Customer Reviews

A Knot in the Grain and Other Stories

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a short story collection containing five stories: The Healer, The Stagman, Touk's House, Buttercups, and A Knot in the Grain. The first four stories are set in McKinley's Damar universe, the first three even feature Luthe. The last is a departure for her because it is set in modern times and doesn't have a very large fantasy element.

The Healer, is the story of a girl named Lilly who has the power to heal but is also mute. She meets a mage who can hear her telepathically and they set off on a journey to restore Lilly's speech. This is a fairly strong story and a great pick to start the book with. The characters are fleshed out well and the love story was enjoyable.

The Stagman, is about a princess named Ruen who is left, by her greedy uncle, as a sacrifice to a human/stag hybrid. Is the Stagman really as bad as people think he is? This is probably my favorite story in the collection. I liked all the characters and the plot was very interesting. It would have worked much better as a novel though. By the time the story was over there were still far to many unanswered questions.

Touk's House, is the story of a girl named Erana who was raised by a witch. As she grows up, she befriends and eventually falls in love with the witch's troll son. This is a fairly decent story. The plot is really interesting but it would have been much better if the characters had been developed a bit more.

Buttercups, is the story of a old farmer named Pos who marries a young girl named Coral. Pos loves his wife very much but has doubts about her affection for him because she spends too much time on buttercup hill. This is a cute story but it's, unfortunately, very boring.

A Knot in the Grain, is about a teenage girl named Annabelle who is forced to move away and leave behind her entire life. She finds little comfort in her new house but one day she discovers a secret compartment in her new bedroom. It was a great idea to make this the last in the collection because the tone is very different from the others. It's not a love story and it's not even really a fantasy story. What makes this story special is how authentic Annabelle's character is. McKinley captures the emotion that goes along with moving to a new place very well.

I'd recommend this book to people who are already fans of McKinley's work. You don't really need to be familiar with the Damar series to enjoy the stories but it certainly helps. I also feel that McKinley is better suited to longer stories. If you are looking to get into McKinley's work it'd be a good idea to start with Beauty or one of the Damar books.

This book has rapidly become one of my favorite short story collections of all time. I rate a book by the way I feel when I finish reading it. If I am frustrated or disappointed, there is a good chance that I will trade it in with my next used book store visit. This book left me feeling warm and comfortable and satisfied. I had a small smile on my face and the afterglow of knowing that for just a few moments, I saw magic. I have gone back to it several times when in need of comfort or escape and it has drawn me in each and every time.

Ms. McKinley seems to have a lovely little window through which she can glimpse a wild and magical place. I am only grateful that she also has the skill to show it to us as well. Buy it.

I was impressed by Robin McKinley's beautiful stories. I am more pleased by the beauty and composition of words along the way than the plots of these stories. Robin McKinley does create airy, ethereal settings in these tales, but as others have mentioned, they are left a little loose. What matters to me is why McKinley wrote these stories so; hopefully she intended to leave them with strings dangling and not because she "didn't want to write anymore"! I was fond of her retelling of Raphunzel (sp) and "Buttercups". I feel that those two stories were the most enchanting and fulfilling. I enjoy her tales because she can develop such a complex and beautiful plot without bringing in many characters or settings. The one place she chooses to write about seems to represent the whole world. I am now reading her earlier collection of short stories titled "The Door in the Hedge", which seems to be constructed more gracefully. "A Knot in the Grain" really does not deserve negative criticism; McKinley is a notable author who is allowed to experiment with different writing styles. Her "Beauty" is one of my favorite stories. She is able to travel deep into her character's minds and express things as no one else can. I admire her soft but powerful stories - stories that are neither weak or adventurous, ones that reveal just enough so the reader can understand. I think her style carries on into absolutely every piece she creates, and that is a priceless thing.

As an ardent fan of McKinley's books, most especially her "A Door in the Hedge," I was eager to buy and read another collection of her original fairy tales. However, "A Knot in the Grain," although good to read, like eating thick honey for a week, lacked in subtle substinence.

"The Healer," the story of a mute girl who finds love in a telepathic ex-mage, began in a promising manner - using phrases like, "the creaky place that might once have been his heart," and so on - but ends strangely, with them returning to the village and some sense that a deeper meaning was intended but not, at least by me, realised.

