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heeblaura's review
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
maireadreads's review
5.0
Wow wow wow. This may be the most underrated book in Scottish Literature. This is Sunset Song written from the perspective of a woman four years before Sunset Song was published. The fact that Nan Shepherd does not get half of the credit that Lewis Grassic Gibbon does is frankly criminal.
The Quarry Wood follows Martha Ironside, a young woman who is struggling to find her place in the world. She battles with her conflicting emotions and intellectual challenges in this novel of identity, maturity and independence.
I was completely captivated by this novel. From the poetic prose to the engaging dialogue and the vivid portrayal of everyday life and language in a flourishing North East farming village in the 1920s. Also loved the fact that I was reading about the university buildings that I visit daily.
10/10 best book I’ve been assigned on my Masters course so far.
The Quarry Wood follows Martha Ironside, a young woman who is struggling to find her place in the world. She battles with her conflicting emotions and intellectual challenges in this novel of identity, maturity and independence.
I was completely captivated by this novel. From the poetic prose to the engaging dialogue and the vivid portrayal of everyday life and language in a flourishing North East farming village in the 1920s. Also loved the fact that I was reading about the university buildings that I visit daily.
10/10 best book I’ve been assigned on my Masters course so far.
simonko's review
2.0
whats the point of writing the dialogue in some old scottish dialect if you actually want the readerto know what the characters are talking about??
schopflin's review
3.0
This is probably 3.5. I enjoyed it and thought it very well-written but I didn't love it.
bluejay21's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
actualspinster's review against another edition
5.0
i found this book profoundly beautiful in parts & infinitely (and weirdly i suppose) affirming in some womanly or spinsterish or quiet way. perhaps it is a five star read and not a five star book? i dont think it's that ~good but at the same time my experience with it was breathtaking.
lonely passionate women for ever
lonely passionate women for ever
sennenrose's review
3.0
I wanted desperately to love this book. The beginning of it confused me and disturbed me a little, and it took me a while to continue with it. There were parts of it I loved - the love triangle, the descriptions of Martha’s pursuit of knowledge and the ending, but I had expected it to have a warm, Anne of Green Gables energy to it, and it just...didn’t? That might be a me and my expectations problem rather than an issue with Nan Shepherd, who was a beautiful writer. I particularly found Emmeline cold and unlikable, although I wonder if maybe that was because a lot of the dialect went over my head? The chapters where Martha sleeps outside were gorgeous. I am going to read more of Shepherd’s work, and I have recommended it to some friends who I think will love it with their whole hearts, I just don’t.
1siobhan's review
5.0
Feminism, modernism, nature - young Martha is torn between her rural upbringing and her love for knowledge and education. She wants to go to university, yet she cannot leave her family's farm altogether. How will her intellectual drive and her traditional background go together? And what about Luke who intrigues and intellectually challenges her? I quite liked this novel, it was odd in some places, but the Scots was beautiful and it reminded me of Virginia Woolf. Five Stars.
kingjason's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting story, at times it is beautifully written when the landscape is being described, but it feels lacking the rest of the time.
A lot of the conversation in this book has been written with a thick Scottish accent and was fascinating to read, at times I had to get my wife to translate some parts but overall I managed to follow it ok.
I only read this book as I wanted to read the living mountain but the library only had this book by Nan Shepherd. I am glad I gave it a go as it hints at the living mountain as being a very good book.
A lot of the conversation in this book has been written with a thick Scottish accent and was fascinating to read, at times I had to get my wife to translate some parts but overall I managed to follow it ok.
I only read this book as I wanted to read the living mountain but the library only had this book by Nan Shepherd. I am glad I gave it a go as it hints at the living mountain as being a very good book.