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Summary: Wonderful fantasy book!
Review: I love the subtlety and lyrical quality of this book. I read it many many years ago (and many times since then) and am truly glad to see it still in print. The plot is a bit on the deep side, and I imagine you will really need to read it multiple times to get the 'gist' of what is being conveyed. The magical elements are not heavy-handed - they are very subtle and intertwined. Buy this one.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best Books Ever
Review: This book is not for the casual reader who simply wants a page-turner. The book is demanding, requiring that the reader bring something to the reading, but is enormously rewarding. It's a powerful work of intellect and emotion. The incredible complexity of the story is one of its pleasures, as one sees a story thread disappear here only to show up again "way over there." I'm not alone in regarding this book as a masterpiece of literature.
Rating:
Summary: Bigger
Review: I recently re-read 'Little, Big' and was reminded what a superb book this is. Crowley mixes American ruralism, European fairy tales and the pioneering fantasy of William Morris into a beautiful blend that somehow transcends its elements, and produces a book that you cannot help but love. 'Little, Big' is especially notable for walking the difficult faerie tightrope that falling from one side would land you in tweeness and on the other in cynicism, with ease. Characters like George Mouse and Daily Alice could have been so sugary and trite in a less skillful writer's hands. The gradual gathering darkness of the story as the book evolves could have been simple and unsubtle modern horror without Crowley's magic. Finally, 'Little, Big' has a setting at the centre of it that is as memorable as the greatest places in literature. A house literally in the middle-of-nowhere, not entirely separate from the outside world and its developments but somehow immune from the worst, whose jumbled architecture and grounds get larger as you go in: Edgewater is a fascinating and timeless creation. For once, a masterpiece that really deserves the accolade.
Rating:
Summary: Unlike any book you will ever read
Review: Little, Big is not easy reading, and the writing isn't always consistent. That said, it is a moving, strange, and melancholy work that rightfully deserves a place as a classic in fantasy literature. The first sections, which detail the history of the Drinkwater family, are the most beautiful and intriguing pieces of fiction I have ever read. Crowley manages to write about fantastic things-- a house with multiple fronts, fish that talk, fairies in the woods-- and make their reality as unquestionable as a tree, a book, or a car. I can't claim to understand the book entirely, and there are times when it spins out of control, particularly towards the end, when Crowley writes about the strange resurrection and downfall of a Holy Roman Emperor, who takes over a 20th century city that bears more than a passing resemblance to New York. All the same, Little Big is a brave, shimmering thing, and I wish more people would read it. It is one of the few books I have read that succeeds in evoking a new, yet weirdly familiar world, for its readers.
Rating: 
Summary: "Pompous, slow"
Review: There aren't enough fairies in any universe that could get me to read this book again. And that may be too bad, because judging from the other reviews it seems like I may be missing an extraordinary book. But, a recurring theme from the reviewers seems to be that this book is re-read. My guess is that it might take a re-reading or two to figure out what story John Cowley was trying to tell. I definitely don't have the patience for his minutiae-focused, wanderingly-vague style. Initially John Cowley was able to hold my interest. There are hints that something really special awaits. But to my dissatisfaction the hints never develop into anything other than murky allusions. Reading this book (and I did manage to finish it) is kind of like watching shadows moving along behind a curtain. I was sure that there was something interesting happening behind that curtain but it never materialized. I felt like I had just put together a 5000 piece puzzle and was left wondering, "That's it?" at the result. There are many characters none of whom are developed such that I cared what happened to any of them. The various plot lines did not seem to all tie together. In short, I was lost. If this book were a painting, it would be, "Afternoon on the Island of the Grande Jatte", by Seurat. Lots of detail, pretty scenery, but upon closer inspection, nothing is happening-the people look dysphoric and all dressed up with nowhere to go. If this book were a movie it might be, "2001: A Space Odyssey" (although I liked this movie). "2001" is long and moves slowly, is beautifully filmed, has a strange ending, mixed reviews from the critics. Liked the movie, didn't like the book. Don't want to give away too many details about the book in case you haven't read it. Just think molasses dripping slowly onto your forehead. For a more lively and humorous read, try, "Fool on the Hill", by Matt Ruff, a fantasy classic. As for "Little, Big", perhaps a story about fairies and such shouldn't take itself so seriously.
