THE ABOMINABLE SWAMP MAN

by Gail E. Haley ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 6, 1975

Even as a parody of allegorical fantasy this would be insipid, but the sad truth is that Haley is serious. Between the tritely compassionate beginning (heroine Edwardina sets out to save Grundelwich, a faun-like swamp creature whom the sheriff and others decide should be killed) and the tritely visionary ending (Edwardina brings a dormant magical world to life by unlocking the Chamber of Dreams), Haley throws in some borrowed motifs and traditional trappings (a singing key, a talking tree), some fanciful companions (a griffon, St. George the Dragon, blonde Princess Merrily. . .) and some silly, derivative agents of good and evil (a three-headed lion [!] vs. Kremunkin, King of the Dark Domain and his Sniveling Snitches, Creeping Gnauves and prehistoric Deceptadon). The dialogue is muddied with confused pontification (""people create the things they fear"" says the Swamp Man of his persecutors) and vague, entirely unsupported hints of large significance. (Says Edwardina in her candyland paradise, ""Now I feel that what I missed and the answer to every question I ever asked are right here."") And, Caldecott or no, Haley's illustrations are as crude and banal as her pretentious, amateurish story.

Pub Date: Oct. 6, 1975

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Viking

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1975

Categories: FICTION