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17th out of 35 books
—
23 voters
God's Own Country
by
Ross Raisin
Sam Marsdyke is a lonely young man, dogged by an incident in his past and forced to work his family farm instead of attending school in his Yorkshire village. He methodically fills his life with daily routines and adheres to strict boundaries that keep him at a remove from the townspeople. But one day he spies Josephine, his new neighbor from London. From that moment on, S
...moreHardcover, 210 pages
Published
by Viking Books
(first published January 1st 2008)
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I appreciated what the author was trying to do here, but I didn't necessarily enjoy reading this book. To be fair, I'm not sure how much my entertainment level should affect the amount of stars, but I felt a certain level of ambivalence while reading the story...and I kinda detected that the author either had or struggled with that ambivalence while writing this.
It's saying something that I liked reading the author’s interview and an additional essay in the back of the book more than the actual...more
It's saying something that I liked reading the author’s interview and an additional essay in the back of the book more than the actual...more
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My book has the American title, Out Backward (which I like better) and the cover art is different, green with a picture of some wild mushrooms. I don't remember where I got this book but it's an autographed copy.
This book had the largest amount of British slang I have ever encountered which I found rather fascinating, sometimes puzzling and ultimately made for slow-going reading-wise in some respects. Most of the time I can figure it out from the context but I did occasionally have to look-up a...more
This book had the largest amount of British slang I have ever encountered which I found rather fascinating, sometimes puzzling and ultimately made for slow-going reading-wise in some respects. Most of the time I can figure it out from the context but I did occasionally have to look-up a...more
Aug 03, 2011
Marcella
added it
On the back cover of "God's own country", amongst the usual praise for a "wonderfully unique" debut novel I read "very funny and very disturbing". To be honest, I never really laughed once but agree that it is a deeply disturbing book that you just can't put down.
All through the read I couldn't shut off this feeling of dread of what the budding association of "lankenstein" aka "bogeyman" aka Sam Marsdyke and the newly moved "towns'" daughter will end in. As he is the hero of the novel one wants...more
All through the read I couldn't shut off this feeling of dread of what the budding association of "lankenstein" aka "bogeyman" aka Sam Marsdyke and the newly moved "towns'" daughter will end in. As he is the hero of the novel one wants...more
***UPDATE: I upped the number of stars I originally gave to this because, as it turns out, I've been thinking a lot about this book. And any book that I reflect on a week after finishing it deserves another star.
Original review:
I appreciated what the author was trying to do here, but I didn't necessarily enjoy reading this book. To be fair, I'm not sure how much my entertainment level should affect the amount of stars, but I felt a certain level of ambivalence while reading the story...and I ki...more
Original review:
I appreciated what the author was trying to do here, but I didn't necessarily enjoy reading this book. To be fair, I'm not sure how much my entertainment level should affect the amount of stars, but I felt a certain level of ambivalence while reading the story...and I ki...more
Sometimes, when I read a really good book, the subsequent review practically writes itself. I normally start the first draft of a review when I'm halfway through a book; occasionally even earlier. If I absolutely LOVED the book, you'd think this would be easier. Yet it's been days since I finished God's Own Country and I haven't yet written a word about it. Why the delay? In part, it could be because I just know it's going to be difficult to do this book justice. My initial response upon finishi...more
11 likes · like · see review
This is a striking first novel that combines a racy story line (which one isn’t quite sure is all in the main protagonist’s head) with some wonderful Yorkshire phrases (which one cannot be entirely sure are utter fiction or not) and some beautifully descriptions of the North Yorkshire moors and farming life in general.
That seemingly least offensive breed of people, ramblers, come in for some enjoyably sharp criticism and the unwelcome influx of the middle classes into a rural community, complete...more
That seemingly least offensive breed of people, ramblers, come in for some enjoyably sharp criticism and the unwelcome influx of the middle classes into a rural community, complete...more
Enjoyed this very much - how cleverly I was drawn in from the very start into empathising with the main character, who despite being seemingly undeservedly marginalised in a close knit society, yet demanded my sympathies because of his humour and love of his natural surroundings. It was a very long way into the book before I stopped forgiving him misdemeanours and could stand back and realise the sinister path the author had led me on in backing him as the underdog.
