Customer Reviews

The Little People

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

 

 

Having read this book a couple of times, but many years ago, I wasn't sure it would hold up. I had lost my hardback copy way back in the seventies, and could never find another, until this renewed publication.

Christopher writes in a poetic, descriptive style, and this story unfolds slowly at first. A lot of time is taken to set up the characters, and the first part of the novel is frustratingly slow in a few places. But the book is not long, begins to pick up speed in the middle, and it practically races to its heart-pounding finale.

Concerning a group of miniature people discovered living in a remote old house in the southern Irish countryside (which has become a hotel run by the woman to whom the estate was willed), this story reveals itself as something different from what it seems at first. One might think of fairy tales and pixie dust, but this yarn is more sinister, and answers fewer questions than are asked. The story is actually plausible, if one does not look at the science too closely.

My one complaint is that the characters are overdrawn for a slight plot such as this, but I think I understand why Mr. Christopher did it this way. Explaining it would give away the ending, so I'll let it suffice to say that I would have liked a lot more action and just a little less psychoanalysis of the numerous characters. There could have been so much more to this work, I feel, but in its favor, it's an atmospheric chiller with some memorable passages that lingered in my mind for years. Expanded some, and handled the right way, THE LITTLE PEOPLE would make for a fascinating movie.

I read this book a long time ago (shortly after being published) and as with all John Christopher's works, I was not let down. His books are always thought provoking, sometimes scarey, always worth reading!