Stepping from the shadows [Paperback]

Patricia A. McKillip (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Atheneum (January 1, 1982)
• ASIN: B001WAH2Q2
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mckillip's darkest and most compelling work, February 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Stepping From Shadows (Paperback)

It is a shame that most of Mckillip's works are no longer in print, and that proves all too true for this richly awarding novel. I have scoured the local shelves of used book stores in search of ANYTHING written by this master of storytelling, and STEPPING FROM THE SHADOWS was well worth the hours of searching it took to find. This contemporary story traces the journey of Francis to find herself and save her endangered sanity. She is haunted by The Stagman, a chidhood fantasy that does not fade as she grows up, but rather grows in power as Francis starts exploring her newfound sexuality. It is without a doubt the best Mckillip novel I have ever read. (and those of you who are DIEHARD Mckillip fans like I am know that is a powerful statement, especially since I have read virtually all of her works, including others out-of-print.) Once again her use of language and detail paint a lyrical landscape of the human heart and spirit. This book is no holds barred in revealing Francis' struggles with her lonliness and isolation from the rest of the world. Definitely not for children and yet by no means grotesque. It is a story that all must playout in their own quests to find their identities. A quest that must either end in madness or one's true self STEPPING FROM THE SHADOWS.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Darkly magical, January 5, 2002

By 

Annette Hrisko-Allen (pdx,usa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stepping from the shadows (Hardcover)

I made the mistake of starting this book just before going to bed, only putting it down when my eyes stopped focusing.

This is not the typical "sword and sorcery" fantasy, full of blue levin-bolts and robed wizards. Instead, McKillip has crafted an enchanted landscape within the fractured persona of Frances, a girl who has created a horned creature called the Stagmen who embodies all that she fears and desires.

From the beginning of the novel, McKillip weaves (and ensnares) Frances in religious imagery. There are all the teachings and trappings of Roman Catholicism in which Frances is raised and educated, as well as the rich pagan themes in whatever natural environment she happens to be living in (i.e. the sonoran desert, the mountains of Germany, the English countryside, even the shores of Northern Washington State). Frances splits herself into a sort of insane Trinity: the Frances who writes tales about the Stagman, giving him life; the Frances who is so afraid of everything vital that she tries to disappear, so the Stagman can't touch her; and then there's the bold Frances, desparately wanting to free herself from the soul-killing fear so she can either join with the Stagman or (maybe) become him.

A very touching and mature story fit for anyone who hurts, or for those who are trying to understand how and why some people just don't seem to be "normal".

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fantastical (Auto)biography rather than external fantasy, March 4, 2001

By 

E. A. Lovitt "starmoth" (Gladwin, MI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Stepping From Shadows (Paperback)

"Stepping from the Shadows" is a mystical coming-of-age novel, a sort of fantastical "Catcher in the Rye". It is about a girl who wants to be 'normal' and who tries to reject her creative, wild-woman self - the self who writes 30-page fairy tales about The Stagman when she should be studying algebra.

Tame Frances and Wild Frances grow to adulthood through the fifties and sixties. She (they) endure a very dislocated existence as the Army posts her(their)father to Arizona, Germany, England, and finally California. Tame Frances fears and is drawn to horned, pronged, pointed objects -- cactii are an underground Hellgiant's fingers; tusked boars haunt the German forest -- and finally her more creative self invents The Stagman, after a close encounter with a Guy Fawkes effigy. The Stagman haunts the rest of the book. He is the culmination of everything Tame Frances fears and desires. This is very much an internal rather than an external fantasy, so there are no magic spells or incantations to make the Stagman go away. Frances slowly grows together, stops disliking herself, loses a bit of her shyness, stops running away from her creative self, and comes to terms with the Stagman and (maybe) the Buttercup God.

This is how a very creative writer grows up, beautifully told.