Alan Garner’s THE OWL SERVICE is a strange, haunting story that left me frustrated the first time I read it (and the second and third as well — I have a lot of feelings about Gwyn, and I don’t fully understand the ending). But it’s still one of the #booksthatmademe because it’s so well written, with complicated teen characters, a strong sense of place, and deftly interwoven threads of Welsh mythology. . THE OWL SERVICE does a lot in a very small space. It touches on classism, nationalism, family dysfunction, thwarted ambition and doomed romance, and includes elements of psychological drama, mystery, and horror — all in a mere slip of a book, barely half the length of the average YA novel today. But it does its job with impressive economy, no words wasted and no needless characters or meandering subplots. And it’s a book that leaves you thinking, wondering what happens next. . The symbolism that drives the story is drawn from the Mabinogion, a classic collection of Welsh legends — which I’d read not long before I discovered this book, so I was pleased to recognize the references almost at once. The tragic tale of Blodeuwedd is a bit like the King Arthur - Guinevere - Lancelot love triangle if Guinevere were the Galatea to Arthur’s Pygmalion, which is part of why the developing triangle in THE OWL SERVICE frustrated me so much (FYI: I am always on Arthur’s side in that equation. Always). But the book does an excellent job of bringing the passions and conflicts of the legend into a plausible present-day scenario, and including its supernatural elements in subtle, clever ways. (Do I want those owl-flower dishes? Yes, I do. The Bodleian Library has one: see Image 2 attached.) . TELL ME: Have you ever read a book that frustrated you or even made you mad, but you ended up admiring/liking it anyway? . . . . #bookstagram #bookish #IReadYA #BookRecommendations #books #reading #alangarner #theowlservice #mabinogion #blodeuwedd #carnegiemedal #kidlit #childrensliterature #welshmythology https://www.instagram.com/p/B-5gFCSgJ1x/?igshid=1opm7xwp5n195
