Little, Big in The Lucid Garden

Sep 19, 2012 Nicky rated it it was ok

Shelves: fantasy

I’ve had Little, Big on my reading list for sooo long, and it definitely sounded like something I could love — a house bordering on the otherworld, rich writing, a whole tangle of family and connections to the otherworld that isn’t understood by all characters, and indeed is revealed slowly to the reader as well… For a while, I was captivated, definitely. Crowley’s writing is lovely, made me almost smell the rooms of the house, the dew-damp ground outside, etc, etc.

In the end, it reminded me a l ...more

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Dec 08, 2010 Bryan rated it liked it

Shelves: book-club

Much like Freedom this book has had me thinking. Little, Big is neither mind-alteringly transcendent; nor, is it’s quality perplexing disproportional to its popularity. It is written very well and is very unpopular. This an equation that makes sense to me. The prose shine like Danny in the Overlook Hotel. And I love that, but this was the first book in three years of the 2nd Wednesday Book Club that I could not force myself to finish before our monthly meeting. And that meeting was a great one. Much like Freedom this book has had me thinking. Little, Big is neither mind-alteringly transcendent; nor, is it’s quality perplexing disproportional to its popularity. It is written very well and is very unpopular. This an equation that makes sense to me. The prose shine like Danny in the Overlook Hotel. And I love that, but this was the first book in three years of the 2nd Wednesday Book Club that I could not force myself to finish before our monthly meeting. And that meeting was a great one. Our discussion spilled out into email for days after. For some reason though this text was unsatisfying for me.

Out of respect to the text and my fellow book club members, I forged on and finished the book. My original criticisms were assuaged somewhat. The sexualization of the teenage girls was more justifiable as they were more and more clearly associated with nymphs. Nymphs are sexual beings. Though male gaze is prevalent, overall the book is sex positive and I like that. We need more sex positive books. By the end many of female characters are elaborated upon and this was good, but the problem, the real problem was that the book would not end. I finished it but I had to force myself. Crowley establishes a tone and a world, a magickal tone, a magickal world, but once it is established the book goes nowhere. It is obvious though that going nowhere is part of the game, and there won’t be a conclusion. This too could be great, an ambiguous pleasure/pain ending, but if getting there is torture it is not really worth my while. The ending too is not that ambiguous. The book just slowly deflates.

A co-worker told me the he judges a novel by whether or not he will bother to finish it. I said I judge a novel by whether or not it turns my blood into starlight. Little, Big is wall-to-wall starlight. And maybe for me, it was a little too close to home, like someone sleeping in your own bed. Some of my book club members touted the book’s many esoteric and occult references as linkages to Western literary left hand path, and therefore argued Little, Big deserves a place on said path. Sure, but that doesn’t mean it was an enjoyable read.

I’m open to the possibility that there is a overarching structure, some formal resolution, but I missed it. As it stands now, the parts do not equate the whole, and the book fails its potential to be a profound gestalt portrait of the joys of domestic life imbued with an intentionality of spirit and the resulting love of the arts. (Magickal?) Or maybe this frakker just needs get his gnomes out of my heart.

Book has the best demonic creepy doll scene ever. I wear the horns in waking life. ...more

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Jan 05, 2008 Beth rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

Typically I read fiction for the story, not for the details of the writing itself. Novels about boring people who live empty lives add nothing to my existence, no matter how beautifully their boring emptiness/empty boringness is described. I think that is why I tend to prefer sci-fi and fantasy... the artistry is generally poured into the plot, and that can hold a reader's attention even if the writer's style is not the most original or impressive.

Little, Big, however, is a beautifully written f ...more

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Oct 01, 2007 Amy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, world-fantasy-award, favorite-books

What a joy of a book. One of those books that creates a world outside its pages, with all kinds of stories going on that you'd just love to know - to me it's like the Sandman cycle in that way. It's centered around a family, which allows for a beautiful complexity of construction, going back and forth in time. And the language is gorgeous. I love this book. ...more

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