Thomas the Rhymer

Rating:
Summary: Strange and beautiful
Review: I ... can't begin to form an opinion on Thomas the Rhymer. That's the strangest thing for one such as myself, who never knows how to shut up. Lest I set someone running from this book, first I say that, yes, I absolutely did like it. It's a complicated story and, as in life, no real answers are posed - only questions. This one might take me a while to sort out, though it took only a day to read.

The story itself is a retelling of the legend of Thomas the Rhymer, of which - I admit - I have never heard before, so I can't make comparisons there. Ms. Kushner's tone here is stylized in the way of vocal folklore - fit for a ballad or a grandfather's telling my a crackling fire. Though the story is a first-person account coming, at various times, from four different characters, the understanding is still that it was, not is. 'And there I've gone, and this I've seen, and so it was' and such like. This does not make for the easiest personal connection to a story, but there's a point in the method of telling, too - it strips the story of flourish, leaving only the bare-bones plot. Which, in this case, requires no help and carries itself gracefully as any story I've ever read. This book is definitely as experience - eerie, fascinating, addictive. I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Strange and beautiful
Review: I ... can't begin to form an opinion on Thomas the Rhymer. That's the strangest thing for one such as myself, who never knows how to shut up. Lest I set someone running from this book, first I say that, yes, I absolutely did like it. It's a complicated story and, as in life, no real answers are posed - only questions. This one might take me a while to sort out, though it took only a day to read.

The story itself is a retelling of the legend of Thomas the Rhymer, of which - I admit - I have never heard before, so I can't make comparisons there. Ms. Kushner's tone here is stylized in the way of vocal folklore - fit for a ballad or a grandfather's telling my a crackling fire. Though the story is a first-person account coming, at various times, from four different characters, the understanding is still that it was, not is. 'And there I've gone, and this I've seen, and so it was' and such like. This does not make for the easiest personal connection to a story, but there's a point in the method of telling, too - it strips the story of flourish, leaving only the bare-bones plot. Which, in this case, requires no help and carries itself gracefully as any story I've ever read. This book is definitely as experience - eerie, fascinating, addictive. I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Just read and loved this book. Why is it out of print?
Review: I loved this book and recommend it to anyone interested in faeries. Ms. Kushner writes beautifully; her prose pulled me in right from the start. I'd love to see this as a film. There are so many great moments. The harp duet between Thomas and Hugh could be extraordinary. I may have missed something...does Ms. Kushner ever explain what the "red thirst" is?

Rating:
Summary: Lyrical, yet somehow unsatisfying.
Review: I read several reviews of this book several years ago and received several more word-of-mouth reviews since them. All were raves. The facts that the book was out-of-print and hard to get added to the mystique. So, when I saw the book on a friend's shelf, I was beside myself with rapture, and immediately borrowed the book and read it.

Though it was a good story, true to the ballad, and beautifully written, it was not the religious experience I was anticipating. Perhaps my expectations were too high, I just don't know. But mostly, I did not find Thomas to be a particulary sympathetic character, The people that loved him did not find their love returned, I fear. Thomas was a touch too self-centered for my tastes.

All in all though, I'm glad I finally found and read the book. I would recommend it to all fantasy fans and fans of Celtic/Scottish/British folklore if for no other reason than "historic" relevance.

Rating:
Summary: Lyrical, yet somehow unsatisfying.
Review: I read several reviews of this book several years ago and received several more word-of-mouth reviews since them. All were raves. The facts that the book was out-of-print and hard to get added to the mystique. So, when I saw the book on a friend's shelf, I was beside myself with rapture, and immediately borrowed the book and read it.

Though it was a good story, true to the ballad, and beautifully written, it was not the religious experience I was anticipating. Perhaps my expectations were too high, I just don't know. But mostly, I did not find Thomas to be a particulary sympathetic character, The people that loved him did not find their love returned, I fear. Thomas was a touch too self-centered for my tastes.

All in all though, I'm glad I finally found and read the book. I would recommend it to all fantasy fans and fans of Celtic/Scottish/British folklore if for no other reason than "historic" relevance.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent fantasy story
Review: In this fascinating book, acclaimed author Ellen Kushner takes the old legends of Thomas of Erceldoune (a.k.a. True Thomas the seer and Thomas the Rhymer), and retells them in a fascinating, thoroughly modern style. This is the tale of a bard of no small talent who find himself the object of the Queen of Elfland's desire. Whisked off to the land of Fairy for seven years, he must unravel a mysterious riddle and save an immortal soul. And when he returns to the land of the living, will he be the same man he was, can he be?

This is a fascinating, and thoroughly enjoyable story. The author does an excellent job of keeping the flavor and substance of the old stories, while at the same time updating them and making them a treat for the modern reader. Indeed, I was often struck by how much the story rang true to the old folktales I have studied throughout my life. So, if you are a fan of stories of Fairy and the Lords and Ladies, or simply enjoy a good (excellent) fantasy story, then I highly recommend this book to you. You won't be disappointed!


