The owl and his boy

Samenvatting

THE OWL AND HIS BOY (REVIEWED) Star of this novel for children aged eight to eighty is a Great Horned Owl, who has mysteriously taken up residence in woodland one mile from an English country house generations ago turned into a prep school. Owl is of the opinion that, if our beautiful planet is to be saved, then humanity must be destroyed. Being, however, despite his indictments, benevolent, he has decided to give us One Last Chance and that Last Chance takes the flesh and form of an eleven-year-old child in the school, whom Owl, with the help of the school cat, is awakening to his vocation. This involves Owl managing the school, flying in and out of its windows, telephoning the headmaster with his enigmatic instructions . . . Gradually it dawns on us Who Owl Is as understanding ... grows in The Boy, despite the best efforts of his pet mouse to prevent him being taken in by what Mouse considers to be Madness. Certainly the headmaster feels he is slowly being driven insane, as he finds himself increasingly marginalized by the campaign of Owl and Cat. The boys react to all this as if it were just another day at school. Adults, after all, can be expected to behave in ways bizarre and if an Owl and a Cat and One of their number join in then the more fun for them, with lessons cancelled for impromptu theatricals . . . Not only, as we read, do we realise the True Identity of the dramatis personae, we also begin to appreciate we are absorbing notes on philosophy and psychoanalysis (not to forget cosmology!) as well as enjoying a work of literature; indeed, the thought occurred to me the book might be a lost Gnostic Gospel were it not so filled with the spirit of Zen! There is, then, something here for just about everyone especially those who care for the welfare of our trashed planet. The poetry and wit of the prose, its lightness-of-touch, are matched by Marcel Zalmes numerous illustrations making the book a wonder to hold and behold. Lionel Johnson - U S A