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tien's review against another edition
3.0
Honestly had no idea what I got myself into but it was an accessible audiobook and that otter just looks too cute! The book description was succinct but accurate. At the beginning, the author was looking for a remote location for a cottage and as he moved in to this particular place, it sounds like a great spot to be. Although pragmatic me had to chime in and say that I won't survive for long there!
2/3 of the book, however, was dedicated to his beloved pet otters. I... didn't know you could have otters as pets?! He met his first otter, Mijbil, in the Tigris and bringing him home to Scotland was a very traumatic experience (even for me, the listener!). The author did not have to transport his second otter as it was done by someone else yet it was told to the author and it was included in the book... it was just as traumatic! If you're very sensitive about animal getting hurt, I'd skip this one.
On the other hand, the author's love for nature & especially wildlife was very evident. I think anyone who ever has a pet can relate to a lot of his experiences.
2/3 of the book, however, was dedicated to his beloved pet otters. I... didn't know you could have otters as pets?! He met his first otter, Mijbil, in the Tigris and bringing him home to Scotland was a very traumatic experience (even for me, the listener!). The author did not have to transport his second otter as it was done by someone else yet it was told to the author and it was included in the book... it was just as traumatic! If you're very sensitive about animal getting hurt, I'd skip this one.
On the other hand, the author's love for nature & especially wildlife was very evident. I think anyone who ever has a pet can relate to a lot of his experiences.
hairymclary28's review against another edition
4.0
I loved this. Didn't like the way Maxwell talked about the locals (borderline contemptuous in places) and somewhat uncomfortable with his removing a wild otter from its natural habitat to turn it into a house pet but a lovely read. Great prose, funny, rosy and warm.
jupiternorth's review against another edition
4.0
This is a wonderful book, well-written, beautiful, funny, but also dark and sad. I flew through it and could easily conjure the landscape described, and loved the stories about the various wildlife. Robert McFarlane's introduction is spot-on though, this book is not just some light and hopeful nature writing at all. It seems clear to me that the only reason Maxwell wanted an otter so badly was for selfish reasons, and that thoroughly disappoints me. The casual cruelty that apparently was part and parcel in his time now seems unimaginable to me as a reader in 2021. Maxwell so desperately wanted an otter that he was fine with several cubs dying in transit - that underscores, to me, his purely selfish motivations. It is therefore a book that calls up dual feelings - on the one hand, his love for and connection with nature seems clear, while on the other there is much callous and selfish cruelty.
sierracook14's review against another edition
3.0
I just was not in the mood for this at the moment, but will keep it for future
moonsabr's review
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
A very beautiful, warmhearted book about a man and his otters. A densely written but emotionally light tale that will be sure to touch your heart when you read it. I found it especially enjoyable to relax in the backyard on a temperate weekend day with a cuppa and comb through Maxwell's prose. His attention to description, both of the emotional and the scenic Scottish countryside, lends itself to a lovely afternoon read. I would recommend this to fans of poetic classics and naturalism. Think a less philosophical, isolationist Thoreau.
kingjason's review
5.0
This is one of those tricky books to love in this world of political correctness gone mad, an Otter is a wild creature and should be left that way, ok if you rescue it but still it should be released. Gavin Maxwell was living in a different era, a time when you could buy a ring tailed lemur from Harrods for 75 quid. For him buying a baby otter and transporting it home, causing it a huge amount of stress was an obvious thing to do. What this book shows is just how much love he had for the otter and that it still had a full life in the wild...it just had somewhere cozy to come home to.
Gavin was not a people person, he was living in a remote, inaccessible, cottage where the nearest neighbours are far away. The beginning of the book describes in detail where he lives, the work to be done, the local wildlife and his wonderful dog. Once his dog has passed away Gavin struggles with the loneliness and while abroad gets his first otter. Eventually when he successfully gets an otter to the cottage, the book comes alive, Mij is a fantastic little character and his little "almost human" mannerisms make this book a joy to read. You can easily picture Mij splashing about in the bath, hunting for eels and using Gavin as a towel to dry himself. The bond between the two is incredible, the fact that they almost have a dialogue blows your mind, Mij getting Gavin to lift rocks that are too heavy was fantastic.
