Fire and Hemlock

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful discovery
Review: I have to admit, the first book I picked up was the Eight Days of Luke and the only thing that attracted me to the book was the cover and the synopsis. I've read 3 books thus far from Diana Wynne Jones and I am still hunting for more of her books. Fire and Hemlock was the third book I read, and the most recent. They are copies here available where I am here in Asia and I was lucky enough to get myself a copy. From the very first chapter I was already intrigued by the mystery and magic, not to mention the relationship Thomas Lynn and Polly developed through the years. I loved the characters and how all the plots were interwoven. These characters lived ordinary lives but are thrown into extraordinary situations. I think that's the magic of Diana's stories. Making the most ordinary people and situations , magical and extra ordinary. The only reason I didn't give this book a 5 star rating is because of the ending. It escapes me, but then again I just read it once , I am planning to read it again to actually understand it. For those of you who do indeed understand why it ended like it did, please do e-mail me and tell me your views and make me understand. That was the only let down, everything before that had me hooked. I can't say if this is Diana's best as yet, till I've read more of her material and believe me, I am planning to , without a doubt. But I will however admit it's the best I've read so far.

Rating:
Summary: this book is great!
Review: I love all of Diana Wynne Jones' books, but I think this is one of her best. That's partly because it's for older readers, and it has a story with more depth to it that some of her books. (Not that any of them are shallow!) I also think the fact that it's set in our world adds to the story. Since all the events happen in the real world, they seem MORE magical than if they happened in one of her alternate universes, where the rules are different.

I am sad that this book is out of print; I really don't understand why that is. It's much better than a lot of the books in the stores today. I would recommend you read this if you like music, books, magic and a little bit of romance. (It's also got humor, as all of her books do!)

Rating:
Summary: my favorite book of ALL TIME
Review: I love anything by Diana Wynne Jones, but this one is the one I love the most. It's so twisty, so complicated, and so magically real that I still have dreams about it. Creepy, haunting, realistic, addictive, and entertaining.

Polly--the main character--is well written. As a child she is imaginative and interesting. As a teen, she retains that but is thrown into turmoil about her feelings for Mr. Lynn. It shows her growth so clearly, so realistically. Especially when she looks back at it from college.

Then we've got Mr. Lynn, who changes slowly through the eyes of the growing Polly. At first he's a shy sort of grown up who reminds Polly of a turtle. Then he's her best friend--the one who will pretend with her and sent her books when her parents are being horrible. And finally, he's an attractive--and rather younger than you thought--man in his own right.

All through it, these great main characters deal with the strange occurences that all seem to have to do with the terrible Laurel who lives in her unchanging mansion, where there is a funeral every nine years. She is beautiful and manipulative and much more than she seems.

And there are hints the whole way, so that when the inevitable Diana Wynne Jones ending comes along, all the pieces fall seemlessly into place and blow your mind away with the rightness of it.

If you like wonderful, well-made plots and characters, read this book. You won't be disappointed. If you're not willing to make the effort to pay attention to the interesting things happening--maybe you should find something easier and put less of a strain on your poor intellect.

Rating:
Summary: A perfect blend of fantasy and reality
Review: I love books that are clearly fantasy, yet take place in our real world. As a little girl, I read a book about a mysterious magic shop that appears overnight on a fictional girl's block, and ever since I have been looking carefully for that real-life magic. I would hate to miss it! In Fire & Hemlock, Diana Wynne Jones tells a story set firmly in the world I live in, and yet I was never sure how many strange things that Polly saw were real, or whether she was slightly nuts. It's great, funny and creepy by turns.

If you like this book, you should probably also check out "Tam Lin" by Pamela Dean, or her "Rosemary, Juniper & Gentian," two more great examples of realistic fantasy.

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Summary: An intriguing novel that haunts the reader for years to come
Review: I read this book when I was in junior high (the late 80's). It haunted me for years - the name always on the tip of my cerebellum but unattainable - I finally snuck back into the school one day whilst the school was away on a field trip - I went into the library like one posessed and recognized the binding straight away. The story came rushing back to me as I read the first chapter - but it had altered slightly. It is one of _those_ books - that change ever so slightly each time you read it. Like a house from your childhood with the furniture rearranged. It introduced me to the fable of Tam Lin in a most wonderful way. If ever a bookshould be revived - this surely must be it!

Rating:
Summary: Diana Wynne Jones' best book
Review: I really think that this is Diana Wynne Jones' best book - and that's saying a lot for someone who has written as many wonderful bokks as her. This book seems to be aimed at a slightly older audience than most of her work, but will be enjoyed by readers of all ages. The combination of ancient Celtic myth and modern setting produces a haunting world where nothing is as it seems and magic is hidden in the most mundane elements. The characters are vividly drawn and believable, the changing relationship between Polly and Tom Lynn is compelling and utterly convincing, and Polly herself is one of the most likeable and well developed heroines you will ever encounter. As in all DWJ's writing, the plot is fast-paced and intriguing, and the writing is consistently excellent. The description of Polly's stay with her father (I won't give any more detail as I don't want to spoil the book), contains the most memorable description of embarrasment and shame that I have ever read. That scene alone would make this a great read, but this book contains so much more.The ending is strange on first reading, but then you realise just how well suited it is; how it essentially is the perfect ending for the book. In short, read this book now (if you can locate a copy) - you'll love it!

