a mixture of Saxons and Normans, Romans and Picts, and many of the stories show people crossing these barriers of ethnicity and race.
Even religion is varied. The book begins with the story of a pagan god Weland, and ends with a Jew. And in between comes the story of the fairies fleeing as refugees to France because they didn't like the conflict between Catholics and Protestants, and the last straw was the iconoclasm of the Puritans.
But for all its good points, the story wasn't very well told. The children are made to forget each incident and story after they have heard it, by the invocation of "oak, ash and thorn", and so one wonders what the point was. A few years ago I read Kipling's Kim for the fifth time (my review here: Kim revisited: imperialism, Russophobia & asceticism | Notes from underground), but I don't think I'll really want to read this one again. It's a fantasy story, but the fantasy doesn't seem to blend very well with the history, and the Puck of the title does little more than introduce the other characters, like a master of ceremonies at a wedding or a funeral.
We've had a copy on our shelves for years, and I've sometimes tried to read it, but never got beyond the first chapter because it was a hardback copy in poor condition, with the binding coming apart, and I didn't want to damage it further. Then last week I found a cheap paperback copy in a second-hand bookshop and read that.
On one level it is a kind of Edwardian history lesson. Two children, Dan and Una, perform the play within a play from A Midsummer Nights Dream, and Puck himself appears to them and promises to show them things more real than any dream. They are then introduced to characters from various periods of English history who bring that history to life by giving a personal view of it. Perhaps school history in those days must have seemed to many children just a boring catalogue of dates and battles and kings. The stories show that they involved real people, with sometimes real conflicts of loyalties.
The stories seem to have a common theme too, and perhaps one that is worth noting in these days of the UK Independence Party and Brexit, and the preaching of a new version of British exceptionalism. Kipling seems concerned to show that the British are not a unique "pure" race. They are a mixture of Saxons and Normans, Romans and Picts, and many of the stories show people crossing these barriers of ethnicity and race.
Even religion is varied. The book begins with the story of a pagan god Weland, and ends with a Jew. And in between comes the story of the fairies fleeing as refugees to France because they didn't like the conflict between Catholics and Protestants, and the last straw was the iconoclasm of the Puritans.
But for all its good points, the story wasn't very well told. The children are made to forget each incident and story after they have heard it, by the invocation of "oak, ash and thorn", and so one wonders what the point was. A few years ago I read Kipling's Kim for the fifth time (my review here: Kim revisited: imperialism, Russophobia & asceticism | Notes from underground), but I don't think I'll really want to read this one again. It's a fantasy story, but the fantasy doesn't seem to blend very well with the history, and the Puck of the title does little more than introduce the other characters, like a master of ceremonies at a wedding or a funeral.
nicohvi's review against another edition
5.0
"A huge grey horse, whose tail-hairs crinkled the glassy water, was drinking in the pool, and the ripples about his muzzle flashed like melted gold."
Try to read that sentence without getting a vivid mental image dancing across your mind. Impossible, I know.
Kipling is a terrific writer, able to communicate more atmosphere in a single sentence than many authors manage in entire books. Additionally, he's that rare strand of author whom can weave historical details into his narratives with a deft hand without it ever feeling strained or unnatural. In this sense he reminds me of Susannah Clarke, though Kipling's writing style is more paternal in nature as compared to Clarke's prevailing witticism.
The various tales of adventure, knights, and piracy are tied together in a frame story that harkens back to traditional Enligsh fairy tales, and it astounds me how well-versed Kipling seems to be not only in the written accounts of British history, but also in the mythical elements therein. Puck genuinely feels like a British elf - not because of how he looks (not exactly Legolas), but because of how he acts. If that isn't a testament to writing ability I don't know what is.
The various stories are all told from the point-of-view of their respective protagonists, whom the children encounter alongside Puck. Each of these characters is sympathetic, interesting, and feel deeply layered. The lives of these characters all intersected with important historical periods which the children explore through their tales of woe and adventure.
Parnesius' tales of Hadrian's Wall was a personal favourite, but the stories involving Sir Richard Dalyngridge were also stellar examples of storytelling. I'll grant that the last story didn't really grip me the same way the previous did, but the preceding tales were of such quality that I didn't really mind.
