How Green Was My Valley (Penguin Modern Classics)
by Richard Llewellyn
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 698)
Read in June, 2008
I am not great with words and I am not really sure how to do justice to a book that is one of the most cherished books I have read.
I have lost count of the number of times I have read this book, but I just finished it again after putting it away for a year or two. Nearly every time I read it I think maybe I had overrated it in my memory and maybe I will be disappointed that it wasn't as good as I remembered, but every time it is better and better and I appreciate the beauty and language and ex...more
I have lost count of the number of times I have read this book, but I just finished it again after putting it away for a year or two. Nearly every time I read it I think maybe I had overrated it in my memory and maybe I will be disappointed that it wasn't as good as I remembered, but every time it is better and better and I appreciate the beauty and language and ex...more
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Read in June, 2005
recommends it for:
Anyone Who Reads...
Originally published in 1939, How Green Was My Valley is a powerful coming-of-age tale set in a small coal-mining village in south Wales. It follows the story of Huw Morgan and his large, sometimes chaotic, but always loving family as they struggle to earn a living and lead a decent life.
Here the reader will encounter unforgettable characters, portraits of heart-breaking hardship and suffering, instances of terrifying and repugnant violence, and moments of sublime and transcendent bea...more
Here the reader will encounter unforgettable characters, portraits of heart-breaking hardship and suffering, instances of terrifying and repugnant violence, and moments of sublime and transcendent bea...more
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Read in January, 2008
<u>How Green Was My Valley<u> is a refreshing breeze amidst the usual inversion you feel with so many books these days. I wish people wrote these days the way Richard Llewellyn wrote this. You feel like you're peering into the window of a loving family sitting by the hearth when you read this book. You fall in love with its characters, laughing when they laugh, crying when they cry, loving when they love. You feel Huw's anger, his triumphs and his heartbreak at watching his beloved v...more
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Read in December, 2005
This will be a review that I will, no doubt, edit and add to a lot.
This is easily my most favorite and special book. It's something so beautiful that my heart aches to dwell on it. It aches because I long to be apart of something so perfect and wish for such beauty in everything I experience.
I feel I belong in that small Welsh mining town, that I should be spending all of my time supporting my family and town, singing with friends, learning voraciously, worshiping God intelligently and ...more
This is easily my most favorite and special book. It's something so beautiful that my heart aches to dwell on it. It aches because I long to be apart of something so perfect and wish for such beauty in everything I experience.
I feel I belong in that small Welsh mining town, that I should be spending all of my time supporting my family and town, singing with friends, learning voraciously, worshiping God intelligently and ...more
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Read in November, 2003
My reading of this book in 2003 was actually the third or fourth time I have read this book. For me, this is one of those books where the characters seem like my friends or family and I read it again in 2003 when I was beginning my rounds of chemotherapy for breast cancer. It helped me to have a feeling of familiarity and safety during a time of stress and unknown fears. This book is a classic tale of a family whose traditional work ethic and values are attacked by a changing world. Through ...more
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I have a short attention span and, thus, have a hard time reading books by people like, say, Steinbeck or Hardy, where the scenery becomes a character...meaning there are endless passages describing meadows and livestock. However, I loved this book, and, it could be argued, that it has some of that atmospheric quality. I once gave a presentation to a group of women about books I recommend for book groups, and when I mentioned this one, one of the old women - let me say this again, she was OLD an...more
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Read in January, 2006
This is one of my favorite books! It reads like beautiful poetry. The language is simple but so expressive. (It reminds me of "Cry, the Beloved Country.") This book stays with you for a long time and you feel like you have somehow become a part of this family. The Welsh language is tricky at first but wonderful to read. Everyone who wants to read classical literature should read this book.
I read it after returning from a trip to Wales. We visited an old mining town full of h...more
I read it after returning from a trip to Wales. We visited an old mining town full of h...more
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Read in January, 2006
What a beautiful, sad book!
I read this book while doing research on my Welsh ancestors and felt that I was able to hear something of their voice. I also watched the film with Maureen O'Hara and Roddy McDowell and loved it too. The character who plays the father in the movie looks a lot like one of my Welsh ancestors—a funny coincidence I guess.
This book is about gossip and jealousy and longing for the past. It extols the virtue of hardworking colliers during a supposed age where eve...more
I read this book while doing research on my Welsh ancestors and felt that I was able to hear something of their voice. I also watched the film with Maureen O'Hara and Roddy McDowell and loved it too. The character who plays the father in the movie looks a lot like one of my Welsh ancestors—a funny coincidence I guess.
