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May 25, 2011

Jeanette rated it:

Another outstanding piece of storytelling from this great Scotch Canadian! :) He uses repetition of images and phrases throughout the book as a very effective storytelling tool. It gives the story both a rhythm and an anchor, continually bringing you back to reminders of what binds the clan and their shared history.

This is the story of the Scottish clan of "Calum the Red," who came to Nova Scotia over 200 years ago. They come from that rich ancient oral tradition where the More...

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Jan 18, 2008

McKel rated it:

I absolutely loved this book. I would recommend this book to anyone, especially if they are descendents from Scotland or Ireland. It deals with the struggles that people have trying to hold onto their roots, yet becoming a part of a new society. It's the old world vs. the new world struggle. Some embrace the "modern" world and leave their family and their legacy to be part of this world, while others desperately hold onto whatever heritage they have left and forfeit a lot to do it.
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Apr 06, 2009

Joanna rated it:

I really enjoyed this book -- much more than I'd expected to from reading the description. I know very little about Canada's history or even its geography, so I actually found myself occasionally consulting a map to locate the relevant places from the text. The writing was beautiful and managed to be sentimental without being sappy or sarcastic. I'd recommend this book to anyone looking for a powerful read that sneaks up on you as you're going along.

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Dec 31, 2008

Brian rated it:

Set in Cape Breton in the nineteen seventies, No Great Mischief revolves around the visit of a successful orthodontist to his alcoholic brother eking out a miserable existence in a sqalid room above a shop in Toronto.

The visit is the starting point for a narrative that follows the fortunes of a group of Scots-Canadians descended from one legendary eighteenth century immigrant. Hardy and tightly-knit in the face of recurring tragedy, the extended family see themselves and the rest o More...

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Nov 25, 2011

pinknantucket rated it:

Lovely, lovely, lovely - my Mum found this one and insisted I read it before our own trip to Cape Breton, part of Nova Scotia in Canada.

The story is told from the viewpoint of an adult Alexander MacDonald, who grew up on Cape Breton and whose parents fell through the ice when he was three. (Warning: There's a lot of tragedy in this book, you will be sad). He and his twin sister were subsequently raised by their grandparents; his elder brothers set out to fend for themselves. Their liv More...

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Dec 15, 2010

Mrsgaskell rated it:

This poignant novel beautifully depicts the history of a clan from the Scottish Highlands who settled on Cape Breton Island in 1779. Family stories and legends spanning over two hundred years are revisited by descendant Alexander MacDonald as he visits his alcoholic oldest brother Calum and reminisces with his twin sister Catriona. Alexander has prospered as an orthodontist, far removed from the mining and logging traditions of his family. He and his sister miss the close ties to family and thei More...

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May 20, 2009

Paul rated it:

"My sister was silent for a moment.

'Calum once told me,' I said, 'that when they went back to the country, they went one day to cut a timber for the skidway they were making for their boat. They went into a tightly packed grove of spruce down by the shore. In the middle of the grove, they saw what they thought was the perfect tree. It was tall and straight and over thirty feet high. They notched it as they had been taught and then they sawed it with a bucksaw. When they had sawe More...

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Mar 12, 2011

Miles rated it:

I guess this is not my sort of book. It is the tale of Scots in Cape Breton and in particular a branch of the MacDonalds, and makes much of how they never forgot their roots, always stick together, and still speak Gaelic. It won various prizes and is considered the best Atlantic Canadian novel. But how it got so esteemed I have no idea. I found it tiresome and longwinded. There is really not much of a plot except a bunch of disjointed anecdotes. The characters are little more than mouthpiece More...

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Apr 19, 2011

Trish rated it:

This book is about the MacDonald family in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Alexander and his twin sister are orphaned when the parents and brother fall through the ice as they cross the lake on their way home in late spring. Alexander and his sister grow up with their grandparents. Their older brothers are just old enough to live on their own. There are many stories about loving relationships--their family and the dogs and horse. Their mother's father has a completely different style than their father More...

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Jan 01, 2012

Frederick rated it:

This is the story of a canadian man's life. He is born on Cape Breton Island off of Nova Scotia. The story weaves in strands of various parts of his life. His childhood where he plays as his parents die trying to cross the sea ice. His days in a uranium mining camp with his brothers. His discussions of his past with his sister, his helping his alcoholic older brother, his great-great-great grandfather's journey from Scotland. He is part of a great clan in Canada with lots of far-flung relatives. More...