"The Stagman," as others have noticed before me, was particularly head-scratch-worthy, dealing with a cruel Regent-uncle, the girl who should be Queen and does not know how, a prince who likes to hunt, and the elusive stagman who, apparently, the Queen leaves her kingdom, husband and four children for...what? Why? HOW?

"Touk's House" can be seen as an interesting 'take' on the Rapunzel legend, but ends with the message that kings are rotten and trolls (TROLLS! ) are lovable. Again, the ending is confusing, since the images cast upon us feel as though they ought to be wrought with great significance.

"Buttercups" is perhaps the best story, structurally, following the wedding of a farmer to a girl twenty years his junior, and their marital struggles.

The last story, from which the title of the book takes its name, is not quite as bad as the previous reviews had led me to believe. The story is a snippet of a modern girl's life, dealing not so much with the knot as with a magical wishing box she finds. However, it's only a snippet of her life and leaves several threads dangling.

All in all, fans of McKinley will probably want to buy this book if only for her voice and not as much for her pat plots. "A Knot in the Grain" is not a poor book, it merely isn't her best.

McKinley's "The Blue Sword" is one of my favorite books, and I've read almost all her other works, some of which I liked, some of which didn't excite my interest. On a whim, I decided to give this one a try.

The first four short stories in this collection are set in Damar, the same world as "The Hero and the Crown" and "The Blue Sword" -- Luthe even makes an appearance in a couple of the stories. However, they are for the most part nothing special. The best story in this collection is the title story, which is set in modern times. Even though it's well-written and has the quietly magical feeling that McKinley conveys so well, somehow it doesn't really quite capture the heart in the way her best work does.

Overall, I'd give this book a so-so review. If you're a fan of Damar and McKinley, borrow it from the library and read it, but it's not worth purchasing.

If I could give this book three-and-a-half stars, I would, but I simply can't give it four. McKinley's Beauty is one of my favorite books, so I thought I would enjoy this one--heroines that sounded like Beauty, fantasy and magic. However, although I enjoy some of the stories in A Knot in the Grain, others simply puzzle me. My favorite is "The Healer," with "Buttercups" a close second, and I love to read those two over and over again. "The Stagman" is alright, but I don't really understand what transpires. I still don't know what a stagman is--McKinley's description was too vague. "Touk's House" is dull, and frankly I think McKinley could have described the romance between Erana and Touk in a less awkward, less simplistic way. But the worst is "A Knot in the Grain"--a great name for a story, but unfortunately I think the story was built around that title and never escaped. I have no clue as to what goes on in this story--absolutely none! I think McKinley could envision the attic in her mind, and tried to describe her thoughts to the reader, but it didn't work for me. I don't know what the story was about. The last paragraph is lovely, but not lovely enough to sustain the other pages.

I do recommend this book, but not very highly. It's very uneven. Another thing I noticed was that the characters are shadowy and don't allow you to go into their heads and hear what they think, something I thought really detracted from the book. The characters still felt like strangers by the end of each story, especially in "The Stagman." If you read a McKinley book, let it be Beauty, which is more friendly and invites you right into Beauty's head to hear her thoughts.

Robin is true to form, and weaves together a lovely collection of short stories. The settings vary. Some are set in traditional fantasy, while the last is a very modern tale. All feature Robin's excellent wry writing style. Nothing in here is going to blow anyone away, but then why would it? That's just not her style. Delightful read.

These stories are mezmerizing and full of color. I especially enjoyed the Rapunzil re-telling. There are many stories in here for different tastes, but are all fantastical. "A Knot in the Grain" itself is modern, while the rest are set in the middle ages probably. The stories are so original and different. These stories give you a a taste of McKinley's style.

A collection of Robin McKinley's finest tales!

Though I find myself ever coming back to "The Blue Sword," McKinley's quintessential work about the magical land of Damar, this collection of tales is quite a sterling example of the author's fine hand at descriptive imagry and evocative emotional response.

Why shouldn't people keep magic in their hearts, and enjoy a good book of fairy tales from time to time?

