Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Harper Perennial (2002), Edition: Later Printing Used, 560 pages
Description
Little, Big tells the epic story of Smoky Barnable -- an anonymous young man who meets and falls in love with Daily Alice Drinkwater, and goes to live with her in Edgewood, a place not found on any map. In an impossible mansion full of her relatives, who all seem to have ties to another world not far away, Smoky fathers a family and tries to learn what tale he has found himself in -- and how it is to end.
Media reviews
This August marked the 40th anniversary of the release of John Crowley’s fantasy masterpiece Little, Big (1981). ... Crowley had already published three remarkable novels—The Deep (1975), Beast (1976) and Engine Summer (1979)—which established him as an exciting author unafraid to bring
Show More
both beautifully crafted prose and highly original ideas to his own peculiar mix of science fiction, speculative fiction, and fantasy. However Little, Big would eclipse them all. Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member KAzevedo
Don't try to read this when you are feeling harried or stressed or filled with too many responsibilities and desires. Find a dreamy, drifty time and start without expectations. Go forward, back up, take a nap, dream a little, float along, and don't try too hard. Taste and savor the language and
Show More
become a part of the family. Bring something to drink and explore the Woods and the City. Just be willing to go Elsewhere for a while and above all, don't hurry, because this is a journey unlike any other. Show Less
LibraryThing member dmsteyn
Not an easy review to write, this. I’ve been reading Little, Big for the last month, taking it slowly, as the book really deserves a thorough read. Despite that, I still feel like I should reread the whole book – not because I didn’t understand it, but because it is just such a rich, textured
I feel a little daunted in writing this review because I read Roz Kaveney’s review in the back of the Harper Perennial edition of the book, and I feel that I cannot possibly match it. I would advise anyone interested in Crowley or Little, Big to read this review if possible. Rather than trying to emulate it, I’m only going to give a personal response to the book.
So, let me just say this – it is a brilliant, beautiful thing of art, this book. Some people have accused it of tweeness, perhaps because of the element of Feyness in the book. Admittedly, there are echoes of Lewis Carroll in the book, and it does contain trace elements of magic. But don’t be fooled – Crowley’s writing can be deadly serious, and he doesn’t mince words when it comes to heartache and disillusionment. The Faeries are there in the book, but they remain a fleeting, flitting presence for the most part, and when they do play a significant role, there is always an ambiguous quality to their doings – they are neither benign nor inherently malignant. What they are, is Weird, in the good, old meaning of the word.
This book is about a lot of things – family, for one, America, for another. But despite these big themes, the book remains anchored on arresting and revealing character portrayals. We have the (apparently) main character, Smoky Barnable, who comes to the house at Edgewood near the beginning of the novel, and never becomes quite settled in his new life with Daily Alice Drinkwater and her extended family, a family that is closer to the edge of some surreal otherworld than is quite normal. Or safe. The novel follows Smoky and his family’s adventures at Edgewood and in the unnamed City (modelled on New York), sometimes reaching back into the past to illuminate the present story.
As someone who quite enjoys the speculative genre, I loved the book’s complex relationship to the idea of fantasy writing. But that doesn’t mean that one has to like fantasy to like this book. It is beautifully written throughout, and as Kaveney writes:
The prose has a supple tough-minded energy, a luxuriance of conceit that renders the book full of lines and passages that have the air of being quotations from some famous book one has not read.
There is also an inherent seriousness to Crowley’s themes that lifts the book miles above the seemingly exhausted world of postmodern fiction. Although the book plays some metatextual games, these never burden it with too much ingenuity – as Kaveney also says, ‘Crowley is not Joyce, demanding a lifetime’s study.’ Thank God for that. In the end, I felt, despite the niggling suspicion that I missed a few things along the way, that I still came away enriched and enchanted. And for that alone, I thank Mr Crowley.
Show More
story. Although nominally a fantasy novel (it won the World Fantasy award in 1980), one would be hard-pressed to find any of the usual, well-worn fantasy tropes in this book. Crowley is such a shrewd writer that he can seem to aim towards typical fantasy narratives, but then swerve away from them, leaving the reader alternately lost, bemused and, finally, delighted. I’m sure that many readers will, unfortunately, give up on the book because it can be difficult, in the sense that it refuses the broad way of genre fiction, rather taking the odd turn-offs and twisting paths that real magical writing demands.I feel a little daunted in writing this review because I read Roz Kaveney’s review in the back of the Harper Perennial edition of the book, and I feel that I cannot possibly match it. I would advise anyone interested in Crowley or Little, Big to read this review if possible. Rather than trying to emulate it, I’m only going to give a personal response to the book.
So, let me just say this – it is a brilliant, beautiful thing of art, this book. Some people have accused it of tweeness, perhaps because of the element of Feyness in the book. Admittedly, there are echoes of Lewis Carroll in the book, and it does contain trace elements of magic. But don’t be fooled – Crowley’s writing can be deadly serious, and he doesn’t mince words when it comes to heartache and disillusionment. The Faeries are there in the book, but they remain a fleeting, flitting presence for the most part, and when they do play a significant role, there is always an ambiguous quality to their doings – they are neither benign nor inherently malignant. What they are, is Weird, in the good, old meaning of the word.
