Obtain Sweetland Compiled By Michael Crummey Displayed In Mobi
the awardwinning, bestselling author of Galore comes another unforgettable novel, By turns darkly comic and heartbreakingly sad, Sweetland is a deeply suspenseful story about one man's struggles against the forces of nature and the ruins of memory.
For twelve generations, when the fish were plentiful and when they allbut disappeared, the inhabitants of this remote island in Newfoundland have lived and died together.
Now, in the second decade of thest century, they are facing resettlement, and each has been offered a generous compensation package to leave, But the money is offered with a proviso: everyone has to go the government won't be responsible for one crazy coot who chooses to stay alone on an island.
That coot is Moses Sweetland, Motivated in part by a sense of history and belonging, haunted by memories of the short and lonely time he spent away from his home as a younger man, and concerned that his somewhat eccentric greatnephew will wilt on the mainland, Moses refuses to leave.
But in the face of determined, sometimes violent, opposition from his family and his friends, Sweetland is eventually swayed to sign on to the government's plan.
Then a tragic accident prompts him to fake his own death and stay on the deserted island, As he manages a desperately diminishing food supply, and battles against the ravages of weather, Sweetland finds himself in the company of the vibrant ghosts of the former islanders, whose porch lights still seem to turn on at night.
I struggled mightily with what to say about this book, and how to even classify my own thoughts, Other people have described it much better than I'm capable of doing now, I'm thinking especially of sitelink Diane's review ,
What I will say is:
Above all, I loved the characters in this book, especially the seemingly simple but utterly complex Moses Sweetland
I'm glad I read this
I've learned that as a reader I don't have much appreciation for "magical realism" or anything in that realm.
A deficiency on my part, for sure it's one of the reasons why most people loved sitelinkThe Snow Child and I just thought it was soso.
Sweetland contained many sequences that stretched the imagination, and I'm afraid mine is just a bit too fixed,
I listened to the audio version, The narrator had the most unique accent perhaps he's a true Newfoundlander, I had to slow down the narration to be at a pace slower than what I usually listen to audio books, This may have contributed to my feeling that the book went on for just too long,
. It isn't often one has the privilege of reading a nearly perfect book but this book is it, a jewel, I'm weeping as I write this saddened that it's over, I loved Sweetland, the people, the sounds, their lives and I'm feeling bereft at the loss of them until I reread this book and relish its beauty once again.
Exquisitely written, powerful, gentle, lyrical this is a magnificent book, I can still feel the people of Sweetland pulsing away in my mind, they will live with me a very long time,
And Justin Hosker thank you for introducing me to Michael Crummey's work,
To anyone who might read this review read this book and revel in its beauty, you won't be sorry, Ive had lots of recommendations to read this, so saved it for a stormy day on the southern tip of Harris, and in doing so, appreciated it more than I had expected to.
Its the second half of the book that really excels, In the first half there is an introduction to the few folk that remain on the remote island in Cape Breton, and their lives as they prepare for the islands clearance.
It has simply become too expensive for the government to support, But Moses Sweetland refuses to take the financial package offered,
Moses isyears old when the island is eventually cleared, Does he stay out of stubbornness, or simply to die His story is one of loss of his own accident, and of Hollis, Jesse, Queenie, and Smut.
All of which he understandably struggles to deal with,
The solitary lifestyle he thought would be prefect is soon faced with doubt, He worries about the grass growing on Jesses grave though he is seemingly atheist, he had stopped attending church, He celebrates bonfire night and puts a tree up for Christmas though he has eschewed people, He spends most of his time musing about old friends and their ghosts, left alone with his home brew and his dreams, . .
There is a sense that he knows it cant go on for long, The ATV has little fuel left, as does his generator, The radios batteries are fading, But his determination to survive is fierce,
After one excursion in stormy weather
Sweetland not quite relieved to have made it back alive,
There can be few better places to read this wonderful book, with the abandoned Eilean Glas lighthouse on Scalpay just a short journey away.
As I read, I look out over Pabbay island, cleared of its population of hundreds infor sheep,
Off on a tangent to recommend The Life and Death Of St Kilda by Tom Steel , which gives an insight into life on the island, anothermiles more out into the ocean than here, how it suffered illness in thes, perhaps because of the diet, the fatty meat of the fulmars, or because of inbreeding, but it wasnt untilthat afteryears of occupation itsremaining inhabitants were fully evacuated, after a particularly harsh winter.
Back though to Sweetland which I enjoyed thoroughly, Its the sort of book that leaves you wanting to discuss it with others, ideal for a bookclub read, I probably do see something of Moses and Smut in me, . The tone of this book was so lonely, but the writing was amazing, Full review to come. I must have walked past this book on the “New Books” library shelf four or five times, I would pick it up, read the blurb on the inside cover, and think, “Nope, Not my kind of book” and put it back, Finally, I added it to my stack and took it home, I sat on the couch with my stack of goodies from the library and opened the book to scan the first few pages, A couple of days later, I sat on the same couch, gutted,
“Sweetland” is about ayear old man named Moses Sweetland who lives on an island, also named Sweetland, off the coast of Newfoundland.
The government is offering a hefty relocation sum to the remaining members of the community, only if ALL of them agree to leave so the government can save money by ceasing to provide essential services to the island.
Moses Sweetland does not want to leave his home and is soon the lone holdout, He begins to find threatening letters hidden in his house and someone sets his fishing shack ablaze, Still, he resists until he comes up with a plan, The plan and its consequences make up the remarkable second half of the book,
“Sweetland” is so very beautifully constructed and fleshed out, I loved Moses Sweetland, who is a solitary figure a man of few words and a wry and sarcastic wit, I loved the colorful and eccentric characters who are Sweetlands friends, family and neighbors, And I loved the island and its vanishing way of life, This is one of those books where the location itself is a full blown character much like Iceland in “Burial Rites, ”
This book will break your heart over and over again but for me, these are the books that resonate and live on in my memory.
If you liked “Stoner,” “Peace Like a River," and maybe if you are a Kent Haruf fan, this book may be for you, As Moses Sweetland would say, “Its the best kind, ”
This book struck out,
I tried three different times to read this novel, THREE. Each time I got a little farther into the story, but I always got frustrated with the writing and gave up, I even tried listening to the audiobook, thinking I could trudge through, but I still became annoyed by the cliched characters and bad dialogue,
The story is that the government is trying to move everyone off a remote island called Sweetland, near Newfoundland, The main character, Moses Sweetland, refuses to leave because his family has lived there for hundreds of years, Everyone else on the island wants to take the resettlement money and move away, so Sweetland faces threats and ire,
I had wanted to read this novel because I like stories about small communities in faraway places, but my interest couldn't outlast the mediocre storytelling.
Usually I like to highlight good quotes from the book at the end of my reviews, but I didn't find any worth noting,
Maybe you will like this novel more, This is a lovely, slowmoving story of a man and his island,
Curmudgeonly Sweetland is digging in his feet, and refusing to leave his beloved home, even though the government has made it clear that they will ONLY pay out the hefty resettlement fee to each resident if ALL the residents relocate.
You can imagine that Sweetland's being
the last holdout is not making him too popular with his neighbors,
This is quite possibly the most character driven novel I've ever read, and also, some of the most delightfully cantankerous characters I've ever met.
A truly bittersweet read, I, of course, prefer to remember one of the funnier moments,
This is a very short tale about the wacky Priddle brothers, two local ne'erdowells:
Barry lost the tip of his index finger the afternoon they'd taken turns putting out a lit match with a. one brother at a time holding the little flame at arm's length, thirty paces off,
Yeah. I've known guys like that, .