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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
reflective
tense
medium-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Violence
I hear those voices again: the men, and the girl. The rage. The fear. The resolve.
This book is not a light romp, and it is not for the faint of heart. A couple of the covers might make you think it is - don't be fooled. I was fortunate enough to end up with the THIS IS A DARK BOOK cover.
‘Your Daddy needs it. The violence. I wouldn’t say he enjoys it, even, but he needs it. It quenches him.’
Elmet is a jet-black tale about nomadic survival in Yorkshire in the 1980s. It's also about the dark hive mind, exploitation, violence, and the full extent of family dedication. This is a captivating literary fiction, and the writing is absolutely stunning to match.
I felt like I could now hear the blood in my veins, coursing through the tiny channels like rushing white water in a gorge. I felt like I could hear it roiling inside of me, almost trying to cut new paths within me, larger channels to the sea outside.
Mozley's work is highly emotionally engaging, accomplished through a gorgeous dynamic. Despite the doom and foreboding that casts itself over the book, you are hoping that the family will make it all the way through. This, for the most part, is absolutely not accomplished through the characters, who are largely one-dimensional due to the fact that Mozley dedicates most of her time to creating setting and atmosphere and background, rather than the people who exist in it. She adds surface-level complexity, but beautiful, developed character we do not have here, and some attempts at complexity fall short (more about that later).
‘We all grow into our coffins, Danny. And I saw myself growing into mine.’
This is not a huge issue. We still have great characters here - they just don't happen to arc much. Cathy is an absolute powerhouse throughout. She's tough, and honest - a sexual and physical violence survivor who won't be a victim. On the other end, Mr. Price is a truly despicable, and horrifyingly so, landlord who makes your skin crawl every time he's on the page. Do either of them experience much character development? No, but their baselines jump off the page and make the story more compelling.
I lived with my sister and my father and they were my whole world. I did not think of Cathy as a girl nor a woman, I thought of her as Cathy. I did not think of Daddy as a man, though I knew that he was. I thought about him, likewise, as Daddy.
A potentially harmful thing about this book is how Mozley handles sexual identity and orientation. She approaches the topics, but unfortunately frames them almost entirely in perversion and violation. Identity is explored through rifling through a woman's dirty underwear without her knowledge. Exploration takes place between children and adults, and even if consent were possible in that situation, it would be dubious at best. It's added to help deepen a main character and I think it's meant to be casual representation - as in the identity and orientation aren't meant to drive the plot - but the way that it is included without addressing the sexual invasion and pedophilia is not okay.
So. This book is gorgeous, with a deeply upsetting and well-executed plot. The characters don't grow, but their baseline works for the story. Tread carefully if you are (justifiably) uncomfortable with troubling queer representation. It's not a big part of the book, but it's there.
Big sister, little brother. I wanted her to lead the way, tell me what was what, carry me home.
This book is not a light romp, and it is not for the faint of heart. A couple of the covers might make you think it is - don't be fooled. I was fortunate enough to end up with the THIS IS A DARK BOOK cover.
‘Your Daddy needs it. The violence. I wouldn’t say he enjoys it, even, but he needs it. It quenches him.’
Elmet is a jet-black tale about nomadic survival in Yorkshire in the 1980s. It's also about the dark hive mind, exploitation, violence, and the full extent of family dedication. This is a captivating literary fiction, and the writing is absolutely stunning to match.
I felt like I could now hear the blood in my veins, coursing through the tiny channels like rushing white water in a gorge. I felt like I could hear it roiling inside of me, almost trying to cut new paths within me, larger channels to the sea outside.
Mozley's work is highly emotionally engaging, accomplished through a gorgeous dynamic. Despite the doom and foreboding that casts itself over the book, you are hoping that the family will make it all the way through. This, for the most part, is absolutely not accomplished through the characters, who are largely one-dimensional due to the fact that Mozley dedicates most of her time to creating setting and atmosphere and background, rather than the people who exist in it. She adds surface-level complexity, but beautiful, developed character we do not have here, and some attempts at complexity fall short (more about that later).
