Customer Reviews

The White Deer

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

 

 

This is the first time that I have read any of Mr. Thurber's writing, and I must say that I am rather impressed. This is a pleasant story about a strong, but not very wise, king and his three sons who are sent on quests to win a beautiful princess (who may or may not actually be a deer). It is a book that makes serious points through a story that is often tremendously silly.

Mr. Thurber's drawings are terribly bad, so bad that they are actually quite humerous. I must say that I have never seen such horrendous drawings in a book before, yet they somehow add to the story.

Overall grade: A

A little fantasy story by Thurber, not silly enough to be really funny, yet definitely not a serious story, either. If it had been written within this decade, it might have had that incredibly useless label post-modern thrown on it, as Thurber was one of those writers who delighted in wordplay that acknowledges the presence of the reader. A king and his three sons--two hearty hunters like their father and the youngest a musician and poet--corner a white deer who changes into a beautiful princess. The princess cannot remember her name or family, so she sets the three sons on quests. The question in the castle is whether the princess has been enchanted to forget her name, or is she a deer that has been enchanted to resemble a princess. Everything becomes clear in the end, like all good fairy tales, and Thurber gets to have a lot of fun getting there. Hopefully, you will too. I found this to be a little too similar to the humor of Juster's The Phantom Tollbooth for me to enjoy it wholeheartedly.

Great story with masterful language. A real treat.

A real winner. This book is poetic and lovely. I couldn't ask for more.

It's obvious Thurber lavished a lot of attention on this fantasy about a mythical king with a mythical name and a myth-like story. The craftsmanship in the writing is unusually good, poetry and all. It's ultimately the content that is the major problem -- a long story with lots of parallel events, the way a real Brothers Grimm story might proceed. Doesn't seem to have much of an ending. The character of the king is striking, if you want your king to look like Brian Blessed in the first Black Adder on TV. Nice touch giving the king his editor's expression at the New Yorker: "Done AND done." But I have to admit, I was glad when it was.