Customer Reviews

The Green Man : Tales from the Mythic Forest

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Here's why I recommend this anthology:

-- It's a terrific bargain. For around the price of a nonillustrated trade paperback [$$$], you get a hardbound book with illustrated dust jacket and chapter headings by master fantasy illustrator Charles Vess.

-- I read the stories in it in order, instead of picking and choosing the authors I liked. I probably haven't done that in a multi-author anthology since I was a teenager (back when giant lizards roamed the Earth).

-- Vess is an Illustrator, in the best sense of the word. He doesn't just draw pretty pictures; he helps tell the stories.

-- Even though this is a theme anthology, and (as others note) there's lots of stories of teens coming of age while lost in the wilderness, the authors have diverse voices. You get different stories, with different teens (some likeable, others detestable), going through a variety of life-changing experiences.

-- Although the stories vary in quality, they're all readable -- even Midori Snyder's story, which left a bad taste in my mouth by tying things up in too neat a bow and giving the hero's girlfriend a highly-annoying speech at the end.

Give it a try!

Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling have paid true homage to the spirit of the Green Man in this anthology. Not only do the short stories collected in this hefty volume evoke a true sense of mystery in the wild, but artist Charles Vess -- who publishes much of his work via his own, well-respected Green Man Press -- has provided cover art and incidental illustrations to bring the concept alive.
From top to bottom, front to back, Tales from the Mythic Forest is an excellent collection of stories unearthing the heart of the woodlands, the spirit of the trees and the face of nature.

At first, I did not realize that 'The Green Man' is a book for young adults. The give-away was when I realized that there was no sex or violence! The book is a fast read and I enjoyed the stories. Some are better than others as is true in most anthologies and a couple are truly inspired. The stories are a nice way to connect with the natural world.

The editorial review hits the nail on the head when it says that most of these stories involve teenagers going into the woods and having some sort of coming-of-age experience. And in this way, many of the stories are similar, since they have similar themes.

However, some of the authors manage to make something fresh and beautiful out of the traditional archetype of kids-lost-in-woods. Delia Sherman contributes a tale of the Faery Queen of Central Park, and the insecure girl who faces her in a battle of wits. Tanith Lee presents probably the darkest of the tales, "Among the Leaves So Green", about two outcast sisters who each have a special destiny. (This one is probably my favorite--it's pure magic.) Emma Bull's "Joshua Tree" is a lovely story about high school, raves, friendship, and mystery. Jane Yolen's poem "Cailleach Bheur" is terrific. For these stories and many more, I recommend this book.

Of course, in all anthologies, there are disappointing stories. Patricia McKillip's "Hunter's Moon" seems like a political rant about hunting and meat-eating. And Gregory Maguire fleshes out Jack (of Beanstalk fame), his mom, his brother, and the harp, while somehow managing to avoid making me care about any of them. They're both good stories by good writers--they just weren't to my taste. The writing is good in all of these stories; there are just a few that aren't for me.

I must have been in a bad mood when I first reviewed _The Green Man_. Reading over my review, I realized that, despite the fact that I really liked this book, I managed to sound snide without meaning to.

Part of the problem is this: I read a large assortment of the stories in one or two sittings. I mentioned in my other review that a lot of the stories were similar--of course they are, this is a theme anthology. Don't make my mistake; don't plow through half the book in one night. After you've read six stories about kids having life-changing experiences in the woods, they start to run together, and you tend to miss the finer points of each story. Instead, you're thinking, "OK, here goes another story about a kid lost in the woods." So, if you want to get the best experience out of this book, take it slowly and savor it. All the stories are very good--even the McKillip one I thought was grinding an axe. (If one can refer to grinding axes when talking about such a tree-positive book...lol.) Ironically, part of the reason I didn't like Gregory Maguire's story at first is because it was different; wry and satirical rather than personal and emotional like some of the others. But it's good too; dryly funny.

So, in the interest of doing Datlow and Windling's latest anthology justice, I have revised my original review to excise some of the snottiness, and added this second review. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys D. and W.'s usual blend of enchantment and darkness, and is interested in the age-old motif of going into the wild to learn something.

"In this book, we've asked the writers to journey deep into the Mythic Forest, to bring back tales of those wild lands, and of the creatures who dwell within them. Thus in these pages you'll find witches, wolves, dryads, deer men, a faery or two, and numerous magical spirits of nature..."
- from the editors' preface

Windling's "Introduction" outlines the origins of the archetype of the Green Man and other forest beings.

--

Bell, M. Shayne: Sickly little Maurice Ravel meets "The Pagodas of Ciboure" - creatures out of French legend - on his grandmother's estate, and asks them to heal him. But what can he do for them?

Bull, Emma: The narrator, a girl with a taste for raves who doesn't fit in with either base kids or townies, is busy growing up in a Marine base town on the border of "Joshua Tree" National Park. (The rave reads like a faery celebration, nice touch.)

Cadman, Michael: "Daphne" narrates the tale of Apollo's attempted seduction.

de Lint, Charles: "Somewhere in My Mind There Is a Painting Box" Twenty years ago, two painters walked into the woods covering the hills outside Newford, but only Frank Spain has returned to a world he no longer belongs to. How can he return when he only tagged along with his mentor in the first place? His mentor, who once said "Many times the only painting box I take is in my head."

Dunn, Carolyn: Braided format, one thread following the ill-fated deer hunt of "Ali Anugne O Chash (The Boy Who Was)", the other narrated by the clubfooted girl who loved him but brought about his downfall.

