The Saffron Eaters

by N.R. Phillips

Book by Phillips, N. R.

Genres: Fiction

190 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1990

Reviews

[LOUISE FIELDER · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about the inhabitants of a little fishing village in south England, where the rich Celtic language and traditions of the Cornish people are rigidly observed.
The scenery is beautifully described and the characters interesting and humorous.
Five lads, grown up together, know this village as a poor, quiet, loyal community who treat any outsiders as 'foreigners'. But after high school they all take their own paths and as their lives change so does the village they so strongly want to defend.
This is the story of their lives, loves, ambitions and their failures.
All within a communuity of growing hotels, holidaymakers, and real estate booms.
The emotions of the inhabitants are turned upside down and nearly destroyed by this influx of newcomers who try and invade their society.

[Gus Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a while ago but I remember enjoying this book thoroughly.

[Rhiannon Grant · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has some small points of interest. If you think that's not much of a compliment, you're right, but it's the best I can do while giving my honest opinions of this novel which I found mostly a bit frustrating. I enjoyed some of the use of dialect, especially the nuanced attention to code-switching, and the reflections on how a small village changes over time. However, I found most of the characters unappealing, partly because the plot punishes anyone who shows any sign of agency, and the plot itself irritating. It combines two great tropes of literature: boy meets girl, boy meets another girl, everyone is opposed by the societal assumption of monogamy with a side order of sexism, tragedy ensues; and boy meets girl, boy meets another girl, boy experiences Soulcrushing Moral Dilemma (TM), boy fails to notice that girls are fully rounded people and not objects to be chosen or rejected, tragedy ensues. At times the narration seems to be trying to subvert the second one, and I had moments of hope that one or more of the women might be allowed to become fully rounded people, but in the end action and decision making rests only with the men. If you like that sort of thing, I imagine this is a great book - it's certainly well-written at the level of language. All the sentences and most of the paragraphs are fine, I just couldn't find anything to like in the story.

[dennis Waters · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am sorry but I thought the book was not very good. The storyline was about an affair but not very well done. No real storyline about beautiful Cornwall so I won’t be recommending this one and off to the charity shop for the next unlucky person to pick it up.