This book is about a lot of things – family, for one, America, for another. But despite these big themes, the book remains anchored on arresting and revealing character portrayals. We have the (apparently) main character, Smoky Barnable, who comes to the house at Edgewood near the beginning of the novel, and never becomes quite settled in his new life with Daily Alice Drinkwater and her extended family, a family that is closer to the edge of some surreal otherworld than is quite normal. Or safe. The novel follows Smoky and his family’s adventures at Edgewood and in the unnamed City (modelled on New York), sometimes reaching back into the past to illuminate the present story.
As someone who quite enjoys the speculative genre, I loved the book’s complex relationship to the idea of fantasy writing. But that doesn’t mean that one has to like fantasy to like this book. It is beautifully written throughout, and as Kaveney writes:
The prose has a supple tough-minded energy, a luxuriance of conceit that renders the book full of lines and passages that have the air of being quotations from some famous book one has not read.
There is also an inherent seriousness to Crowley’s themes that lifts the book miles above the seemingly exhausted world of postmodern fiction. Although the book plays some metatextual games, these never burden it with too much ingenuity – as Kaveney also says, ‘Crowley is not Joyce, demanding a lifetime’s study.’ Thank God for that. In the end, I felt, despite the niggling suspicion that I missed a few things along the way, that I still came away enriched and enchanted. And for that alone, I thank Mr Crowley.
Show Less
LibraryThing member paradoxosalpha
Little, Big is possibly the best modern fantasy novel ever. It is innovative and traditional, reflective and eventful, intimate and intricately formal. In many ways, it is no more "fantastic" than any other novel, since it involves the kind of magic that is real, as experienced by a family who are
Show More
imaginary in a sort of ideal way. It is best appreciated by well-read grownups who are willing to take the time to savor its details, because the mind-blowing bigness of the story is packed into its littlest bits. Show Less
LibraryThing member lkernagh
Words to describe the overall impressions of this story (for me) are "whimsical", "languid" and "abstract". It is a sweeping tale that defies the usual straightforward story telling. It defies an awful lot of things actually so the first piece of advice is to approach any read of this book with an
The audiobook I listened to was narrated by the author, which worked rather well as the author conveyed both the languid tone of the story as well as the fun bits: the real to life characterizations of manner and turns of phrase he had imbued in his characters. My only quibble with the audiobook was I wasn't expecting the rather disembodied female voice to chime in with the section titles. That was just a tad weird at first, but I got over the strangeness and began to use here voice as indicators when I could pause the story. As I mentioned above, this story needs to be approached with an open mind. There were times when I thought about abandoning the story - seriously, where exactly was this peculiar story going? - but I am thankful that I decided to stick it out. I can see why this story is considered to be "a neglected masterpiece" with the closest achievement on par being Lewis Carroll's Alice stories.
This is a story I am happy to have experienced and will be adding it to my very, very select 'future re-read" list. This is one story I know will stand the test of time, regardless of when it is read.
Show More
open mind. The story will tell its tale in it's own due time, with its own voice and meandering manner. The story is very fluid in format, flowing between characters, settings and generations. What makes this rather abstract story work so well for me is the wonderful voice Crowley has given his characters: an interconnected family of loose relations that appears to just float through life with a combined air of bafflement, acceptance and bemusement of the circumstances/powers/influences that move them and the world they inhabit towards a predestined conclusion. A world where rooms have names, like the "Gothic Bathroom", the "Invisible Bedroom" and where the house, Edgewood, is very much a character of this tale. While this is, in essence, a story about the relationship between the Drinkwater family and the fairie world, it is so much more than that. It is a perfect summertime read, preferably while lying in a flower strewn country meadow or a sun lite wooded glen, away from all the hustle and bustle of urban life. The story is timeless in quality and should be enjoyed in an equally timeless, uninterrupted environment. The audiobook I listened to was narrated by the author, which worked rather well as the author conveyed both the languid tone of the story as well as the fun bits: the real to life characterizations of manner and turns of phrase he had imbued in his characters. My only quibble with the audiobook was I wasn't expecting the rather disembodied female voice to chime in with the section titles. That was just a tad weird at first, but I got over the strangeness and began to use here voice as indicators when I could pause the story. As I mentioned above, this story needs to be approached with an open mind. There were times when I thought about abandoning the story - seriously, where exactly was this peculiar story going? - but I am thankful that I decided to stick it out. I can see why this story is considered to be "a neglected masterpiece" with the closest achievement on par being Lewis Carroll's Alice stories.
This is a story I am happy to have experienced and will be adding it to my very, very select 'future re-read" list. This is one story I know will stand the test of time, regardless of when it is read.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Cecrow
A man of New York City marries into a family from the country who have a remarkable relationship to the world of fairy. That other world is always present in the story's background, sometimes more explicitly, and yet John Crowley can do the literary equivalent of making things visible in the corner
There's a strong resemblance here to Morgenstern's "The Night Circus" (mystery abounds, conflict is muted), Helprin's "Winter's Tale" (the city and the country, those who do and do not marvel at magic) and Clarke's "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell" (opening doors between worlds, while deeper workings are afoot), in almost that sequential order. And yet it predates all of them, and wins in comparison with each. This felt like discovering some ancient predecessor dinosaur that is more impressive than all the dinosaurs I know, a clear antecedent that the others only imitate. Crowley here presents more plot than Morgenstern, more logic than Helprin, more mystery than Clarke.
