Fire and Hemlock in The Alternative Worlds

Sep 08, 2021 mark monday rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: legendarium, come-of-age

synopsis: a young girl becomes a brave hero who rescues a forlorn gentleman in distress.

judging from reviews, this is apparently DWJ's most challenging novel. whether it is the layers of references to myths and folk songs, the hallucinogenic final battle, a potentially uncomfortable scenario in which a 10 year old girl finds a connection with a grown man and later falls in love with him, or even the surprisingly casual, minor note quality of the ending... many readers find this to be a confusing synopsis: a young girl becomes a brave hero who rescues a forlorn gentleman in distress.

judging from reviews, this is apparently DWJ's most challenging novel. whether it is the layers of references to myths and folk songs, the hallucinogenic final battle, a potentially uncomfortable scenario in which a 10 year old girl finds a connection with a grown man and later falls in love with him, or even the surprisingly casual, minor note quality of the ending... many readers find this to be a confusing and disappointing experience. all of that sounded fascinating to me, especially after loving the Chrestomanci series. and so I dove in, ready to be wonderfully perplexed by the strangeness of it all...

synopsis: in 80s London, a child grows up and a man gets a life.

...and yet this was not a discombobulating experience for me, nor a disturbing one. DWJ has that enviable skill of being able to weave the magical with the mundane in a way that does not take a reader out of the book, but further in. into the realism of the relationships, into the ambiguous magic that comes out of nowhere. Polly Whittacker is an admirable character and also a completely normal human being, as often wrong as she is right, full of pride and insecurities, acting exactly how I could see myself acting at her age. Polly's admiration for Thomas Lynn becomes an intense, one-sided crush, but one of the great things about this book is how it shows the reader Polly's whole world, not just that part of her: we live with her family & friends & how she grows up & how she deals with untrustworthy parents & how she forms her identity & how she views herself and the world around her. Thomas is only a part of that world, sometimes the most important part, but more often not. and the same is true for Thomas. Polly is very important to him but Polly is not his whole world. they may be each other's spur to move forward, but neither is the other's reason for being. nor is the upper crust world of icy villain Laurel - complete with sinister Faerie Court and literally mind-bending magic - remotely Polly's world, so she sees them through her own mortal perspective. which made the hallucinatory ending where Tom is enmeshed in a magical confrontation fairly straightforward to me...

synopsis: a sidekick is mentored by a hero; together they have adventures. in time, the hero himself needs rescuing by his former sidekick, now a hero.

...the battle is won because Polly lets it all go. Laurel has made it clear that the rules are both basic and reversed. Tom can only draw on what is truly his, his own physical self; and his many strengths will be as weaknesses. and so Tom can rely on no one but himself, he can receive no aid; his skills and belongings are of no help; Polly herself must renounce him so that he can survive. faeries are tricky! fortunately, Polly understands the phrase "If you love someone, set them free" - and perhaps its second half as well, "if they come back to you, it was meant to be.” and so Tom wins, because of Polly. and so Tom comes back to her, at first in a very dramatic way but finally, at the very end, in a very nonchalant and realistic way as well. the danger is over, they are back in their world that is both banal and magical. I wonder if Polly will even end up with Tom. that's also a part of the magic of this book: Tom will always be a very important person in her life, her first mentor and her first crush, but she doesn't need to be with him to love him, she doesn't even need to be in love with him to love him. my money is on Polly ending up with Leslie.

synopsis: The Faerie Queen enchants a musician; to his rescue comes a mere mortal, crossing space and time and all the spells cast against her, armed only with her courage, her memories, and the sensible advice of her grandmother.

my edition includes an essay by the author on The Heroic Ideal and how that ideal impacted her own growth, and how she used it to layer different heroic odysseys and heroic templates into this realistic, contemporary story of a young girl growing up. the essay is fascinating and after reading it, I was even more impressed by the book. but not because of those layers and subtleties and symbols. rather, because her story is understandable and resonant and completely absorbing without even knowing how loaded the story is with mythopoeic meaning. I did love learning all about how complex this novel truly is, how intricate its construction. but in the end, I don't need to know all about the different pieces of a person's history or about their inspirations in order to appreciate a person. or a book! the complexity and the care taken in creating Fire and Hemlock is readily apparent, without explanation. ...more

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Aug 08, 2009 Nicky rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: children-s-and-ya, based-on-myth-saga-etc, fantasy

It's strange. I was sure at first that I'd read this when I was younger, and bits still chimed with me, but a lot of it felt like new discoveries. Strange parallels with the main character, here! I can't decide whether it counts as a new read or a reread. Hmm. Anyway! I just read a handful of reviews and they all mentioned the idea that when Diana Wynne Jones writes for children, magic doesn't need so much explaining as it does for adults. I think that probably is true, to some extent, but there It's strange. I was sure at first that I'd read this when I was younger, and bits still chimed with me, but a lot of it felt like new discoveries. Strange parallels with the main character, here! I can't decide whether it counts as a new read or a reread. Hmm. Anyway! I just read a handful of reviews and they all mentioned the idea that when Diana Wynne Jones writes for children, magic doesn't need so much explaining as it does for adults. I think that probably is true, to some extent, but there are plenty of adults who can get on the ride too, and I did. Okay, I made my frowny face of confusion sometimes, but...

The characters are fun. I especially like Granny, I think, with the biscuity smell and the cat called Mintchoc and her matter-of-fact ways. And her sailing out to court battles, and winning them. I wanted to kick the rest of Polly's family. I do kind of wonder why there was rather a lot of emphasis on Polly's family woes, although I guess it does make it that much more realistic. Polly's a real fleshed-out sort of character, with the same kinds of worries as other kids -- nobody coming to her play, wondering whether a certain someone will show up to her sports day, wondering when she'll get a decent figure, worrying about her parents' divorce...

I definitely identified with the love of reading stuff. In case anyone wondered.

The plot is fun, too. It's based on old legends of Tam Lin/Thomas the Rhymer, etc. Makes me curious to go and pick up the other book I've got on my list about Thomas the Rhymer -- by Ellen Kushner. Hmm, maybe. Anyway, it's a legend I've always been somewhat interested in. Particularly since I heard Karine Polwart's take on it, in the form of a song, "Tongue That Cannot Lie". (Here on Spotify, lyrics here.) It's a modern take on it, really, an extension of the old legend into the present.

The main trouble with it is how much it picked up pace in the last quarter or so of the book. It lost me a couple of times, there. But I liked it overall, big grown up adult (nearly twenty omg omg omg omg omg) or not. ...more

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Jun 27, 2007 Wealhtheow rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy

The best fantasy I've read in some time. I was absolutely captivated. The characters she's created, the world, the plot--it all weaves together in a truly wonderful piece of fiction. The novel tells the story of Polly, who slowly pieces together the clues of her missing memory. Her friendship with the strange Mr. Lynn feels absolutely true, from their "let's pretend" games to his comments on her writing. PERFECTION. ...more

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