Tolkien Compared to Contemporary Authors - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Lush · 12-22-2009, 05:54 AM

Human Croquet by Kate Atkinson. I enjoy her later fiction as well, but this, her second book, is her masterpiece, I think. It's a postmodern fairytale set in an English village in the early 1960's (mostly -- the story goes back in time a lot). I discovered it before I discovered Tolkien, but I think I go back to it for similar reasons. Human Croquet is much more psychologically brutal than a book like Lord of the Rings, but, like Tolkien, Atkinson loves her characters, and, for a postmodern author, she does seem to believe in absolute evil, which is interesting. Her sense of place and atmosphere is also something I admire.

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood. It's the scope, it's all about the scope.

And amazing daring.

I'll be coming back to this later.

12-22-2009, 05:54 AM	#4
Lush Fair and Cold Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: the big onion Posts: 1,770	Human Croquet by Kate Atkinson. I enjoy her later fiction as well, but this, her second book, is her masterpiece, I think. It's a postmodern fairytale set in an English village in the early 1960's (mostly -- the story goes back in time a lot). I discovered it before I discovered Tolkien, but I think I go back to it for similar reasons. Human Croquet is much more psychologically brutal than a book like Lord of the Rings, but, like Tolkien, Atkinson loves her characters, and, for a postmodern author, she does seem to believe in absolute evil, which is interesting. Her sense of place and atmosphere is also something I admire. The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood. It's the scope, it's all about the scope. And amazing daring. I'll be coming back to this later. __________________ ~The beginning is the word and the end is silence. And in between are all the stories. This is one of mine~