The Dubious Hills

Rating:
Summary: a fascinating exploration of knowledge
Review: A wonderful rural fantasy in which a small hilly community is the result of an experiment that renders all the inhabitants with the ability to only know one thing for certain. Only one person in the village knows the proper name for things, only one person knows, truly, what is beautiful, only one person knows when something is broken, and only one person knows how to fix something. People are unsure, dubious, about everything else. Children are not born with their knowledge, they grow into it, and sometimes the revelation can be painful. Arry is the 14-year old physici of the village, the only person that knows when something is broken, she feels the pain of others and must tell them when they are hurting. This is a lot for a 14 year old to deal with. Since her parents disappeared, she must also look after her younger brother and sister, quiet Beldi and spirited Con. She has her hands full, but there are other problems, she feels as if Beldi is hurting, but nothing seems broken. Who's jurisdiction is such a thing? Can she help him, who would know what is wrong? Beldi, of course, is hurting at the absence of his parents, but Arry does not have the 'knowledge' to know this.

The precise nature of knowledge in this story creates the opportunity for some wonderful jokes. There is a constant going from person to person in the village verifying information, as no one can be sure if what someone else says is the truth, there is the perpetually dubious reply 'who says so?', the response of a taunting child in our world, but an earnestly serious response in these dubious hills. When Arry is frustrated, she curses by saying 'Doubt!' and calls the damnable family cats that get into everything 'doubtful' because they are always under her feet. Doubt, of course, is the most frustrating and tentative thing about this hilly place, rendering it perfect for cussing. Dean also takes the lines from poetry by Keats, Gerald Manly Hopkins etc and makes it into the little spells children under 5 use to help out around the village. The lines of such familar poetry used for the little magic that is used in the village is a homely and lyrical touch. the magic is not invasive, it adds just enough of an otherworldly quality to this wonderfully realised world.

Dean is an exceptional world builder, right up there with Ursula Le Guin, but the thing that I love is the minature size of her worlds. They are child-sized worlds for adults. She treats the presence of evil intelligently and delicately in her work, understanding that it is a complex part of being human. Someone in one of the other reviews here critisied the ending of the Dubious Hills, but if you don't appreciate the ending, you've missed the point of the whole book. They have found a way to escape the doubt that plagues their lives, and think how gratifying it is to know things for certain. I think the Dubious Hills is a critical utopia, and an exceptional exploration of knowlege. I'm agog that such a simple story can have such a deeply philosophical edge to it. Dean is, in truth, a master storyteller, she can weave such complex and delightful worlds in so few words. Her language is deft, quiet, simple. But she creates complex, realistic places and situations. This is a superb book.

Rating:
Summary: a fascinating exploration of knowledge
Review: A wonderful rural fantasy in which a small hilly community is the result of an experiment that renders all the inhabitants with the ability to only know one thing for certain. Only one person in the village knows the proper name for things, only one person knows, truly, what is beautiful, only one person knows when something is broken, and only one person knows how to fix something. People are unsure, dubious, about everything else. Children are not born with their knowledge, they grow into it, and sometimes the revelation can be painful. Arry is the 14-year old physici of the village, the only person that knows when something is broken, she feels the pain of others and must tell them when they are hurting. This is a lot for a 14 year old to deal with. Since her parents disappeared, she must also look after her younger brother and sister, quiet Beldi and spirited Con. She has her hands full, but there are other problems, she feels as if Beldi is hurting, but nothing seems broken. Who's jurisdiction is such a thing? Can she help him, who would know what is wrong? Beldi, of course, is hurting at the absence of his parents, but Arry does not have the 'knowledge' to know this.