I don't love everything about it - the pace is often slower than I preferred, conflicts too easily brushed aside - but I loved and appreciated a lot. It achieves what surely no author can purposely aim for but only succeed at by happy accident, that feeling so evasive since childhood and difficult for any adult reader to experience, the sensation that stepping through the looking glass is not so very impossible or far a journey after all.
Show More
of your eye that disappear as soon as you look directly at them. I relate entirely to the male family members who try to catch those glimpses by every means, surrounded by the female members who seemingly always understand more than they're letting on or else are just wiser about not questioning. The language and style of this novel are fantastic. They force a slower read if you don't want to miss any hint of what's happening, or all of the fun allusions to Thorton W. Burgess, The Wind in the Willows, the House that Jack Built, Alice in Wonderland, etc., or those glimpses of fairies that might be more than just your imagination. There's a strong resemblance here to Morgenstern's "The Night Circus" (mystery abounds, conflict is muted), Helprin's "Winter's Tale" (the city and the country, those who do and do not marvel at magic) and Clarke's "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell" (opening doors between worlds, while deeper workings are afoot), in almost that sequential order. And yet it predates all of them, and wins in comparison with each. This felt like discovering some ancient predecessor dinosaur that is more impressive than all the dinosaurs I know, a clear antecedent that the others only imitate. Crowley here presents more plot than Morgenstern, more logic than Helprin, more mystery than Clarke.
I don't love everything about it - the pace is often slower than I preferred, conflicts too easily brushed aside - but I loved and appreciated a lot. It achieves what surely no author can purposely aim for but only succeed at by happy accident, that feeling so evasive since childhood and difficult for any adult reader to experience, the sensation that stepping through the looking glass is not so very impossible or far a journey after all.
Show Less
LibraryThing member lawbird
Little, Big is my favorite book and deserves to be counted as one of the greatest novels ever written. I recognize that Little, Big isn't everyone's cup of ... "twee," was it? And I know the resolution of the novel seem complex and obscure to many readers. I confess that it took me multiple
Crowley's words paint pictures so vivid they stun you with their clarity and beauty. From the simple:
"The screen door was old and large, its wood pierced and turned a bit to summery effect, and the screen potbellied below from years of children's thoughtless egress . . ."
To the sublime:
"While the moon smoothly shifted the shadows from one side of Edgewood to the other, Daily Alice dreamed that she stood in a flower-starred field where on a hill there grew an oak tree and a thorn in deep embrace, their branches intertwined like fingers. Far down the hall, Sophie dreamed that there was a tiny door in her elbow, open a crack, through which the wind blew, blowing on her heart. Dr. Drinkwater dreamed he sat before his typewriter and wrote this: 'There is an aged, aged insect who lives in a hole in the ground. One June he puts on his summer straw, and takes his pipe and his staff and his lamp in half his hands, and follows the worm and the root to the stair that leads up to the door into blue summer.' This seemed immensely significant to him, but when he awoke he wouldn't be able to remember a word of it, try as he might. Mother beside him dreamed her husband wasn't in his study at all, but with her in the kitchen, where she drew tin cookie-sheets endlessly out of the oven; the baked things on them were brown and round, and when he asked her what they were, she said 'Years.'"
As to the story itself, Little, Big should be taken as two novels which, like Aunt Cloud's deck of cards, have been shuffled together into one great whole. On one level, the book is a fantasy novel about magical worlds known only to the Drinkwaters (or at least most of them) and their kin. On an equally important level, it is one of the most beautiful love stories ever told. The novel is suffused with joy and pain, all in the service of devotion and love.
I could write pages and pages about the characters and how magical and heroic they would seem to me, even if the book itself were stripped of its fantasy elements. Which is not to say that those elements are anything but astonishingly beautiful.
I know that not every book can appeal to every reader. But I think that Little, Big is one of those books that is so special, it will reward almost anyone who gives it a fair chance.
Show More
readings to fully absorb what was occurring in the final 200 pages. But to my mind, the book is a masterpiece of both form and substance.Crowley's words paint pictures so vivid they stun you with their clarity and beauty. From the simple:
"The screen door was old and large, its wood pierced and turned a bit to summery effect, and the screen potbellied below from years of children's thoughtless egress . . ."
