Phantastes & Lilith by George MacDonald (reviewd by lilyfyrestorm)
Talk Reviews reviewed
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1EmScape
This review keeps getting thumbs down'd over at Amazon and I'm wondering how I could improve it.
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Having read somewhere that the work of such beloved authors as C.S. Lewis and Madeleine L'Engle had been influenced by having read George MacDonald, I procured this book. I have long enjoyed their work and was interested in reading something that might have been inspirational for them.
Phantastes, the first novel, follows Anodos as he traverses through the Fairy Land, experiencing quite a bit, and accomplishing almost nothing. The tale meandered as Anodos did, never threatening to have a plot or a message, just flowery script and imaginative characters, who were nonetheless quite one-dimensional. I had to put this down and read something else several times because I was so bored with it. I did not find Anodos a terribly likable character, either. Several times along his excursion, various denizens of Fairly Land give him a warning not to do something or other. Every time, Anodos does it anyway, most times even thinking, `Hey, I was told not to do this, but I just can't help myself.' Most of the conflict in the story comes as a result of Anodos ignoring or flagrantly defying the advice he has been given. However, I shudder to think how much more tiresome I would have found this tale had he taken heed and avoided peril. Upon returning from Fairy Land, Anodos finds that he has been missing from our world for 21 days and remarks that it felt like 21 years. To me, reading about the journey seemed to take 21 months.
The second novel, Lilith, begins a bit better; Mr. Vane meets a ghost who is also a raven, and a librarian and a sexton. This individual, Mr. Raven, escorts Mr. Vane to an alternate world, attempts to explain that in order to lead a more fulfilling life, Mr. Vane must `wake up' and `go home' (not, of course, meaning at all the general and obvious interpretation of these two concepts) and bids him take a nap. Mr. Vane, however, does not like the look of those sleeping nearby, and decides to run away. He soon finds himself on the same kind of journey Anodos undertook, encountering odd things that have little meaning or interest, but that the author seemed to have gotten a hold of some particularly hallucinatory drug and then decided to write a book about `life' and `meaning,' man. MacDonald also frequently insists that his narrator is having a lot of trouble describing the things he encounters, as everything was so very different and unique from his Earth-centric worldview that words fail him. This reinforces my theory that the writer was definitely trying to describe his own drug-induced visions. Otherwise, why even write a book like that?
At one point on his incredibly pointless journey, Mr. Vane decries his former preference for being alone with book or pen, musing, "Any man...is more than the greatest of books!" I strongly disagree with this statement and almost gave up reading the book. It seems to me an author with so little regard for books has not written anything worthy of my regard.
Scarcely 100 pages after I almost gave up, I did indeed give up. Mr. Vane was urged by one he trusted completely not to do something, and that if he were to do so someone he loved would suffer. At the point Mr. Vane fails to heed this most emphatic warning, I threw the book at the wall and decried the time I spent reading both tales. What a giant waste.
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Thanks!
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Having read somewhere that the work of such beloved authors as C.S. Lewis and Madeleine L'Engle had been influenced by having read George MacDonald, I procured this book. I have long enjoyed their work and was interested in reading something that might have been inspirational for them.
Phantastes, the first novel, follows Anodos as he traverses through the Fairy Land, experiencing quite a bit, and accomplishing almost nothing. The tale meandered as Anodos did, never threatening to have a plot or a message, just flowery script and imaginative characters, who were nonetheless quite one-dimensional. I had to put this down and read something else several times because I was so bored with it. I did not find Anodos a terribly likable character, either. Several times along his excursion, various denizens of Fairly Land give him a warning not to do something or other. Every time, Anodos does it anyway, most times even thinking, `Hey, I was told not to do this, but I just can't help myself.' Most of the conflict in the story comes as a result of Anodos ignoring or flagrantly defying the advice he has been given. However, I shudder to think how much more tiresome I would have found this tale had he taken heed and avoided peril. Upon returning from Fairy Land, Anodos finds that he has been missing from our world for 21 days and remarks that it felt like 21 years. To me, reading about the journey seemed to take 21 months.
The second novel, Lilith, begins a bit better; Mr. Vane meets a ghost who is also a raven, and a librarian and a sexton. This individual, Mr. Raven, escorts Mr. Vane to an alternate world, attempts to explain that in order to lead a more fulfilling life, Mr. Vane must `wake up' and `go home' (not, of course, meaning at all the general and obvious interpretation of these two concepts) and bids him take a nap. Mr. Vane, however, does not like the look of those sleeping nearby, and decides to run away. He soon finds himself on the same kind of journey Anodos undertook, encountering odd things that have little meaning or interest, but that the author seemed to have gotten a hold of some particularly hallucinatory drug and then decided to write a book about `life' and `meaning,' man. MacDonald also frequently insists that his narrator is having a lot of trouble describing the things he encounters, as everything was so very different and unique from his Earth-centric worldview that words fail him. This reinforces my theory that the writer was definitely trying to describe his own drug-induced visions. Otherwise, why even write a book like that?
