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A review by aashkevr
The Boy Who Plaited Manes by Nancy Springer
4.0
What a delightfully unsettling little story. I really loved this! Actually, this turned me on to the works of Nancy Springer - I picked up four books from the library and 3 from amazon because I was impressed by both style and content. I have a feeling I will be reading a lot of Nancy Springer in the near future.
The short story is very fairy-tale-esque, the sort of fairy tale rule where the breaking of unspoken rules and the commission of crimes of human indecency and thoughtlessness tends to lead to badness.
The ageless "boy" shows up to do what he does without comment or complaint, and through their misuse and mistreatment of him the people who benefited from his talents suffer.
The writing is spectacular and the tone and style match the content - rhetorically speaking, although the story is short, the writing enhances the plot drawing on almost-archetypal expectations in the way information is conveyed.
A personal favorite for me was Springer's willingness to put readers in the story by "abusing" our expectations of narrative PoV.
Pretty much, the story is wonderful - wonderfully composed and wonderfully conceptualized.
A quick scan of some other reviews leads me to comment that:
A) the boy is clearly not "underage" in the way we conceive of "underage" and there are several indications of this in the story
and
B) I think that the story is complete as it is - the mystery and strangeness of it would be diminished if more concrete information was given about the protagonist. It would ruin the sense that the reader exists within the world - awed and confused with limited understanding.
The short story is very fairy-tale-esque, the sort of fairy tale rule where the breaking of unspoken rules and the commission of crimes of human indecency and thoughtlessness tends to lead to badness.
The ageless "boy" shows up to do what he does without comment or complaint, and through their misuse and mistreatment of him the people who benefited from his talents suffer.
The writing is spectacular and the tone and style match the content - rhetorically speaking, although the story is short, the writing enhances the plot drawing on almost-archetypal expectations in the way information is conveyed.
A personal favorite for me was Springer's willingness to put readers in the story by "abusing" our expectations of narrative PoV.
Spoiler
At one point readers are told, in an omniscient voice, that a character has not yet realized the boy (unnamed protagonist) is mute - so later when the boy speaks readers are surprised. We feel, same as those within the story, the shock of revelation that this boy, who we already suspected was more than he appeared, is even more. For anyone who takes the narration at face value, the revelation of his single line of speech resonates - readers feel instinctively connected to the story because we experience the same twists as the characters within.Pretty much, the story is wonderful - wonderfully composed and wonderfully conceptualized.
A quick scan of some other reviews leads me to comment that:
A) the boy is clearly not "underage" in the way we conceive of "underage" and there are several indications of this in the story
and
B) I think that the story is complete as it is - the mystery and strangeness of it would be diminished if more concrete information was given about the protagonist. It would ruin the sense that the reader exists within the world - awed and confused with limited understanding.