Bottersnikes and A Hank Of Hair reviews

[alobear]

Bottersnikes And Gumbles, by S A Wakefield, is a delightful book about two sets of bizarre creatures who live in the Australian bush.  It's utterly ridiculous, but so beautifully realised and narrated with such conviction that it's totally believable.  I particularly love Tinkingumble, who gets better ideas when the other Gumbles squeeze him in the middle so his head gets bigger.  Highly recommended for anyone who needs 40 minutes' light relief.

On the other hand, I found A Rag, A Bone and a Hank of Hair by Nicholas Fisk quite elusive.  From the start, I felt as if I was missing something, and I don't really understand now what it was supposed to be about.  It was unpleasant and seemingly pointless, as well as confusing.  Several of the characters acted very unconvincingly at times, and I didn't like any of them enough to get emotionally involved with what was going on.  I'm sure there's much more to it than I comprehended, but I probably wouldn't have finished it if it had been more than 125 pages.

Comments

[lareinemisere.livejournal.com]

>Bottersnikes And Gumbles

Wow...haven't read that since I was seriously ickle. Could I borrow, please?

[alobear.livejournal.com]

Of course! I'll bring it to the quiz on Thursday.

[prunesquallormd.livejournal.com]

Ooooh. I loved Bottersnikes and Gumbles as a kiddy. I can't believe I'd completely forgotten it existed till now. And out of print, apparently. Such a shame. Where did you find your copy?

[alobear.livejournal.com]

Dave and I were cataloguing our books and it turned up on one of the shelves. I'd never heard of it, so Dave immediately put it on the top of my book pile. I really wasn't expecting to like it, but it's utterly fab.

If you're going to be seeing lareinemisere soon, you could borrow our copy from her, if you like. As long as we get it back eventually - or Dave will kill me...

[prunesquallormd.livejournal.com]

Cool. I'll be down in the Smoke in August. If C still has it then I might have to do that :)

[cholten99.livejournal.com]

> Where did you find your copy?

I've had it about 30 years...

[prunesquallormd.livejournal.com]

I probably last saw that it long ago, but I have a vivid memory of reading it in the children's section of the library. Happy days :)