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wongoolong's review against another edition
4.0
To say that "No Great Mischief" is a book where a fictional dentist hailing from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia tells stories about his family history, would be true, but would nowhere a description that would do this book justice.
Alistair MacLeod's renowned novel is about stories and storytelling. It's about history, the power of family, cultural roots, and how society shifted before the turn of the century.
If, like I was, you're interested in reading more Canadian literature, I would recommend "No Great Mischief" as a good place to start!
Alistair MacLeod's renowned novel is about stories and storytelling. It's about history, the power of family, cultural roots, and how society shifted before the turn of the century.
If, like I was, you're interested in reading more Canadian literature, I would recommend "No Great Mischief" as a good place to start!
jeanetterenee's review against another edition
4.0
April 21, 2014: Rest in peace, Alistair MacLeod. Died April 20, 2014.
His extraordinary style will never be matched.
Another outstanding piece of storytelling from this great Canadian writer. He uses repetition of images and phrases throughout the book as a very effective tool. It gives the story both a rhythm and an anchor, continually bringing you back to reminders of what binds the clan and their shared history.
This is the story of the Scottish clan of Calum the Red, who came to Nova Scotia over 200 years ago. They come from that rich ancient oral tradition where the family stories are repeated endlessly through the centuries, and added to as events progress. They're all so hopelessly inbred within the clan that they can barely keep track of who's who. There are THREE Alexander MacDonalds in the story! All cousins who basically look the same, redheaded but dark eyed. Even the dogs are inbred, descended from the brown dog Calum the Red brought from Scotland. Given the confusing family ties, I thought the author did an amazing job of setting them apart so I could keep track of all the people.
The main story takes place in modern times, with the narrator telling his story of being raised by his grandparents after his parents died when he was three years old. The behaviors and connections of the clan are so deeply rooted in the ancestral experiences that the oft-repeated histories and songs sometimes appear more real and important than current events.
His extraordinary style will never be matched.
Another outstanding piece of storytelling from this great Canadian writer. He uses repetition of images and phrases throughout the book as a very effective tool. It gives the story both a rhythm and an anchor, continually bringing you back to reminders of what binds the clan and their shared history.
This is the story of the Scottish clan of Calum the Red, who came to Nova Scotia over 200 years ago. They come from that rich ancient oral tradition where the family stories are repeated endlessly through the centuries, and added to as events progress. They're all so hopelessly inbred within the clan that they can barely keep track of who's who. There are THREE Alexander MacDonalds in the story! All cousins who basically look the same, redheaded but dark eyed. Even the dogs are inbred, descended from the brown dog Calum the Red brought from Scotland. Given the confusing family ties, I thought the author did an amazing job of setting them apart so I could keep track of all the people.
The main story takes place in modern times, with the narrator telling his story of being raised by his grandparents after his parents died when he was three years old. The behaviors and connections of the clan are so deeply rooted in the ancestral experiences that the oft-repeated histories and songs sometimes appear more real and important than current events.
bookishvanessa's review
1.0
I had high expectations for this book, but my expectations were not met. The writing itself was at times beautiful, but I just found it to be boring and rambling, with a difficult-to-follow timeline. I understand that it is mainly about the lives and relationships of the MacDonald family, but I was anticipating some sort of underlying purpose or plot. I found that I didn't really care about any of the characters (aside from the animals) and kept telling myself to just push ahead and finish it so that I could move onto something more interesting. Perhaps if I were more familiar with the setting and culture, I would have liked it more.
niksasali's review against another edition
5.0
Just what I've come to know, expect and love from MacLeod - raw, poetic and honest.
RIP to a great author.
RIP to a great author.
aseel_reads's review against another edition
4.0
This was quite hauntingly beautiful. I really appreciated the narrative style, it gave the story more depth and complexity. It was really interesting reading about the history of Scottish people in Canada, something that I would have never thought about.
chalicotherex's review
5.0
"Grandpa used to say that when he was a young man he would get an erection as soon as his feet hit Cape Breton."
pinknantucket's review
4.0
Lovely, lovely, lovely - my Mum found this one and insisted I read it before our own trip to Cape Breton, part of Nova Scotia in Canada.
The story is told from the viewpoint of an adult Alexander MacDonald, who grew up on Cape Breton and whose parents fell through the ice when he was three. (Warning: There's a lot of tragedy in this book, you will be sad). He and his twin sister were subsequently raised by their grandparents; his elder brothers set out to fend for themselves. Their lives diverged - his brothers came to work mainly in the mines; Alexander ends up going to university and becoming a dentist. However, his story focuses primarily on their similarities, the shared bonds of family, place and history. Alexander's sister, travelling to Scotland with her husband, even finds MacDonalds there who still consider her family and can remember the story of her great-great-great-grandfather's move to Canada in the eighteenth century. I can't really imagine what it must be like to identify so strongly with a group of people, even though I consider my own family relatively close-knit.
The relationships between siblings, between grandchildren and grandparents, and between the grandparents themselves are so beautifully presented.
It's not a historical novel, really, but you can't help learning so much about the history of Nova Scotia as you read. Particularly interesting is the friction between the residents of French origin and those from the Scots, a result of all the argy-bargy between the French and the English in that part of the world.
The story is told from the viewpoint of an adult Alexander MacDonald, who grew up on Cape Breton and whose parents fell through the ice when he was three. (Warning: There's a lot of tragedy in this book, you will be sad). He and his twin sister were subsequently raised by their grandparents; his elder brothers set out to fend for themselves. Their lives diverged - his brothers came to work mainly in the mines; Alexander ends up going to university and becoming a dentist. However, his story focuses primarily on their similarities, the shared bonds of family, place and history. Alexander's sister, travelling to Scotland with her husband, even finds MacDonalds there who still consider her family and can remember the story of her great-great-great-grandfather's move to Canada in the eighteenth century. I can't really imagine what it must be like to identify so strongly with a group of people, even though I consider my own family relatively close-knit.
The relationships between siblings, between grandchildren and grandparents, and between the grandparents themselves are so beautifully presented.
It's not a historical novel, really, but you can't help learning so much about the history of Nova Scotia as you read. Particularly interesting is the friction between the residents of French origin and those from the Scots, a result of all the argy-bargy between the French and the English in that part of the world.
pruemansfield56's review against another edition
5.0
This was a powerful book. About longing for home, identity, making the best, the humanity of people, how the best of people are more complex than that. Betrayal, historic and contemporary. The male characters were much stronger, with the female characters more peripheral. But that is the conventional way, for historic novels about war, immigration, new lands, even with 12 children, pioneering, mining, lighthouse keeping. It was even better to read as we had been to that part of Canada.