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3.52 AVERAGE
3.52 AVERAGE
This has been damming up my review process for too long (languished in my spreadsheet as an unreviewed record which obviously made it impossible for me to review the books which came after it) so i'm finally just biting the bullet even though I truly feel I have nothing to say about this.... this book gave me nothing!! The concept "scottish islanders pine & yearn for & plot to steal buckets of whiskey" should have been fun but it was so so SO bogged down by boring interpersonal dramas. I think Compton Mackenzie can be summed up as like this: he's the sort of author whose autobiography was written in 10 volumes. I think this goes a long way to explaining why I did not enjoy Whiskey Galore
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Just a old but funny book about whisky and a fictional island during WW2. I love how much Gàidhlig was included. Glè mhath!
It's 1943. Great Britain is at war, and the Scottish are suffering. On two islands Little and Greater Todday the whisky has run out. Morale is at rock bottom.
That is until a shipreck of the coast is found to be full of liquid courage. Can George Campbell stand up to his mother and marry Catriona? Will Peggy and Sergeant Odd tie the knot, or will old Macroon's stalling tactics work a little while longer?
I found Whisky Galore to be a cute, typically British tale. Full of humor and a love for both the drink and the island community. Quaint, might be the best way to describe it.
That is until a shipreck of the coast is found to be full of liquid courage. Can George Campbell stand up to his mother and marry Catriona? Will Peggy and Sergeant Odd tie the knot, or will old Macroon's stalling tactics work a little while longer?
I found Whisky Galore to be a cute, typically British tale. Full of humor and a love for both the drink and the island community. Quaint, might be the best way to describe it.
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
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
first 40% seemed like it was going nowhere and was incredibly dull, the subsequent 60% was delightful and had me fully engaged.
I love whisky, and I've been making an effort to incorporate more Scottish literature into my reading, so that was really all I really needed to pick this classic up.
This is based on a real event during the Second World War. A cargo ship, the SS Politician, ran aground off the coast of the island of Eriskay with twenty-eight thousand cases of malt whisky and a very large sum of money on board, which was partially looted by the island's residents. This novel takes place on two fictional islands, Great Todday and Little Todday, and a similar event occurs.
Two very different couples are planning to marry on the island, and both weddings, for different reasons, are somewhat dependant on a bit of whisky. Due to war rationing, the whisky supply has nearly dried out. Production had been cut drastically, to conserve the grain for a supply of food during the war. The duty on whisky was raised domestically to reduce consumption within the UK and to put the focus on export in order to raise funds. Whisky Galore begins in the midst of this rationing, where a dram has been difficult to find for months already, and life on the islands has become dull and joyless. Once the ship's supply has been discovered, things begin to turn around. The trick is to keep the whisky hidden from a stuffy English Home Guard Captain.
I enjoyed his quite a bit. I was hoping for a little more in the way of plot, though. I wasn't invested at all in the potential weddings, and I wish the cat-and-mouse game between the islanders and the Captain had been a bit more interesting and involved, but this novel is really about the tone and the wit of the characters. It's very funny in parts, and I loved the anti-establishment nature of the community. I listened to this on audiobook, and David Rintoul was fantastic. His accents were great, and it's always a pleasure to hear some Gaelic.
There have been a couple film adaptions of this. I hear the 2016 adaptation wasn't very good, but I'd like to watch the 1949 version soon.
Book Blog | Twitter | Instagram
This is based on a real event during the Second World War. A cargo ship, the SS Politician, ran aground off the coast of the island of Eriskay with twenty-eight thousand cases of malt whisky and a very large sum of money on board, which was partially looted by the island's residents. This novel takes place on two fictional islands, Great Todday and Little Todday, and a similar event occurs.
Two very different couples are planning to marry on the island, and both weddings, for different reasons, are somewhat dependant on a bit of whisky. Due to war rationing, the whisky supply has nearly dried out. Production had been cut drastically, to conserve the grain for a supply of food during the war. The duty on whisky was raised domestically to reduce consumption within the UK and to put the focus on export in order to raise funds. Whisky Galore begins in the midst of this rationing, where a dram has been difficult to find for months already, and life on the islands has become dull and joyless. Once the ship's supply has been discovered, things begin to turn around. The trick is to keep the whisky hidden from a stuffy English Home Guard Captain.
I enjoyed his quite a bit. I was hoping for a little more in the way of plot, though. I wasn't invested at all in the potential weddings, and I wish the cat-and-mouse game between the islanders and the Captain had been a bit more interesting and involved, but this novel is really about the tone and the wit of the characters. It's very funny in parts, and I loved the anti-establishment nature of the community. I listened to this on audiobook, and David Rintoul was fantastic. His accents were great, and it's always a pleasure to hear some Gaelic.
There have been a couple film adaptions of this. I hear the 2016 adaptation wasn't very good, but I'd like to watch the 1949 version soon.
Book Blog | Twitter | Instagram
Like Monarch of the Glen, I think I like the idea of the book better than the actual narration- but unlike Monarch of the Glen, Whisky Galore picked up speed and held my attention better as the story went on. I generally like descriptive prose, but I somehow feel that Mackenzie tends to ramble a bit too much without moving things forward. The bone-dry humor is here, though, and an immense amount of booze. I wish modern Scotch had names as lyrical as those recovered from the wreck of the Cabinet Minister. Now I'm in search of the 1949 movie...
Unlike the whisky that permeates the book, time hasn't aged Mackenzie's novel all that well. I appreciate that the colourful cast of characters getting up to no end of trouble in the remote Scots isles would no doubt have been uproariously funny in its time, but they just struck me as annoying caricatures doing stupid things while getting ratfaced.
Pass.
Pass.