This is a very strange book. There are some things I liked about it - I liked the way the plot unfolded, and I thought Garner created some neat moments around the intrusion of a mythical world into a real one.

However, there are more things I didn't like about it. Sometimes the plot was really confusing, because there is hardly any narration at all - the story is told almost entirely through conversations between characters, and their conversations can be odd and hard to follow.

But the big problem I had with the book is that I don't think Garner developed any sort of relationship between the myth and the modern storyline. In Garner's story, the medieval story of Blodeuwedd has never been completed, and is relived over and over by the modern characters. But it's hard to see any clear relationship between the modern characters and the mythical ones, and it's not clear why the story is relived over and over, and it's really not clear what happens at the end of the book. So I don't think the myth really added anything to the modern story, and I don't think the modern story added any new insights into the myth. This left me quite unsatisfied at the end of the book. ( )

I loved this book so much, it was made into a tv series and refused to watch it. They showed it to us in school and I was excused from that lesson as I didn't want to ruin my imagination [at 10 years old I was pretty determined!]. A particularly spooky book. ( )

This is an award winning book from an excellent author, and set in a location very close to where I live. I should have loved it as much as I loved his other works, but unfortunately I did not connect with this book.

The story recalls the Welsh legend in the Mabinogion of Blodeuwedd. It uses the legend as a central part of the story, where an ancient tragedy is endlessly recapitulated each generation. Will this generation find a way to avoid that destiny?

Unfortunately the characterisation did not work for me. That is perhaps my problem, not the author's. Worse, some of the research was lacking - both in terms of geography and the Welsh language (the author avoids using Welsh words as much as possible, but, for instance, when he does use a name: "Lleu", he rhymes it with "Clue". It would be more closely rhymed with "Clay" in fact).

Maybe it was these niggles that put me off. Maybe to a reader unfamiliar with the area, the legend and the language would enjoy this more. But for me, it is one Alan Garner book I cannot positively recommend.

Having said that, it is not a bad read. I just think other works are better.

*EDIT: I now find myself unsure whether it was in fact "Llew" that he rhymed with "Clue". Still wrong though. Llew does not sound like "Clue". In fact it does not rhyme any English word I can think of. The "ew" being a sound like the "we" in "went" said backwards. ( )

I first read this years ago and I still love it.

Not as good as his two Alderley novels, but it's pleasant to read. ( )

http://nhw.livejournal.com/1010278.ht...

I think I read almost all of Alan Garner's works as a teenager, but gave up on this one part way in because it didn't grab me at the time. Well, age brings increased ability to appreciate. It's an incredible book, a masterpiece of showing rather than telling, about patterns from the past (of story, of earthenware, of painting) coming to haunt the present day. There is a lot left beneath the surface - we never find out exactly how old Alison, Roger and Gwyn are, though the implication is that they are all three in their mid-teens, Alison perhaps younger than the other two; we never even see Alison's mother Margaret, though she remains a presence in the background; the mystery behind the owls and flowers and the pierced stone is never completely explained, which normally would annoy me, but just seems to work really well here. A really good book. ( )

http://nhw.livejournal.com/1010278.ht...

I think I read almost all of Alan Garner's works as a teenager, but gave up on this one part way in because it didn't grab me at the time. Well, age brings increased ability to appreciate. It's an incredible book, a masterpiece of showing rather than telling, about patterns from the past (of story, of earthenware, of painting) coming to haunt the present day. There is a lot left beneath the surface - we never find out exactly how old Alison, Roger and Gwyn are, though the implication is that they are all three in their mid-teens, Alison perhaps younger than the other two; we never even see Alison's mother Margaret, though she remains a presence in the background; the mystery behind the owls and flowers and the pierced stone is never completely explained, which normally would annoy me, but just seems to work really well here. A really good book. ( )

I loved this book as a child and I have to say that I love this book as an adult. Garner's writing is multi-layered and there are nuances to his writing that I am sure that passed me by as a child such as the differences between those who speak English and Welsh and the class barriers between the children which divide them. The story feel both fresh and as ancient as the myths it encompasses. Why Alan Garner is not as popular as JK Rowling I don't know as he should be. ( )

I really didn’t like this book, although I was prepared to do so by all the enthusiastic reviews I’d seen. It was like slogging through a bad dream peopled with bad characters. I found all the children unpleasant and only Gwen at all sympathetic. That’s probably the point, but how does it make the book enjoyable?
Telling a tale with dialogue is not a technique I appreciate. And in this book the dialogue was maddeningly tangential and in many instances violently hurtful. That’s probably the point, too, but how does it make a reader love a book?
I am enough of a snob to be troubled that I disliked a book that’s supposed to be deep and literary. Apparently it’s on a lot of school reading lists. I forced myself to finish it because I thought I could figure out what I was missing. I even started to reread it, but the barrier between it and me is still there. What is it about this book that draws other readers?
The central idea about dish designs turning into paper owls is not only not compelling, it's silly. Why dishes? How was the energy or the evil or whatever it was harnessed and forced onto the dishes in the first place? Again, there is the feeling of dream images that don’t translate well into words on a page. I struggle with that all the time, trying to convey the wonder of an imagined thing without tearing the cobwebs. I’m like Alison, compelled to keep tracing and cutting, dreaming and writing. Maybe the message of this book for me is simply to ease up on the self-editing. That could be powerful. ( )

http://home.comcast.net/~tonydal/wise... ( )

An incredibly intricate book, weaving from ancient Welsh myth to modern day living. It is a beautiful story and one I return to from time to time. ( )

This is a strange book, and not easy to read, but I love it, and re-read it regulary. ( )

[Contains Spoilers]

I've finally finished Owl Service by Alan Garner. I have major issues with understanding this book, particularly the relationship between Lleu, Gronwy and Bloeduwedd and the three children. I hate not understanding a book.

• I think it is poorly written. It is extremely disjointed and vague, and seems like it's missing so many bits.
• The ending - very pretty and all, but, wtf? What actually happened?
• I don't understand how the three children relate to the old Wlesh myth of Lleu, Gronwy and Bloeduwedd. Who is who? I see in the older generation that Huw represented Lleu, Nancy was Bloeduwedd and Bertram was Gronwy. Was Gwyn Gronwy or Lleu?
• They don't act realistically at all. None of the characters, except maybe Roger, who was simply an annoying teenage boy. Alison was most weird, and Gwyn was odd too in many ways. There was no explaination of their feelings os motives or anything.
• I like Gwyn, and feel both attraction and sympathy for him. I wish there was a happy ending for him and Alison. She was silly to spurn him because her mother said so, and immature in her reaction.
• There was however something vaguely appealing about the... tone of the book. Although it was very vague and dreamlike. But I think that's all the postivie comment I've got on it! ( )

Garner entwines a trio of more-or-less modern youths and the fallout from a story in the Mabinogion. It is not what I would term a cheery summer-holiday romp (what holiday is complete without insuperable class differences, an unforgiveable betrayal or two, a great deal of rain, and an ending that dissatisfies many of the reviewers on Amazon?) Fortunately, that is not what I expected of it. If you like juvenile lit. to be eerie, demanding, and inappropriate for the average juvenile, step right up. (I almost feared to finish the book, but perhaps should blame that level of anxiety on Red Shift.) ( )

This is a pretty odd little book; I really enjoyed it, but the very end left me a little confused. It would probably appeal to those who liked The Dark Is Rising, since it taps into a lot of Welsh mythology and such, but it's a much more subtle and psychological story. I'm going to have to check out Alan Garner's other books. ( )