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blacklake 's review for:
On the Black Hill
by Bruce Chatwin
On the Black Hill is the story of a farming family in Wales. It begins in the last years of the lives of the identical twins named Lewis, marked with a cross to show he was born first, and Benjamin, both white-haired and venerating their mother's memory. From this follows the story of their parents' meeting, courtship, and marriage. The pages covering the birth of the twins and the circumstances and characters that made their parents' stormy marriage were the ones I found most absorbing.
The boys grow up as two halves of a whole rather than as two separate people, and this is reflected as much in what they experience apart as together. Every attempt they make to widen their experience seems to result in tragedy, and it is understandable that they withdraw into "The Vision", their parents' farm acquired at great cost.
As the years pass, unexpected visitors arrive, bringing fresh breezes from the outside world as well as fresh hurt. They bring, too, the unexpected fulfillment of lives filled with endless work and little joy.
It is astonishing how much humor there is in this tale, and perhaps the best of it is very black indeed.
The boys grow up as two halves of a whole rather than as two separate people, and this is reflected as much in what they experience apart as together. Every attempt they make to widen their experience seems to result in tragedy, and it is understandable that they withdraw into "The Vision", their parents' farm acquired at great cost.
As the years pass, unexpected visitors arrive, bringing fresh breezes from the outside world as well as fresh hurt. They bring, too, the unexpected fulfillment of lives filled with endless work and little joy.
It is astonishing how much humor there is in this tale, and perhaps the best of it is very black indeed.