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Apr 17, 2010

TJ rated it:

How could I not like No Great Mischief? This novel is about Elliot Lake, the town in which I was born, and also Sudbury, the town in which I currently reside. Oh, and there's some uranium mining and rugged Northern Ontario terrain thrown in for good measure. The story itself is not that bad either.

The impression I had when I read No Great Mischief was that of a novel made up of short stories. Each chapter was almost autonomous from the rest of the story. However, one could not unde More...

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Feb 23, 2011

Ruth rated it:

It's impossible not to be moved by any book that deals with the history of the Highlanders, regardless of whether one's ancestry is Scottish or not. Loyalty, belonging, betrayal and love are universal human themes, and this novel deals with all of them, deftly and movingly. I was anticipating a 'regional' novel (in the way Wayne Johnston's novels about Newfoundland are regional novels). Instead, I was rewarded with a novel that is quintessentially Canadian on the one hand and undeniably part of More...

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Sep 17, 2009

Lorraine rated it:

Another great Canadian novel!

There's a nice weave of two storylines: middle-aged Alexander MacDonald visiting his oldest brother Callum and younger Alexander as he grows up. Plus the mingling of the Clan's history with Canadian history. Such a rich heritage!

What I find most intriguing about this novel is its "telling not showing" writing style. Usually writers are encouraged to "show" events and emotions, but MacLeod seems to tell them, yet in a wa More...

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Nov 25, 2008

MacDuff rated it:

This is the second time I've read this book, and I was teary-eyed at the end again. It's the story of the clann Chalum Ruaidh, or the Clan of Calum the Red, an 18th century Scottish Highlander who crossed the ocean to Nova Scotia. His family, the following clann, has to come to terms with the fact that their somewhat famous ancestor crossed the ocean to start a new life with his family...to what end?

This is an absorbing novel, and MacLeod is an incredibly mature writer. With any More...

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Jan 17, 2011

Karena rated it:

So! Death is on my mind today, only because of a friend's story and the passage I was reading in the wonderful novel by Alistair MacLeod: No Great Mischief. The parents of the narrator are watched as evening closes in and the children carry their lanterns across the ice bridge to their island lighthouse. Suddenly there is only one light. The grandparents are hopeful...then the grandfather hurriedly puts on his winter gear as the phone calls from the neighbours--who were also watching them cross- More...

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Jan 07, 2012

Isabel rated it:

'The Zulus,' I said, recalling earlier conversations, 'always sing in the miners' componds. Our brothers said that after a while they could almost sing the songs, although they didn't know their meaning. It was as if one musical people were reaching out to join another.'
'I don't suppose,' she said after a moment of reflection, 'that you sing at your work?'
'No, I don't.'
'Do you subscribe to a concert series?'
'Yes,' I said.
'So do I. The performers are quite wonderful. More...

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Sep 30, 2011

Lorna rated it:

I really enjoyed this story. It was unexpected at times, sentimental without getting saccharine sweet. The characters of the grandfather and the grandpa were what kept me reading when at times I wondered where the story would lead. One section of the book read like a history lesson near the end. It was a break from the rest of the literary writing that drew me into the lives of the family. I liked the history and wished there might have been more but told in the same literary style as the s More...

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Mar 09, 2009

Boyce rated it:

This beautifully written book is about family and tribalism, in particular that of the MacDonald clan who came to Cape Breton from the Highlands in 1779. The books contains a bit of history of Scottish history, family history, and the present. There are some wonderful characters, esp the grandparents of the narrator. You do get a stronger sense of the importance of family and clan during hard times, which the Scottish endured for a long time at hands of the English. The English were equal opport More...

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Dec 20, 2010

Tom rated it:

I thought this was one of the most poorly written books that I've ever read. I get the whole struggle of immigrants to hold on to their roots and the scourge of alcoholism, etc. However, I found that the dialogue didn’t ring true in that I don’t think people actually speak the way it was written. All the characters seemed to do was to rehash legends of their ancestors, which is all well and good. But they were the same legends told over and over and didn't advance the plot at all. And the consta More...

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Jun 24, 2010

Val rated it:

MacLeod is a wonderful writer, but I found nothing to lure me to this fictional memoir of a family descended from Scotland. Actually, I found most of the story quite boring other than certain characters' relationships with animals. The Gaelic inclusions were interesting but after a while I found myself skipping over these passages because I neither knew how to pronounce them nor how to translate them. I really do not understand all the praise for this book - it seemed that each time MacLeod hit More...

