Review: At the Back of the North Wind (novel)

Well, here's the last review of 2018. How time flies!

At the Back of the North Wind is an 1871 children's book by George MacDonald. It revolves around a little boy named Diamond, who meets the North Wind and goes on adventures with her.

The first half of this story is very good, and reminds me a lot of Narnia. (Probably not a coincidence, because C. S. Lewis admired George MacDonald's works.) Diamond's travels with the North Wind are fascinating, and so are many of their conversations. The scene where North Wind has to sink a ship, and her explanation of why, is especially thought-provoking.

But then North Wind almost disappears from the story, and it becomes... frankly, rather dull. Diamond, after his trip to the back of the North Wind, comes perilously close to being the sort of soppy, impossibly perfect child who is all too common in Victorian children's literature. And the poems and frequent dream sequences left me feeling like I was reading Alice in Wonderland without the Wonderland.

I was amused by the bit near the end, where the author appears as a character in the book -- a fairly likeable background character, not an obnoxious main character like in certain modern novels (*cough*Twilight*cough*). And I wasn't expecting the end at all. It's left ambiguous if Diamond is actually dead or if he's gone to the back of the North Wind again, but it's strongly implied that North Wind is, among other things, a personification of Death, so who knows 🤷

I can't help feeling a bit disappointed that so little of the book is actually about North Wind. But children for years have loved this book, so maybe I was too old to properly enjoy it when I first read it.

Is it available online?: Yes, on Gutenberg.

Rating: 5/10.