To the sublime:
"While the moon smoothly shifted the shadows from one side of Edgewood to the other, Daily Alice dreamed that she stood in a flower-starred field where on a hill there grew an oak tree and a thorn in deep embrace, their branches intertwined like fingers. Far down the hall, Sophie dreamed that there was a tiny door in her elbow, open a crack, through which the wind blew, blowing on her heart. Dr. Drinkwater dreamed he sat before his typewriter and wrote this: 'There is an aged, aged insect who lives in a hole in the ground. One June he puts on his summer straw, and takes his pipe and his staff and his lamp in half his hands, and follows the worm and the root to the stair that leads up to the door into blue summer.' This seemed immensely significant to him, but when he awoke he wouldn't be able to remember a word of it, try as he might. Mother beside him dreamed her husband wasn't in his study at all, but with her in the kitchen, where she drew tin cookie-sheets endlessly out of the oven; the baked things on them were brown and round, and when he asked her what they were, she said 'Years.'"
As to the story itself, Little, Big should be taken as two novels which, like Aunt Cloud's deck of cards, have been shuffled together into one great whole. On one level, the book is a fantasy novel about magical worlds known only to the Drinkwaters (or at least most of them) and their kin. On an equally important level, it is one of the most beautiful love stories ever told. The novel is suffused with joy and pain, all in the service of devotion and love.
I could write pages and pages about the characters and how magical and heroic they would seem to me, even if the book itself were stripped of its fantasy elements. Which is not to say that those elements are anything but astonishingly beautiful.
I know that not every book can appeal to every reader. But I think that Little, Big is one of those books that is so special, it will reward almost anyone who gives it a fair chance.
Show Less
LibraryThing member elenchus
Little, Big mirrors a soap opera: two American families, linking back to a third family in Britain, are followed over 2-3 generations. Locus of action is a country manse and a city tenement. Key to the myriad social relations is an underlying relationship with the Faery, elusively described but
This premise, anchored both in ambiguity and (seemingly at random moments) in crystalline but fleeting scenes, provides a diorama in which Crowley builds up a richly detailed world. Turning the last page, the strongest impression is of these layers of detail. It's not that the story is empty, in fact there's a satisfying resolution to the mystery of his labyrinthine plot. And yet, events all seem secondary to the cross-references, literary allusions, and echoes which events leave scattered throughout the text.
//
If there is an underlying oneness of all things, it does not matter where we begin, whether with stars, or laws of supply and demand, or frogs, or Napoleon Bonaparte. One measures a circle, beginning anywhere.
-- attributed to Charles Fort, Lo! (1931)
The plot is not driven along in the way of a crime story, nor does any sharp conflict define the action. The novel instead reveals interwoven threads, leitmotifs and recurrent images, layers and connections like frost spreading on a pane.
Crowley uses two leitmotifs: Somehow (capitalised) is a recurrent marker, sometimes in narrative description but also in a character's inner dialogue, hinting at something beyond random events. Characters also repeatedly refer to the Tale (again capitalised), hinting at a destiny governing family events, linking family with Faery. They don't fully understand this Tale themselves, it is a secret from one another as much as from the reader.
Throughout the story, Crowley references Shakespeare and Carroll, specifically in how the human world encounters the Faery world. It is not merely the novel's ending which evokes A Midsummer Night's Dream but the borrowing of Wood & the City and the namesake for Ariel (The Tempest). And though there are a few droll references to Alice in Wonderland, the stronger allusion is to Carroll's Sylvie & Bruno, with its dual plots in Real World and in Faery.
In the novel, characters frequently access the Faery world through non-rational techniques. They are methodically described and followed, but not fully understood -- reminiscent of absurdism. The Tarot is a familiar device; a more inventive role is given to architecture. Both the country manse and its grounds are clearly linked to the Faery, though rationally designed and built, and also through the Memory Palace. (Crowley's concept that practitioners of memory arts can learn new things from the juxtaposition of memories forced through their architectural touchpoints is new to me and quite possibly an innovation of his own.)
So how is it this is so? What makes possible these myriad connections and layers? Crowley relies on careful repetition and a circular story structure, then patiently juxtaposes seemingly unconnected characters and events through suggestive prose and coincidence. I think Crowley in part is being mimetic. After all, the world works this way, too. Meaning and significance come from finding connections, and they are there to be found. With his choice to foreground the Faery, and yet retain their elusive nature, Crowley appears to suggest people typically do not notice a great many of the connections surrounding them, perhaps even that some of these are more significant than others. That we should attend to these, open ourselves to their possibilities.
Show More
quite definitive in its broad integration with the families. Not only the reader but also family members are confused about the influence and indeed the very existence of the Faery, and this ambiguity suffuses the entirety of plot and setting.This premise, anchored both in ambiguity and (seemingly at random moments) in crystalline but fleeting scenes, provides a diorama in which Crowley builds up a richly detailed world. Turning the last page, the strongest impression is of these layers of detail. It's not that the story is empty, in fact there's a satisfying resolution to the mystery of his labyrinthine plot. And yet, events all seem secondary to the cross-references, literary allusions, and echoes which events leave scattered throughout the text.
//
If there is an underlying oneness of all things, it does not matter where we begin, whether with stars, or laws of supply and demand, or frogs, or Napoleon Bonaparte. One measures a circle, beginning anywhere.
-- attributed to Charles Fort, Lo! (1931)
The plot is not driven along in the way of a crime story, nor does any sharp conflict define the action. The novel instead reveals interwoven threads, leitmotifs and recurrent images, layers and connections like frost spreading on a pane.
