Little, Big (Fantasy Masterworks) (P.S.)

by John Crowley

[empressbrooke]

Whenever critics describe a book as "ambitious," I'm always wary. Ambitious is sometimes just another word for "really, really long," and a good portion of the really, really long books I've read could have done the job better in fewer pages. John Crowley's Little, Big is called "the best fantasy written by an American" by one critic, but the A-word by another. Is it too long? Maybe just a bit, but the places where it dragged suffered from an unsympathetic character more than an unnecessary prolonging of the story.

Little, Big tells the story of the Bramble/Drinkwater family, which has so many children and cousins and other various branches that the family tree drawing in the front of the book can barely capture a small portion of it. The main family members live in Edgewood, a country house that is many houses built into one. Faerie, both the place and the creatures, has selected this family for its "Tale," and the novel follows several generations as it moves closer to the end of this Tale, seemingly on a predestined track.

Every event in the 500+ pages ties in to the Tale, but the story moves along at a sleepy pace. I enjoyed the ride until Auberon's portion of the story in the final third of the novel (not Uncle Auberon, who is encountered earlier and is far more interesting). He flees Edgewood to live in the City, falls in love, loses his loves as is preordained, and becomes a pitiful, wandering drunk for a year. I couldn't bring myself to like or care about him and went a couple of days reading only a few pages at a time because I was so bored with his part of the Tale. I wanted to go back to the characters we had spent the first 2/3 of the book with. Luckily, they become more relevant again after Auberon sobers up, and the last 150 pages went by very quickly.

If you're a fantasy fan, be warned that although the fantasy elements are pervasive, they are also very subtle. "Subtle" could actually be used to describe the entire book -- there aren't very many Events or things that Happen. Reading it is like taking a lazy stroll on a perfect day where the scenery is pleasant and pretty but lacking landmarks and forks in the path. I'm glad I read it, but I can't see myself rereading it in the future.