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A review by vonmonsta
Gossip from the Forest by Sara Maitland
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
2.5
I first read Gossip From The Forest by Sara Maitland around 5 years ago & I adored it, however upon picking it up for some research on a project I'm planning, I didn't connect with it quite as I remembered.
Exploring the role the Forest has played in the creation of fairy tales, Maitland attempts to emphasise the connection between forests & fairytales over 12 forest walks over 12 months, each month dedicated to meandering about a particular forest in the UK, ending each chapter with a fairy tale retelling.
I found her writing a little confusing; one moment it could be rather stilted & overly formal to then suddenly being rather beautiful & evocative, which didn't quite flow together for me. Sometimes the information was incredibly interesting & engaging & I came away with exciting little tidbits of history, environment & landscape which I took with me as I walked my local woodland & at other times, it felt dry & over worked.
The fairy tale retellings themselves I generally enjoyed, & thought some of them particularly lyrical!
Over a few chapters Maitland attempts to make the same points (about those characters that work in the forest being 'good' characters, for example) but she feels as though she's just repeating the same information & not going deep enough & falling short of explaining the symbiosis between fairy tale & forest, where at other times, her connections are really convincingly made & help see the relationship in a new light.
I will say that a lot of what she does write is simple conjecture & opinion & the few sources she does include, tend to come from the same few authors/publications.
There was a rather too casual statement she makes at one point:"efficient slave cultures need open land: it has to be difficult to run away", which, although not a reference to the UK, really could have done with a discussion about Britain's involvement in slavery & colonialism. It felt a gross, insensitive & offhand.
Overall, it's a rather mixed up book, (I think I sound grumpier about the book than I actually am, I did enjoy it very much at times) sometimes lovely & sometimes a little of a drag. I'm going to keep it on my shelves as a reference, but not one that I'll take as an authority.
⭐⭐. 5 /5
Exploring the role the Forest has played in the creation of fairy tales, Maitland attempts to emphasise the connection between forests & fairytales over 12 forest walks over 12 months, each month dedicated to meandering about a particular forest in the UK, ending each chapter with a fairy tale retelling.
I found her writing a little confusing; one moment it could be rather stilted & overly formal to then suddenly being rather beautiful & evocative, which didn't quite flow together for me. Sometimes the information was incredibly interesting & engaging & I came away with exciting little tidbits of history, environment & landscape which I took with me as I walked my local woodland & at other times, it felt dry & over worked.
The fairy tale retellings themselves I generally enjoyed, & thought some of them particularly lyrical!
Over a few chapters Maitland attempts to make the same points (about those characters that work in the forest being 'good' characters, for example) but she feels as though she's just repeating the same information & not going deep enough & falling short of explaining the symbiosis between fairy tale & forest, where at other times, her connections are really convincingly made & help see the relationship in a new light.
I will say that a lot of what she does write is simple conjecture & opinion & the few sources she does include, tend to come from the same few authors/publications.
There was a rather too casual statement she makes at one point:"efficient slave cultures need open land: it has to be difficult to run away", which, although not a reference to the UK, really could have done with a discussion about Britain's involvement in slavery & colonialism. It felt a gross, insensitive & offhand.
Overall, it's a rather mixed up book, (I think I sound grumpier about the book than I actually am, I did enjoy it very much at times) sometimes lovely & sometimes a little of a drag. I'm going to keep it on my shelves as a reference, but not one that I'll take as an authority.
⭐⭐. 5 /5