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Green Mansions (1904)

by W. H. Hudson

Other authors: See the other authors section.

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
1,7132610,055 (3.73)119
Classic Literature. Fiction. Romance. HTML:

Green Mansions is an exotic and tragic romance about a young man who travels to Venezuela. He lives there with an Indian tribe, but his new-found life is shaken when he meets the "magical" forest-dweller, Rima. He is moved by her story and travels through the jungle with her and her grandfather to find the answers she doesn't have about her past. But the presence of the young man has changed the Indian tribe forever, with vast and tragic consequences.

.… (more)
  1. 00
    The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle (chrisharpe)
  2. 00
    Lorna Doone by R. D. Blackmore (atimco)
    atimco: The romantic relationships are very similar in these two books, and both are told in the first person by the man.
  3. 00
    The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope (atimco)
    atimco: Both are stories of a young man thrown into a foreign culture and forced to survive on his wits. And the love stories both don't have the typical happy ending.
  4. 00
    Green phoenix by Thomas Burnett Swann (Hermester)
    Hermester: Like most of Swann's work, Green Mansions explores the interactions of a lost race of mythical beings with humanity. What sets them apart from the work of authors such as Burroughs, Howard, and Doyle, however, is their evocative lyrical prose, and their sense that as civilization has progressed, it has cast aside what is best in life.… (more)
  5. 01
    Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock (bertilak)
    bertilak: Contrast Hudson's romanticized handling of the 'wild girl in the woods' theme with Holdstock's raw version.
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» See also 119 mentions

English (25)  Spanish (1)  All languages (26)
Showing 1-5 of 25 (next | show all)
I loved WH Hudson's "Purple Land." This flight of fancy , though, was unutterably turgid rubbish.
When 23 year old Abel is involved in a political coup, he flees retribution to the most distant parts of southern Venezuela.
Living with Indians, exploring the local forests, he encounters the girl/ wood nymph Rima....a magical, saintly, otherworldly creature of an unpleasingly fey, irrational and unknowable demeanour.
Oof...by golly it dragged on... ( )
  starbox | May 31, 2022 |
One of those wonderfully quirky fictions that would never, ever be printed today. Worse luck. From the experience, years ago, of reading slush piles, I know that such books are around-- just not in print. Maybe the rise of ebooks will make them once again available, these eccentric and magic imaginings. ( )
  AnnKlefstad | Feb 4, 2022 |
Well that was disappointing. This is a sort of supernatural romance, kinda, maybe preternatural would be more apt. Anyway its about a man who finds a forest in Guyana said by locals to be haunted. I can't say much more about it without spoiling the story, especially since there is so little plot.
I was really into it at first burning quickly through the first 9 or so chapters. It seemed really compelling, but after a while i realized the reason i was reading so quickly, was because of the thin plot. I felt compelled to read a lot because that was the only way to get any sense of accomplishment story-wise as so little was actually happening.
Overall its well written but far too verbose and i was disappointed with it after a good start.
Also the romance in it became a little uncomfortable for me at times. Modern sci-fi often points out the dubious morality of Kirk's romances in the 70's Star-Trek show and those opinions came into my mind several times during this read. ( )
  wreade1872 | Nov 28, 2021 |
Perhaps Green Mansions provides more promise than it delivers, especially towards the end, where it grasps for a philosophy that it never adequately expresses or attains. It's an enchanting book, nevertheless, that leads you to think that an idyllic state with nature might offer salvation. Yet serpents are afoot in this Eden. It cannot survive unspoiled. Bleakness dominates; sorrow pervades the land. But as its hero, Abel, nears the end of his journey, his delirium leads him to a transmogrification of spirit and soul. All made possible through his encounter with the mysterious Rima, a woodland nymph whose spirit Abel literally carries with him for the rest of his life.

The writing style of Green Mansions is surprisingly fresh. It has a modern feel to it, although composed at the turn of the last century. This goes hand in hand, however, with a storyline that is pure romance and fantasy, where reality intrudes just barely at the book's beginning. Its belief in the power of the "natural being," the person unsullied by contact with civilization, to live harmoniously with nature, provided the more carnivorous qualities of human nature can be diminished, was just plausible when the novel was written, in 1904. Today, it might be more likely regarded as an impossible illusion. ( )
  PaulCornelius | Apr 12, 2020 |
Mr. Abel, a socially prominent figure in Georgetown, Guyana, tells his best friend, a recent American? British? Canadian? arrival, the secret of certain events in his life before his own arrival in Georgetown from Venezuela.

I spent the whole book waiting for some big reveal to occur and for the REAL story to get started. It didn't. ( )
  Robertgreaves | Mar 11, 2017 |
Showing 1-5 of 25 (next | show all)
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» Add other authors (64 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
W. H. Hudsonprimary authorall editionscalculated
Baker, CarlosIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Beckett, SheilahIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Galsworthy, JohnForewordsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Henderson, KeithIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Kauffer, E. McKnightIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Wilson, Edward ArthurIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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It is a cause of very great regret to me that this task has taken so much longer a time than I had expected for its completion.
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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Wikipedia in English (1)

Classic Literature. Fiction. Romance. HTML:

Green Mansions is an exotic and tragic romance about a young man who travels to Venezuela. He lives there with an Indian tribe, but his new-found life is shaken when he meets the "magical" forest-dweller, Rima. He is moved by her story and travels through the jungle with her and her grandfather to find the answers she doesn't have about her past. But the presence of the young man has changed the Indian tribe forever, with vast and tragic consequences.

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