The precise nature of knowledge in this story creates the opportunity for some wonderful jokes. There is a constant going from person to person in the village verifying information, as no one can be sure if what someone else says is the truth, there is the perpetually dubious reply 'who says so?', the response of a taunting child in our world, but an earnestly serious response in these dubious hills. When Arry is frustrated, she curses by saying 'Doubt!' and calls the damnable family cats that get into everything 'doubtful' because they are always under her feet. Doubt, of course, is the most frustrating and tentative thing about this hilly place, rendering it perfect for cussing. Dean also takes the lines from poetry by Keats, Gerald Manly Hopkins etc and makes it into the little spells children under 5 use to help out around the village. The lines of such familar poetry used for the little magic that is used in the village is a homely and lyrical touch. the magic is not invasive, it adds just enough of an otherworldly quality to this wonderfully realised world.

Dean is an exceptional world builder, right up there with Ursula Le Guin, but the thing that I love is the minature size of her worlds. They are child-sized worlds for adults. She treats the presence of evil intelligently and delicately in her work, understanding that it is a complex part of being human. Someone in one of the other reviews here critisied the ending of the Dubious Hills, but if you don't appreciate the ending, you've missed the point of the whole book. They have found a way to escape the doubt that plagues their lives, and think how gratifying it is to know things for certain. I think the Dubious Hills is a critical utopia, and an exceptional exploration of knowlege. I'm agog that such a simple story can have such a deeply philosophical edge to it. Dean is, in truth, a master storyteller, she can weave such complex and delightful worlds in so few words. Her language is deft, quiet, simple. But she creates complex, realistic places and situations. This is a superb book.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful
Review: I've read it about five times so far, and I know I will keep picking it up every once in a while. It's a seductive world Dean creates. And unlike most fantasy writers, Dean does not write for the lowest common denominator. This is literature.

A while ago, when my mother (an English major and Yeats fan who often asks me when I plan to read real books instead of fantasy) was desperate for something to read, I handed her this book.

She loved it.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful.
Review: It's not quite as lyrical as the Secret Country books, but it's a marvelous read. It's set in the same world, but not the same land, as the Secret Country books, in a strange land where specialization has magically been taken to a bizarre and fascinating extreme.

None of Pamela Dean's books should ever be out of stock or out of print. I cannot praise her unique writing style highly enough. Look for _The Secret Country,_ _The Hidden Land,_ and _The Whim of the Dragon,_ too; they're among the very best fantasy ever written.

Rating:
Summary: Not what I had hoped/ expected/ wanted...
Review: My milage varies considerably from the other reviewers of this book. I finished it, but resentfully.

I bought it because it was inexpensive and I didn't like Dean's _Tam Lin._ I wanted to give her another shot. I also was hoping, thinking that it would be like _The Giver._ Superficially, it is, but then it gets into the whole werewolf: should we or shouldn't we question. To me, it was a silly question, a silly simple society and characters I found I didn't care about.

Rather than this I recommend Peter David's _Howling Mad._ It's about a wolf that gets bitten by a werewolf and becomes a man every full moon.

Rating:
Summary: Not what I had hoped/ expected/ wanted...
Review: My milage varies considerably from the other reviewers of this book. I finished it, but resentfully.

I bought it because it was inexpensive and I didn't like Dean's _Tam Lin._ I wanted to give her another shot. I also was hoping, thinking that it would be like _The Giver._ Superficially, it is, but then it gets into the whole werewolf: should we or shouldn't we question. To me, it was a silly question, a silly simple society and characters I found I didn't care about.

Rather than this I recommend Peter David's _Howling Mad._ It's about a wolf that gets bitten by a werewolf and becomes a man every full moon.

Rating:
Summary: The beauty and the strangeness of The Dubious Hills...
Review: Reading this was like returning to a home long-yearned-for. (Beloved in the same lost way I love Narnia; I cannot do otherwise.) The world is that of the Hidden Land, also known as the Secret Country. It is beautiful and yet deeply strange, and it catches at your heart with joy and sorrow. But the region is a different one, heart-stoppingly so. I loved this story. It is not exactly like the other three set in this world, true. But the style is the same, and the way she mixes in things known and not. There is also mystery to it, like her other tales. You will puzzle out what is happening at the same time you are enthralled by it.