I was also swallowed up by th...more
I was also swallowed up by th...more
1 like · like · see review
A top quality read, sort of like Wuthering Heights' delinquent great great great grandchild, it's a tour of the wilds of Yorkshire in the company of a narrator who is comic and sinister in equal measure. The author makes excellent use of the first-person narrative style to leave the reader wondering right to the end whether the central character is a total psycho, just misunderstood, or somewhere in between. I particularly liked the use of dialect, happily reminiscent of my own childhood in York...more
Mar 20, 2010
David Gallagher
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Suicidal people seeking to bore themselves to death
Recommended to David by:
Unfortunately it was self-imposed and I've got no one to nag
Shelves:
books-i-own
I didn't quite get what Ross Raisin tried to accomplish with this book of his. Writers usually try to please the crowd, or at least a particular group of it, but it seems as though Raisin wrote this book clearly to satisfy his ego that made him believe he's a good writer. To be just, however, there are positive elements into the book: the main character is a memorable one (quite like Holden in The Catcher In The Rye), the books has very strong humorous references, and - at least I - couldn't see...more
Sam Marsdyke is an outsider. An adolescent working on his parent's farm following expulsion from school due to a rape allegation, Sam struggles to interact and integrate into the community. Living largely in isolation, Sam lavished his attention on the sheep and puppies on the farm. That is, until a new family move in next door and Sam develops an obsession with the daughter - "the girl" as she is referred to. Their initial awkward friendship quickly escalates into something very dark and altoge...more
May 11, 2012
Bettie
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommended to Bettie by:
Spotted on Blair's update; wanted a looksee
Shelves:
hardback,
one-penny-wonder,
paper-read,
spring-2012,
dodgy-narrator,
debut,
britain-england,
bucolic,
yorkshire
Imported from tablet:God's Own Country
Debut
spring
malevolent
Br - Eng - Yorkshire
Bucolic
Dodgy Narrator
Shuddery delicious
It's lambing season on the moors and the local area has been getting a brassing up what with the tomato army moving in an' all.
Classic Greengrass moment: http://youtu.be/OjewyTaf5ec
Also listened to R4 Book Club 10/05/2012: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/...
Another of this ilk: The Wrong Boy by Willy Russell
Finished 11/5/2012
3* - God's Own Country (2008)
1* - Waterline (2012...more
Also called Out Backwards. Another book like Waterline that makes the line between someone who functions well in society and someone who's behavior is considered anti-social, dangerous or aggressive seem very thin. One can take the same clues from the environment that most of us agree to interpret in a similar way and tweak them a bit, reinterpret them, and come up with an entirely different view of the world. One realizes that behavior that might get someone jail time might not stem from intent...more
God's Own Country is an extraordinary tale of delusion. Like the landscape and the characters it portrays, the narrative is menacing and uncomfortable. Ross Raisin writes with a unique style, blending plot, description, dialogue and thoughts in a melange of rambling copy. Mutterings of humour are expressed through the thick Yorkshire dialect of Sam Marsdyke's parochial world.
The reader's relationship with the main protagonist changes as the story progresses, and it becomes a gothic account of a...more
The reader's relationship with the main protagonist changes as the story progresses, and it becomes a gothic account of a...more
Just started so not sure at all how I feel so far. Really disturbed first person narrator so looking for moments of empathy. Certainly felt sorry for him over the mushrooms but then he needlessly kills a chicken. Enjoyed the descriptions of the moors and Marsdyke's relationship with the animals in his life. Very up and down response to the narrator as you begin to see the reasons behind his disturbed thoughts but his inability to see the reality of what is happening and the part that he is playi...more
What is it about some debut novels from British men and disturbed unreliable narrators? There may be a thesis in there somewhere, if someone could be bothered to think it through! This book reminds me of a bunch of others (The Collector, The Wasp Factory and The Butcher Boy, although the latter isn’t a debut) but manages not to be derivative. The narrator is extremely engaging and I loved the evocation of the North Yorkshire countryside having visited there often. Some of the social commentary f...more
This is a book where you either like it or you don't. I don't think it's a book you can really LOVE. I brought it along with me on a trip out to the country, which I really think helped me like it more then if I were just sitting at home. The main character, Sam, at times I hated him and thought he deserved what was coming to him and at other just felt really sorry for him. Not something I would ever read again, as I hated the style in was written in. I had to find myself going back and reading...more
This was a take-it-or-leave-it type of book for me. I agree with a review I read that the reader did tend to side with Sam because we were only privy to his point of view. It did make me wonder if he ever had an idea that what he was doing was wrong. If we go based solely on his thoughts, he is not doing anything wrong at all. I actually thought that his secluded farm life allowed him to rationalize how he treated the girl - almost as though she were just a farm animal herself. The dialect was a...more
"there wasn't use trying to talk with a girl just because of something she'd said to me in a dream"
Okay I'll break a habit and write a thought about this book too - I was impressed that - in a first novel - the author didn't (to my eyes) crow bar in anything not required. Other first novelists have lots of ideas and thoughts they want to publish and often they'll slot them into a story for that sake only. On the other hand, I'm not sure why the author has the narrator speak in a Yorkshire dialog...more
Okay I'll break a habit and write a thought about this book too - I was impressed that - in a first novel - the author didn't (to my eyes) crow bar in anything not required. Other first novelists have lots of ideas and thoughts they want to publish and often they'll slot them into a story for that sake only. On the other hand, I'm not sure why the author has the narrator speak in a Yorkshire dialog...more
I really enjoyed this, it's kind of like channeling Clockwork Orange's Alex into a small farm on the Yorkshire moors. It manages to walk the tightrope of being very funny, very sinister but also very clever all at the same time. The way Sam picks up on small bits of Josephine's conversation and then re-iterates them to himself is both very smart and very believable. It's not very often you pick up a book that can make you laugh out loud either. If it perhaps isn't as gripping when events start t...more
Well, it has been a good while since I've encountered an absolutely top-rate read so I am delighted to say that I have no hesitation in awarding God's Own Country a 5 star review.
