Hey Blog! I’m back in session with another book review!
A little bit of background. I went to Reading a couple of weekends ago to see family, and while there we went to a lovely little pub in a nearby place called Mapledurham. Sitting there, I saw a notice that this was where Kenneth Grahame spent a lot of time by the river, and certain places in the area were the inspiration for his novel, The Wind in the Willows. Or at least some people think so – like most novels, half a dozen places claim the origin of the story. If you haven’t read the book – stop right now and do!
The Wind in the Willows is an excellent, enjoyable read, depicting the early-20th century country life and detail therein at its best and capturing the beauty of an unspoiled world with a lot more nature and a lot less people messing it up. Perhaps the most spectacular aspect of the book is it manages, subtly, definitively, and yet without any fudging, to have animal main characters in a human world, with them interacting as if it wasn’t odd and having almost no fantasticality. This level of skill at merging is something I wish I could possess, and is so perfectly situated in an environment of idyllic central-south English countryside that the book is a work of fine art and literary elegance. If you haven’t stood by a river and used all your senses on it; if you’ve never seen nature’s beauty in the landscape; if you’re yet to imagine what a mole, a water vole, a badger and a toad could get up to in their spare time (such as going on long adventures, falling in streams, and chasing motor-cars around!) – then start by reading The Wind in the Willows and see if you think about it next time you go near water.
The book has four main characters: Mole, Ratty, Badger, and Toad. They are perfectly drawn, with their own little quirks: Mole is home-loving, exited by the new things found in the book; Rat (a water vole, but at the time of publishing, more commonly called a water rat) is busy, skilful and loves the river; Badger is anti-social but kind, and an important personality among the other animals; and Toad is obsessed with whatever his new passion is (before landing on fast cars and staying there!). The story mostly concerns the adventures of the animals to assist, then rescue, Toad, when his automobile obsession gets out of control; but also covers side-quests, so to speak, which further flesh out the characters and the setting of the story – looking for the baby otter and finding him with an apparition of the god Pan, for instance. It is rather a quaint novel, and yet still one which is relevant – particularly because the world is changing: now water voles, like Ratty, are becoming rarer; most people (including me) have never seen a live mole; and cars, the bane of Toad’s ability to relax in life, are taking over or even have already. In a way, the story is unintentionally (or intentionally?) a metaphor for how people and their technology have taken over the lives of animals and is harming them. It may also be a metaphor for what animals wish they were doing in response, but unfortunately, I cannot communicate with badgers and ask them.
Either way, I think The Wind in the Willows is a classic for a reason, and that is because it shows the charm of rural, natural life, with a focus on animals, and above all, it’s a fun, poignant, and beautiful read!