THE STORY GIANT
By Brian Patten
Harper Collins - November 2001
ISBN 0007119410 - Hardback
Juvenile / Teenage - Literary Fantasy

Reviewed by Rachel A Hyde, MyShelf.com
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The Story Giant is a story about stories, and their many powers that make us what we are. Alone in a crumbling castle, the Story Giant is dying unless he can find the one missing story that is eluding him. Into his castle four children have stumbled while dreaming: Betts from a shabby LA flat, Liam from a boat moored off the Devon coast, Rani who comes from a very poor background in India and rich young diplomat's son Hasan from Riyadh. They all know stories from their own cultures, many of which bear a similarity to each other's, but can they find the missing story before it is too late?

I think of this as a children's book for adults. Written by a poet, it does indeed celebrate the wonderful heritage of folk tales. Patten gives some excellent retellings of them in a simple but direct style although I found the whole book rather fragmented. The children's real lives are hinted at but it would have been more interesting perhaps to have explored them more, as having them sitting around in the castle telling stories is rather static. I found this a puzzling read; it is probably the sort of book that is best read more than once. It ought to have great appeal to all fans of literary fiction who like their fiction to be less (or is it more?) than straightforward. Clever but rather charmless.

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