God's Own Country is a tale about Sam Marsdyke, a 19-year-old farmer's son living in the North Yorkshire Moors. Expelled from school under controversial circumstances and ostracised by his peers, Sam lives a lonely life with only the land and his animals for company. When the neighbouring farmer dies and his land is bou...more
God's Own Country is a tale about Sam Marsdyke, a 19-year-old farmer's son living in the North Yorkshire Moors. Expelled from school under controversial circumstances and ostracised by his peers, Sam lives a lonely life with only the land and his animals for company. When the neighbouring farmer dies and his land is bou...more
Hm...disappointing. It began SO promising. The writing was wonderful, the story was dark in that realistic way - your next-door neighbour variety of madness. But I had a feeling the whole way through that it would turn out to have some kind of twist, and it just didn't. It was so predictable. And the second half was so so disturbing...only to end in the cheesiest way. I felt the novel was trying to say something, make a comment on life...and then it copped out with an epilogue straight out of a...more
For someone whose childhood was spent on an English sheep farm, this book brought back lots of memories. OK, the North Yorks Moors are the other end of England but the rituals of sheep birth, life and death are the same. The detail is very accurate which shows either personal experience or excellent research.
Sam is a very likeable character for all his misanthropic outlook on life. He adores his sheepdog Sal and has a deep but unspoken love affair for the Moors, threatened in his eyes by the 't...more
Sam is a very likeable character for all his misanthropic outlook on life. He adores his sheepdog Sal and has a deep but unspoken love affair for the Moors, threatened in his eyes by the 't...more
started this on the train this morning and loving it already. Sharp, funny writing. Takes the piss out of ramblers (Gods Own Country being Yorkshire of course): 'Daft sods in pink and green hats' - I laugh the laugh of recognition - that's me.
...enjoyed this, the charm of the (unreliable, slighty bonkers) young narrator wins you over immediately. Bit like the 'Butcher Boy' you're drawn in by his jokey style, his use of dialect, his love of animals and nature. All the animals talk, sheep, dogs, w...more
...enjoyed this, the charm of the (unreliable, slighty bonkers) young narrator wins you over immediately. Bit like the 'Butcher Boy' you're drawn in by his jokey style, his use of dialect, his love of animals and nature. All the animals talk, sheep, dogs, w...more
2 likes · like · see review
Nov 02, 2008
Betty
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
anyone who likes to delve into the whys and wherefores of life and the mind of the unusual
A strange and unusual book, written in the broad Yorkshire dialect, easy enough to pick up as you go along. The author has certainly done his research. A young boy is accused of something he didn’t actually do and is kicked out of school. He must work at the home farm and forget about education. When we come into his story he is about 19 years old. Downtrodden and a town misfit, he lives an eventful life within his own mind. The story is sometimes humorous, often deceptive, and somewhat depressi...more
Very different about sums it up. Written in the first person - from the viewpoint of someone who has problems interacting in the accepted social normal way. Quite complex in its own way - as the character does have compassion but also uncontrolled agression. He gets involved in a complicated situation not entirely of his own making - and you will have to read to the end as it can go many ways.
The language is at times a bit irksome at others very funny. Yes it is very different.
The language is at times a bit irksome at others very funny. Yes it is very different.
Jul 30, 2011
Jen
added it
Very interesting book, I must confess that it was a bit harder to read due to the slang involved, but within context, you could figure it out.
It was a strange way to address this issue as you were always reading it in Sam's point of view and so you tended to side with him more so than the "rest of the world'. ANwyay, it's a good piece, perhaps if you were from that area, it would be easier to understand the way it's written.
It was a strange way to address this issue as you were always reading it in Sam's point of view and so you tended to side with him more so than the "rest of the world'. ANwyay, it's a good piece, perhaps if you were from that area, it would be easier to understand the way it's written.
Jan 22, 2009
Mischelle
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
young men
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
A piece of fiction that needs to be discussed with another person after reading - all you have is the narrator's account of things and I was never sure if he was telling the truth, a half-truth or even if he himself understood what was actual/fiction. Overall, a decent read that grows more suspenseful in the second half. Not sure I would recommend if you were going to take a "ramble" - while the Moors and countryside are painted beautifully, the author didn't depict "towns" or the locals as ver...more
I enjoyed the writing, more than the story. Raisin has a really fine style, but somehow the story matter does not quite come together. The ending is somewhat disappointing - not in terms of the outcome, but how it hangs together coherently with the rest of the book. Having said this, I will definitely be looking out for Raisin's next effort as the quality of his writing is fantastic and the style is highly original.
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“there wasn't use trying to talk with a girl just because of something she'd said to me in a dream”
—
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