Rating:
Summary: An extraordinary re-telling of this old Scots ballad:
Review: This book won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel of the Year...and it's not hard to see why. Ellen Kushner has taken the old Scots ballad "Thomas the Rhymer" along with several other traditional ballads and woven them into a sensual tale about love, truth, illusion, and the nature of inspiration. Like any good folktale, Kushner's prose is exquisitely lyrical, and her plot deceptively simple -- for underneath the classic faery story of a musician's abduction into the Otherworld is very human story about the dangers and temptations all creative people face in the pursuit of their Muse. This book is not just for fantasy fans, but for all readers who appreciate fine prose and novels which work on several levels at once. Kushner knows her mythic/folkloric material inside and out -- and she certainly knows her music, being not only a performing folksinger herself, but also the host of American Public Radio's glorious "Sound & Spirit" series. Don't miss this deliciously sexy, magical, and thought-provoking book.

Rating:
Summary: An extraordinary re-telling of this old Scots ballad:
Review: This book won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel of the Year...and it's not hard to see why. Ellen Kushner has taken the old Scots ballad "Thomas the Rhymer" along with several other traditional ballads and woven them into a sensual tale about love, truth, illusion, and the nature of inspiration. Like any good folktale, Kushner's prose is exquisitely lyrical, and her plot deceptively simple -- for underneath the classic faery story of a musician's abduction into the Otherworld is very human story about the dangers and temptations all creative people face in the pursuit of their Muse. This book is not just for fantasy fans, but for all readers who appreciate fine prose and novels which work on several levels at once. Kushner knows her mythic/folkloric material inside and out -- and she certainly knows her music, being not only a performing folksinger herself, but also the host of American Public Radio's glorious "Sound & Spirit" series. Don't miss this deliciously sexy, magical, and thought-provoking book.

Rating:
Summary: Not the usual fantasy fare
Review: This is not a book to read if you're seeking a stirring adventure. Thomas does go on a long, strange trip, but the focus is as much on how his life impacts the people important to him as it is on his experiences in Elfland. Kushner's decision to write only Thomas's Elfland experiences in his own voice, then, is a clever one. Also, seeing Thomas before and after his journey through the eyes of others reveals the extent of the change in him more thoroughly than if we remained in his head.

Kushner does an excellent job of giving each of the four narrators a distinct perspective, a difficult thing to do. And because they see different things in each other and percieve their relationships with one another differently, there's the opportunity to ponder how it is we get along in the world when we all have disparate visions of reality. This is a marvelously subtle way to question whether True Thomas can ever wholly tell the truth. Is the truth absolute, or is it changeable depending on individual understanding? This question lingers long after the book is shut.

So why did I give Thomas the Rhymer only three stars? Well, for all the lovely writing and thoughtful structure, it left me cold. For one, the Faery Queen who is the heart of all this trouble and change seemed to me little more than a blowup doll. She laid a couple of spells on Thomas, but mostly all they did was copulate, and I needed either for her to be more interesting or to feel more of why Thomas was infatuated with her. (Because of the distance I felt from her, also, the ending of the book was less moving for me than it should have been.) Apart from that, I felt Kushner passed over a great opportunity to explore what the effects of Thomas's truth-saying might be. There was some of that, certainly, in the final section of the book, but much was made of the gift of truth-telling in Faery (and whether it was a gift at all), and then very little was done with it.

Reading this book is a gamble. It has its virtues, and if you think you'll enjoy piecing together a larger meaning based on the fragments of story and varying points of view, you'll probably enjoy it well enough. However, if you want a story that swallows you whole and spits you out at the end with no respite to sit back and intellectualize, this may not be for you.

Rating:
Summary: Not the usual fantasy fare
Review: This is not a book to read if you're seeking a stirring adventure. Thomas does go on a long, strange trip, but the focus is as much on how his life impacts the people important to him as it is on his experiences in Elfland. Kushner's decision to write only Thomas's Elfland experiences in his own voice, then, is a clever one. Also, seeing Thomas before and after his journey through the eyes of others reveals the extent of the change in him more thoroughly than if we remained in his head.

Kushner does an excellent job of giving each of the four narrators a distinct perspective, a difficult thing to do. And because they see different things in each other and percieve their relationships with one another differently, there's the opportunity to ponder how it is we get along in the world when we all have disparate visions of reality. This is a marvelously subtle way to question whether True Thomas can ever wholly tell the truth. Is the truth absolute, or is it changeable depending on individual understanding? This question lingers long after the book is shut.

So why did I give Thomas the Rhymer only three stars? Well, for all the lovely writing and thoughtful structure, it left me cold. For one, the Faery Queen who is the heart of all this trouble and change seemed to me little more than a blowup doll. She laid a couple of spells on Thomas, but mostly all they did was copulate, and I needed either for her to be more interesting or to feel more of why Thomas was infatuated with her. (Because of the distance I felt from her, also, the ending of the book was less moving for me than it should have been.) Apart from that, I felt Kushner passed over a great opportunity to explore what the effects of Thomas's truth-saying might be. There was some of that, certainly, in the final section of the book, but much was made of the gift of truth-telling in Faery (and whether it was a gift at all), and then very little was done with it.

Reading this book is a gamble. It has its virtues, and if you think you'll enjoy piecing together a larger meaning based on the fragments of story and varying points of view, you'll probably enjoy it well enough. However, if you want a story that swallows you whole and spits you out at the end with no respite to sit back and intellectualize, this may not be for you.