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ejordan24's review against another edition
4.0
I truly appreciate this complimentary copy of The Frost on His Shoulders by Lorenzo Mediano sent to me by Goodreads First Reads. This is a story of the intense love between Ramon, a poor shepherd and Alba, the daughter of a rich landowner. The extreme measures Ramon took to cross well-defined class boundaries were quite gripping and kept me constantly "on the edge of my seat". The author's elaborate details describing the region and the people were particularly well-written. However, I thought that these "long-winded" details were sometimes a bit distracting to the story. In this story the worst human attributes seemed to prevail which led to a bloody, horrendous outcome. However, the author leaves the reader with hope that good ultimately will triumph.
whats_margaret_reading's review against another edition
3.0
I was provided a copy for review by Europa Editions through the GoodReads First Reads program. It is much appreciated!
Lorenzo Mediano's The Frost on His Shoulders (trans. Lisa Dillman) is the recounting of events in a mountain village in the Pyrenees by the local school teacher. These events are controversial: love across social class in a land- and inheritance-obsessed village, where grudges and feuds last for generations. The unnamed school teacher's student, Ramon, falls in love with Alba, the daughter (and only child) of a wealthy land owner. Desperation, separation by a parental authority, and violence all ensue.
To be blut, this is a plot we've all read before. There aren't any particularly striking new twists to the narrative, nor are they any cute re-imaginings to this basic plot line. We know where it's going from the beginning, and an intelligent reader with pick up on it from reading the front flap description of the novel.
What saves this novel is the distinctive narrative voice of the school teacher, who is from the city unlike many of the participants in the story. He chooses to interpret these events through the lens of the atmosphere of tumultuous early 20th-cenntry Spain. A working man challenges land-ownership, and the reactions of the various houses/families are interpreted through a political lens. The descriptions and appreciation for the landscape in which this novel is set also comes through. While I'm unsure at what the book jacket designers meant when adding that this novel is a "gripping work of eco-fiction", the landscape proves to be a driving force in the villagers lives. The quality of the language (which being a novel in translation means that the translator gets some credit for this as well) is exemplarily as usual from an Europa Editions publication. There is also some originality in the motivation for the teacher retelling this story. The spark for the retelling is not in itself romantic. Instead, he's reacting to a newspaper article written about Ramon and Alba with which the villagers disagree. This kind of framing is intriguing, and the reader never gets to read the article for themselves (leaving the reader in the hands of a possibly unreliable narrator).
Overall, with a well worn plot, this novel manages to come off with some degree of originality from the framing and narration. It's not the best and most original thing I've ever read, but I wouldn't mind sitting down with the schoolteacher from Biescas de Obago to see what other stories he has to tell.
Lorenzo Mediano's The Frost on His Shoulders (trans. Lisa Dillman) is the recounting of events in a mountain village in the Pyrenees by the local school teacher. These events are controversial: love across social class in a land- and inheritance-obsessed village, where grudges and feuds last for generations. The unnamed school teacher's student, Ramon, falls in love with Alba, the daughter (and only child) of a wealthy land owner. Desperation, separation by a parental authority, and violence all ensue.
To be blut, this is a plot we've all read before. There aren't any particularly striking new twists to the narrative, nor are they any cute re-imaginings to this basic plot line. We know where it's going from the beginning, and an intelligent reader with pick up on it from reading the front flap description of the novel.
What saves this novel is the distinctive narrative voice of the school teacher, who is from the city unlike many of the participants in the story. He chooses to interpret these events through the lens of the atmosphere of tumultuous early 20th-cenntry Spain. A working man challenges land-ownership, and the reactions of the various houses/families are interpreted through a political lens. The descriptions and appreciation for the landscape in which this novel is set also comes through. While I'm unsure at what the book jacket designers meant when adding that this novel is a "gripping work of eco-fiction", the landscape proves to be a driving force in the villagers lives. The quality of the language (which being a novel in translation means that the translator gets some credit for this as well) is exemplarily as usual from an Europa Editions publication. There is also some originality in the motivation for the teacher retelling this story. The spark for the retelling is not in itself romantic. Instead, he's reacting to a newspaper article written about Ramon and Alba with which the villagers disagree. This kind of framing is intriguing, and the reader never gets to read the article for themselves (leaving the reader in the hands of a possibly unreliable narrator).
Overall, with a well worn plot, this novel manages to come off with some degree of originality from the framing and narration. It's not the best and most original thing I've ever read, but I wouldn't mind sitting down with the schoolteacher from Biescas de Obago to see what other stories he has to tell.
mibramowitz's review against another edition
4.0
This book is so atmospheric. It focuses wonderfully on the details and intricacies of a small town in the Pyrenees, where, as the narrator says, "nothing ever happens."
maxwelldunn's review against another edition
4.0
At first glance, Mediano's The Frost on His Shoulders is a short & simple story of two young lovers destined to be kept apart yet determined to be together. It's set in the Pyrenees Mountains in the 1930's, and Mediano brings to life the harsh, yet beautiful setting: the vertiginous cliffsides, bountiful forests and grazing flocks of sheep and cattle. Then, juxtaposing the natural world's unrelenting force with the rivalry of poor & rich houses in this isolated community, Mediano expands the story to comment on so much more than meets the eye. It's at once a natural, political and social commentary on the power of love and communal silence. I found myself engrossed, and at under 150 pages, it's a read that you'll be able to get through quite easily. Looking forward to checking out more of Mediano's work.
gum1311by's review
5.0
A beautiful tale so well written in so few pages. Once you start it you will keep on going to the very end.
vkemp's review
3.0
A fusion of a traditional folk tale with political allegory, set in rural Spain during the time of the Spanish Civil War. Biesco de Obago is a small village in the Spanish Pyrenees, where a shepherd named Ramon falls in love with the daughter of a prominent land-owner. Ramon turns to smuggling to earn enough money to declare his love and claim his beloved's hand. Emotions can run high in isolated villages, barren of other entertainment where feuds can endure for a long time. Ramon's smuggling also serves to make him an outcast from his fellow peasants, who resent his new-found wealth. Long-standing conflicts come to a head, this short tale is filled with derring-do and passion. A bit too literary for my taste, but I am notoriously plebian in my reading choice.
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