I saw this book mentioned in a list of books set in Scotland which caught my eye because we are planning a trip to Scotland next year. This book was mentioned as the one that was consistently rated the best Scottish book. So, of course, I had to read it. Luckily my public library had one copy in its catalogue.

Grassic Gibbon does a wonderful job of setting the stage for this book by describing the small valley of Kinraddie (which is fictional) and all the people who live there at the beginning of the book. Kinraddie is a little south and west of Aberdeen and quite near the shore of the North Sea. Most of the people in the valley don't own the land they farm so they could be turned out at any time. Chris Guthrie is the central figure of this book. Her father had brought the family to Kinraddie in the early part of the 20th century. The family consisted of 6 children at the time: Will, the oldest, Chris, Dod, Alec and then two twins who were just infants at the time of the move. Chris's mother was worn out with the childbearing and when she became pregnant again she killed herself and the twins. Chris, who was a smart girl and was planning to continue her education, had to leave school. Her father was a strict man with a violent temper. He and Will were always fighting and finally Will couldn't take it any more. He left the farm and Scotland. Chris, who had been very close to Will, was thus left to do even more of the work. Her father had a stroke or a heart attack and was left bedridden. Chris held the farm together but couldn't look after the two small boys so they went to live with a childless aunt. After her father's death she fought to keep the land and she was able to do so with the help of her new husband, Ewan. For a few years they had a happy marriage and a happy life and then the conflict that we know as World War I started. That changed everything but Chris persevered. A son was born and maybe he will continue on farming.

I made liberal use of the glossary at the back of the book as much of the dialect is sprinkled with words that are peculiar to that time and place. I learned, for instance, that bigging is a building and glunch means to mutter half-threatenly. I saw some reviews that complained about the use of this Scots idiom but, for me, it added to the charm of the story-telling. ( )

Funny and sad, caustic and compassionate; the first and best in the Scots Quair trilogy. ( )

Oh, it was fantastic. The cadence lilted and flowed like nothing else I've read in years, and the characters were real and full of life. I fell in love with Chris' life and it tore at me when things began to change and fall apart. I want desperately to read the second and third books.

This is definitely not something to be read on the train to work, though. This is something you'll want to find a comfortable and quiet corner to curl up and and disappear for hours at a time. It's magical. ( )

Tydligen har Lewis Grassic Gibbons sunset Song röstats fram som den bästa skotska romanen. Sådant skall man vara försiktig med, det brukar inte bara vara litterära kvaliteter utan också hur mycket sentimentalitet som kan frammanas som avgör sådant. Gudarna skall veta att sådan melankoli finns det gott om utrymme för här, i synnerhet uttryckt i det tal som avslutar boken, en elegi över de män som gick ut från det lilla skotska samhället Kinraddie i det första världskriget men inte kom hem. Dessa var de sista fria småbrukarna, den fria, stolta klass arrendatorer som bar upp lokalsamhället och genom sitt dagliga slit med jorden lyckades få sin bärgning.

I centrum står Chris Guthrie, dotter till den ständigt stretande John Guthrie, en god bonde men härsklysten och snar till ilska, och Jean Guthrie, som fruktar barnsängen mer än något annat efter fem födslar. Förutom familjen omges hon av de närmsta grannarna, den fritänkande mjölnaren Long Rob Duncan, hans trätobroder, den godmodige Chae Strachan, och den inte särskilt gudaktige prästen Gibbon.

De stretar på trots oväder och dåliga somrar, i olycka och glädje. Chris förlorar familjemedlemmar och finner kärleken, ser samhället gå under (socialt, liksom i hur landskapet ter sig: all skog fälls för att användas i kriget, och med det skyddet från nordväststormarna). När boken är slut är hon den enda som står rak, trots alla förluster.

Så visst, man kan läsa boken som en längtan till ett förlorat paradis, en mer oskuldsfull värld där människor levde nära varandra på gott och ont. Kriget framstår som en katalysator, men förändringarna skulle ändå komma, om inte så abrupt. Men man ser också det slit, den smärta och den smuts som denna värld också byggde på. Man kan sakna de bästa bitarna av den, men man vill knappast leva där. ( )

Grande ritmicità (Sprung Rhythm) della prosodia e una protagonista cui non si può che voler bene. Sentimentalismo. Amor di patria. La Scozia. La Grande Guerra che porta la Modernità e che cambia l'Aberdeenshire per sempre.

(La traduzione deve aver creato non pochi problemi, il ricorso a termini dialettali italiani non rende giustizia all'impasto Scots dell'originale.) ( )