Imagen del autor
2 Obras 49 Miembros 5 Reseñas

Obras de Nina Lyon

Etiquetado

Conocimiento común

Género
female
Nacionalidad
UK

Miembros

Reseñas

Come for the folklore, stay for the snarky asides, progressive philosophy, and gorgeous nature writing.
 
Denunciada
bibliothecarivs | 3 reseñas más. | Nov 15, 2021 |
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley to read and write an honest review.

The Green Man is one of those anomalies of British folklore. It is a sculpture of a male face, either surrounded by or having branches or leaves emerging from it. They are often carved from stone and are found on all types of buildings including churches, which is odd for a pagan symbol rooted so deeply in the past. It isn’t just a British symbol either, similar images are found in many cultures around the world.

Lyon first encounters this face when sheltering at a Herefordshire church in a storm. It makes her wonder just how an ancient pagan symbol ended up on a church and why it is still a popular icon even today; there are a number of pubs all over the country, including one close to me, that carry the name ‘The Green Man’. Her curiosity over this blatantly pagan addition to a Christian building made her start to investigate the origins of this face. It was the start of a journey that would take her across the country, the the forests of Germany, to the stone circles of ancient Britain and of course the woods. There was a spiritual journey too and a discovery of Celtic Christianity, neo-paganism and shamanism. She even contemplates starting a sex cult, but other mums at the school gate aren’t so sure… She encounters all sorts on her journey too, there are priests and morris dancers, artists and eco warriors. Each of these people has a link back to that enigmatic figure.

I have always liked this enigmatic figure, there is something other worldly about it, a combination of the natural and the sinister, the real and surreal. Lyon is prepared to take anything on and explore all pathways as she investigates and contemplates the Green Man. There were parts of this I really enjoyed, her trip to Germany into the dark forests in search of an ancestor accused of being a witch was fascinating, but there were other parts of the book, Aleister Crowley springs to mind, that was less captivating. All that said, Lyon has written a bang up to date book on an endearing cult figure that has been deeply rooted in our society for time immemorial. 3.5 stars overall.
… (más)
 
Denunciada
PDCRead | 3 reseñas más. | Apr 6, 2020 |
This essay covers an interesting topic, but I found it too wordy for it to be an easy read. An occasional wordy sentence is fine, but this had too many of them, it detracted from what she was trying to say.
 
Denunciada
AngelaJMaher | Jun 17, 2018 |
This was research for my next book. I wish all research could be this fun. Highly recommended.
 
Denunciada
deeronthecurve | 3 reseñas más. | Jan 19, 2017 |

Estadísticas

Obras
2
Miembros
49
Popularidad
#320,875
Valoración
½ 3.5
Reseñas
5
ISBNs
4