Musing by Malcolm Green: May 2022
I read this once, as I would a ‘normal’ novel and finished wondering what the heck that was about. But there was something echoing in my head, so read it again immediately (it is short novel). This time paying more attention to the to what was between the lines. There is no ‘fat’ in the novel and Alan Garner does not attempt to help the reader to understand, so you have to do the work. A bit like reading a good poem. On the second reading I began to get it and it really is an extraordinary piece of writing. Mysterious, jumping in time, taking us between worlds. Both contemporary and mythic with a bit of childhood biography thrown in. I’m giving it a few days before the third reading, when I am sure more worlds will be revealed.