Customer Reviews

Thomas the Rhymer

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is not a book to read if you're seeking a stirring adventure. Thomas does go on a long, strange trip, but the focus is as much on how his life impacts the people important to him as it is on his experiences in Elfland. Kushner's decision to write only Thomas's Elfland experiences in his own voice, then, is a clever one. Also, seeing Thomas before and after his journey through the eyes of others reveals the extent of the change in him more thoroughly than if we remained in his head.

Kushner does an excellent job of giving each of the four narrators a distinct perspective, a difficult thing to do. And because they see different things in each other and percieve their relationships with one another differently, there's the opportunity to ponder how it is we get along in the world when we all have disparate visions of reality. This is a marvelously subtle way to question whether True Thomas can ever wholly tell the truth. Is the truth absolute, or is it changeable depending on individual understanding? This question lingers long after the book is shut.

So why did I give Thomas the Rhymer only three stars? Well, for all the lovely writing and thoughtful structure, it left me cold. For one, the Faery Queen who is the heart of all this trouble and change seemed to me little more than a blowup doll. She laid a couple of spells on Thomas, but mostly all they did was copulate, and I needed either for her to be more interesting or to feel more of why Thomas was infatuated with her. (Because of the distance I felt from her, also, the ending of the book was less moving for me than it should have been.) Apart from that, I felt Kushner passed over a great opportunity to explore what the effects of Thomas's truth-saying might be. There was some of that, certainly, in the final section of the book, but much was made of the gift of truth-telling in Faery (and whether it was a gift at all), and then very little was done with it.

Reading this book is a gamble. It has its virtues, and if you think you'll enjoy piecing together a larger meaning based on the fragments of story and varying points of view, you'll probably enjoy it well enough. However, if you want a story that swallows you whole and spits you out at the end with no respite to sit back and intellectualize, this may not be for you.

Ellen Kushner has used an old ballad to create a fascinating and lovely tale of a young harpist and singer. Thomas appears one day at the door of an older and childless couple in the country who take him in and begin to love him as a son. He in turn, loves and respects them, all the while finding himself fascinating to and fascinated by a neighbor girl whose fiery temperament charms him. Off and on he reappears, leaving behind the courts of the nobility where he sings and plays for their pleasure.

One day, while visiting his friends, he wanders onto Eildon Hills and meets the queen of the faeries. She takes him with her to her home where he abides for 7 years. He becomes her lover, her plaything, and a challenge to others in the land, because he is forbidden to speak to anyone except the queen. Having fulfilled his bargain, the queen returns Thomas to his own world, burdened with a terrible gift: He can only speak the truth.

Told by Gavin, the elderly farmer, Thomas, and the girl whom he marries upon his return, the story of the life of True Thomas unwinds almost as a song does. There is melody, harmony, and many verses. For those who come to believe, the end will bring tears to their eyes.

Readers who enjoy this book might also enjoy Kushner's earlier novel, Swordspoint. She does not write often, but she writes well.

Actually, I would give this book one star or none at all, but the writing is so beautiful, and the "supporting" cast in the real world is wonderful.

However, I truly did not like the land of faery, I did NOT like the Faery Queen, and Thomas himself annoyed the hell out of me for the majority of the novel. The arrogance of Thomas and his obvious lack of love for his human wife (a wonderful character) completely spoiled this book for me. The elderly couple with whom Thomas occaisionally lives are likewise wonderful, but they cannot save the novel.

The Queen of Faeries is just as irritating as Thomas is, and the faery court is a melee of cruel, heartless creatures. In the end, Thomas may have been given the dubious gift of truth, but he has not found the gift of wisdom. Yuck. Without the supporting characters in "our" world and the inherent beauty and subtlety of Kushner's writing style, this book would not be worth reading. Unless you enjoy arrogant, irritaing, contradictory, selfish, and ultimately unchangeable characters.

"Thomas the Rhymer" came highly recommended to me by the lady who hosted our role-playing group. It's of a genre that I'd never read before.

This is a fantastical tale told in the points of view of the Rhymer's hosts, his human wife, and himself. Of a Ren-Faire setting, its descriptions are fluid and visible to the reader. It's a story of many kinds of love -- the love of the Rhymer's childless hosts of the Rhymer and of the girl up the hill, and of the Rhymer of them, of the girl, and of the Elfin Queen who cannot love him back in a way that he understands. It's a tale of human growth, of restraint, of sadness, and of joy.

I will be looking for more books by Ellen Kushner, and I highly recommend "Thomas the Rhymer" to you.

This book won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel of the Year...and it's not hard to see why. Ellen Kushner has taken the old Scots ballad "Thomas the Rhymer" along with several other traditional ballads and woven them into a sensual tale about love, truth, illusion, and the nature of inspiration. Like any good folktale, Kushner's prose is exquisitely lyrical, and her plot deceptively simple -- for underneath the classic faery story of a musician's abduction into the Otherworld is very human story about the dangers and temptations all creative people face in the pursuit of their Muse. This book is not just for fantasy fans, but for all readers who appreciate fine prose and novels which work on several levels at once. Kushner knows her mythic/folkloric material inside and out -- and she certainly knows her music, being not only a performing folksinger herself, but also the host of American Public Radio's glorious "Sound & Spirit" series. Don't miss this deliciously sexy, magical, and thought-provoking book.

