Thomas the Rhymer

I read several reviews of this book several years ago and received several more word-of-mouth reviews since them. All were raves. The facts that the book was out-of-print and hard to get added to the mystique. So, when I saw the book on a friends shelf, I was beside myself with rapture, and immediately borrowed the book and read it. Though it was a good story, true to the ballad, and beautifully written, it was not the religious experience I was anticipating. Perhaps my expectations were too high, I just dont know. But mostly, I did not find Thomas to be a particulary sympathetic character, The people that loved him did not find their love returned, I fear. Thomas was a touch too self-centered for my tastes. All in all though, Im glad I finally found and read the book. I would recommend it to all fantasy fans and fans of Celtic/Scottish/British folklore if for no other reason than historic relevance.

Kushner takes one of the most basic Celtic myths -- the human taken into the land of Faerie -- and fashions it around the life of an historical figure, Thomas the Rhymer. She tells the story from many perspectives to give the myth weight, a sense of time and place, and most of all, an understanding of why the story has endured. Rarely, a fantasy novel earns the right to be called classic; this one does.

I love this book. Kushners writing is marvelous, and the way she infuses the story, characters, and setting with ballad is simply magical! I would also strongly advise readers to take some time and listen to some of the ballads in question: Thomas the Rhymer, Famous Flower of Serving Men, Lang a-Growing, Tam Lin, Unquiet Grave, Elfin Knight; it will add another measure to your enjoyment of the book.

I dont know how Ive existed so long without knowing about or reading this gorgeous book. Clearly, Ive been living under a rock. Kushners writing is some of the most lush and inspiring Ive ever encountered. The story, ancient and twisted, is beautifully told through the voices of four distinct and familiar characters. Each voice is profoundly real, though brushed with Kushners magic. I lived in this book and felt true grief when I finished it. Five stars, and then some.

Very enjoyable read in four rather distinct sections (each told from the perspective of a different character). Not epic, which is something of a relief, but finely told. The long middle section about the stay in Fairie Land is atmospheric, but so too are the descriptions of regular, mundane medieval life.

Thomas the Rhymer is a bewitching tale that speaks to our longing for other more perfect worlds. Im going to read the book again because the storys message has to do with the truths of being human and how Thomas came round to being a real person. This book is filled with rich imagery that can easily throw off the impressionable reader. I love the book.

If youve only heard the story of Thomas the Rhymer referenced but not actually read his tale this a phenomenal telling.

Ellen Kushner takes a traditional Scottish ballad and weaves it into something magical and beguiling in this lovely, haunting tale. The ballad sings of a minstrel lad abducted to Elfland for seven years to serve as the Elf Queens lover, then returned to the mortal world with the gift of always speaking the truth. Kushner deepens the focus of the story and humanizes the characters. Thomas is a footloose and carefree young minstrel and gifted seducer of willing ladies, eager to win fame for his singing and harping. His sojourn in Elfland is conveyed in dazzling prose, rich with the heady, heedless abandon of youth as Thomas gives himself up to the quicksilver Elf Queen and the succulent delights of her bower. Yet, he is tormented, too, by her small, careless cruelties, by the elves constant game-playing, and by his lonely isolation as a mortal in a magical realm. He is scarcely any less isolated when he finally returns to mortal Middle-Earth, a more sober and compassionate man, hailed as both rhymer and prophet, but who never again quite feels in step with his fellow beings. While Thomas Orpheus-like descent into the eerie glamor of the Elvish underworld is the centerpiece of the story, Kushner provides humanistic grace notes in the characters of a down-to-earth farm couple who love Thomas like a son and help to tell his story. They are joined by another narrator, the wild-spirited but careworn country lass who wins young Thomas heart and witnesses the bittersweet epiphany of the storys conclusion. Both fairy tale and love story, full of lusty balladeering, poetry and heartbreak, this novel is truly enchanting. I felt bereft when it was over, as if the portals of Elfland had been shut behind me forever.