In addition to the marvelous fairy tales (and frame story) this book also overflows with paternal love for children. It's apparent to me that despite his flaws Kipling seemingly adored and respected children. This book contains, in my opinion, some of the best advise one could hope for at a young age: it extols the importance of honesty, friendship, and character, all explored through interesting stories.
This book is 125 pages long, and that includes plenty of songs that I joyfully skipped past (if songs and poems are your cup of tea then I suppose you'll be delighted), and I'm left with more vivid mental images from the scenes in this short collection of stories than The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man's Fear combined (1664 pages).
I mean, just look at this:
"'I sacrifice to my dead youth,' he answered, and, when the flames had consumed the letter, he ground them out with his heel."
Try to read that sentence without getting a vivid mental image dancing across your mind. Impossible, I know.
Kipling is a terrific writer, able to communicate more atmosphere in a single sentence than many authors manage in entire books. Additionally, he's that rare strand of author whom can weave historical details into his narratives with a deft hand without it ever feeling strained or unnatural. In this sense he reminds me of Susannah Clarke, though Kipling's writing style is more paternal in nature as compared to Clarke's prevailing witticism.
The various tales of adventure, knights, and piracy are tied together in a frame story that harkens back to traditional Enligsh fairy tales, and it astounds me how well-versed Kipling seems to be not only in the written accounts of British history, but also in the mythical elements therein. Puck genuinely feels like a British elf - not because of how he looks (not exactly Legolas), but because of how he acts. If that isn't a testament to writing ability I don't know what is.
The various stories are all told from the point-of-view of their respective protagonists, whom the children encounter alongside Puck. Each of these characters is sympathetic, interesting, and feel deeply layered. The lives of these characters all intersected with important historical periods which the children explore through their tales of woe and adventure.
Parnesius' tales of Hadrian's Wall was a personal favourite, but the stories involving Sir Richard Dalyngridge were also stellar examples of storytelling. I'll grant that the last story didn't really grip me the same way the previous did, but the preceding tales were of such quality that I didn't really mind.
In addition to the marvelous fairy tales (and frame story) this book also overflows with paternal love for children. It's apparent to me that despite his flaws Kipling seemingly adored and respected children. This book contains, in my opinion, some of the best advise one could hope for at a young age: it extols the importance of honesty, friendship, and character, all explored through interesting stories.
This book is 125 pages long, and that includes plenty of songs that I joyfully skipped past (if songs and poems are your cup of tea then I suppose you'll be delighted), and I'm left with more vivid mental images from the scenes in this short collection of stories than The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man's Fear combined (1664 pages).
I mean, just look at this:
"'I sacrifice to my dead youth,' he answered, and, when the flames had consumed the letter, he ground them out with his heel."
jgkeely's review against another edition
4.0
The more familiar I become with Kipling's many short, fantastical works, the clearer it becomes that almost every fantasy author of the past century owes him a great debt. I have pointed out before that he has written works which lay out whole subgenres--blueprints which later authors like C.S. Lewis, H.P Lovecraft, Neal Gaiman, and Susanna Clarke have expanded upon.
And in this collection, we can see yet another branch of influence. In several stories spanning centuries of English history, Kipling writes of war, politics, and adventure amongst the clash of conquerors and settlers of that island. Each story is full of unusual historical details and characters, woven closely together into a rich and varied tapestry where beauty, comedy, and tragedy are depicted side by side.
It is this vividity of myriad emotions that I have come to see as the mark of a great and exciting tale of adventure. As Howard said of his greatest creation, Conan the Barbarian:
"Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandalled feet..."
Of the many authors who have followed after Howard, the great majority are lackluster, for though they all remember the 'gigantic melancholies', none recall the 'gigantic mirth'. And indeed, these tales of Kipling's are immediately reminiscent of the wild, strange adventures penned by Howard and Leiber.
They both learned well the lesson that both magic and realism are dependent on a constant rush of strange yet naturalistic details. Any long-winded explanation is the death of a story, while innumerable implications of the greater world are its life. More than that, they resemble Kipling in form. The sorts of characters, places, events, and twists we see are immediately familiar to the connoisseur of Sword and Sorcery: piracy, doomed battles, monstrous apes, lost treasures, inscrutable foreign allies, mystery cults, ruthless generals, seers, &c.
