There are three characters in this novel. The first is Treacle Walker, a rag and bone man who visits the other main character. Joe is a small boy who lives alone and has a lazy eye. Thin Amren is a character who seems to be spiritual; a creature who lives in the nearby bog.

Joe wants Treacle Walker to help him make the world make sense. He wants a cure for his eye and for his vision to be perfect. Treacle gives him gifts and some allow Joe to see Thin Amren and help him while others take him into other dimensions. Joe also is interested in marbles and comics. His comics often come to life, making them surreal to Joe.

This short novel was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. It is full of imagery and nonsense terms. Alan Garner, who is in his late eighties, is known for his works of fantasy and the use of English folklore in his works. There can be much discussion about what is meant by the various characters and their traits. Joe seems to be attempting to find a vision, both his physical vision and a more poetic one that will help him interpret the world. Treacle Walker is like a favorite uncle, always teasing but indulging one's desires. This book will be discussed for many years and is recommended for readers of literary fiction.

The stories are rife with hard-hitting themes and complex complicated characters. You would think this would be the perfect type of book for me. It wasn’t but I didn’t dnf and that says something.

Alan Garner is a living legend. Having said that, this book is a minor offering. While rich in imagery and language, it’s a short and lightweight addition to the oeuvre. Hate to give it a moderate score. Read the earlier books.

I didn’t get it.

I’m sorry - I really tried. The writing was very poetic but used a lot of slang and terminology that I didn’t understand. The story wasn’t linear and didn’t make sense. I’m usually a big fan of quirky, unconventional writing but I really could not get into it.

Thank you to NetGalley, Alan Gardner, and Scribner for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

… I have no idea what the heck happened in this book. I tried really hard to make sense of the whimsy and nonsense I was reading in order to enjoy the story, but I found it absolutely impossible.

n this strange short novel, a young boy - Joe Coppock - lives a lonely and seemingly unsupervised existence. He wears an eye patch to correct his “lazy eye” and his days are filled with reading comics and time is marked by a noon-time train “Noony.” One day a rag-and-bone man (with the glorious name Treacle Walker) arrives in a horse-drawn cart in Joe’s yard. The language, the horse-drawn cart, the train, the comics, all make it difficult to identify a time period - and that’s part of the point.

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DNF. I felt like I was reading The Canterbury Tales as told by The Riddler. The writing was beautiful, but a bit too "10th grade English class seminar" for my liking.

This was an ARC I received in exchange for a review. Joseph Coppock is a young man with a small, well defined world: he collects birds eggs for his museum, marbles, and reads comic books. All that changes when he meets Treacle Walker, a rag man, and maybe something more. When Walker lets Joe exchange items for something from his cabinet, Joe's world changes forever. What is the difference betwen sight and seeing? How do we know a dream from reality? Are we a dream that just believes we are real? The book is based on ancient folklore and the belief that magic is everywhere, changing our perspectives and changing our realities, or at least what we perceive them to be. Do we truly live in one dimension, or can we move from one to another. Is time linear or fluid? Garner's writing style is wonderful, lyrical, and just short of poetry. But because of the our modern context and language this book can be difficult to read and even having read it, I'm not sure I really understood everything in it. I took two messages from it: be careful what you ask for, you might get it, and everything changes, with time, with perspective and with our own personal growth.

I read this in one day and loved it. There is so much packed I to these 78 pages that it feels like a book about life and choices. I feel this is one of those books you can read and reread many times and it will have different messages each time. I can see why it won the Man Booker Prize. I read a NetGalley copy of this book.

This story was entertaining as well as a novel experience. As a reader of mythology and fae lore, this was a wonderful diversion. While I think that readers not familiar with terms like the sight or ideas of fae vision may be turned off by the intricacy of the story, I found it both entertaining and intriguing.

This very short book by Alan Garner was nominated for the Booker Prize, which is why I wanted to read it. Since I did not really understand it, it is very difficult and maybe unfair to give it a rating.