Emshwiller, Carol: The narrator, matriarch of the hidden forest people who amuse themselves "Overlooking" mountain climbers, alternately talks about her experiences with humans and about one day's company of an old man the youngsters brought to her.

Ford, Jeffrey: "The Green Word" The forest people's revolt draws to a close as Moren Kairn accepts the last gift the witch of the forest has to offer: a mysterious seed that grants him easy dying even as he faces execution. The witch, in turn, creates a champion from the earth watered by Kairn's spilled blood: Vertuminous, a manlike tree with fruit where his heart should be, who regenerates every time he's killed. *That* attracts the king's attention...

Gaiman, Neil: "Going Wodwo" (poem) "I'll leave the way of words to walk the wood..."

Hoffman, Nina Kiriki: The narrator's mother Meg and her prospective stepfather Vernon both work at keeping people "Grounded", Meg in a hospice, Vernon as a psychologist from his home in the woods bordering Silicon Valley. Tale relates Meg and Fiona's first face-to-face meeting with Vernon and his kids, as Fiona keeps looking for the snags of living among these fair folk.

Koja, Kathe: The narrator's forest is made of "Remnants", but the 'Department of People Watching' doesn't like it.

Lee, Tanith: Two half-sisters, Bergette and Ghilane, are the unloved daughters of the village prostitute by two different woodcutters, conceived "Among the Leaves So Green" and often sent back on errands as their mother secretly hopes to be rid of them. Interesting twist, along the lines of Lee's RED AS BLOOD stories, that the hateful older sister needing redemption is the focus rather than the decent younger sister.

Lewis, Bill: "Green Men" (poem) "Foliate faces flower and the/memory of an antique hour/unwinds beneath/a carpenter's craft;/masons, too, saw their shape/sleeping in the stone."

Maguire, Gregory: "Fee, Fie, Foe, et Cetera" Retelling of the Beanstalk story, with the action split between two Jacks - the adventurer and his daft younger brother - and their mother, none of whom are very bright. The king's mismanagement of the treasury leads to trying the family for "agricultural treason", for instance.

McKillip, Patricia A.: "Hunter's Moon" Dawn and her little brother Ewan, lost in the woods during deer-hunting season, are returned to their family in a way the hunters will never forget.

Sherman, Delia: The narrator, a girl living near "Grand Central Park", must play Truth or Dare for her life against one of the fairies living there. "'We ain't in the Old Country no more. We're in New York' - Noo Yawk is what she said - 'New York, US of A. We ain't got no Queens, except across the bridge.'"

Snyder, Midori: "Charlie's Away" to the Greenwood the day after receiving his college acceptance letter, his grief for his lost baby sister and the weight of responsibility for filling two children's places in his parents' lives finally having been too much for him. Something like TAM LIN in reverse.

Vaz, Katherine: "A World Painted by Birds" told in a traditional fairy-tale style. The General ruling Rio Seco condemns those who defy him to a detention camp on the far side of the forest - though not the young lacemaker Lucia, since the General's Wife has a weakness for lace. When Lucia falls in love with a young violinist who has played songs protesting the General's tyranny, the lovers flee into the forest and join the Gardener, who as a man already half a plant found it easy to vanish, but still fights to free the prisoners.

Yolen, Jane: "Song of the Cailleach Bheur" (poem): "She is the winter, the wind, the snow,/Her breath both warm and chilling./A single word from her icy lips,/A single kiss is killing."

This book won the 2003 World Fantasy Award, and it's easy to see why. There are wonderful stories here by many fine writers, including Charles de Lint, Emma Bull, Midori Snyder, Delia Sherman, Patricia McKillip, Tanith Lee, Jeffrey Ford, and many others, a real Who's Who of the fantasy field. I'm not sure why the reviewers below were surprised that the stories are aimed at teenagers -- this book is a Young Adult anthology, published by Viking Children's Books, so what else did they expect? Nonetheless, there is plenty for adult readers here too, if you love myth, magic, and the timeless concerns of coming-of-age.

I enjoyed the way the various authors were able to put a new twist on the old "green man" myths. While I have to agree with the reviewer who said the target audience seems to be mainly teen-aged girls, I must add that as a children's librarian, I found it refreshing to finally see a book that covers more then the usual teen fare: drugs, pregnancy, Mary Kate and Ashley.
A worthy summer read!

I disagree with most of the other reviews here. As a lifelong reader of fiction and fantasy I think this book is below the reading level of most teenagers. It's not bad--these are generally decent authors who have been selected--it's only that these stories are very elementary.

Of the entire bunch I was only impressed by the very last entry, written by Ford. "The Green Word" as the only story with more to offer than standard myopic fantasy ramblings.

All in all I think this collection would be wonderful for a very young reader, if a bit challenging. (One of the joys of reading.) For teens it would be read and discarded in a night or two. For adults you could probably read it while still inside the library or bookstore.

The short story is a dreadfully difficult art to master. Most collections have but one or two tales truly worth reading---and this collection is no different---there are perhaps two stand-outs. But, and this is the important thing: almost every story in this book captures the essence of the mythic Greenwood in a new vision. A few of the stories are remarkable for their sheer playful writing, and I wonder if this is merely the nature of the genre (fantasy/sf/speculative), or of genre writing (or writers)? Or perhaps a little bit of childhood wonder infects YA-level works? Whatever it is, it is worth reading. Go sit in the hammock, under the trees, and read.