To be honest, I did not know what to expect from The Grass People by Kay Parley. The moment I read the short poem titled ‘Little Folks in the Grass’ at the beginning of the book, I was hooked. It is the kind of book that draws you into an embrace straight away because it piques your curiosity. It was definitely my kind off reading material in so many ways which I will tell you about in just a bit. Made my long flights to and fro from Bali almost pleasant despite the numerous delays.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kay Parley
There isn’t much that I can actually tell you about Kay Parley other than the fact that she is both an author and a journalist. That however isn’t where her proficiencies end. She is also a visual artist, a teacher and a psychiatric nurse. I had not heard of her till I picked up her book, and her writing was so poignant that I’m already scrambling to get myself a copy and one for my best friend.
The Grass People By Kay Parley
Only a fellow author can tell you how difficult it is to create a parallel world and make it entirely plausible. Kay Parley however does it with apparent ease. The Grass People by Kay Parley talks about tiny little villages of small human beings who call themselves the Grass people. Life in their village is all but idyllic since their lives are often threatened by larger creatures and the mysterious mower that could chop off a person’s head in an instant.
The Way is what they follow and Life is what they worship. It draws interesting subtext when you read it because you draw parallels with modern day religion. Anyway, I digress. As things become progressively worse in the village, one Grassman, his wife and new born son are called upon by an elf to change their way of life.
Divided across different generations and through the perspective of different Grassmen and women, Kay takes us through the generations of hardship that the grass people face. She talks about what they value most, what they fear and above all how they seek to be happy. I can’t even begin to describe the numerous layers that the book holds on descriptive terms, emotional terms and just the flow of the story.
To say that I loved The Grass People by Kay Parley is an understatement. It is one of the books that I have to add to my personal collection of hard copies and one that I would give out as a gift. In fact, I would go as far as to say that even though I have read a number of books in the past few weeks, this one is the one I enjoyed the most!
Have you got your copy of The Grass People yet? If you haven’t I strongly suggest that you do!
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**Globetrove received an advance reader copy of the book from NetGalley to review. All opinions are our own