I read a great deal as a child, and this was almost my favorite book. I remember reading it on a winter night, sitting in my outside sand box and feeling the cold, along with Diamond. (Of course we lived in Los Angeles, so it wasn't really all that cold.) But this book was part of the reason I grew up loving to read. ( )

"At the Back of the North Wind" was, at times, mildly entertaining. At least... I think it was. Having finished the book, I can't actually remember those parts. That is, unfortunately, the best I can say for it. Past that, the main character is a complete Mary Sue, the didacticism is heavy-handed, and the storyline is thin. The fantasy element is absent from the bulk of the narrative, and when it is present, it is not particularly fantastic. Near the beginning I thought that this book might be a good one to read aloud to one's children. Now I think that it may be better to simply skip it. ( )

OWN ( )

Moralizing fluff. It's unfortunate - the first part of the book, in Diamond's voice, is quite interesting. Totally weird (who said surrealism?) but good - Diamond accepts what he sees and deals with it on its own terms. But after he goes to the back of the North Wind, the author's voice starts intruding more and more - every time Diamond accepts and deals, the author reminds us "after all, this was a child who had been to the Back of the North Wind" (yes, I know that, thank you. I read the book. Shut up). He also (because we move out of his head and into a wider world) gets much more portrayed as a "God's Baby" - innocent and not quite right in the head. And by the last chapters, in which the author portrays himself and how he met Diamond, I was - OK, spoiler coming.

I was expecting him to die - the holy innocents never survive in these moral tales. And got what I expected.
It actually reads rather like Peter Pan (the original, not the Disney or similar versions), or even Black Beauty (the horse Diamond is also an important character). But both of those have much better stories and writing to back up their moralizing. A Victorian children's moral tale, that doesn't manage to surpass its basis and turn into a good story. I suppose I'm glad I read it, but it's not worth rereading. ( )

I remember this as being rather hard going for a child. MacDonald was a major influence on C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Charles Williams and deserves reading, but modern children might find him a bit wordy. ( )