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Mar 03, 2011

Chuck rated it:

This fictional elegy to immigrants from Scotland to Cape Breton surveys an extended family's history from the 18th through the late 20th century, with emphasis on the latter. The characters range from rough and rude to refined and elegant, but among the disparate personalities, family bonds are unshakable. Alistair MacLeod writes convincingly here about life in a variety of contexts -- by the sea, in the mines, in cheap tenements, and in educated high-society. Family tragedies are met with Sc More...

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Jul 02, 2009

Fiona rated it:

I took a while to get the hang of this book, but once I did I loved the characters. We did this at book club which helped as I didn't know anything much about Scotland's history. The relationship with his brother Calum was incredible - made me miss my big brother who also worked in mining. And there were so many different layers and stories all woven together. Didn't quite get the migrant fruit pickers line running throughout so it was a bit distracting. But after our book club discussion I have More...

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Mar 21, 2011

Manda rated it:

If I'm looking at this book as purely an exercise in prose, I think it succeeded. It created beautiful images and spun gorgeous settings. It gave a great deal, but my fault with it is personal preference in that the retroactive plot with flashback elements felt almost aimless to me and didn't drive anywhere. I understand that it was building a life backwards, but it made a short book take a long while to read because there was nothing driving me beyond some beautiful turns of phrase (and there w More...

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Nov 07, 2011

Elaine rated it:

The Battle of Culloden (1746) was the final confrontation of the 1745 Jacobite Rising. This conflict near Inverness in the Scottish Highlands was the last pitched battle fought on British soil.

Hence a vast migration of Scots to the new world, in the case of some of the clan Calum Ruadh, the MacDonalds, to Cape Breton Island. In 1979, Calum Ruadh ("the red Calum"), his wife, 12 children and a dog (that refused to be left behind but actually swam out into the ocean to join the More...

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Jan 06, 2012

Jason rated it:

My mom insisted I read this book though I normally have my biggest interest is in science or fantasy books. I find their romanticizing of grand concepts to be more worthy of immortalization on the page than someone trying to romanticize about regular mundane lives, of which most of us are probably already living. Therefore I was quite unimpressed with the first half of the book which was largely as the blurb says: Alexander McDonald recounts his experiences growing up in Cape Breton, where th More...

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Feb 04, 2008

Bill rated it:

This was a Christmas gift from my mom, and it is also one that I would have bought for myself.
It won several international awards, and the back cover and inside pages are lush with glowing reviews from across the literary landscape of esteemed writers and reviewers.
(You can see where I'm going with this, can't you?)

It's a story that roots itself, for the most part, in my birthplace, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia And, it's a novelization about the MacDonald clan! This novel had More...

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Aug 03, 2011

Michael added it

This is a powerfully written book. Just the first chapter had me. The hopes and tragedies of generations of the clan that settled the east coast. Candiana at it's finest. Not a book to just read, it must be experienced. I had been struggling to read this book because it is so visceral. Places and characters are so well detailed in only a few lines that it reminds me of places I've been, people I know. It's a bit of a punch in the gut. It's well written. The end is bitter sweet.

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Jun 12, 2010

Becky rated it:

A friend who shares my admiration for Independent People recommended this. It's a tale told by an orthodontist about his Highlander clan settling in Nova Scotia.It quietly moves back and forth in time from the rough coast of Cape Breton to the mines where the brothers toil underground and the best thing that could be said of a guy was that "No one wished to hit him with a wrench." It's no Independent People, but I found myself surprisingly moved and thoughtful as I came to the last pag

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Feb 28, 2011

Brian rated it:

A Scottish family emigrate to the Canadian eastern seaboard. A bleak and harsh island that swallows up lives and is where this family have without choice transplanted that place where the heart is always. That place we all have that pulls our heart strings to return, no matter how desolate, no matter how impractical. The place we cannot return to in life but our ashes may be scattered to be there for ever. Read it and tell me you were not pulled to your heart's eternal home.

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Mar 30, 2009

Patrick rated it:

I am ambivalent about this book, and not sure whether or to whom to recommend it. The prose is good, and the depiction of place and person compelling. The problem I have is that most of the characters are basically thugs and punks. I am not sure if I am supposed to somehow identify with them (which I cannot, despite my Scots heritage), or to be put off (which seems an odd motivation for a writer of fiction). Unlike the main character, I cannot reconcile the two into a sensible whole. Bottom line More...

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