Tying all these tales together was a frame story taken from the English fairy tale tradition, with the familiar theme of modern children accidentally coming across ancient myths (though in this case, they are only listeners, not participants). Yet what fascinated me was how fantastical the stories themselves felt, despite the fact that they were not overtly magical. Even so, Kipling maintains a consistent tone of wonderment and strangeness, often by representing the world through the eyes of the characters, themselves.
So many authors seem to think that including some elves and dragons will make a story wondrous, but for the most part, they are known quantities, not mysterious entities. We all know what dragons are, so their appearance in fantasy could hardly surprise us. No story will be fantastical if it is fundamentally familiar and predictable. It is not the color of a creature's skin that makes it otherworldly, it is how the creature is personified. It is simply impossible to make something fantastical without a strong sense of tone.
So perhaps I should have been less surprised that I found in the thirty pages of one of these stories more complex characters, emotional depth, and sense of the mystical than I have in most five-hundred page books about yet another dragon war.
Unfortunately, I found the last few stories dragged on a bit, lacking the conciseness and immediacy of the earlier ones. Kipling's attempt to tie all the stories together into a meaningful narrative about English identity was stretched a bit thin. Likewise, there is an uncomfortable implication of 'White Man's Burden' in the way the Romans treat the Picts--but if anything, the fact that he turns the same argument on his own people suggests that it is a comment about international power relations, and not race.
Once more, Kipling shows the breadth of his imagination--the many periods, peoples, and stories he covered--and it's easy to see his influence among the best writers of fantasy and adventure.
My List of Suggested Fantasy Books
And in this collection, we can see yet another branch of influence. In several stories spanning centuries of English history, Kipling writes of war, politics, and adventure amongst the clash of conquerors and settlers of that island. Each story is full of unusual historical details and characters, woven closely together into a rich and varied tapestry where beauty, comedy, and tragedy are depicted side by side.
It is this vividity of myriad emotions that I have come to see as the mark of a great and exciting tale of adventure. As Howard said of his greatest creation, Conan the Barbarian:
"Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandalled feet..."
Of the many authors who have followed after Howard, the great majority are lackluster, for though they all remember the 'gigantic melancholies', none recall the 'gigantic mirth'. And indeed, these tales of Kipling's are immediately reminiscent of the wild, strange adventures penned by Howard and Leiber.
They both learned well the lesson that both magic and realism are dependent on a constant rush of strange yet naturalistic details. Any long-winded explanation is the death of a story, while innumerable implications of the greater world are its life. More than that, they resemble Kipling in form. The sorts of characters, places, events, and twists we see are immediately familiar to the connoisseur of Sword and Sorcery: piracy, doomed battles, monstrous apes, lost treasures, inscrutable foreign allies, mystery cults, ruthless generals, seers, &c.
Tying all these tales together was a frame story taken from the English fairy tale tradition, with the familiar theme of modern children accidentally coming across ancient myths (though in this case, they are only listeners, not participants). Yet what fascinated me was how fantastical the stories themselves felt, despite the fact that they were not overtly magical. Even so, Kipling maintains a consistent tone of wonderment and strangeness, often by representing the world through the eyes of the characters, themselves.
So many authors seem to think that including some elves and dragons will make a story wondrous, but for the most part, they are known quantities, not mysterious entities. We all know what dragons are, so their appearance in fantasy could hardly surprise us. No story will be fantastical if it is fundamentally familiar and predictable. It is not the color of a creature's skin that makes it otherworldly, it is how the creature is personified. It is simply impossible to make something fantastical without a strong sense of tone.
So perhaps I should have been less surprised that I found in the thirty pages of one of these stories more complex characters, emotional depth, and sense of the mystical than I have in most five-hundred page books about yet another dragon war.
Unfortunately, I found the last few stories dragged on a bit, lacking the conciseness and immediacy of the earlier ones. Kipling's attempt to tie all the stories together into a meaningful narrative about English identity was stretched a bit thin. Likewise, there is an uncomfortable implication of 'White Man's Burden' in the way the Romans treat the Picts--but if anything, the fact that he turns the same argument on his own people suggests that it is a comment about international power relations, and not race.
