The Ickabog 

by J.K.Rowling @2020, on Audible.com

“Rowling has captured a sense of our common humanity, while appealing to adults and children to be just and kind to all creatures and teaching children to recognize vile behavior.”

I'm sending out love into the universe for J.K. Rowling. Her negative detractors always seem to fill the web with their venom, so I'm posting a positive review of The Ickabog.  Yes, it's grim, but light. Yes, it tells a story of political intrigue, extortion, menaces, abuse of power, and, yes, murder...numerous murders. Grimm's gruesome fairytales were hardly a picnic, almost always ending in someone's eyes being gouged out. Just saying.... 

 “Ask any small child to tell you which characters in this story are good.  They know.  Children are not dummies.”  

I'm loving The Ickabog by J.K. Rowling, a darkish fairytale a la Roald Dahl tradition. It's dark... No, I shouldn’t say “dark” just because it has a “monster” or deals with heavy subjects. It’s more like twilight, that space between dark and light, because while the content of the machinations of greedy people may seem dark, there are plenty of light moments and glowing characters.  The Ickabog is satirical, humorous, vivid, and the best of the fairytale genre! As an adult, I've known, in some capacity, each of these characters or, in the Roald Dahl tradition, caricatures.  To be sure, no real adult is ever completely vile or completely good.  We all share both moments of glory and of shame.  But for the fairy tale genre, villains must be pure evil and saints must be transcendent. And somewhere in the middle, Rowling has captured a sense of our common humanity, while appealing to adults and children to be just and kind to all creatures and teaching children to recognize vile behavior.

The villains, Lords Spittleworth and Flappoon are completely vile, duplicitous and obsequious; Lord Spittleworth being the biggest liar of all.  The clueless, vain King Fred the Fearless is thoroughly idiotic, but redeemable.  Ma Grunter, matron of the orphanage, is a greedy lush.  Captain Roach is an ambitious soldier, willing to overlook just about anything for money and power.

The clear-sighted, grief-stricken child, Daisy, is valiant and outspoken, speaking truth to power with compassion.  All of the good folk are capable of transformation.  They may willingly blind themselves to some truths, but eventually they come to their good senses and do the right thing.

As the narrative unfolds, it brings to my mind Roald Dahl's Matilda-esque, avaricious, despicable adult characters with a hint of The Emperor's New Clothes, and yet, it remains a unique story in its own devices.  The glorious, delicious descriptions of the little country of Cornucopia are as sweet and warming as morning sunshine after a long, cold night.

As I listen to Stephen Fry narrate on Audible, I feel gratitude for such warm, wonderful acting talent. Fry, as always, is flawless in every role, every voice, every character. He is the most marvelous of storytellers, while Rowling is the most magical of tale weavers or yarn spinners. 

I will also purchase the bound copy of the book. I normally read each book on my own first, before listening or watching someone else's interpretation of a story, but when I saw that Fry was narrating, I had to listen to his rich voice immediately.

Anyone who has known me knows that I'm a fan of the fairytale genre. I'm sure there are more than a few early blogs on the importance of fairytales and what they bring to our understanding of the world. C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien , and G. K. Chesterton wrote of the value of fairytales as literature, so I won't go on.

So, for J.K. Rowling’s critics who say this fairytale is too dark or heavy or frightening for small children, I say you don’t understand the purpose of fairy tales in the first place.  Fairy tales have the ability to convey hard truths to children in a way which is less frightening than hearing the evening news or some juicy bit of gossip about someone who died in a car accident or hearing of wars and mass deaths due to a global pandemic.   Why?  Because those true stories do not provide a buffer in a way a fairy tale can.  The best fairy stories always begin by distancing the reader from the harshness of reality now...”Once upon a time, in a land far, far away” or “Long, long ago in a distant land...”

And yet at the same time, fairy stories may provide “whole worlds of experience” to young readers or listeners (C. S. Lewis).  To be clear, Rowling does not go into gory detail on how people die.  The deaths are not graphic as some critics would lead one to believe.  But death and avarice and power- grubbing, abusive, manipulative people do exist in real life.  These almost comical,  yet thoroughly despicable characters are one way to teach children that NOT ALL adults are to be trusted. Then whom should children trust?  Ask any small child to tell you which characters in this story are good.  They know.  Children are not dummies.  This humorous tale teaches those eternal qualities of forgiveness, kindness, justice, loyalty, compassion, solidarity, hard work, honesty, courage, and humility.

So, if you do get a chance to read or listen to this tale, I hope you find it as delightful as I did.

Anyhoo, hope you are finding things to celebrate today. Today, I celebrate fairytales!!