Rating:
Summary: A first-rate book!
Review: I truly enjoy this book, even though I also don't understand the end completely and this, unfortunately, is the one thing that mars the storyline for me. This is in a somewhat different style than the usual Diana Wynne Jones fare and I haven't been able to find anything remotely comparable to the magical revelation and discovery within this novel. For readers who like Jones' light-hearted, laughing style, I would also suggest the "Dealing with Dragons" series by Patricia C. Wrede because it invokes the same usage of unexpected humor and unconventional characters. I read "Fire and Hemlock" for the first time in sixth grade and have read it two or three times since. It's a very full, complex, puzzling, intriguing story that never fails to engage or captivate me each time I read it, and I think it's terrible that this book has gone out of print, since I have only heard good things about it. I don't understand how trash can continue to be in print while a beautiful, fascinating novel like this is so difficult to obtain.

Rating:
Summary: Fire and Hemlock
Review: I'm a big fan of Diana Wynne Jones, and have read nearly all her books--I think I like this one nearly the best; I say "nearly" because of the ending. The story has so many strengths, particularly the overall vision and voice, the brilliant, incisive characters, and the various relationships-- Polly's on-again, off-again relationship with Nina, her painful relationship with her horrible parents, her loving relationship wtih her grandmother, and the deepening, complex relationship with Tom. As so many readers have pointed out, however, this ending is confusing, and even though I hugely admire Jones' creativity, quirkiness and willingness to leave in mystery, I ultimately have to say that the ending detracts rather than adds. I've read it three times now, and here's my two cents:
1. Polly and Tom are true lovers, and at the end, Polly has won Tom, and saved him. In other words, it's a happy ending. And one reader is absolutely right to say that unlike the myth, Polly must let go of Tom in order to save him.
2. The way she saves Tom is very confusing. I don't understand why Jones rushes through it; she really ought to have slowed down, and added about ten pages (my daughter says twenty, woven throughout the book.) But what she's saying is, since their love is impossible "nowhere," then THEREFORE, it's possible somewhere (think of it as a logic puzzle): p. 420: "If two people can't get together anywhere..." they can therefore get together "nowhere" (Remember that "nowhere" is both a fairy place, and also, as it says in the book, both a dead end AND that very alive blank space that comes BEFORE CREATION: "Two sides to Nowhere, Polly thought. One really was a dead end. The other was the void that lay before you when you were making up something new out of ideas no one else had quite had before." (p. 405) So in this sense, "nowhere" is that space/time just before the creation of their love.
3. The main confusing thing, I think, is that the rules of the fairy/witch people seem to be elaborate, but are not set down--Polly seems to know it, just like that --she mysteriously knows exactly what to do in order to use magic to find Tom on that fateful day (HOW does she know?) & then she mysteriously seems to know all the rules the fairy people abide by, in the end. It's like Jones herself knows it all, and somehow imagines we readers do too. It's really irritating, like going to a party in which there is an in-joke that everyone else is laughing at, and you have no idea what it's about, but everyone else assumes you should. Laurel seems to be bound by all sorts of 'rules,' but we don't really know them. Polly somehow knows them, and what follows in the end is like a court of law, in which suddenly Polly has become a lawyer, though we readers have no idea what the rules are: She says on p. 408, "I claim that Morton Leroy has forfeited his right to Tom's life. And he'll have to find someone else or go himself." And she proceeds to argue that since Mr. Leroy tried to kill them, he has messed up since Tom's life is 'sacrosanct' - "Morton, my dear," Laurel says, "I think you may have been rather foolish." p. 410, and then Laurel essentially sends Morton and Tom on a trial for their lives. THe loser dies in order to give Laurel her next life. The trick is that anything Tom does, anything, will be matched by Morton--and this is why Polly must lose him in order to have him.

It's good, but simply sudden and arbitrary. The book would really have benefited by making these things clearer, by slowing down, and letting the reader feel the shift from realistic to metaphysical, in the end, rather than the very abrupt shift that there is now. It could easily, easily have been edited in, and I really don't understand why Jones didn't.

I have tons of other questions, too: For instance, why does Polly suddenly remember now? How? (From a book, she says-but surely she's read other books before this)

But I've still given the book five stars. I just think it's such a creative book, and even though the ending is too abrupt, its vision and sense is so strong and quirky that it remains one of my favorite Jones books.

Rating:
Summary: "Fire and Hemlock" is an extraordinary book
Review: It is too bad that books as beautiful, engaging and moving as this one are allowed to go out of print. "Fire and Hemlock" is one of Diana Wynne best novels and from an author as gifted and prolific as she is, that is no small feat. This is one of the rare times when the story takes place in our world, but that only heightens the sense of haunting magic that pervades the book. The characters are full; richly drawn, funny, mysterious and likable. Above all they are real and the relationship that develops between Polly and Tom is particularly touching. This is Jones's tribute to the great books of children's literature, and it is satisfying to see that her taste in stories is as wonderful as the contributions she has made to the genre. The graceful drawing of two old British ballads through the twentieth century, combined with a fantastic, gentle romance and Jones's customary skill as a magical story-teller, make this a book that no one should miss.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: It was a lovely read and probably one of the strangest books I've ever read. I didn't know much about the Tam Lin ballad at all, so it was interesting to learn more about it. The idea was very creative, the situations were very real despite it being a fantasy. I think that's what I like best about Diana Wynne Jones. Her characters are always so real. You can imagine meeting them next door or in the grocery store. In any case, there's no way to explain the premises of this book-when I tried telling a friend about it, I started off with- Well, Polly (age 10) gatecrashes a funeral and meets this musician guy Tom Lynn, who is maybe 22-24 (I've figured out his exact age since then), I start getting these strange looks and that's when I stop. Their friendship is unconventional in every since, but just beautiful. As for the ending, the very first review on the page noted it was confusing- I have to agree. I've read it over at least 3 or 4 times, and though I understand more, I'm still never quite sure what was happening. Though I think the ideas involved there are more important, and it is ultimately a very satisfying read.