O Bonny Bull

[poliphilo]

I read Treacle Walker. And then I read it again to make sure I'd got the hang of it. Next I re-read Thursbitch but I'm not sure I've entirely got the hang of it even now. It's a difficult book- what with Garner's refusal to state a thing outright when a hint will do, it's fractured and half understood mythology (indo-European bull worship with later, local accretions) and the fact that much of the dialogue is written in his guess at an 18th century Cheshire dialect. I wouldn't claim it's his masterpiece (though it might be) but of all his books it's the one that's worked its way furthest under my skin.