‘We all grow into our coffins, Danny. And I saw myself growing into mine.’
This is not a huge issue. We still have great characters here - they just don't happen to arc much. Cathy is an absolute powerhouse throughout. She's tough, and honest - a sexual and physical violence survivor who won't be a victim. On the other end, Mr. Price is a truly despicable, and horrifyingly so, landlord who makes your skin crawl every time he's on the page. Do either of them experience much character development? No, but their baselines jump off the page and make the story more compelling.
I lived with my sister and my father and they were my whole world. I did not think of Cathy as a girl nor a woman, I thought of her as Cathy. I did not think of Daddy as a man, though I knew that he was. I thought about him, likewise, as Daddy.
A potentially harmful thing about this book is how Mozley handles sexual identity and orientation. She approaches the topics, but unfortunately frames them almost entirely in perversion and violation. Identity is explored through rifling through a woman's dirty underwear without her knowledge. Exploration takes place between children and adults, and even if consent were possible in that situation, it would be dubious at best. It's added to help deepen a main character and I think it's meant to be casual representation - as in the identity and orientation aren't meant to drive the plot - but the way that it is included without addressing the sexual invasion and pedophilia is not okay.
So. This book is gorgeous, with a deeply upsetting and well-executed plot. The characters don't grow, but their baseline works for the story. Tread carefully if you are (justifiably) uncomfortable with troubling queer representation. It's not a big part of the book, but it's there.
Big sister, little brother. I wanted her to lead the way, tell me what was what, carry me home.
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I found it very dark and would have liked to feel more for the characters
Daniel and Cathy live in a home that their father, John, built with his own hands. He is a huge man and an acclaimed bare-knuckle boxer but as a parent caring for his children, he is a gentle giant. They were never like the other children, and have an alternative upbringing, dropped out of school, spend their days foraging and hunting for food and share their fathers roll-ups and cider. He has told them that this is their home forever, but he has no truck with details like who actually owns the land.
Soon the ghosts from his past lives begin to haunt him once again, the local landlord and hood Price needs John to fight again, large amounts of money are stake and Price has leverage over John. The children notice a difference in their father, gone is the calm; now they see rage flame in his eyes. John decides to accept Prices request to fight, negotiating a deal to secure their future properly and so begins his training…
I normally don’t read Booker Prize books as I have not always got along with them in the past but this was on my list to read as I was fortunate to win a signed copy. It is a dark tale of the underground culture of a northern village, with the characters deeply rooted in the very landscape they inhabit. I thought it did take a little while to get going, as Mozley takes time setting the scene and builds the atmosphere, however, the last quarter of the book flew by. The prose is sparse yet visceral and charged. Her portrayal of the characters, whose flaws give the plot the friction it needs, make this tale of a family who have stepped away from contemporary society, unnerving and disturbing.
Soon the ghosts from his past lives begin to haunt him once again, the local landlord and hood Price needs John to fight again, large amounts of money are stake and Price has leverage over John. The children notice a difference in their father, gone is the calm; now they see rage flame in his eyes. John decides to accept Prices request to fight, negotiating a deal to secure their future properly and so begins his training…
I normally don’t read Booker Prize books as I have not always got along with them in the past but this was on my list to read as I was fortunate to win a signed copy. It is a dark tale of the underground culture of a northern village, with the characters deeply rooted in the very landscape they inhabit. I thought it did take a little while to get going, as Mozley takes time setting the scene and builds the atmosphere, however, the last quarter of the book flew by. The prose is sparse yet visceral and charged. Her portrayal of the characters, whose flaws give the plot the friction it needs, make this tale of a family who have stepped away from contemporary society, unnerving and disturbing.
ELMET is an almost mythical, forested land in Yorkshire. It is against this backdrop that Fiona Mozley constructs the story of family, love, and disturbing violence. It is most importantly lyrically written--almost like a poem. The writing in this first novel for Mozley is to be savored!
Dark, disturbing story set in Yorkshire. It felt like the deep past but was jarringly in the present!
