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A review by roxanamalinachirila
Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock
3.0
„“This is the Island where Dreams come true.”
“That's the island I've been looking for this long time,” said one of the sailors. “I reckoned I'd find I was married to Nancy if we landed here.”
“And I'd find Tom alive again,” said another.
“Fools!” said the man, stamping his foot with rage. “That is the sort of talk that brought me here, and I'd better have been drowned or never born. Do you hear what I say? This is where dreams—dreams, do you understand, come to life, come real. Not daydreams: dreams.”
There was about half a minute's silence and then, with a great clatter of armour, the whole crew were tumbling down the main hatch as quick as they could and flinging themselves on the oars to row as they had never rowed before;”
The above isn't a quote from "Mythago Wood" - it's a quote from C.S. Lewis's "Voyage of the Dawn Trader", a book I read a long time ago, but the dark island of dreams is still something I remember as well as if I'd read about it yesterday. And it sprung to mind while reading this because "Mythago Wood" is about the place where myths come true. And no matter how wonderful that sounds, one has to remember that fairy tales and myths were a lot darker than we tell them now, a lot bloodier, and much more dangerous. It's not all fun and magic, on the contrary.
After the second world war, Stephen Huxley returns home from France, expecting to find his brother, Christian, happily married, living in their old family home after the death of their father. When he does, he finds a greatly changed man whose wife has vanished and who now shares their father's obsession with the small wood outside their home.
Christian claims that their father discovered mythagos - or incarnations of myths - inside the woods, and that the two of them have seen them as children. Thus, he goes into the wilderness, bidding Stephen to stay behind as he searches for the myths of mankind, created and recreated from the subconscious racial memory of those who come into contact with the woods.
Strange things start happening - odd people appearing around Stephen's house, the forest turning him around when he tries to enter it. But the oddest of all is finding Christian's wife buried in a shallow grave next to the chicken coops, while Christian insists she'll return again, since there have been many of her, and there will be many of her again.
The story has a strange, mythical horror feel to it, and the atmosphere is wonderfully chilling and eerie.
It's hard to explain what I didn't like, but I don't feel like I recognize any mythagos - if they truly are from the depths of the human mind, shouldn't some of them feel more familiar? I'm not so sure about the way characters act and react, either - why is Stephen so madly in love with G., aside from the story demanding him to be? Are these mythagos really myths, or did they spring from these men's subconscious somehow?
But otherwise, it's a strange and unusual story and worth a read.
“That's the island I've been looking for this long time,” said one of the sailors. “I reckoned I'd find I was married to Nancy if we landed here.”
“And I'd find Tom alive again,” said another.
“Fools!” said the man, stamping his foot with rage. “That is the sort of talk that brought me here, and I'd better have been drowned or never born. Do you hear what I say? This is where dreams—dreams, do you understand, come to life, come real. Not daydreams: dreams.”
There was about half a minute's silence and then, with a great clatter of armour, the whole crew were tumbling down the main hatch as quick as they could and flinging themselves on the oars to row as they had never rowed before;”
The above isn't a quote from "Mythago Wood" - it's a quote from C.S. Lewis's "Voyage of the Dawn Trader", a book I read a long time ago, but the dark island of dreams is still something I remember as well as if I'd read about it yesterday. And it sprung to mind while reading this because "Mythago Wood" is about the place where myths come true. And no matter how wonderful that sounds, one has to remember that fairy tales and myths were a lot darker than we tell them now, a lot bloodier, and much more dangerous. It's not all fun and magic, on the contrary.
After the second world war, Stephen Huxley returns home from France, expecting to find his brother, Christian, happily married, living in their old family home after the death of their father. When he does, he finds a greatly changed man whose wife has vanished and who now shares their father's obsession with the small wood outside their home.
Christian claims that their father discovered mythagos - or incarnations of myths - inside the woods, and that the two of them have seen them as children. Thus, he goes into the wilderness, bidding Stephen to stay behind as he searches for the myths of mankind, created and recreated from the subconscious racial memory of those who come into contact with the woods.
Strange things start happening - odd people appearing around Stephen's house, the forest turning him around when he tries to enter it. But the oddest of all is finding Christian's wife buried in a shallow grave next to the chicken coops, while Christian insists she'll return again, since there have been many of her, and there will be many of her again.
The story has a strange, mythical horror feel to it, and the atmosphere is wonderfully chilling and eerie.
It's hard to explain what I didn't like, but I don't feel like I recognize any mythagos - if they truly are from the depths of the human mind, shouldn't some of them feel more familiar? I'm not so sure about the way characters act and react, either - why is Stephen so madly in love with G., aside from the story demanding him to be? Are these mythagos really myths, or did they spring from these men's subconscious somehow?
But otherwise, it's a strange and unusual story and worth a read.