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Colfer and Benedictus are rewarded for their courage

Eoin Colfer and David Benedictus both deserve medals for bravery. In having the pluck to step into the shoes of the national treasure’s that are Douglas Adams and AA Milne they have put themselves on a pedestal that people were trying to knock them off before they had even written a word. William Horwood (Kenneth Grahame) and Brandon Sanderson (Robert Jordan) must surely know what difficulties both these authors must have faced.

And Another Thing… and Return to the Hundred Acre Wood were released on the 11th and 5th of October respectively and we take a look at how they have been received.

We will start with David Benedictus’s Return to Hundred Acre Wood. Philip Womack, of the Daily Telegraph, was charmed by a new addition to the Winnie the Pooh saga:

“The introduction of a new character is sure to ruffle some feathers, but Lottie the Otter is an aristocratic, vain, mouth-organ playing creature who doesn’t feel as if she was made up by a committee to compensate for the lack of female characters. The only thing missing from this delightful sequel is the poetry. This book is a joyful and apt addition to the Pooh saga.”

Neville Hawcock of The Financial Times says:

”Benedictus, a journalist and broadcaster who has dramatised Milne’s stories for radio, plainly knows his Pooh. His book captures the originals’ warm, witty, whimsical tone but also carries the narrative forward credibly. Burgess’s copious “decorations”, meanwhile, are small marvels of fidelity to the spirit and draughtsmanship of EH Shepard’s much-loved illustrations.“

Ann Thwaite of The Times is slightly more grudging in her praise:

“Return to the Hundred Acre Wood may well please children, who don’t care when or why a book was written, or who wrote it. If at times the stories seem not as good as we would like them to be, we have to admire and envy Benedictus for the way in which he tackles an impossible challenge, trying so hard to get it right. Pooh and Piglet had offered to help him to get it right, and it was Eeyore, of course, who added, “Not that you are likely to. Nobody ever does.””

So, David Benedictus appears to have achieved the nigh impossible. How has Eoin Colfer fared?

Dave Brendon, of Dave’s blog about Writing says:

”If you’re expecting the Hitchhiker’s books you know and love, that same absolutely crazy but oddly brilliant prose, then you may just be disappointed – Douglas Adams is no longer with us, folks. Nothing anyone writes will ever approach his genius. But is And Another Thing good? Is it a Hitchhiker’s book? Is it zany, hilarious, crazy and absolute fun? Definitely! Eoin did an amazing job, having such legendary boots to fill. Not only did he capture what the Hitchhiker’s Guide books represent and meant to the generations that read them, but he did it with respect and admiration for the work. This isn’t a rip-off or a regurgitation or a parody – this is Hitchhiking.”

Euan Ferguson of the Observer comments:

Within pages, it’s clear this is a triumph. Colfer has pulled off the near-impossible. It’s faithful to Adams’s humour and, more important, it’s also got his rhythm, the cadences and the footfalls that made his style so often (badly) imitated. But Colfer doesn’t shy from introducing his own brand of wit, his own complex logic confettis. It’s the work of an author who can write anyway, with a beautiful, vaulting imagination, and who obviously loves Adams’s style so much he can echo it without falsity or accidental parody. There is not a lazy sentence.”

Paul Simpson of Total Sci Fi Online thinks that:

“Unlike Devil May Care, the recent 007 novel in which Sebastian Faulks was consciously writing "as Ian Fleming", Colfer doesn’t try to imitate Adams’ style, but there is a high degree of similarity. As the book progresses, and we meet new characters, including a Vogon son and heir and the ruler of an offshoot outpost of humanity, the style becomes less Adams and more Colfer, although the Guide entries (which could have done with some pruning) maintain Adams’ slightly anarchic off-kilter view of the world. There are some clever in-jokes, and an acknowledgement upfront that this story may well be dismissed as a mere appendix to Adams’ trilogy in five parts, but there’s a good chance that Adams would have been targeting the same lunacies of everyday life that Colfer attacks in this book.”

Congratulations to both Eoin Colfer and David Benedictus who have have every right to be very proud of their efforts in producing books that are both in keeping with the original classics but done in their own inimitable style.

Related posts

• Penguin launches the official Hitchhiker’s sequel with a day long conference at the Royal Festival Hall
• Return to the Hundred Acre Wood review
• First chapter and cover of Return to the Hundred Acre Wood revealed
• And Another Thing: Penguin launch new website
• Atlantis Complex to be Artemis’s penultimate adventure, says Eoin Colfer
• Fantasy news round-up, August 2, 2010
• Eoin Colfer to headline event at the 2010 Oxfam Bookfest
• Eoin Colfer, Puffin of Puffins, turns his pen to a more adult audience
• New Winnie the Pooh animation due out in July 2011
• Eoin Colfer’s The Lords of Love fills Wexford Opera House

Posted: October 17th, 2009
Author: Lee
Categories: Douglas Adams, Eoin Colfer