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A review by nbcknwlf
The Wake by Paul Kingsnorth
2.0
tl, dr: the quality of the story didn’t warrant the difficulty of the language.
I studied old English once upon a time so was pretty interested in this novel that was ostensibly in a simplified OE. A lot of people have written about this so I’ll spare you the description. I have a lot of feelings about the way the author did the language; however, anyone attempting this sort of thing would have to make compromises. He made his, and he explains them. I would have chosen differently but whatever, I didn’t try writing a book in OE. So I’m not going to knock the book on language. It’s pretty readable once you get the hang of it, language-wise.
What I don’t get is why the author wasted the effort of writing in his version of OE on this particular story. You have this great historical event around which you could have told all manner of stories and you chose this one? The main character likely would have completely lost his marbles at some point with or without the Norman invasion. I’m not clear why we spend so much time in this guy’s head, wandering around having an inferiority complex and not doing anything. At the end we finally find out what happened to his father and sister who he mentions throughout the book and the whole wrap up just feels really rushed and unsatisfying.
Im not saying the book should have been a swashbuckling tale of daring resistance fighters, a flawed protagonist is fine. But I found Buccmaster an especially grating and boring one.
Bonus points for the historical tidbits tho and for the way the author brought in the shift in social structures as a result of the invasion.
I wanted to like this book more than I did.
I studied old English once upon a time so was pretty interested in this novel that was ostensibly in a simplified OE. A lot of people have written about this so I’ll spare you the description. I have a lot of feelings about the way the author did the language; however, anyone attempting this sort of thing would have to make compromises. He made his, and he explains them. I would have chosen differently but whatever, I didn’t try writing a book in OE. So I’m not going to knock the book on language. It’s pretty readable once you get the hang of it, language-wise.
What I don’t get is why the author wasted the effort of writing in his version of OE on this particular story. You have this great historical event around which you could have told all manner of stories and you chose this one? The main character likely would have completely lost his marbles at some point with or without the Norman invasion. I’m not clear why we spend so much time in this guy’s head, wandering around having an inferiority complex and not doing anything. At the end we finally find out what happened to his father and sister who he mentions throughout the book and the whole wrap up just feels really rushed and unsatisfying.
Im not saying the book should have been a swashbuckling tale of daring resistance fighters, a flawed protagonist is fine. But I found Buccmaster an especially grating and boring one.
Bonus points for the historical tidbits tho and for the way the author brought in the shift in social structures as a result of the invasion.
I wanted to like this book more than I did.