Boneland [Hardcover]

I came across this book at a friend's house and ran out to get it. When I read The Moon of Gomrath years ago it struck me that while other books were about magic this was magic in itself. It's hard to describe this except to say it felt true, and almost like a kind of spell as much as a story. Now, fifty years later, comes the final book in the trilogy, and it has that same quality but more so because it's a book for adults (Colin has grown up, and Susan is missing) and so is more complex, more layered. As well as an intense story of a soul seeking to recover itself Boneland contains wondrous passages of astrophysics, naturalism, and paleontology, making a very strong case that they are all connected, all the same thing. The book is short but so strong that I often stopped reading every few pages, as if to catch my breath, before going on. It's one of the very few books I know of that I wanted to re-read the very moment I finished it, but I think i will go back and re-read the first two books and then Boneland once again.

First off, I loved Weirdstone a lot. Moon, not as much, but still, it's part of the story, so it must be read, right (the ending left me with very mixed feelings)? Boneland, well, it's hard to say. First off, it's a masterpiece. I love the writing, hate the story, feel mixed about the ending. Or do I love the story? Love and hate get so mixed up sometimes. All I can say is: it's an emotional roller-coaster. Anyone who can read Garner and not become emotionally involved is dead inside.

The book thrills me, entertains me, and depresses me all at the same time. I have the same problem I have will all his books: I hate for the story to end. And yet, as a True Story, it never ends, it just transfers ownership and I feel unworthy to continue it.

Read it or not at your own peril. Either way, you'll never be the same again...

I read The Weirdstone and The Moon of Gomrath in the 1960s. In the 1980s I wrote to Alan Garner, telling him how much the books had meant to me and asking if he contemplated writing a third book. He wrote back that, at least then, he knew he must not write the third book. Obviously the book had to wait four decades to be written. It is worth the wait. Colin has grown up, and Garner has matured as a writer.

Like several of his other books, Boneland is about a boy/man who finds normal communication with other people practically impossible. Colin may have Asberger's syndrome--presumably as a result of his experiences with the Morrigan and the releasing of the Old Magic at the end of The Moon of Gomrath. He has spent his whole life trying to find Susan, and has become a brilliant Professor in his attempts to accumulate knowledge that will lead him to find her. What fascinates me is the life Colin has arranged for himself--for instance, the extremely private and simple living quarters that keep him from being distracted by anything irrelevant to his main purpose in life.

As in ALL of Garner's books, the style is so spare that the reader is constantly astonished that this style can convey the meaning. Of course, the reader does spend most of the time wondering what is really going on. I have always been amazed that this style is so powerful that it keeps up the suspense throughout so that it is impossible to put the book down--except that the experience is so intense that one MUST put it down, go for a walk, go do the dishes or something just about every five pages in order to think it through. What have I just read? What does it mean? Then I rush back to the book again.

I have now read the book once, and am still full of questions. Is Susan demanding and even spiteful because this is what happens to ghosts, or to other people cut off from human contact who need attention? Is Meg the same aspect of the Moon goddess as Angharad Goldenhand? Is the one tiny moment Colin contacted Susan the only satisfaction he's going to get after looking for her all his life? And is it supposed to be enough? Is Colin going to become the Shaman who inherits the powers (or the job) of the stone-age Shaman? Obviously he is, but what IS that job?

I know the next thing I must do is read the book again. I am sending copies to my brother and sister--we always read each new Garner book as soon as soon as it comes out--and then when we three get together in the summer we will hash it out together.