Rating:
Summary: Incredible
Review: There is very little to say regarding a book that transports the reader to a marvelous alter world where rules are suspended and the story become so large that it takes certainly more than one read to be absorbed. Crowley's language is so incredibly poetic that it paints a picture of the Faery world all by itself. Even if difficult to find, find this book and read it over and over.
Rating:
Summary: This book, unfortunately, goes nowhere.
Review: I'll admit straight off, I didn't read the whole book. In fact, I slowed to a stop at exactly 100 pages in. Of course, you only have to look at the other reviews here to know that as Abe Lincoln said, "For people who like this sort of thing, this is exactly the sort of thing they would like." But for me, the thought of wasting the rest of a day finishing a viscous tome where nothing happened to characters I didn't particularly give a damn about probably explained the sense of dread I was picking up through the first sixth of the book. Now, others talk of how the characters touched them; I wonder how they managed to connect. The author goes out of his way to present Smoky and Alice as distant people entirely unlike most of us. Smoky is portrayed in word and deed as an utter nonentity, and Alice as fragile and opaque. Lack of connection to the main characters or Alice's family makes reading the rest of the book rather pointless. I was also somewhat irritated by the way Crowley would hint at "big shocking things" like incest and lesbianism, and yet not actually do anything about them. Seemed like he was trying to pick up the "depth and modernity" of these themes without being open enough to take flack about it. And I'm afraid I'm of the belief that almost always, anything that sets out to be "profound" ends up being merely "self-important". Profundity is something that sneaks up on you sideways and waylays you when you've got something else to pay attention to. There were some nice images in the book. Unfortunately, I wasn't planning on reading a travelogue. For those who absolutely adore everything Victorian, or authors like Leguin and L'Engle and Shirley Jackson, or the turn of the century fairy/magic craze, this book may be a godsend... Since I merely like all the above, "Little, Big" wasn't a good fit.
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Summary: Little, Big has become my lifetime favorite book
Review: When Hemingway was asked for his favorite book, he said "King Lear. Read it every year. Cheers me right up." But 'Little, Big' is neither bleak nor Hemingway. Re-reading it bears delight. It reminds us of a certain wistful and sweet view of life, with paradox a-plenty. Writers as different as C.S. Lewis and Borges have described a central paradox of this book -- "The further you go in, the bigger it gets." Ideas tumble out. The idea that we create our own magic, that a romantic view of life feels both sensual and elevated, the idea that "the things that make us happy, make us wise." One thought after another makes us stop and ponder, and something feels right. The story concerns Smoky Barnable, a vague kind of man, who falls in love with a tall and delicate young woman. By an effort of will, he chooses to believe something absurd, because it enables him to follow her. He enters her enchanted home in the woods, and lives a life there among folk named Bramble, Juniper, Hawksquill, Mouse, and Drinkwater, very human folk with a constant allusion to a maybe world of faeries. Reading along, one slips in and out of these references so that toward the end of the book, this other view has become real. The story turns and wraps up in a manner beautiful, strange, unpredictable, and satisfying. Magic in the cards? Down to earth? You'll see.
Rating:
Summary: Soothing balm for the mind
Review: It's rare for me to enjoy a tale on so many levels. Here we have an author who has crafted the language with more skill than most any other. Has created a journey that somehow fascinates and soothes simultaneously. And also brought to life characters who while living in a different time and place are people we can identify with immediately. Gentle ironies, gentle mysteries, gentle lives, gentle sorrows, gentle smiles, all add up to a story that became a favorite of mine almost twenty years ago and remains so today. As we follow Smoky Barnable through his life we are introduced to the wonders and marvels that surround his new family (the Drinkwaters et al) and home (Edgewood), and discover that even that which we do not (or cannot) understand is of nature. And perhaps Smoky's response of quiet bemusement is the best most of us could hope for.
Rating: 
Summary: new age rubbish
Review: Not really literature, since there is no plot or character development to speak of. Just a lot of cutesy waffling around with a couple characters looking and acting shy and mysterious. Tons and tons of laughably pretentious pseudo-metaphysics are also piled one endlessly here. Vacillates between being cloying and sacharine and heavy and morbid. Like being forced to listen to James Taylor's "Sweet Baby James" album over and over again for three years.
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