2013 book 79

John Crowley's Little, Big
I've been meaning to read this book for years and years, and even owned a used paperback copy for a while in like 2005--everyone is always recommending it to me--but it's very long and very dense and so requires a bit of a commitment. And, being a thousand pages long, there is a LOT going on, generations of a family's story being told, some of whom I find more appealing than others--the two main male characters are both kind of weak and annoying. And the book is absolutely racist with its several examples of the Magical Negro trope and straight up stereotyping of the Puero Rican community (at one point, a Puerto Rican girlfriend thinks about how much BETTER her white boyfriend is than the other guys she knows, it's pretty gross. This book was written in 1981, come on, John Crowley). It's also pretty homophobic (there aren't really any gay characters, but there are a few negative mentions.)

I did like all the fairy stuff, particularly the adventures of Lilac, but that might be because that's where the girls (and a few guys) really shine, and aren't like sleeping with their sister's husbands, and where things actually get interesting. Crowley's writing itself is amazing, but this is the kind of book that needs your 100 percent undivided attention because of it. And I didn't always like what he was /doing/ with his amazing writing--like the political/power story that takes up a chunk of the second half of the book. On the other hand, there are some interesting meditations on stories and storytelling.

I honestly feel guilty for not really liking this that much, since so many people I like have recommended it, but . . .  I didn't really like it that much. Maybe if I'd read it when I was younger. It did remind me a bit of Mark Helprin's Winter's Tale, my favorite book in high school and college, but one that I don't like as much now. B.