Crowley uses two leitmotifs: Somehow (capitalised) is a recurrent marker, sometimes in narrative description but also in a character's inner dialogue, hinting at something beyond random events. Characters also repeatedly refer to the Tale (again capitalised), hinting at a destiny governing family events, linking family with Faery. They don't fully understand this Tale themselves, it is a secret from one another as much as from the reader.
Throughout the story, Crowley references Shakespeare and Carroll, specifically in how the human world encounters the Faery world. It is not merely the novel's ending which evokes A Midsummer Night's Dream but the borrowing of Wood & the City and the namesake for Ariel (The Tempest). And though there are a few droll references to Alice in Wonderland, the stronger allusion is to Carroll's Sylvie & Bruno, with its dual plots in Real World and in Faery.
In the novel, characters frequently access the Faery world through non-rational techniques. They are methodically described and followed, but not fully understood -- reminiscent of absurdism. The Tarot is a familiar device; a more inventive role is given to architecture. Both the country manse and its grounds are clearly linked to the Faery, though rationally designed and built, and also through the Memory Palace. (Crowley's concept that practitioners of memory arts can learn new things from the juxtaposition of memories forced through their architectural touchpoints is new to me and quite possibly an innovation of his own.)
So how is it this is so? What makes possible these myriad connections and layers? Crowley relies on careful repetition and a circular story structure, then patiently juxtaposes seemingly unconnected characters and events through suggestive prose and coincidence. I think Crowley in part is being mimetic. After all, the world works this way, too. Meaning and significance come from finding connections, and they are there to be found. With his choice to foreground the Faery, and yet retain their elusive nature, Crowley appears to suggest people typically do not notice a great many of the connections surrounding them, perhaps even that some of these are more significant than others. That we should attend to these, open ourselves to their possibilities.
Show Less
LibraryThing member isabelx
It was the year's longest day, Sophie knew, but why should it be called Midsummer when summer has just begun? Maybe only because it was the day, the first day, on which summer seemed endless; seemed to stretch out before and behind limitlessly, and every other season was out of mind and
The book starts with Smokey Barnable walking from New York to his fiancee's family home upstate for his wedding to Daily Alice Drinkwater. But the Tale starts much earlier, with the building of Edgewood by Alice's great-grandfather John Drinkwater, or back in England even earlier than that, when Oliver Hawksquill finds a pack of fortune-telling cards in a ruined house and gives them to a girl who says that she can see fairies.
Ever since then 'they' have watched over the many members of the growing family, but what do Mrs Underhill and her like really want, and what will happen when the Tale ends?
A long book and an engrossing read, and even if there are long periods where nothing much seems to happen, the effect is calming and somehow soporific, but never boring.
Show More
unimaginable. Even the stretch of the screen-door's spring and the clack of its closing behind her as she went in, and the summer odor of the vestibule, seemed no longer new, and were as though they has always been.The book starts with Smokey Barnable walking from New York to his fiancee's family home upstate for his wedding to Daily Alice Drinkwater. But the Tale starts much earlier, with the building of Edgewood by Alice's great-grandfather John Drinkwater, or back in England even earlier than that, when Oliver Hawksquill finds a pack of fortune-telling cards in a ruined house and gives them to a girl who says that she can see fairies.
Ever since then 'they' have watched over the many members of the growing family, but what do Mrs Underhill and her like really want, and what will happen when the Tale ends?
A long book and an engrossing read, and even if there are long periods where nothing much seems to happen, the effect is calming and somehow soporific, but never boring.
Show Less
LibraryThing member librarianbryan
Much like Freedom this book has had me thinking. Little, Big is neither mind-alteringly transcendent; nor, is it’s quality perplexing disproportional to its popularity. It is written very well and is very unpopular. This an equation that makes sense to me. The prose shine like Danny in the
Show More
Overlook Hotel. And I love that, but this was the first book in three years of the 2nd Wednesday Book Club that I could not force myself to finish before our monthly meeting. And that meeting was a great one. Our discussion spilled out into email for days after. For some reason though this text was unsatisfying for me.Out of respect to the text and my fellow book club members, I forged on and finished the book. My original criticisms were assuaged somewhat. The sexualization of the teenage girls was more justifiable as they were more and more clearly associated with nymphs. Nymphs are sexual beings. Though male gaze is prevalent, overall the book is sex positive and I like that. We need more sex positive books. By the end many of female characters are elaborated upon and this was good, but the problem, the real problem was that the book would not end. I finished it but I had to force myself. Crowley establishes a tone and a world, a magickal tone, a magickal world, but once it is established the book goes nowhere. It is obvious though that going nowhere is part of the game, and there won’t be a conclusion. This too could be great, an ambiguous pleasure/pain ending, but if getting there is torture it is not really worth my while. The ending too is not that ambiguous. The book just slowly deflates.A co-worker told me the he judges a novel by whether or not he will bother to finish it. I said I judge a novel by whether or not it turns my blood into starlight. Little, Big is wall-to-wall starlight. And maybe for me, it was a little too close to home, like someone sleeping in your own bed. Some of my book club members touted the book’s many esoteric and occult references as linkages to Western literary left hand path, and therefore argued Little, Big deserves a place on said path. Sure, but that doesn’t mean it was an enjoyable read.I’m open to the possibility that there is a overarching structure, some formal resolution, but I missed it. As it stands now, the parts do not equate the whole, and the book fails its potential to be a profound gestalt portrait of the joys of domestic life imbued with an intentionality of spirit and the resulting love of the arts. (Magickal?) Or maybe this frakker just needs get his gnomes out of my heart.Book has the best demonic creepy doll scene ever. I wear the horns in waking life. Show Less
LibraryThing member tikitu-reviews
Beautiful.
