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andrewspink's review
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
3.0
This book wasn't what I expected. I thought it was going to be mostly about the nature and landscape of Exmoor. There is certainly an element of that, but it is actually mostly about a local man, Ralph Collard. Nevertheless, it is an interesting story and certainly gives something of the flavour of the local culture.
The book is written in the first person. That would be fine, but it is not an autobiography, but a biography, so that comes across as a bit strange. What is more, according to the preface, it is not a biography but a 'portrait'. That means that it has an unreliable narrator (in that sense, that does fit with a first-person narrative). That does make the book difficult to interpret. How much exaggeration is there in all the tall stories in the first half? I don't know that I really believe the story of his father cutting the tree down, for example. How complete is the transformation from poacher to conservationist? We don't know. It is, thankfully, not the case that the book is a hagiography. It is quite clear that the protagonist's troubles are in part brought on by his own actions, and it is also obvious that he was lacking in social skills.
It is written mostly in normal English, but with some dialogue with dialect mixed in. That seemed a bit random (why are some bits in dialect and others not?), but on the whole added to the local flavour. Occasionally, there are fragments rather than sentences, and I wasn't sure if those were bits that needed editing or also meant to be dialect. There are also some errors; Ernest Bevin was born in 1881, not 1804, for instance. Maybe those will be cleared up by the publication release (I am reviewing a pre-publication copy).
The book is not written in chronological structure, although each chapter is clearly labelled with its date. I didn't find that the hopping about in time helped me. Interspersed between the chapters are pages with key environmental facts like rising carbon dioxide concentrations and biodiversity reductions. It was not entirely clear to me how they fitted with the rest of the book. Are they statements related to the actions of the protagonist's father and his own actions in his early years? Parallels between the destruction of individuals and the destruction of the natural world? Placing the biodiversity reduction of Devon in an international context? I didn't really get it.
In summary, the book took some getting into but it was an interesting read about a man who was certainly an exceptional character.
This review is based on a pre-publication copy of the book kindly provided by the publisher in return for an honest review, via the NetGalley platform.
The book is written in the first person. That would be fine, but it is not an autobiography, but a biography, so that comes across as a bit strange. What is more, according to the preface, it is not a biography but a 'portrait'. That means that it has an unreliable narrator (in that sense, that does fit with a first-person narrative). That does make the book difficult to interpret. How much exaggeration is there in all the tall stories in the first half? I don't know that I really believe the story of his father cutting the tree down, for example. How complete is the transformation from poacher to conservationist? We don't know. It is, thankfully, not the case that the book is a hagiography. It is quite clear that the protagonist's troubles are in part brought on by his own actions, and it is also obvious that he was lacking in social skills.
It is written mostly in normal English, but with some dialogue with dialect mixed in. That seemed a bit random (why are some bits in dialect and others not?), but on the whole added to the local flavour. Occasionally, there are fragments rather than sentences, and I wasn't sure if those were bits that needed editing or also meant to be dialect. There are also some errors; Ernest Bevin was born in 1881, not 1804, for instance. Maybe those will be cleared up by the publication release (I am reviewing a pre-publication copy).
The book is not written in chronological structure, although each chapter is clearly labelled with its date. I didn't find that the hopping about in time helped me. Interspersed between the chapters are pages with key environmental facts like rising carbon dioxide concentrations and biodiversity reductions. It was not entirely clear to me how they fitted with the rest of the book. Are they statements related to the actions of the protagonist's father and his own actions in his early years? Parallels between the destruction of individuals and the destruction of the natural world? Placing the biodiversity reduction of Devon in an international context? I didn't really get it.
In summary, the book took some getting into but it was an interesting read about a man who was certainly an exceptional character.
This review is based on a pre-publication copy of the book kindly provided by the publisher in return for an honest review, via the NetGalley platform.
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