Once more, Kipling shows the breadth of his imagination--the many periods, peoples, and stories he covered--and it's easy to see his influence among the best writers of fantasy and adventure.
My List of Suggested Fantasy Books
smcleish's review against another edition
3.0
Originally published on my blog here in October 2000.
Of the classic children's books written by Rudyard Kipling, Puck of Pook's Hill has perhaps dated the most obviously. It remains a charming idea, much copied, but so much about it is a celebration of Victorian country life that in many ways it is not very relevant to the children of today. The idyllic upper class childhood of Dan and Una, full of enchanting places to play, has probably never existed outside fiction, and to be a child in the country today is little like this. (The South Downs are probably a more fun place to be a child than the Lincolnshire Fens, where I grew up, which are more like living in the middle of a gigantic agricultural factory.)
By reciting parts of a cut down version of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the appropriate time near an ancient shrine dedicated to Puck, Dan and Una unexpectedly summon up the sprite, who treats the children to a tour of the history of East Sussex (where Kipling himself lived) in which they meet a Norman knight, a Roman legionary and a medieval Jewish moneylender, who each tell the children stories of the past. (The area around Hastings and Pevensey is particularly rich in historical associations.)
The history is old fashioned and contains what are now known to be inaccuracies, but the way in which Kipling makes it exciting and alive is one of the strengths of the book. The other, which is connected, is the ability which is shared by much of his writing to create an alien world and draw the reader in, whatever their age. Faded by comparison, Puck of Pook's Hill is still a worthwhile book to introduce to a child if they have been enchanted by [b:The Jungle Book|77270|The Jungle Book|Rudyard Kipling|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327873594s/77270.jpg|17441265].
Of the classic children's books written by Rudyard Kipling, Puck of Pook's Hill has perhaps dated the most obviously. It remains a charming idea, much copied, but so much about it is a celebration of Victorian country life that in many ways it is not very relevant to the children of today. The idyllic upper class childhood of Dan and Una, full of enchanting places to play, has probably never existed outside fiction, and to be a child in the country today is little like this. (The South Downs are probably a more fun place to be a child than the Lincolnshire Fens, where I grew up, which are more like living in the middle of a gigantic agricultural factory.)
By reciting parts of a cut down version of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the appropriate time near an ancient shrine dedicated to Puck, Dan and Una unexpectedly summon up the sprite, who treats the children to a tour of the history of East Sussex (where Kipling himself lived) in which they meet a Norman knight, a Roman legionary and a medieval Jewish moneylender, who each tell the children stories of the past. (The area around Hastings and Pevensey is particularly rich in historical associations.)
The history is old fashioned and contains what are now known to be inaccuracies, but the way in which Kipling makes it exciting and alive is one of the strengths of the book. The other, which is connected, is the ability which is shared by much of his writing to create an alien world and draw the reader in, whatever their age. Faded by comparison, Puck of Pook's Hill is still a worthwhile book to introduce to a child if they have been enchanted by [b:The Jungle Book|77270|The Jungle Book|Rudyard Kipling|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327873594s/77270.jpg|17441265].
balancinghistorybooks's review against another edition
4.0
Rudyard Kipling has left a plethora of fantastic writing behind him, ranging from his moralistic Just-So Stories and his beautiful and far-reaching collection of poems, to his delightful work for children. Each story in Puck of Pook’s Hill – which was first published in 1906, and is possibly the most charming novel which Kipling turned his hand to writing – ‘mixes war and politics with adventure and intrigue’.
The foreword to Hesperus Minor’s beautiful new reprint of Kipling’s classic children’s novel has been written by Marcus Sedgwick. He explains, first and foremost, that a puck is ‘an ancient creature of British mythology, a catch-all name for the “little people”, the fairy-folk, or the People of the Hills’.
The novel is comprised of short stories which relate to one another in terms of the central thread running through them, and which are separated by rousing poems. Surely such a format deems them perfect for bedtime reading. In the novel, we are introduced to siblings Una and Dan, who live in rural Sussex. On Midsummer’s Eve, whilst they are reciting – rather fittingly, one feels – the beautiful A Midsummer Night’s Dream to one another, using a fairy ring ‘of darkened grass’ as their stage, they manage to summon an elf named Puck, and ‘are taken on a fantastic journey through Britain’s past’. Kipling describes the little creature in rather a charming and vivid manner: all of a sudden, ‘in the very spot where Dan had stood as Puck they saw a small, brown, broad-shouldered, pointy-eared person with a snub nose, slanting blue eyes, and a grin that ran right across his freckled face’. Pook’s Hill, upon which the children sit, belong to Puck: ‘it is just that’, Sedgwick writes, ‘as the years go by, words and names change’.