At one point on his incredibly pointless journey, Mr. Vane decries his former preference for being alone with book or pen, musing, "Any man...is more than the greatest of books!" I strongly disagree with this statement and almost gave up reading the book. It seems to me an author with so little regard for books has not written anything worthy of my regard.
Scarcely 100 pages after I almost gave up, I did indeed give up. Mr. Vane was urged by one he trusted completely not to do something, and that if he were to do so someone he loved would suffer. At the point Mr. Vane fails to heed this most emphatic warning, I threw the book at the wall and decried the time I spent reading both tales. What a giant waste.
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Thanks!
2readafew
I have never read anything by MacDonald so can't comment about that part, but after reading your review I think it's pretty good and I suspect at Amazon your getting thumbs down because you've pissed off some people who really like the book.
I like the review, I'll try to come back again and see if anything stands out, but overall I think it's a pretty good one.
I like the review, I'll try to come back again and see if anything stands out, but overall I think it's a pretty good one.
3vpfluke
#1
I think you gave an honest review. I am reading this at work, so when I have a chance at home to find and look at my copy of Phantastes and Lilith by George MacDonald, I will write again. It's been a long time since I even looked at these two works. The three books by MacDonald that I really remember are At the Back of the North Wind, the Princess and the Goblin, and the Princess and Curdie, all meant for children. Even though I read these when I was young, the remembrance of them is better than the two you read, which I think are more for an adult audience. Some Victorian writing can be muddy (at least I find it so). I also determined early on that I was not going to read MacDonald's more realist adult novels.
(More later)
I think you gave an honest review. I am reading this at work, so when I have a chance at home to find and look at my copy of Phantastes and Lilith by George MacDonald, I will write again. It's been a long time since I even looked at these two works. The three books by MacDonald that I really remember are At the Back of the North Wind, the Princess and the Goblin, and the Princess and Curdie, all meant for children. Even though I read these when I was young, the remembrance of them is better than the two you read, which I think are more for an adult audience. Some Victorian writing can be muddy (at least I find it so). I also determined early on that I was not going to read MacDonald's more realist adult novels.
(More later)
4jseger9000
Yeah, I suspect your biggest problem is that it is a negative review. Mine always get thumbed down on Amazon as well. That's why I don't want to see LT implement them.
The review is fine. I'd suggest a break between the paragraphs though, so it isn't an imposing block of text. But the meat of the review is fine as it is to me.
The review is fine. I'd suggest a break between the paragraphs though, so it isn't an imposing block of text. But the meat of the review is fine as it is to me.
5EmScape
Thanks for your time and input. If thumbs downs were to be implemented there should at least be a mandatory "reason" checkbox, one in which "I disagree" isn't an option. I emailed Amazon about that, but no one ever answered.
6TLCrawford
Amazon is all about sales, I wonder if any negative reviews last very long.
7jseger9000
I don't think it is Amazon doing it. It's the mentality of "I liked it. This guy is an idiot for having a differing opinion!"
8TLCrawford
#7 Agreed. But I do not believe that Amazon is going to do anything to stop it.
9EmScape
I agree. But then, they shouldn't base things like the Vine program on your percentage of helpful vs. not helpful reviews.
10vpfluke
Lily
I couldn't find copies of either Phantastes or Lilith in my library, so I am beginning to wonder whether I wasn't impressed either. My biggest Inklings read was in the mid 1970's, so my memory isn't really precise, because I wasn't noting down books I didn't keep or merely checked out of the library.
I couldn't find copies of either Phantastes or Lilith in my library, so I am beginning to wonder whether I wasn't impressed either. My biggest Inklings read was in the mid 1970's, so my memory isn't really precise, because I wasn't noting down books I didn't keep or merely checked out of the library.
11vpfluke
I now remember that, like your copy, this book by George MacDonald had both novels together, Phantastes and Lilith, with an introduction by C.S. Lewis. (Library of Congrress lists a 1964 edition -- which is might have benn the one had). I probably obtained this volume because of C.S. Lewis. The cover shown in LT is the one I remember. Now MacDonald wasn't an Inkling, but a big influence on them and others who use myth in their fiction.
