Reviews

Gossip from the Forest: The Tangled Roots of Our Forests and Fairytales by Sara Maitland

astrodish's review against another edition

2.0

Oh how I wanted to love this book. It checked so many of my boxes that I was sure it would be incredible. I have had this book on my bookshelf for a few years for that reason.

It was suppose to be that book I know I'm going to love and that anticipation was there but I held off for a bad week when I could get some comfortable and lose myself in a book about fairytales and forests and where it all started. For me it just didn't workout that way.

O well

It was ok.

I think it's was still interesting just not in the way I thought. You should give it a go and maybe only read a chapter or two at a time.

Thanks for reading
SJ

charlie9_9's review against another edition

4.0

it was an interesting book,learned a lot about the woods and forest of england and scottland. when done you have a good understanding of forest management. i also like the writers take on some different fairy tales. by the time i was done i was interested in reading the fairy tales of my youth again

littlewitch_ruth's review against another edition

3.0

I read this because I lovingly devoured Maitland's 'A Book of Silence' a few weeks ago, and I craved more of her work. I wouldn't go as far as to say this disappointed me, but it definitely wasn't as captivating as the aforementioned book. This feels like Silence's less-researched, less-loved cousin. Still interesting though, but that's mainly because I adore forests and will use any excuse to read more about them.

erboe501's review against another edition

I picked this book up to read on a holiday. I found the premise of the book: that Teutonic fairytales and forests are closely intertwined and mutually benefit from their relations to each other, intriguing. I liked learning about the ancient forests Maitland visited. But I don't generally enjoy reading long descriptions of nature, and that's basically what this book is. Some of Maitland's conjectures about fairytales also felt like a stretch.

Enjoyable for a few chapters, but I don't feel the drive to finish it when I have so much more to read.

lconrad15's review against another edition

2.0

I wanted to like this book, but I ended up so bored I started skimming. I enjoyed some of the reimaginings of the fairy tales-red riding hood was particularly unsettling (in a good way), but the main portion of the book is her ramblings which constantly left me feeling like I had missed some connection or idea.

bluestarfish's review

4.0

This is a hybrid book of non-fiction (forests and how we are connected to them) and fiction (fairy tales and how we are connected to them). Each chapter recounts a walk in a forest somewhere as well as weaving in history and practical forestry and musings on different topics. And then each chapter ends with a retelling of a familiar fairy tale. I enjoyed both bits and it made me want to go to a forest somewhere. Maybe Epping as that was in the book and is fairly nearby :)

cimorene1558's review against another edition

4.0

Interesting, a neat concept. I'd love to read this one at my own pace, which would be slowly with this particular book, but since it's a library book, it'll have to go back, and maybe I'll pick it up again some day.

bookherd's review against another edition

5.0

This is a lovely book. It is the author's extended meditation on the place of fairy tales in Western culture, alongside the relationship of Western (or Northern European) people to their forests. Each chapter features a walk through a particular forest in the UK, with discussion of the history of that forest, its make-up and condition, management practices that have been used there, and some issues that stand out for the author. In one chapter she visits the site of an ancient forest that no longer exists, and finds traces of the forest still showing through between the houses, roads and parking lots of a modern town. In another, she visits a conifer plantation in Scotland, not a natural woodland at all, and meditates on the tradition that has robbers, thieves and other "bad guys" hiding out in the forest. Each chapter ends with a fairy tale, reworked to address or highlight some of the issues she discussed in that chapter. Some are amusing, some are frightening or sad, some are solemn and beautiful.

I wanted to read each chapter slowly. The tone is personal and the topics aren't comprehensive, but they seem to reflect the personal interests of the author. I was fascinated by the information about forest management practices, and the assertion that the healthiest forests were ones that had been "cultivated" to produce firewood and used as grazing land for livestock such as pigs and goats. Observations about characters in fairy tales were fascinating too--characters who worked in the forest such as hunters and wood cutters are likely to be good guys, animals who talk are always worth listening to, fathers are likely to be too wrapped up in their own affairs to protect their children, but sisters are invariably loving and good.

If you like fairy tales and you have a love of walking in the woods, I recommend this book to you.

guerra_sio's review

3.0

What is the connection between fairytales and the woods? Maitland takes us on a tour of the British woods, explores their history and their connection with folklore,

rosy_posy's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing medium-paced

3.5

Interesting premise with a lot of potential. The Red Riding Hood chapter was very odd and the book felt like it got weaker and less based on scholarship and knowledge the further you went through. Still an entertaining read, and would recommend to any forest/fairytale fans.