"The Healer" - First appeared in Terri Windling's ELSEWHERE, volume 2. Set on the Damarian continent. Lily, eldest of a large family, was born voiceless, though she and those who loved her learned to communicate by setting meanings to the birdsong she could whistle. The birds themselves came only to Lily's hands, though, and it was in Lily's presence that fevers broke and animals quieted while giving birth. So Lily apprenticed to Jolin, the healer serving Rhungill and the villages round about, and only one person cared that Lily couldn't talk - Lily herself. So when a chance-met stranger on the road answered Lily's thoughts with mindspeech, seeking an inn thereabouts, Lily brought him to the spare room at Jolin's, where travellers always put up, and hoped he might stay awhile.

Sahath, too, is sorely wounded by the lack of something - a mage who lost the greater part of his mage-strength years ago, when it drained away on a battlefield as armies lay dying at his feet. He's been wandering without a destination ever since. Has he found safe harbour at Jolin's? Are Lily and Jolin right to trust him? Can he or Lily find a way to regain what he lost and she never had?

"The Stagman" - First appeared in ELSEWHERE, volume 3. Set on the Damarian continent. Ruen grew up in her uncle's unkindly shadow after her parents died, leaving him as her Regent. He kept her isolated, and as uneducated as he dared, longing to take the throne in his own right but not wishing to make a martyr of her with murder. So in the days leading up to Ruen's eighteenth nameday, when she should have come into her queenship, the Regent uses his self-taught magery to create false signs and portents that will give him an excuse to do away with her. Then a *real* portent appears, and the monster he proposes to sacrifice Ruen to turns out to be something unexpected.

I'm quite fond of this story, which explores the problem of how a princess would really react who was duty-bound to rule a country that would have seen her murdered by her uncle without a second thought, and duty-bound to marry a 'proper' husband who doesn't really care about her as a person. Ruen is quiet but strong; as Luthe says of her later, when discussing the Regent, "Only a real queen would describe that poison-worm as only 'not entirely honourable.'"

"Touk's House" - First appeared in the anthology FAERY!, edited by Terri Windling. May be set on the Damarian continent, but possibly not. At first, the story may sound like a retelling of Rapunzel, but it isn't. The local leech, who isn't very good, recommends a certain herb to cure the fever of a certain woodcutter's youngest daughter, so the woodcutter tries to steal it from the herb garden of a witch in the forest. When the witch, Maugie, catches him and questions him, she gives him the herb he *really* needs, but at a price: his next daughter is to be brought to her, to be raised as her apprentice.

Maugie always wanted a daughter and someone to teach her herb lore to, and Erana is a fine daughter, but she doesn't have Maugie's 'green fingers'. She grows up happy with her adopted family: not only Maugie, but Maugie's son, Touk. Maugie's late husband was a northern troll, so Touk lives alone in and around a pool in the forest rather than in Maugie's own house. (Erana likes to badger him about that.) For Erana's fifteenth birthday, Touk presents her with a stick, to be laid as the first log of his new house, now that he finally not only wants one, but wants to build one.

"Buttercups" - Set on the Damarian continent, though no mages, princesses, or dragons appear. The person whose heart is caught in a spell of winter is Pos, an elderly farmer whose heartbreak on the death of his wife many years ago never really healed. His heart finally begins to thaw when one day he meets Coral, whose odd family is new to the village. (Each actually notices the other's horse before noticing the rider - Coral's horse is an unusually fine animal.) But Pos worries about why such a vibrant young woman would take notice of an old grumbler - or rather, if an old grumbler can keep her if he wins her hand in marriage.

"A Knot in the Grain" - Set in this world. Annabelle's parents, now that she's the only child left at home, have been plotting their retirement for the last couple of years, with a target of moving to a smaller house upstate by the time she's 16, so she'll have at least two years in her new school. (They got the house for a song: "Not even a song. A sort of warm-up exercise, like Czerny before you tackle the Beethoven sonata." "The Beethoven sonata is what it'll cost us to fix it up." But their family likes challenges, as a rule.)

Annabelle takes her time about finding OK things about the move, while nursing her sorrow at leaving all her friends. An excuse to break up with her tiresome old boyfriend was actually one of the OK things. So is the view from her new attic room. While tracing the woodgrain of one of the beams, trying not to cry after getting a letter from her best friend, she finds something her eyes didn't detect: a trapdoor, leading to another attic, with several odd things about it...