The book has it moments of great joy and also of great sorrow and you can't help but get swept along with Mij's life. It is a brilliant read that I recommend....would I want a pet otter? Nope, way too much maintenance....Would I wanna spend a day playing with one? Hell yeah!
Blog review: https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2019/08/25/ring-of-bright-water-by-gavin-maxwell/
Gavin was not a people person, he was living in a remote, inaccessible, cottage where the nearest neighbours are far away. The beginning of the book describes in detail where he lives, the work to be done, the local wildlife and his wonderful dog. Once his dog has passed away Gavin struggles with the loneliness and while abroad gets his first otter. Eventually when he successfully gets an otter to the cottage, the book comes alive, Mij is a fantastic little character and his little "almost human" mannerisms make this book a joy to read. You can easily picture Mij splashing about in the bath, hunting for eels and using Gavin as a towel to dry himself. The bond between the two is incredible, the fact that they almost have a dialogue blows your mind, Mij getting Gavin to lift rocks that are too heavy was fantastic.
The book has it moments of great joy and also of great sorrow and you can't help but get swept along with Mij's life. It is a brilliant read that I recommend....would I want a pet otter? Nope, way too much maintenance....Would I wanna spend a day playing with one? Hell yeah!
Blog review: https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2019/08/25/ring-of-bright-water-by-gavin-maxwell/
tony's review
4.0
I almost abandoned this after the first couple of chapters. The tale of Maxwell moving to the remove Scottish highlands (by a slightly circuitous route involving buying a whole island for an ill-fated shark-catching business venture), with only his dog for company, was pleasant enough, but generally rather dull. After reading a few reviews that said things pick up after a few chapters, I decided to stick it out a while longer. For any future readers pondering the same question, I’d like to be much more specific: Things start getting interesting in Chapter 6, and really get going in Chapter 7. Feel free to skip everything before that. You’ll miss a tiny bit of context, but the book is written by a somewhat unreliable narrator[1], and jumps about quite oddly at times anyway.
The remainder of the book, taken simply at face value, is delightful. His sheer joy at having an otter, not so much as a pet (he comes to discover rather quickly that otters aren’t like dogs: “they co-exist with humans rather than being owned by them”), but as the most important relationship in his life, is infectious, and it’s no surprise that this book seemingly created an entire generation of naturalists.
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[1] Kathleen Raine jarringly gets a one sentence passing reference half-way through that makes it clear she was a hugely important figure in the story, but otherwise is excised entirely.
The remainder of the book, taken simply at face value, is delightful. His sheer joy at having an otter, not so much as a pet (he comes to discover rather quickly that otters aren’t like dogs: “they co-exist with humans rather than being owned by them”), but as the most important relationship in his life, is infectious, and it’s no surprise that this book seemingly created an entire generation of naturalists.
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[1] Kathleen Raine jarringly gets a one sentence passing reference half-way through that makes it clear she was a hugely important figure in the story, but otherwise is excised entirely.
skyereads's review
4.0
Three years ago when I first visited Scotland I watched the wonderful (if more fictional) adaptation of this book. So of course I couldn't resist picking up a beautiful 1961 copy when I saw it in Oxfam books, Stirling. The illustrations and photos are priceless - do not get a copy without them! I have to preface the fact that I love this book (and the film) to bits by stating that it has not aged well in terms of ethics towards animals. I do not excuse it for this, Maxwell was writing in the 1950s not the 1850s and should have known better. It is still an incredible insight into the behavior of otters and life in a remote West Highland cottage. Very easy and pleasurable to read.
(p.s. It rewards reading in the bath)
(p.s. It rewards reading in the bath)
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