Ross Raisin

Four stars for the writing. I love books written in dialect and this one really comes alive. Probably make a fantastic radio play. The narrator also comes alive and while you see clearly the people around him, by the end you feel how deeply he is cut off from from all other human beings. They are part of the scenery for him, or less than the scenery. He cares for animals and people but without fully understanding the expectations between people that underpin family ties and a wider society. This is sufficient for working on the farm, but not for normal relationships with people.

I finished the book feeling a bit queasy and reluctant to give it 4 stars and I am still exploring just why. I felt the author was colluding with the verdict of many in the book that he was 'a bad one' and that nothing could have been done, which does not fit my own philosophy. However I decided that the author is telling it like it is - and I can read it as a person not put together right, or broken - rather than evil. There is also a dark North Eastern english element simmering in the background. Unforgiving. I shall not want to re-read this book, but while I was reading it was very compelling and I'm glad I did, despite it being so uncomfortable once the half way mark had been passed and you realise there is no salvation.

Comic it is not. Don't know how anyone could use that word with this book.… (altro)

The day after I finished this book, by coincidence, I listened to a podcast about the reasons for the rich-poor life expectancy gap in the west Scotland/Glasgow area. Contrary to popular view, it's not due to the consumption of (mythical) deep-fried Mars Bars, or smoking rates. It's due to early death of people born in the 1960s who have lost their way in life through the closure of their source of employment such as shipyards. Suicide is a big issue. This book is a story of one such life - Mick Little. It's also a story about families, and in particular the relationship between fathers and sons. Alcohol is involved. It tells a very realistic (I think) tale of how a person can become homeless. It's not a simple story, and people act in a way that is hard to understand, but that's reality, I reckon. I could easily see myself becoming Mick Little in the right circumstances.
I've got Ross Raisin's "God's Own Country", but the story is too close to home to read right now. I'm hoping I'll be in a place when I can read it soon. I'm sure it will be good.… (altro)

Tom ha sabido siempre el tipo de persona que quiere ser: un futbolista de éxito. Un hombre al que otros hombres admiran y respetan. Pero el futuro brillante que imaginó está amenazado. Mientras se mueve entre la soledad y la necesidad de reconocimiento, un encuentro fortuito le ofrece una vía de escape y le hará cuestionarse a sí mismo. Un talento natural profundiza en el corazón de un club de fútbol profesional: la presión, la soledad, la amenaza de escándalos, la fragilidad del cuerpo humano y la lucha, dentro y fuera del campo, por convertirnos en la persona que todos esperan que seamos.… (altro)