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A review by kandicez
The Dig by Cynan Jones
4.0
Jones has a beautiful, sparse and realistic way of writing that comes across as almost sentimental in its brutality. The world is the way it is and we cannot change it. Jones seems to be an expert at pointing this out without spin. In simple terms.
This is about a bereft widower who lives on a lambing farm in Wales. It's also about an outside the law badger baiter who also lives in Wales. Their paths cross, and although I don't know exactly what happens when they do. I know it is not good.
Jones paints the widower's grief so expertly, using small, but well places phrases, much like the brush strokes of a master. He doesn't waste words and yet the grief jumps off the page. I felt his grief as I read. It hurt.
The badger baiter was disgusting. He was doing what he knew to get along, but, OH! how awful it was. I had never heard of badger baiting, but there were dog and cock fights where I grew up and this was about the same. Sad, cruel and awful. Jones, in a very observant way, also paints the baiter.
The two meet one night and we the readers are left to wonder what exactly happened. Jones' writing reminds me so much of [a:Annie Proulx|1262010|Annie Proulx|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1219720509p2/1262010.jpg]. Not everyone has a happy life, and there are seldom happy endings. It's not sentimental, it's true.
This is about a bereft widower who lives on a lambing farm in Wales. It's also about an outside the law badger baiter who also lives in Wales. Their paths cross, and although I don't know exactly what happens when they do. I know it is not good.
Jones paints the widower's grief so expertly, using small, but well places phrases, much like the brush strokes of a master. He doesn't waste words and yet the grief jumps off the page. I felt his grief as I read. It hurt.
The badger baiter was disgusting. He was doing what he knew to get along, but, OH! how awful it was. I had never heard of badger baiting, but there were dog and cock fights where I grew up and this was about the same. Sad, cruel and awful. Jones, in a very observant way, also paints the baiter.
The two meet one night and we the readers are left to wonder what exactly happened. Jones' writing reminds me so much of [a:Annie Proulx|1262010|Annie Proulx|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1219720509p2/1262010.jpg]. Not everyone has a happy life, and there are seldom happy endings. It's not sentimental, it's true.