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eyreguide's review against another edition
4.0
An intriguing blend of Irish folklore, philosophy and poetic thoughts, this novel was a very interesting read. On the one hand, I was very taken by it's atmosphere and the straightforward whimsy of the characters and their issues. I am not very familiar with Irish folklore and I wonder if that would have helped me appreciate this story better, as I did find it a little too leisurely in pace, and sometimes the characters seemed unsympathetically ridiculous. Although the writing is beautiful it is very specific in it's lyrical power, and I was not always as appreciative of the digressions at the expense of plot, even when I recognized that this was a very artistic decision. I picked up this story to read because I read once that it was Gene Kelly's favorite book, and because of that I was very interested in finishing the novel. It is definitely unique, and if you have any interest in Irish folklore, I think this will be a great read for you.
abilge's review against another edition
1.0
Mart ayı okudugum kitaplar adına 3te 1 oraninda ilerliyor. Altin küpü Bir Kutu Kitap’ın Mart sayısı ile geldi ama. Bir kitap hem bu kadar uzun ve aynı anda nasıl sıkıcı ve sinir bozucu olabilir bilemiyorum. Karakterlerin her birini ayrı ayrı sevmedim. Beni laprikondan bile soğutacaktı neredeyse.
soundracer's review
3.0
An Irish fairy tale that is at times deep, dense, diverse -- and can be quite funny. The plot is fairly simple, and the theme can be condensed to "Don't Mess With Leprecauns". But the book takes a path that is anything but direct, with philosophical essays and stories-within-the-story.
Stephens was a poet and it shows in his prose, with paragraphs that are quite lyrical and poetic. Sometimes the philosophical "tangents" get a bit dense -- similar to Melville and Conrad, but with a decidedly Irish twist. But Stephens quickly returns to the plot, including some memorable characters and scenes. Written in 1912, I think this book is best understood within the context of its times as a celebration of Irish culture and mythology.
Stephens was a poet and it shows in his prose, with paragraphs that are quite lyrical and poetic. Sometimes the philosophical "tangents" get a bit dense -- similar to Melville and Conrad, but with a decidedly Irish twist. But Stephens quickly returns to the plot, including some memorable characters and scenes. Written in 1912, I think this book is best understood within the context of its times as a celebration of Irish culture and mythology.
blackbird27's review against another edition
4.0
My first, earliest, and maybe deepest love in literature was the cozy British fantasy of C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien, but I'm much more likely to care about the writers who influenced them than the hundreds and thousands of the writers they influenced whether positively or negatively. I can't recall coming across a reference to James Stephens in the mountains of Lewisiana I consumed between the ages of ten and twenty, but his name's unmemorable enough that it would easily have slipped my notice; in any case, it's hard to imagine that the phantasy-obsessed Ulster-born Clive Staples wouldn't have been all over the most famous Irish fairy-tale novel of the 1910s, and its special brew of folkloric fantasy, vaudevillian repartee, and Yeatsian philosophizing.
I've owned a physical copy of The Crock of Gold for going on twenty years, and only got a few chapters into it before being distracted by other things; now, half a continent away from that stored book collection, I read a scanned public-domain copy on my iPad, a chapter a night, for over a month. It's been a lovely palate-cleanser, especially as set against some of the severer novels I've been reading concurrently. (Stay tuned.)
Part of the reason I abandoned it the first time through was disgust at Stephens' epigrammatic misogyny, more in the tiresome, jollying vein of a music-hall act complaining about the missus than in that of the high-brow Shavian wit he seems to aspire to. Spending a lot of time with 1910s fiction has probably desensitized me there, and I've been able to compartmentalize my reading so that I can appreciate Stephens' droll wit, vaulting imagination, and subterranean socialism despite the sexism; and on a much less articulate level, there are prefigurations of Narnia all over this book, but especially in the back half, and I'll probably never be able to not be thrilled by that.
I've owned a physical copy of The Crock of Gold for going on twenty years, and only got a few chapters into it before being distracted by other things; now, half a continent away from that stored book collection, I read a scanned public-domain copy on my iPad, a chapter a night, for over a month. It's been a lovely palate-cleanser, especially as set against some of the severer novels I've been reading concurrently. (Stay tuned.)
Part of the reason I abandoned it the first time through was disgust at Stephens' epigrammatic misogyny, more in the tiresome, jollying vein of a music-hall act complaining about the missus than in that of the high-brow Shavian wit he seems to aspire to. Spending a lot of time with 1910s fiction has probably desensitized me there, and I've been able to compartmentalize my reading so that I can appreciate Stephens' droll wit, vaulting imagination, and subterranean socialism despite the sexism; and on a much less articulate level, there are prefigurations of Narnia all over this book, but especially in the back half, and I'll probably never be able to not be thrilled by that.
holdencox's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
funny
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The greatest thing. Describes me in whole. I am the Ugliest Man in the World, the Third Alembic. I love Pan. Perfect for Hiberno-pseudo-intellectuals (me)
margaretpinard's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
frost_booksnbeatles's review against another edition
3.0
The Crock of Gold is an entertaining jaunt into Irish folklore.
I listened to the audiobook narrated by Gerry O'Brien, who did a fantastic job.
I listened to the audiobook narrated by Gerry O'Brien, who did a fantastic job.
richardscheel's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
This book started light hearted and fun, witty banter between the characters, and great development of the core cast of characters. The supporting cast of faerie and common folk are well done, with a mix of old wisdom alongside the problems that grow and interconnect, amplifying until the intertwined problems hit the final problem. Then, it is downhill. The final resolution is buried in preachy philosophical rambling, with an escape hatch ending that resolves in a page what was built up over the entire book. At least he didn’t pull a George RR Martin and refuse to write the last chapter because he couldn’t work out how to end it properly, the bad thing is the ending was unsatisfying and cheated the entire story built beforehand, violating the very nature of the Philosopher protagonist.
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