Scan barcode
doobage's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
informative
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
2.5
scribal's review against another edition
4.0
Second review after mulling it over for a week or more: I've started a project that will include a lot of thinking about woods and nature, tales and the spirits of place. I read Maitlands book hoping/expecting to find "my" haunted forest. Never in my bookwormy, nerdy, long life has a book about a subject dear to me made me feel so American!! This was not my experience of woods at all! And these were not the tales and fairies that lived in "my" woods.
Maitland says "we" worry about other people not wild animals in the forest. Yes, near cities, but in the Rocky Mountain pine and spruce forests I do worry about mountain lions and bears, and lightening, and flash floods. She says it's the Grimm stories that "we" relate to. I always found them flat and affectless. "My" fairy tales were hidden in the illustrations by Arthur Rackham or Fritz Wegner; hinted at in epic poetry and in the margins of mythologies.
As I said below the historical practices of forestry in Britain were fascinating to me. I was raised by a forester/tree scientist/woodcarver who took me on my first forest walks in frozen flooded pine plantations when I was very young, and I appreciated Maitland's easy explanations of older practices in the contexts of her forest walks. (Interestingly I've read many reviews of the book and this part is the only part that ever gets any criticism. I thought it had the most specific "placeness" of anything in the book).
First Review:
This book seeks to connect fairytales and forests in a deep, imaginative, childlike way which is a wonderful concept. The description of forest practices as currently observable in British forests and the fairytale retellings are very good.
I found the author's personal responses of fairytales and forests to be that: personal. They weren't often ones I shared and were hardly compelling as evidence for a theory. Related to that is the very odd choice to address only the Grimm collection of tales..rejecting Celtic mythology offhandedly because it is "of the sea," for example.
I enjoyed reading it.
Maitland says "we" worry about other people not wild animals in the forest. Yes, near cities, but in the Rocky Mountain pine and spruce forests I do worry about mountain lions and bears, and lightening, and flash floods. She says it's the Grimm stories that "we" relate to. I always found them flat and affectless. "My" fairy tales were hidden in the illustrations by Arthur Rackham or Fritz Wegner; hinted at in epic poetry and in the margins of mythologies.
As I said below the historical practices of forestry in Britain were fascinating to me. I was raised by a forester/tree scientist/woodcarver who took me on my first forest walks in frozen flooded pine plantations when I was very young, and I appreciated Maitland's easy explanations of older practices in the contexts of her forest walks. (Interestingly I've read many reviews of the book and this part is the only part that ever gets any criticism. I thought it had the most specific "placeness" of anything in the book).
First Review:
This book seeks to connect fairytales and forests in a deep, imaginative, childlike way which is a wonderful concept. The description of forest practices as currently observable in British forests and the fairytale retellings are very good.
I found the author's personal responses of fairytales and forests to be that: personal. They weren't often ones I shared and were hardly compelling as evidence for a theory. Related to that is the very odd choice to address only the Grimm collection of tales..rejecting Celtic mythology offhandedly because it is "of the sea," for example.
I enjoyed reading it.
midgardener's review against another edition
4.0
What a fantastic combination of subjects! Nature and Fairy go hand in hand. It was out of the mystery of the world in older days that Fairy was born, and it's that very relationship that Maitland examines here. Her thesis within this semi-academic work is intriguing and well-argued, it being, "that we ["we" referring to folks with heritage in cultures of western/northern Europe] have the stories we have because we are people whose roots are in the northern European forests." While this statement is, as she readily admits, one less proven by scientific method and more felt to be true by general exploration, this does not detract from the veracity of her work. On the contrary, I would say the intangible nature of her investigation is entirely fitting to the subject. Nature is an entity about which we learn more and more every day through science; and yet it is also an immensely spiritual and mysterious realm which we have largely separated from our modern, "Western" selves. The same can be said for Fairy as well, to an even larger degree, as Fairy is a world entirely created for and by the imaginations of long gone humans in need of answers and entertainment in dark nights when the forest swayed around their huts. Fairy (and, it could be argued, Magic as a broad entity) is born of those shadowed spaces between the trees in a primeval wood, where even the most knowledgeable scientist may feel something more, something incalculable, at work just beyond their vision.
