In my quest to read all of Diana Wynne Jones’s books in one year, this month I read Archer’s Goon, The Skiver’s Guide, and Fire and Hemlock!
I was especially excited to read The Skiver’s Guide, which I had never read before! And (so far) Archer’s Goon remains my favorite standalone of her work. It’s just so good.
Archer’s Goon (1984)
When Howard and his younger sister get home from school, there’s a large man sitting in their kitchen refusing to leave, because he says their dad owes something to Archer. The gradual discovery of what this means is truly a thrilling ride.
This time around, I noticed how many features of Archer’s Goon correspond to earlier books by Diana Wynne Jones. My editor pointed out to me that Archer’s Goon has the classic Diana Wynne Jones situation of someone we meet turning out to be a “missing” person with a different identity. While we see that as early as Wilkin’s Tooth, it really shows up in force here! Also like Wilkin’s Tooth, Archer’s Goon also has two siblings going around town, talking to several varieties of people, and getting them to agree to things. I’m realizing that this is a mode for Diana Wynne Jones’s work that I enjoy, a kind of kids’ noir.
And like Witch Week and Homeward Bounders, which are both also favorites of mine, Archer’s Goon first presents child protagonists doing their best to escape a problem, eventually realizing that it is their responsibility (however unfairly) to solve the problem. And finally, just like in The Spellcoats, much of the plot hinges on how telling a story can make it true.
The Skiver’s Guide (also 1984!)
The Skiver’s Guide is a satirical self-help book about how to get out of doing whatever it is you don’t want to do. It is short and fabulous. I, a person who regularly volunteers to do things because I feel like they should get done, learned a lot. And honestly, it is significantly less condescending than various actual self-help books I’ve stopped reading.
It was also fun to read in the context of Diana Wynne Jones’s other work. For instance, the protagonist of Archer’s Goon is an excellent skiver with a masterful technique for avoiding practicing the violin, and I had just been impressed by that the week before. Reading The Skiver’s Guide gave me a new perspective on that technique.
The Skiver’s Guide is difficult to find, so you may need to put off doing the dishes, your homework, or the laundry in order to devote time to tracking down a copy.
Fire and Hemlock (1985)
You know, it’s just not my favorite. We first meet Polly, at age 19, realizing that she has a disturbing set of double memories. Much of the book is her digging down into events starting when she was ten years old, trying to recreate the version of her own past that had been hidden from her. That premise is great, and Diana Wynne Jones handles it deftly. The past she uncovers is a magical-tinged friendship with an adult man she feels she needs to rescue. As she figures out the supernatural forces at work, she realizes her own role in the danger he faces, and that she is now, at 19, called upon to put herself in harm’s way on his behalf.
Based explicitly on the stories of Tam Lin and Thomas the Rhymer, Polly’s story has a lot going for it from a literary perspective. But any recommendation or praise for it has to come with a lot of caveats because of the positive depiction of a growing “romance” between an adult and a child. Polly’s friendship with Tom is mostly when she is ages 10-13. On the page, when Polly is underage she has a crush on Tom, who consistently treats her kindly and with respect. The idea of a romantic relationship between them doesn’t occur until she is 19.
However, it’s difficult for me to read this book now, about forty years after it was written, and not see it as a positive (and, I assume, unintentional) portrayal of grooming, regardless of how that friendship would have been perceived at the time. I feel the same way about Mr. Knightly and Emma Wodehouse, so this issue is not confined to Diana Wynne Jones.
I just had a conversation with another fan who said this was the only one of Diana Wynne Jones’s books she actively disliked! I will, of course, report back on whether that is true for me at the end of of the readthrough.
If you’d like to read along with me, my schedule is here! Howl’s Moving Castle, A Tale of Time City, The Lives of Christopher Chant, and Wild Robert are up next.
Custom images for this series are by Marnanel Thurman.
