Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

It took me a few attempts to get rolling with "Little, Big". There is no real action to speak of and not a lot of dialogue - the story just sort of meanders along. Still, my perseverance was well-rewarded...and how! John Crowley's writing has an elegance and beauty that is simply incomparable. I could throw out any number of adjectives - lyrical, sensual, dense, profound, heartbreaking, haunting...in short, an amazing achievement. I have re-read it many times since, and each time I notice new details and depths. As the key concept of the book states, "the further in you go the bigger it gets". It is by no means a light, casual read, and will not appeal to all readers. The complex story is hard to describe or explain very well (I've tried a number of times to do so). The book opens with a young man named Smokey Barnable making his way on foot from the City to a place called Edgewood, where he is going to marry Daily Alice Drinkwater. From this charming beginning, "Little, Big" goes on to trace the history of the Drinkwater family, whose story is quite literally a Fairy Tale that they only vaguely understand themselves (although they know that they are in it) and of Edgewood, an amazing house "of four floors, seven chimneys, three hundred and sixty-five stairs, (and) fifty-two doors", which is a doorway to the Fairies. "Little, Big" jumps back and forth across five Drinkwater generations as the meaning of the Tale and their place and purpose in it becomes clearer, while Smoky (and later his son Auberon) struggle with their disbelief. It may not sound like much (and there really is a lot more to it than my extremely brief synopsis), but John Crowley's superb and gorgeous writing just sweeps you along. There are all kinds of odd digressions and even odder characters (including the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and Grandfather Trout). Many times I found myself paging back through the book looking for small references that I half-remembered which came up again with greater significance many pages later. The last 50 pages or so (as the Tale reaches its conclusion) are simply heart-wrenching as the Tale (and the novel) reaches its conclusion. Like other reviewers, I always pick up extra copies to loan to my friends. I just tell them to read it (and hopefully return it, which they seldom do). Don't get discouraged if you have problems getting through "Little, Big" at first. As I mentioned, it took me a few tries to really get rolling with it, but once I was "over the hump" I had no problems getting to the end, and even wondered why I had problems in the first place. I really don't know what else I can say about this magnificent book. As it has remained my favorite novel for some years now, I cannot recommend "Little, Big" more highly.