The entirety of Puck of Pook’s Hill is filled with history. Una and Dan meet, amongst other figures of yore, a Roman Centurion and the knight Sir Richard, who came to England with William the Conqueror. Both figures tell many tales of their pasts. In this way, the book is both entertaining and educative, telling the story of Britain’s important past by way of events which are sure to pique the interest of children. Throughout, Kipling balances the adventurous tales with beautiful descriptions – for example, ‘The trees closing overhead made long tunnels through which the sunshine worked in blobs and patches’, and ‘the little voices of the slipping water began again’.
Puck of Pook’s Hill is of the rare kind of children’s literature, presenting as it does a story which will equally appeal to both boys and girls. It is filled to the brim with magic, folklore, ancient beings, other-worldly creatures, and two very endearing children. The charming story which Kipling has woven is ready to be rediscovered by a whole new generation of readers, who are sure to treasure it.
The foreword to Hesperus Minor’s beautiful new reprint of Kipling’s classic children’s novel has been written by Marcus Sedgwick. He explains, first and foremost, that a puck is ‘an ancient creature of British mythology, a catch-all name for the “little people”, the fairy-folk, or the People of the Hills’.
The novel is comprised of short stories which relate to one another in terms of the central thread running through them, and which are separated by rousing poems. Surely such a format deems them perfect for bedtime reading. In the novel, we are introduced to siblings Una and Dan, who live in rural Sussex. On Midsummer’s Eve, whilst they are reciting – rather fittingly, one feels – the beautiful A Midsummer Night’s Dream to one another, using a fairy ring ‘of darkened grass’ as their stage, they manage to summon an elf named Puck, and ‘are taken on a fantastic journey through Britain’s past’. Kipling describes the little creature in rather a charming and vivid manner: all of a sudden, ‘in the very spot where Dan had stood as Puck they saw a small, brown, broad-shouldered, pointy-eared person with a snub nose, slanting blue eyes, and a grin that ran right across his freckled face’. Pook’s Hill, upon which the children sit, belong to Puck: ‘it is just that’, Sedgwick writes, ‘as the years go by, words and names change’.
The entirety of Puck of Pook’s Hill is filled with history. Una and Dan meet, amongst other figures of yore, a Roman Centurion and the knight Sir Richard, who came to England with William the Conqueror. Both figures tell many tales of their pasts. In this way, the book is both entertaining and educative, telling the story of Britain’s important past by way of events which are sure to pique the interest of children. Throughout, Kipling balances the adventurous tales with beautiful descriptions – for example, ‘The trees closing overhead made long tunnels through which the sunshine worked in blobs and patches’, and ‘the little voices of the slipping water began again’.
Puck of Pook’s Hill is of the rare kind of children’s literature, presenting as it does a story which will equally appeal to both boys and girls. It is filled to the brim with magic, folklore, ancient beings, other-worldly creatures, and two very endearing children. The charming story which Kipling has woven is ready to be rediscovered by a whole new generation of readers, who are sure to treasure it.
marycfindley's review against another edition
2.0
This is a children's story intending to teach some English history in an entertaining fashion, and it does a really good job of that. Certainly his child audience was a lot better educated than our sis today for the most part. The language and imagery is rich, even when he's not writing actual poetry. I found his religious perspective very disturbing, however, as I always do with Kipling. He is a humanist, but he also claims that Protestantism was an evil bringer of destruction and hatred to England. Smugglers are funny and clever. Catholics and Jews can wise, clever and good, but only when they support humanist and pagan goals. The worship of the "old gods" and fairies is far better than modern church practices in Kipling's mind.
jennyanydots's review against another edition
3.0
Read for the Children's Book Challenge, about 2 children who recite A Midsummer's Night's Dream 3 times on Midsummer's Eve on Puck's Hill, only to conjure up Puck himself to teach them about the history that happened in their home landscape.