Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-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
I'm afraid it's a no from me. I might be a little less severe in my criticism if this hadn't been nominated for the Booker. But that fact heightened my expectation. I couldn't help feeling that if this can make the Booker shortlist you can make a case for almost any novel to be there. I felt she got the idea for writing this book after seeing that Guy Ritchie film with Brad Pitt. I guess it's a kind of Robin Hood fable but any deeper meaning it had escaped me. A notorious prize fighter builds his son and daughter a home in the woods where they receive no education and have no friends. The obvious catatonic unhappiness of the daughter was completely ignored; likewise the catastrophic failings of the father as a father. The son, who narrates the story, deploys prose that is half way between Cormac McCarthy and Virginia Woolf. Simple acts, like entering one room from another, are way overwritten. Most of the narrative tension is focused on a one-dimensional baddie as if had it not been for him the family would be living in some kind of rustic nirvana.
This was her first novel and I'm sure she'll write much better ones when she has something to say and finds her voice. But I found this a typical first novel, full of window dressing but lacking in depth.
This was her first novel and I'm sure she'll write much better ones when she has something to say and finds her voice. But I found this a typical first novel, full of window dressing but lacking in depth.
emotional
sad
medium-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:
Yes
Not at all what I thought it was going to be. I listened to this on audio so I had no idea that it was written in dialect. What I enjoyed most about this book was Mozley's style of writing. Absolutely a phenomenal way with words. Kind of a violent ending.
4/5
This took me longer to read than expected but it was absolutely worth it. This is an astonishing debut, dense and intensive, with a wonderful atmospheric writing style. The first half was amazing only to slack off a bit in middle, but the ending then again was really intense and brilliantly written.
Can't wait to read more by Fiona Mozley!
This took me longer to read than expected but it was absolutely worth it. This is an astonishing debut, dense and intensive, with a wonderful atmospheric writing style. The first half was amazing only to slack off a bit in middle, but the ending then again was really intense and brilliantly written.
Can't wait to read more by Fiona Mozley!
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
An interesting meditation on modern society's nostalgic view and romanticisation of the self-sufficient 'simple old life' and how this way of life can both benefit and jeopardise people's lives. In some ways also a Lord of the Flies type situation, looking at how different people can react to various pressures and pains, especially in a cut-off, isolated community.
The title, Elmet is the name of last independent Celtic kingdom in England, an anarchy place where outlaws huddled. The land in this story is also a lawless realm controlled by a cruel landlord with power. A family live there for a reason, a rogue father and beautiful, innocent son and daughter like Hensel and Gretel.
English rural landscape and four seasons are beautifully depicted with the lyrical proses which contrasted sharply with the depiction of ugly relationships in a small village community and brutal violence. The calm family life in a forest like in some fable abruptly turned into Hell by an incident. The tone shift of the story was strongly impressive, seemingly benign characters falling into the dark side.
The author is good at artfully foreshadowing the calamity which takes place later. Some faint sense of incongruity appearing in the first half grows into something serious and dark. I enjoyed very much both aspects of this work, literature and entertainment at the same time. This will be a hit if it becomes a motion picture.
English rural landscape and four seasons are beautifully depicted with the lyrical proses which contrasted sharply with the depiction of ugly relationships in a small village community and brutal violence. The calm family life in a forest like in some fable abruptly turned into Hell by an incident. The tone shift of the story was strongly impressive, seemingly benign characters falling into the dark side.
The author is good at artfully foreshadowing the calamity which takes place later. Some faint sense of incongruity appearing in the first half grows into something serious and dark. I enjoyed very much both aspects of this work, literature and entertainment at the same time. This will be a hit if it becomes a motion picture.
Some men would rather destroy something than lose it to someone else. Those men are amongst the most dangerous of men. This novel captures the observation of one such man, and the destruction he is willing to wrought, quite well.