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booklover_bev's review against another edition
5.0
Fascinating descriptions of the people who inhabit the fictional village of Greenvoe as they go about their daily lives. You find yourself totally immersed in the goings-on of the village and forget about the plot - this is written in George Mackay Brown's beautiful, poetic style, with wonderful descriptions of the Orkney landscape, the sea and weather, the clouds, and the rain. His descriptions of the characters range from witty to sad, but never unkind, and these are people you care about as much as the author does.
This is a lovely book, beautifully written and filled with fascinating characters.
This is a lovely book, beautifully written and filled with fascinating characters.
pierreikonnikov's review
3.0
This is a good novel, but not a great one. Where it succeeds without doubt is in its characters; the people of the piece emerge fully-formed and completely visible, even though Mackay Brown provide little to no physical description of them. The sense of place is another real strength, and the connection these people have with the sea around them and the island of Hellya is palpable and clearly based on the author's lifetime of experience.
The only thing stopping me from rating this book higher is the narrative. For the first few days of the week, the narrative is very gentle, and what emerges is a kind of landscape painting of Greenvoe, a realist documentary of the goings-on and the inhabitants. The third day, written as a letter, is weaker than the other days, because the author adopts the style of an overly-verbose purple prosist, which detracts enormously from the enjoyment of the book. However the final day, with the evictions and Operation Black Star, is completely out of place. I understand what the author is trying to do; but there are better ways of doing it. I feel that the novel would have been far more successful as either a complete slow landscape study of Greenvoe, or a more immediate depiction of its forced eviction; but mashing the two together unfortunately hasn't worked. One feels the novel has not been utterly destroyed, but merely let down by the ending, and it deserved better.
Aside from this issue, this is a good novel. It is very well written, and Mackay Brown's experience as a poet is evident in his knowledge of when to hold back in the style, and when to turn it up. The chronological narrative does work well, as do the almost cinematic cuts between characters and points of view. This is an excellent and masterful view into the world of remote and minuscule settlements on the edge of the British Isles, and one that anyone interested in the Highlands and Islands would do well to read.
The only thing stopping me from rating this book higher is the narrative. For the first few days of the week, the narrative is very gentle, and what emerges is a kind of landscape painting of Greenvoe, a realist documentary of the goings-on and the inhabitants. The third day, written as a letter, is weaker than the other days, because the author adopts the style of an overly-verbose purple prosist, which detracts enormously from the enjoyment of the book. However the final day, with the evictions and Operation Black Star, is completely out of place. I understand what the author is trying to do; but there are better ways of doing it. I feel that the novel would have been far more successful as either a complete slow landscape study of Greenvoe, or a more immediate depiction of its forced eviction; but mashing the two together unfortunately hasn't worked. One feels the novel has not been utterly destroyed, but merely let down by the ending, and it deserved better.
Aside from this issue, this is a good novel. It is very well written, and Mackay Brown's experience as a poet is evident in his knowledge of when to hold back in the style, and when to turn it up. The chronological narrative does work well, as do the almost cinematic cuts between characters and points of view. This is an excellent and masterful view into the world of remote and minuscule settlements on the edge of the British Isles, and one that anyone interested in the Highlands and Islands would do well to read.
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