The Weirdstone of Brisingamen (1960)

I remember reading some of Alan Garner's books when I was much younger. I found them creepy as hell then, and he certainly does know what kinds of images to evoke to have that feeling of danger and creepiness. There's a lot of claustrophobia in this book -- tunnels and water-filled passages and being packed in tight. There are parts of the description that are just brilliant.

The mythology aspects are pretty cool, too. The references to Ragnarok, etc. I don't know whether it's that whole 'younger readers can accept the unnatural much better than adults' thing that people mentioned when reading Diana Wynne Jones, though, but I found it hard to follow and it all piled in on top of everything else in a haphazard, difficult to process manner. Didn't help that I read parts of it when everyone was around talking, and parts in a cafe, but I think part of it was the writing.

Overall it's pretty fun, but the characters aren't terribly well developed. I know it's a trope of fantasy for younger readers that the kids get to tag along, and be equal to adults, etc, etc -- I love The Dark is Rising, which is almost as guilty of it -- but it makes me shriek, the way the adults easily accept the kids being dragged into it, and the way the kids seem to just... deal with it. Realism, you can not has it.

I'm going to read the sequel, since I have it, but I can't say I exactly recommend it. It doesn't come together very well for me, for all that bits of it are brilliant/cool/fun. ( )

I know I read this book as a child but I don't remember anything in it. Perhaps I read books a little fast as a child, inhabiting each one and passing to the next without taking much with me? But this book doesn't have a heap of emotional resonance and the ending, after the detailed action, seems abrupt. ( )

I studied this book when I was in grade 7 and remember enjoying it. ( )

I find it peculiar that we don't know the ages of Susan and Colin, which one is the older sibling, what they look like or anything about their backgrounds. They seem to have identical personalities. It makes it hard to get interested in them, although by being so generic I suppose they're easier to identify with. Struggling with this, I came to page forty where the characters miss the obvious connection that I did not. That's when I started skimming. The adventure that ensues is decently written and there's some good atmosphere, but there was nothing compelling me to slow down. Most of it is travelogue without plot development, the author's detailed knowledge of the setting mistakenly leading to his outlining every smallest bit of woods and meadow, etc. with geographic precision. The ending is extremely abrupt, cutting off at the very second the climax is resolved.

I read WoB as a result of working through the "501 Must-Read" books list. Unfortunately this is one of the titles that makes me wonder why it was selected. I've childhood favourites of my own that I'd rather weren't put down by anyone but, all mercy aside, WoB would not stand out in YA fiction if published today. Perhaps in 1960 a modern story about dwarfs and wizards was relatively scarce, so it could be bland and still be found engaging. This book is widely praised and could be termed a classic if allowing for its age and possibly its influence, but I'd sooner revisit Tolkien's hobbits, Susan Cooper's take on the Wild Hunt legend, or Lloyd Alexander's Prydain. ( )

A couple of kids on holiday with family friends find magical adventure in a forest and because of some jewellery.

http://freesf.strandedinoz.com/wordpress/2012/05/the-weirdstone-of-brisingamen-a... ( )