This book is about gossip and jealousy and longing for the past. It extols the virtue of hardworking colliers during a supposed age where eve...more
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Read in January, 1966
recommends it for:
everyone who enjoys a good novel, especially those interested in the Welsh/Wales
My mother must have acquired this book shortly after it came out in America. Her mother was born in Wales, not from a mining family, I don’t think. Anyway, read her copy when I was twelve, and I still own it. (My mother had died by then, and my grandmother died before I was born so I never met my grandmother; I think the book made me feel closer to that part of the family. I had met a couple of the (Jewish) Welsh relatives when they visited the U.S.) But I remember that I did really like the f...more
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Read in January, 2008
recommended to Kate by:
I'd read it in high school and wanted to revisit it.
I very much enjoyed reading this book. It is one that I'd read back in high school but didn't remember much about. It tells the story of a Welsh coalmining family and the prose, while not quite as modern as today's, I found lovely. I could truly picture the people and the place. Made me want to visit Wales. It also gave a very detailed description of what the life of the miner was in those days (pre unionization) although labor organization did figure into the story line, leading to conflict ...more
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This is a beautifully-written Welsh story, which was later made into a movie during the very young days of Maureen O'Hara. It's a boy's experience growing up in a very small mining town in Wales (obviously). It's so believable and personal, that I suspect very much it may be autobiographical, but haven't done any research on it. I bought a copy of this book for my collection. The language in it is often coloquial Welsh, and you find yourself beginning to talk like they do. It's very fun to re...more
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Meg gave this to me for my birthday a couple of years ago as her favorite book of all time. I didn't read a bit of fiction that summer or for the next few years because of the stress of writing--now that is not very smart, I know for a yogi who preaches balance in life at all times . . . So, this is the summer!!! (I started off slow on fiction with The Goose Girl but am loving it and thinking--I have to get back to pleasure reading again!) Thanks Meg. . . you are the best.
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Read in April, 2008
I just finished this book and I really liked it. The dialogue contains a lot of Welsh which is hard to understand so it was a little slow reading for me. I really like a "Coming of Age" theme with a child narrator, which this book has. The boy in the story (Huw Morgan) has a very refreshing innocent perspective on life as he tells about his lovable,honest to a fault, hardworking family and his growing up years in a Welsh coal mining town.
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Read in May, 2008
recommended to di by:
Book Group
I can't put my finger on exactly what it was that I didn't like about this book. Maybe it's that I couldn't figure out what it was supposed to be about. Maybe it was the copious details when I really just wanted to know what happened. Maybe it was the fighting. And it's not that I totally disliked the book--there were many things I liked a lot. The characters. The dialogue. I just couldn't get into this one completely.
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One of the best books I have read in years. The use of language and dialectal writing to portray not only another language but another culture is carried off effectively. The story follows a boy from his childhood through old age in his valley in Wales, with all of the changes that occur in the area as well as his life. It has huge dynamics and intense relationships and emotions. A beautiful and refreshing read.
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Read in January, 2005
recommends it for:
Everyone
I love this book. My Mom read it to me when I was in the 5th grade and then I read it myself in the 8th grade. Several years ago my Mom gave me the copy of it that was hers from when she was young. It was old when she got it and the pages are to brittle to turn...so Shawn Got me a copy of it to read For Christmas in `05. It's a book I could read over and over!!
I looovvvee it!
I looovvvee it!
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Great book! Human drama! So sad it wallows under the bed of a former "love of my life" among the dust bunnies and lost socks, never to be seen by human eyes again. Should have known better that he'd turn out a dud when he didn't read the book and return it!
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Read in June, 2008
recommended to Kelly by:
Rachael McKinnon
Beautiful!!! I LOVED this book. The imagery is completely compelling. It was especially meaningful to me because of my family's Welsh heritage. The author gives a lot of attention to home life, which was really fun to read about, but for me, the best part of the book is the richness of the characters. Highly recommended!
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Read in January, 1997
recommends it for:
everyone
This is my favorite book. It's a story well-told and beautifully written. How Green Was My Valley chronicles the boyhood of the Welsh Huw Morgan and his family's stuggles as a mining family in Wales. I first read this book as a high school senior; I have read it three times since. This is a story that never grows old.
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recommends it for:
all
A moving family story in a region where the only work is mining. The mother's strength and devotion is central throughout the ups and downs of a very hard life. It also explains how and why migrating to the USA seemed to be the only solution for Europeans of that time before progress in social justice became apparent.
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