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finesilkflower's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
3.0
A deeply weird and oddly charming novel in the grand tradition of English children's novels about groups of siblings doing things. Written in the 1950s and taking place in 1912, this book follows the Linnet siblings, who, after being left with an oppressive grandmother while their father goes to war in India, decide to escape and live life on their own terms. After an ill-thought-out flight to a neighboring village, including flat-out stealing a pony and cart, they find themselves at the doorstep of their curmudgeonly uncle, who grudgingly agrees to take them in (and of course immediately warms to them). Of course they proceed to do lots of good deeds in the village and make friends with the various quirky townspeople, solving their problems in direct and indirect ways, helping to break magic spells, etc.
What I love about this book is the incredibly detailed descriptions of odd, unusual, and very beautiful settings. In nearly every scene we are treated to a rich description of a sun-dappled forest, a misty mountaintop, a stunning vista, a bizarre and cluttered interior, etc. It truly feels like a Studio Ghibli movie in word form. I wanted to illustrate nearly every scene.
Shower Thoughts: There is canonical magic in this book (you could say that most of the magic has a logical explanation, but at the end they remove the pins from a witch's effigy and a character spontaneously has his lost memory restored, so that feels pretty cut and dried). However, something that isn't addressed but feels too consistent to be coincidental is that children's incredible luck. Although the kids start the book in a tough place, from almost the first moment, we see examples of the characters having too-good-to-be-true luck; for example, when it occurs to one of them that they scale the fence, they randomly find a ladder. When they steal a pony, it happens to belong to their uncle and to bring them home. It feels like the entire book takes place in the Red Dwarf video game 'Better Than Life'. If I were playing the Owl Creek Bridge Game, I'd say the entire thing must take place in the afterlife. I'm not sure if this is an intentional effort to ramp up the wish fulfillment aspect, or simply an overreliance on coincidence on the part of the author, but it gives the whole thing a distinctly dreamlike quality that tbh works.
Content Warning: Racism. The only Black character is an elderly servant. Although he is intended to be a positive character, his depiction is tropey ("magical butler" type), and the fact that his employer's other servant is a monkey isn't doing the author any favors in the assume-good-intentions department.
What I love about this book is the incredibly detailed descriptions of odd, unusual, and very beautiful settings. In nearly every scene we are treated to a rich description of a sun-dappled forest, a misty mountaintop, a stunning vista, a bizarre and cluttered interior, etc. It truly feels like a Studio Ghibli movie in word form. I wanted to illustrate nearly every scene.
Shower Thoughts: There is canonical magic in this book (you could say that most of the magic has a logical explanation, but at the end they remove the pins from a witch's effigy and a character spontaneously has his lost memory restored, so that feels pretty cut and dried). However, something that isn't addressed but feels too consistent to be coincidental is that children's incredible luck. Although the kids start the book in a tough place, from almost the first moment, we see examples of the characters having too-good-to-be-true luck; for example, when it occurs to one of them that they scale the fence, they randomly find a ladder. When they steal a pony, it happens to belong to their uncle and to bring them home. It feels like the entire book takes place in the Red Dwarf video game 'Better Than Life'. If I were playing the Owl Creek Bridge Game, I'd say the entire thing must take place in the afterlife. I'm not sure if this is an intentional effort to ramp up the wish fulfillment aspect, or simply an overreliance on coincidence on the part of the author, but it gives the whole thing a distinctly dreamlike quality that tbh works.
Content Warning: Racism. The only Black character is an elderly servant. Although he is intended to be a positive character, his depiction is tropey ("magical butler" type), and the fact that his employer's other servant is a monkey isn't doing the author any favors in the assume-good-intentions department.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism
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