It's a fairy story, and at the same time a detailed observation of a collection of wonderfully ideosyncratic characters, many of whose characteristics are at one and the same time typical realistic quirks exaggerated to hyper-realistic ends, and marks (subtle or otherwise) of the mystery
Crowley's prose is always vivid and immediate, even while describing the muddle and forgetfulness of enchantment (imagine if you will a vivid and immediate description of dissociation and vagueness). His characters are deeply loveable in all their failures and small glories. About my only complaint is that the nameplay is a far-to-obvious hint towards what I suppose is supposed to tbe the climactac revelation of the novel, but this complaint turns more on the heavyhandedness than on the spoilage itself; this isn't a novel you can't enjoy once you know the 'twist'.
In fact I'm not sure quite how one should approach reading Little, Big. On the one hand it's so well-written that it's tempting to say that it's "not fantasy, but literature" or some such rubbish. On the other hand in many ways it's a mixup of just about every traditional hackneyed fairy-story cliche you could possibly think of. And still, what matters most is not the fantastical elements, though without them there would be no story, but the Tale itself, and the family that interweaves it. It's maybe a book to convince a high-lit snob that there's something to this genre stuff, except that then she will be terribly disappointed with almost everything else she can find.
Enough bubbling, but this book leaves one pretty bubbly. I'm now off to see what other Crowley I can find.
It's a fairy story, and at the same time a detailed observation of a collection of wonderfully ideosyncratic characters, many of whose characteristics are at one and the same time typical realistic quirks exaggerated to hyper-realistic ends, and marks (subtle or otherwise) of the mystery
Show More
woven through their lives.Crowley's prose is always vivid and immediate, even while describing the muddle and forgetfulness of enchantment (imagine if you will a vivid and immediate description of dissociation and vagueness). His characters are deeply loveable in all their failures and small glories. About my only complaint is that the nameplay is a far-to-obvious hint towards what I suppose is supposed to tbe the climactac revelation of the novel, but this complaint turns more on the heavyhandedness than on the spoilage itself; this isn't a novel you can't enjoy once you know the 'twist'.
In fact I'm not sure quite how one should approach reading Little, Big. On the one hand it's so well-written that it's tempting to say that it's "not fantasy, but literature" or some such rubbish. On the other hand in many ways it's a mixup of just about every traditional hackneyed fairy-story cliche you could possibly think of. And still, what matters most is not the fantastical elements, though without them there would be no story, but the Tale itself, and the family that interweaves it. It's maybe a book to convince a high-lit snob that there's something to this genre stuff, except that then she will be terribly disappointed with almost everything else she can find.
Enough bubbling, but this book leaves one pretty bubbly. I'm now off to see what other Crowley I can find.
Show Less
LibraryThing member ChrisRiesbeck
When this first came out, it was absolutely the best fantasy novel I'd even seen. Over 25 years later, my son bought me a copy to replace the one lost in a flood, so I figured it was time for a re-read.
I was surprised at how much I remembered, disappointed that I still can't figure out the import
But when all was done, it's still the best fantasy novel I've even seen, with two heart-wrenching love stories, simply beautiful writing, and some thought-provoking story ideas.
I was surprised at how much I remembered, disappointed that I still can't figure out the import
Show More
of a number of secondary scenes (or are they?), and more annoyed than I recall being before at the frequent repetition of an interrupt and restart sentence structure.But when all was done, it's still the best fantasy novel I've even seen, with two heart-wrenching love stories, simply beautiful writing, and some thought-provoking story ideas.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Laurenbdavis
A magical doorway of a book, whose interior, like the house where much of the novel is set, is larger than its exterior, by which I mean, its rewards and wonders are vast. Approach this book with trust and curiosity -- allow yourself to be seduced by the language, the whimsy and the intelligence.
Show More
Wander through the chapters as you would a house full of fascinating oddities and intriguing people. A book over which to linger. You will certainly want to keep a copy in your library, since I can think of few other books that so clearly invite a second, or third, reading. Show Less
LibraryThing member Gwendydd
This is a really amazing book. It's an entire fantasy novel about the denial of fantasy: about a family who live their lives with fairies, yet can never quite admit to themselves or to those around them that they do. The boundaries between worlds are incredibly permeable: house/forest,
I can't wait to re-read it - I imagine this is one of those books that will be about something completely different every time I read it.
