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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
medium-paced
I'm not sure what to make of Elmet. It's an odd book, set in the rural English countryside, and told from the point of view of a boy growing up, who has an older sister and a father who is living off the grid. They've built a house in a quiet copse and are living close to nature, poaching a bit, trading for other things. Daniel's father is a large man who earned money for a time beating up men, some in illegal prize fights, others for wealthy men willing to pay. It's not long before their quiet life is threatened.
There's an overwhelming sense of peril shadowing this novel. Fiona Mozley does a brilliant job of both describing the natural world and of hinting at the danger to come. This isn't a book that obeys the usual patterns and if you need to have all your questions answered by the end of a novel, you may want to skip this one. But if you enjoy well-written novels that do things differently, you'll like Elmet.
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Very difficult for me to read. A story about inevitable tragedy. Clearly the innocent will be punished. Hard to push my way through this sad tale.
Still, well written and beautifully captures the sound and feel of life in this place.
Still, well written and beautifully captures the sound and feel of life in this place.
Elmet is an amazingly evocative novel about nostalgia, community, gender and expectation. It's a novel with a stunning sense of place and an almost otherworldly feel, like a time out of time, which by its existence acts as a critique agains that kind of time and if it ever having existed. The writing s incredibly good and the characters are rich and likeable with strong voices.
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Auch wenn das Buch zwischendurch Längen hatte war es doch insgesamt eine gute Lektüre, die im Verlauf immer weiter an Fahrt aufnahm. Man konnte sich das Umfeld und die handelnden Personen sehr gut vorstellen, so plastisch erzählt Mozley.
There's something distinctly mesmerising and captivating about this novel. Maybe it's the lyrical prose. Maybe it's the wonderfully picturesque setting of the woods of Yorkshire, juxtaposed with the grim landscape of the human psyche. Maybe it's the almost fantastical way in which the events are presented. It could be the heapings of noir atmosphere that just ooze out of the novel. It could be the intriguing characters, about which we learn tantalisingly little
However it is managed, I would probably recommend this book to just about anyone who enjoys literature, it's really good. The narrative has weight, momentum, and a feel of almost inevitability about it that really keeps the novel rolling, even though there is very little actually going on for most of the book. It is beautifully parochial and thoroughly infused with a deep love of the Yorkshire countryside and life. Pretty sure I had kids like Daniel & Cathy at my school (or at the very least, they would be perfect side characters in an episode of Happy Valley)! The dialect is well represented, too.
It loses a star for veering into slightly unbelievable territory towards the end, for the almost half-hearted interludes set chronologically slightly after the end of the main narrative, and for some unnecessarily verbose dialogue which took me out of a few moments.
Great book!
However it is managed, I would probably recommend this book to just about anyone who enjoys literature, it's really good. The narrative has weight, momentum, and a feel of almost inevitability about it that really keeps the novel rolling, even though there is very little actually going on for most of the book. It is beautifully parochial and thoroughly infused with a deep love of the Yorkshire countryside and life. Pretty sure I had kids like Daniel & Cathy at my school (or at the very least, they would be perfect side characters in an episode of Happy Valley)! The dialect is well represented, too.
It loses a star for veering into slightly unbelievable territory towards the end, for the almost half-hearted interludes set chronologically slightly after the end of the main narrative, and for some unnecessarily verbose dialogue which took me out of a few moments.
Great book!