600 reviews for:

Elmet

Fiona Mozley

3.78 AVERAGE

callmethebees's profile picture

callmethebees's review

5.0
challenging dark medium-paced

A strange allegory of the feudal nature of land and land ownership in the modern British era. The first third creeps along at a stultifying pace. Then appears an ostensible family of squatters or misfits choosing to live off the grid. A seemingly disconnected episode that mirrors a chunk of the movie, Rocky IV, where Rocky is getting ready to fight the Soviet boxer. Then a block of gratuitous violence to end the book. Let’s just say it was alright but I was expecting more, certainly nothing amazing.
dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Beautifully written but tends to the bleak. Packs a serious punch.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

There is some lilting, immersive prose here that brings a rural home to life, its inhabitants operating in the shadows of society. The pacing was odd for me: I feel like the latter third races through and as a result the ending feels dissatisyingly open/insufficiently lingered on. Character dynamics of Daniel, Cathy and their father are very charming despite the human complications present.
challenging dark tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

mexicanwine's review

2.0
challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
dark emotional mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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For most people, a book that reminds them of home is an instant favourite. As someone who has spent the last twenty-two years doing anything I can to get away from home, I am not one of them. But by god, this evokes Yorkshire life and firmly hammers down nearly every single reason why I was so eager to get away - the class disputes, the wreckage Margaret Thatcher's pit closing legacy left behind, the wear and tear, the casual racism. Someone commented on Goodreads to ask whether the book was set in some decaying version of the future, but nope, this is most certainly the present reality. But aside from the accurate depiction of life in the countryside outside of Doncaster and Sheffield, this book failed to leave me with any lasting impression - it was like we were watching the characters through a pane of glass. I did not care about them, or even really like them and in so many scenes, they often unintentionally left me feeling a little weirded out.

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