I read several reviews of this book several years ago and received several more word-of-mouth reviews since them. All were raves. The facts that the book was out-of-print and hard to get added to the mystique. So, when I saw the book on a friend's shelf, I was beside myself with rapture, and immediately borrowed the book and read it.

Though it was a good story, true to the ballad, and beautifully written, it was not the religious experience I was anticipating. Perhaps my expectations were too high, I just don't know. But mostly, I did not find Thomas to be a particulary sympathetic character, The people that loved him did not find their love returned, I fear. Thomas was a touch too self-centered for my tastes.

All in all though, I'm glad I finally found and read the book. I would recommend it to all fantasy fans and fans of Celtic/Scottish/British folklore if for no other reason than "historic" relevance.

Ellen Kushner takes a traditional Scottish ballad and weaves it into something magical and beguiling in this lovely, haunting tale. The ballad sings of a minstrel lad abducted to Elfland for seven year's to serve as the Elf Queen's lover, then returned to the mortal world with the "gift" of always speaking the truth. Kushner deepens the focus of the story and humanizes the characters. Thomas is a footloose and carefree young minstrel and gifted seducer of willing ladies, eager to win fame for his singing and harping. His sojourn in Elfland is conveyed in dazzling prose, rich with the heady, heedless abandon of youth as Thomas gives himself up to the quicksilver Elf Queen and the succulent delights of her bower. Yet, he is tormented, too, by her small, careless cruelties, by the elves' constant game-playing, and by his lonely isolation as a mortal in a magical realm. He is scarcely any less isolated when he finally returns to mortal "Middle-Earth," a more sober and compassionate man, hailed as both rhymer and prophet, but who never again quite feels in step with his fellow beings.

While Thomas' Orpheus-like descent into the eerie glamor of the Elvish underworld is the centerpiece of the story, Kushner provides humanistic grace notes in the characters of a down-to-earth farm couple who love Thomas like a son and help to tell his story. They are joined by another narrator, the wild-spirited but careworn country lass who wins young Thomas' heart and witnesses the bittersweet epiphany of the story's conclusion. Both fairy tale and love story, full of lusty balladeering, poetry and heartbreak, this novel is truly enchanting. I felt bereft when it was over, as if the portals of Elfland had been shut behind me forever.

I am a lover of all things Faerie. I have put alot of time and research into the world of Faerie because I am a Faerie artist. This book is the best description of the Faerie realm that I have ever read. It is "fantastical" and imaginative and wonderful. For those who are deeply interested in the world of Faerie, it is highly recommended. For those with no love of fantasy, don't bother.

The story is what it is. A legend, taken from an old poem; and yes it may be anticlimactic. But if you read it, read it for the creative imagination that went into it. Read it for a true glimpse of the Faerie world.

I treasure this book and have read it many times over.

In this fascinating book, acclaimed author Ellen Kushner takes the old legends of Thomas of Erceldoune (a.k.a. True Thomas the seer and Thomas the Rhymer), and retells them in a fascinating, thoroughly modern style. This is the tale of a bard of no small talent who find himself the object of the Queen of Elfland's desire. Whisked off to the land of Fairy for seven years, he must unravel a mysterious riddle and save an immortal soul. And when he returns to the land of the living, will he be the same man he was, can he be?

This is a fascinating, and thoroughly enjoyable story. The author does an excellent job of keeping the flavor and substance of the old stories, while at the same time updating them and making them a treat for the modern reader. Indeed, I was often struck by how much the story rang true to the old folktales I have studied throughout my life. So, if you are a fan of stories of Fairy and the Lords and Ladies, or simply enjoy a good (excellent) fantasy story, then I highly recommend this book to you. You won't be disappointed!

Thomas the Rhymer

Drawing heavily on existing mythology, Ellen Kushner's novel THOMAS THE RHYMER relates the story previously told in ballad form. Expanding on the available verse, Kushner tells the story of a young and flashy balladeer, a dashing man who follows the courts of the powerful while maintaining a friendship with a farming couple and flirting with their comely neighbor. He disappears, mysteriously -- he's been taken by the Queen of Elfland to sing for her court and entertain her in her bed. After a tumultuous seven-year tenure by her throne, Thomas is returned to the world of humanity, unaged and unable to speak anything but the truth. He faces the challenge of reconnecting with those he left behind.

Kushner does an excellent job of creating the characters that populate the tale. The four primary characters are each given an Act in the story to narrate, with Thomas himself relating the tale of his semi-forced interplanar relocation. Kushner handles this so skillfully that she completely conveys the mud and the grime of the "real" world, but still allows it a powerful appeal that contrasts with the "unreal" beauty of the land of the elves. Each of these characters brings joy to their own existence and their jobs, especially Thomas, who rhymes as easily as he walks. It is these perspectives that give the story its air of tragedy when the characters lives are interfered with by wondrous forces.

In giving these people authentic voices, Kushner risks losing clarity at points when it would be useful for the story. These confusing points occasionally mar Thomas' trip to Wonderland, but otherwise, this is an elegant, and ultimately, very romantic read.