Show More
city/country, realism/fantasy. Sometimes as a reader you aren't quite sure what's happening, but neither are most of the characters in the book, and they accept that and move on with their fantastical lives. The writing is simple, yet incredibly evocative, and throughout there is a sense of wistfulness.I can't wait to re-read it - I imagine this is one of those books that will be about something completely different every time I read it.
Show Less
LibraryThing member ben_a
This book commands its share of dedicated adherents and promoters, and having read it I can see why. Crowley writes very, very well, and with few of the MFA tricks that so gum up most ambitious modern novels. And there are truly lovely set peices. Crowley's lyrical description of Manhattan as a
Show More
"sea isle" was one such, his interior monologue of a man who has been turned into a fish was another. And I do not think I have read a more lovely depiction of love at first sight, or first love, than the one that occurs in the first few chapters. Alas, amid all these riches and promise, there never emerges a strong narrative motor -- either in plot or in an anchoring character -- to sustain a 500+ page novel. Or at least not to my taste. A memorable book nonetheless. Show Less
LibraryThing member franoscar
I found this book frustrating. It is well written, but the story is so full of hesitancies and allusions that I wasn't sure what I was reading it for.
LibraryThing member chrisblocker
Original, Trite.
Epic, Weak.
Boring, Lively.
Rambling, Unspoken.
Significant, Inconsequential.
Simple, Overwrought.
Compact, Frazzled.
Vivid, Tasteless.
Vague, Determined.
Wonderful, Blah.
Little, Big.
A two-word summary of Little, Big is in the title: a book of opposites. My review could be summed up in
I've been looking forward to reading this novel for nearly a decade. I'd read some wonderful reviews, loved the cover, and eagerly anticipated a well-written epic family saga. I thought this would be the novel that would lighten my heart toward the Fantasy genre, a genre often plagued with plot-heavy tales of yawn. You can argue that it was my hopes for this novel, my unattainable expectations, that kept me from embracing it, but truth is that Little, Big wasn't what it promised to be. The plot was epic, but it was also fragmented into insignificant episodes. The book was original and magical, but within the constraints of what readers have come to expect. The multi-generational family tree was gorgeous and intriguing, but the characters were so paper thin my memory of them blew away with each turn of the page. And character actions and decisions—none of it made sense to me. It felt as though Crowley relied so much on the fantasical elements of the novel—look, a talking animal; over there, is that a fairy; behold, an exploding baby—that he hoped the reader would be distracted from characters and a plot that made sense.
In the end, Little, Big was everything and it was nothing. Some of the best scenes were written so well that it's difficult to say this book failed, but as a whole it did fail to reach me. My favorite moment, surprisingly, was the Christmas scene. Cliché, perhaps, but Santa felt more real to me than the fairies or any of the other characters ever did. I'd love to read a book about that Santa. Only at that moment did I really feel I was beginning to understand the Drinkwater clan; their letters and traditions were fantastic; then it slipped away, and I slogged through another four-hundred pages where the littlest, most inconsequential things were made big, and everything that mattered was made little.
Epic, Weak.
Boring, Lively.
Rambling, Unspoken.
Significant, Inconsequential.
Simple, Overwrought.
Compact, Frazzled.
Vivid, Tasteless.
Vague, Determined.
Wonderful, Blah.
Little, Big.
A two-word summary of Little, Big is in the title: a book of opposites. My review could be summed up in
Show More
those words too, but I'll expound a little.I've been looking forward to reading this novel for nearly a decade. I'd read some wonderful reviews, loved the cover, and eagerly anticipated a well-written epic family saga. I thought this would be the novel that would lighten my heart toward the Fantasy genre, a genre often plagued with plot-heavy tales of yawn. You can argue that it was my hopes for this novel, my unattainable expectations, that kept me from embracing it, but truth is that Little, Big wasn't what it promised to be. The plot was epic, but it was also fragmented into insignificant episodes. The book was original and magical, but within the constraints of what readers have come to expect. The multi-generational family tree was gorgeous and intriguing, but the characters were so paper thin my memory of them blew away with each turn of the page. And character actions and decisions—none of it made sense to me. It felt as though Crowley relied so much on the fantasical elements of the novel—look, a talking animal; over there, is that a fairy; behold, an exploding baby—that he hoped the reader would be distracted from characters and a plot that made sense.
In the end, Little, Big was everything and it was nothing. Some of the best scenes were written so well that it's difficult to say this book failed, but as a whole it did fail to reach me. My favorite moment, surprisingly, was the Christmas scene. Cliché, perhaps, but Santa felt more real to me than the fairies or any of the other characters ever did. I'd love to read a book about that Santa. Only at that moment did I really feel I was beginning to understand the Drinkwater clan; their letters and traditions were fantastic; then it slipped away, and I slogged through another four-hundred pages where the littlest, most inconsequential things were made big, and everything that mattered was made little.
Show Less
LibraryThing member dbsovereign
Crowley has created a fantasy that sings with a unique realism. People seem to either love or hate this novel for some reason. I tend to prefer the people who love it..."Is your mind so big that it can encompass galaxies or is the universe little enough to fit in one's head?"
