Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees

Title: Lud-in-the-Mist

Author: Hope Mirrlees (British, 1887-1978)
Originally published: 1926
Page count: 264



Dates read: 11/30/19-12/20/19
2019 book goal progress: 36 out of 41
Back to the Classics category:
Classic by a Female Author



Read my other book reviews for the challenge HERE.


Description on back of book:
Lud-in-the-Mist is a prosperous country town situated where two rivers meet: the Dawl and the Dapple. The Dapple springs from the land of Faerie, and is a great trial to Lud, which rejects anything 'other,' preferring to believe only in what is known, what is solid. Nathaniel Chanticleer, a dreamy, melancholy man, is deliberately ignoring a vital part of his own past; a secret he refuses even to acknowledge. But with the disappearance of his daughter, and long-overdue desire to protect his son, he realizes Lud is changing - and something must be done.

First sentence:
"The free state of Dorimare was a very small country, but, seeing that it was bounded on the south by the sea and on the north and east by mountains, while its center consisted of a rich plain, watered by two rivers, a considerable variety of scenery and vegetation was to be found within its borders."

Favorite quotes:
"Again, fairy was delusion, so was the law. At any rate, it was a sort of magic, molding reality into any shape it chose. But, whereas fairy magic and delusion were for the cozening and robbing of man, the magic of the law was to his intention and for his welfare."

"A class struggling to assert itself, to discover its true shape, which lies hidden, as does the statue in the marble, in the hard, resisting material of life itself, must, in the nature of things, be different from that same class when chisel and mallet have been laid aside, and it has actually become what it had so long been struggling to be."

"Reason, I know, is only a drug and, as such, its effects are never permanent. But, like the juice of the poppy, it often gives a temporary relief."

"I am not given to harboring foul suspicions without cause. But a great deal of mischief is sometimes done by not facing facts."

CAWPILE Rating: Overall - 5.9 - ⭐⭐⭐
Characters      - 7
Atmosphere   - 8
Writing Style - 7
Plot                - 6
Intrigue          - 4
Logic             - 4
Enjoyment     - 5
What is a CAWPILE Rating?

Review:

For what this book is, it's really good. Unfortunately, it wasn't what I was expecting, so I was pretty disappointed. I thought it was going to be a high fantasy with faeries, elves, fauns, and magic... but all that is really just alluded to and never seen. This story was more of a mystery than a fantasy. It's more about delusions and figuring out what the truth is - and it has this really weird dream-like sequence in the end.

It was as if it was trying to be an adult version of a children's fairytale - but it failed at being either. The story was very straightforward and predictable (except for the weird dream at the end) - it was boring to me and I wouldn't really consider it an adult story. At the same time, the phrasing of many sentences was strange and the vocabulary was difficult - I would consider this pretty advanced for a children's story. I also think it was supposed to be an allegory - but it went over my head. Overall, the novel just fell flat for me.

Now I'm off to read another book... but since a review should be more about the author of the book than about the writer of the blog, I will let Hope Mirrless have the last words:

"There's no clock like the sun and no calendar like the stars. And why? Because it gets one used to the look of Time. There's no bogey from over the hills that scares one like Time. But when one's been used to seeing him naked, as it were, instead of shut up in a clock, one learns that he is as quiet and peaceful as an old ox dragging the plow. And to watch Time teaches one to sing."