Maitland's exploration of the selected woodlands within Great Britain combine cultural histories, modern ecological perspectives, and, always, a great reverence for the continued existence of wilderness. Not that all of these places are, indeed, wild: a number of the forests she visits were constructed as monocultural timber resources. But, as she had noted and as is evident over the past decades, the Forestry Commission, which originally headed up Britain's timber needs, now fills the role of Environmental Steward far more than Economic Enforcer. Noting their vital work when found upon her travels, she also brings in the invaluable perspective of Oliver Rackham, beloved naturalist and advocate for Britain's wild places. Other reviewers have claimed she leans a bit too heavily on Rackham's works; I do not entirely agree, considering how important a figure he has become over the years.
But concerning that single detracted star from my review, it was due to the occasional feeling that the fairy story aspect was a little forced. Each chapter, each location, was used to argue for a different side of the Fairy-Nature-People link; sometimes, those links felt tenuous, to the point that the chapter would have been just as grand without the Fairy aspect at all. That's the unfortunate side effect of having a thesis that is not entirely possible to prove via the scientific method, I suppose. Both on the whole and within its parts, this book is an excellent journey through the forests of Britain and the stories that have lived within them. I learned much about the cultures surrounding those old tales, much about the natural world of British woodlands, and much about how interlinked the human creative mind is with the sublime realm of Nature. I can already tell that this book will return to my hands in years to come, perhaps when I sit beneath a gnarled oak in an ancient woodland myself, wondering what fae things might be weaving within the leaves.
Maitland's exploration of the selected woodlands within Great Britain combine cultural histories, modern ecological perspectives, and, always, a great reverence for the continued existence of wilderness. Not that all of these places are, indeed, wild: a number of the forests she visits were constructed as monocultural timber resources. But, as she had noted and as is evident over the past decades, the Forestry Commission, which originally headed up Britain's timber needs, now fills the role of Environmental Steward far more than Economic Enforcer. Noting their vital work when found upon her travels, she also brings in the invaluable perspective of Oliver Rackham, beloved naturalist and advocate for Britain's wild places. Other reviewers have claimed she leans a bit too heavily on Rackham's works; I do not entirely agree, considering how important a figure he has become over the years.
But concerning that single detracted star from my review, it was due to the occasional feeling that the fairy story aspect was a little forced. Each chapter, each location, was used to argue for a different side of the Fairy-Nature-People link; sometimes, those links felt tenuous, to the point that the chapter would have been just as grand without the Fairy aspect at all. That's the unfortunate side effect of having a thesis that is not entirely possible to prove via the scientific method, I suppose. Both on the whole and within its parts, this book is an excellent journey through the forests of Britain and the stories that have lived within them. I learned much about the cultures surrounding those old tales, much about the natural world of British woodlands, and much about how interlinked the human creative mind is with the sublime realm of Nature. I can already tell that this book will return to my hands in years to come, perhaps when I sit beneath a gnarled oak in an ancient woodland myself, wondering what fae things might be weaving within the leaves.
redheadreading's review against another edition
2.0
It baffles me that, having chosen to visit solely English and Scottish woods, Maitland exclusively focuses on Grimm's fairytales and apparently disregards any tales actually from the British Isles. I wanted to love this book because in theory it is exactly my cup of tea, but I've actually found it to be an infuriating read! Rambling and unfocused, so much of this was just the author making sweeping statements, sometimes acknowledging that they are "based on no real evidence beyond anecdote" but stating them unyieldingly nonetheless. There were a number of spelling mistakes and factual errors, which then made me suspicious of everything she was saying in case it too was inaccurate. On the whole I'm very disappointed in this one!
glj's review against another edition
1.0
Fair collection of tales and forest impressions. I guess I expected a more comparative mythology study incorporating forests and their influence, but it was very little of that despite portraying itself as such.
kikiandarrowsfishshelf's review against another edition
1.0
Sara Maitland can write beautifully about nature. Some of the passages in this book describing trees are wonderful.
However, it is not really about the sub-title. And quite frankly, just read Zipes who Maitland draws heavily on. Most of her "facts" are guesses and sometimes she is just plain wrong. I'm sorry but there are books out there about the forest in the fairy tale besides this one.
However, it is not really about the sub-title. And quite frankly, just read Zipes who Maitland draws heavily on. Most of her "facts" are guesses and sometimes she is just plain wrong. I'm sorry but there are books out there about the forest in the fairy tale besides this one.