I did understand that it was about a sick boy living in a house, who meets some sort of magical peddler. He then experiences many strange and dream-like episodes that certainly represent some deep symbolic ideas with connections to British folklore or something similar. I did not understand most of the references and the dialog was perhaps a representation of some British dialect, so most of this tale went way over my head I'm sorry to say.

Thanks NetGalley for letting me read this strange book, I might just give it a second try at some point with a dictionary beside me.

Alan Garner is always so interesting and perplexing. I read his books for the fun writing and to see what strange world Garner would show me. I was not disappointed. Which is not to say I have a strong idea of what Garner is after here. But that's, for me, much of the fun. I want to keep reading more and more closely to figure out how the main character, Joe, interacts with his world -- and just what the world is like. And then, just what does that mean for me.

This would be very frustrating if Garner couldn't entice me with his beautiful writing, which is fun to read out loud and which evokes a world of light and shadows I wanted to poke around in.

I'm so glad this book is coming out in the US, and this will be a lovely edition.

"Treacle Walker" is a fascinating and thought-provoking novel by acclaimed author Alan Garner. The book is a unique blend of science fiction, fantasy, and social commentary, and takes readers on a journey through time and space that challenges their perceptions of reality.

The protagonist of the story, Jack Tufton, is a troubled young man who is drawn into a mysterious world of time travel and alternate realities. As he navigates this strange new world, Jack must confront his own inner demons and come to terms with the choices he has made in his life.

Garner's writing is both lyrical and evocative, painting a vivid picture of the world that Jack inhabits. The characters are complex and multi-dimensional, and the plot is full of unexpected twists and turns that keep the reader guessing until the very end.

What sets "Treacle Walker" apart from other science fiction and fantasy novels is its profound social commentary. Through the use of allegory and metaphor, Garner explores themes of identity, responsibility, and the consequences of our actions. The book is a powerful reminder of the impact that our choices can have on ourselves and the world around us.

Overall, "Treacle Walker" is a captivating and thought-provoking novel that will stay with readers long after they have finished reading it. Garner's unique blend of science fiction, fantasy, and social commentary make this a must-read for fans of the genre. Highly recommended!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGallery for this ARC.

This was a quirky, odd little novella in a folktale style, where a young boy named Joe meets a rag and bone man named Treacle Walker and magical adventures ensue. I'm always up for a good fairy or folktale, and this certainly was that. I applied for the ARC because this book was shortlisted for the Booker prize. It was enjoyable, but I gathered from reading other reviews that it was more so if the reader was familiar with the rest of the author's work prior to reading, which I was not. The dialect was difficult to get past in places, but I enjoyed the overall story.

I haven't read any of Alan Garner's works before this, and so I found this to be a good introduction. The imagery and characters in this story are archaic, magical and quirky, and are imbued with folklore and references to the author's own life. This charming tale is a meditation on the concept of time; it explores the tendency for time to move yet seems to remain still. I might have appreciated this story a little more if I had more knowledge of Garner, but it also makes me curious to delve deeper into his works.

4/5 - This is certainly something

There is a good chance you will be confused while reading this. That is not inherently a bad thing. This brief novel plays with folklore and colloquial, musical prose to create a darkly magical tale with a surprisingly delightful vibe. It is a children's fairytale for adults, and a rare type of story from an author with an award-worthy career.

Oh how I loved this book. I love any of the authors books and this one was great. A must Read for anyone.

So you take Charles de Lint and Neil Gaiman, and their various fellows, but you give them eighty years to grow up, as Garner did, on a 400 year old family holding in Alderley Edge in Cheshire. Use all of that time and life experience to soak up every bit of magic and wonder and nature wisdom. Add academic rigor, whimsy, vast knowledge of folk tales and legends, and a preternatural ability to sense and express the fantastical possibilities of edges, and veils, and portals. What you get is a book like this - not with a plot, but with spirit and wisdom and humor and a sense of something grand and natural. Satisfying, comforting, and important.

This book is delightfully weird. It was hard to follow at times and the words were not very approachable for the average reader. I recommend googling a lot of the terms…