A review by quincunxes
The Green Child by Herbert Read

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.0

Imaginative & vivid. Adored the  scenery (moonlit English countryside, reminiscences of childhood overwritten by strange magic; golden pampas grass and hummingbirds, endless time in semi-civilization; phosphorescent caves, crystals, bells, submersion). 

In Part III the green child's home is found again. The society is utterly different, there is no individuality, no ownership, no love or attachment between people. 

 

The conclusion of Olivero's moving through the stages of this underworld is his realization that the body is infected by the soul, and so death is desirable. 

Even if Olivero was always nonchalant toward his life: his death was sickening. I felt cold & had to reject it.

What begins as fascinating fairytale ends in a deep (ideological?) loneliness.