LibraryThing member rivenwanderer
This book intrigued me, dazzled me, baffled me, seduced me, and infiltrated my dreams. Only appropriate, really.
LibraryThing member krazykiwi
Oh this is one of those books that are so difficult to review. All books don't suit everyone, like music, or food, and this is one that I think you must either love or hate. It's like reading a Grimm's fairy tale, as narrated by the little prince, it's the reading equivalent of Elsa Beskow's
It's big and sprawling, covering decades and generations, and yet it's always intimate. The language is gorgeous. The story is at once mystical and completely easy to follow, there is foreshadowing aplenty if you care to see it, and the whole thing is simply delightful.
To anyone who ever imagined their were fairies at the bottom of their garden, I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
Show More
paintings or those wonderful (fake, I know, but still wonderful) Cottingley fairy photos. I think the only book that I've ever read that had the same sensibility was Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin. Or perhaps some of Neil Gaiman's short pieces (I am a fan of Gaiman's novels, but it's in his short stories he reaches this sense of both gravity and whimsy at the same time. I wonder what he thinks of this book?)It's big and sprawling, covering decades and generations, and yet it's always intimate. The language is gorgeous. The story is at once mystical and completely easy to follow, there is foreshadowing aplenty if you care to see it, and the whole thing is simply delightful.
To anyone who ever imagined their were fairies at the bottom of their garden, I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
Show Less
LibraryThing member unsquare
A massive, epic book that spans decades and generations of a family that lives next door to fairies and magic. Fascinating and sharply drawn, and yet obtuse enough that I am not quite sure what to glean from it.
LibraryThing member samfsmith
An epic story about a family caught at the interface between two worlds - that of man and fairies. Or are they? The book is ambiguous. For much of the novel the reader and the characters are kept guessing about what is actually going on. Are there fairies? Do they mean harm or good? Is there a war,
Show More
or not? Even after reading the book, I am still not sure what really happened. Like the world of the fairies, the book is ambigous and ephemeral. Show Less
LibraryThing member Eye_Gee
I read this book YEARS ago. It was part of a trilogy that included Engine Summer and something else that I can't remember. I do remember that Little Big was magical. A story about a family who are normal in every way except that they have fairies living with them in their house, and there is
Show More
interaction between them. I should really go back and re-read it. In the mean time, however, I picked up a newer book of his called The Translator at a yard sale and I'm interested to see what it's all about. Then, while checking some Amazon recommendation, I stumbled upon his 5-book series about Aegypt. If Little Big is anything to go on it could be wonderful. I'm going to look for some reviews to see what other people thought. Show Less
LibraryThing member whatsmacksaid
I HAVE VERY MIXED FEELINGS ABOUT ALL THIS
LibraryThing member gcthomas
An urban fantasy novel about a family with a mystical connection to the world of Faerie.
I found the novel to be pretty tedious and the climax was not worth the long slog to get there. In the first part of the book, very little actually happens as the author establishes the history of the family and
A few specific gripes:
- The characters all have stupid names like "Smoky Barnable" or "Ariel Hawksquill".
- The book's characters constantly hype up how magically indescribable the faerie world is, but when we actually get there its pretty mundane.
- The entire subplot with Russell Eigenblick was basically irrelevant to the main plot line.
I thought a few ideas were intriguing, like the concept of magical architecture and the advice-giving fish, but they couldn't save the book from it's overwhelming dullness. Not recommended.
I found the novel to be pretty tedious and the climax was not worth the long slog to get there. In the first part of the book, very little actually happens as the author establishes the history of the family and
Show More
their magical house. In the latter part of the book the plot accelerates but the characters are so boring, unlikable, and vague that I didn't really care what happens to them.A few specific gripes:
- The characters all have stupid names like "Smoky Barnable" or "Ariel Hawksquill".
- The book's characters constantly hype up how magically indescribable the faerie world is, but when we actually get there its pretty mundane.
- The entire subplot with Russell Eigenblick was basically irrelevant to the main plot line.
I thought a few ideas were intriguing, like the concept of magical architecture and the advice-giving fish, but they couldn't save the book from it's overwhelming dullness. Not recommended.
Show Less
LibraryThing member dotarvi
A beautifully written book. I found myself stopping several times to re-read passages, thinking to myself, "that may be the best sentence I've ever read."
Subjects
Awards
Hugo Award (Nominee — Novel — 1982)
Nebula Award (Nominee — Novel — 1981)
Mythopoeic Awards (Finalist — 1982)
World Fantasy Award (Nominee — Novel — 1982)
British Science Fiction Association Award (Shortlist — Novel — 1982)
Marble Faun (Ukraine) (2005)
Locus All-Time Best (Fantasy Novel — 8 — 1998)
The SF Book Club's "The Most Significant SF & Fantasy Books of the Last 50 Years From 1953-2002" (31)
The Great American Novels (1981)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1981-09
ISBN
0060937939 / 9780060937935
Local notes
FB My favorite novel. Concerns a family in which the women have the hereditary ability to see fairies. The author is well-versed in the Western esoteric tradition.