No title (2003)

His kids bookseffortlessly convery a senseof place, and the ancient gods rooted in them. This one for adults seems to try a bit too hard. It starts of with great recitations of placenames interspersed with random gobbledegook in impenetrable dialect. Though the sense of place eventually does come through there's no real story or character to hold the whole thing together. ( )

When filling this box, I am used to giving a review, because I read the book I am talking about.

For this book, however, things are a bit different. I started out yesterday and was unpleasantly surprised. The first chapter, as many after that one, were in English that was really not mine.
I'm not a native speaker, but I do get around very well in reading books in English, even when it is not really modern language. This however, I suspect to be a certain dialect. Not the whole book is written in it, 'only' the chapters where the characters from that time and that area are acting.
But to get a grip on the book as a whole, I need to understand both sets of chapters. With pain in my heart I let reading this book go, I just can't, I don't understand.
There are no notes and I do not have a teacher at hand to explain, so.... I bow my head for this book and let go.

I make it available (through the library) to others, wishing they are able to see the beauty of this book (and hopefully write a review, so maybe I get a hint of what it is all about too...)

Hic, hoc, the carrion crow,
The carrion crow I see.
As I walk by mysen
And I talk to mysen,
Mysen says unto me:
Look to thysen,
Take care of thysen,
For nobody cares for thee.

Hic, hoc, the carrion crow,
The carrion crow I see.
I talk to mysen
And I say to mysen,
In the self-same nominy:
Look to thysen,
Or not to thysen,
The sen-same thing shall be.
Hic, hoc, the carrion crow,
The carrion crow's for me.

Thursbitch is a valley on the Cheshire side of the Pennines. In the mid-18th century, a local man Jack Turner, is found dead after a snow storm, sitting against Osbaldestone. The story of Jack and the ancient bull cult whose savage rituals are still practiced by the locals, resonate down the ages and are linked to the presen-day story of the dying Sal and her friend Ian, who walk the moors and wonder about the ancient stones that that litter the hillsides.

An adult novel, that is as full of local atmosphere, folk beliefs and magic as are his children's books. ( )

Thursbitch, though a slender volume written in a stripped-down, almost bare-bones style, is nevertheless one of the most difficult and demanding books I've read in some time, one that is beautiful, convoluted, and haunting.

The tale concerns two different threads: in the 18th Century, a packman named Jack Hunter negotiates long trips delivering supplies, strange rituals and visions, and a cultish religion that is losing ground. In the 21st Century, two geologists are examining the same valley in which Jack once died: Sal, a woman dying of a crippling neurological disease, and Ian, her caregiver and compatriot. The two threads weave together in fantastical, unexpected ways, and the novel is a mysterious endeavor until the circuitous finale that both attempts to explain the events and damn near demands another reading.

Which is not to say that multiple reads would not hold up. The text is rife with vivid language, particularly in the 18th Century segments where the dialect, though confusing, is stunningly accurate. Garner's strength is with this dialogue, for the descriptive passages tend to be straightforward but backloaded with detail. The pace takes a while to get used to, but in the end, Garner's sentences demand careful consideration at all times and stand up to such scrutiny, adding surprising depth to such a slim volume.

A challenging and thought-provoking read, probably not for everyone, but especially for those willing to be patient and methodical.

In spite of being pretentious and confusing, I liked this book for its subject matter. Maybe there really is some kind of pagan 'secret" out there in that "sentient landscape." Basically, this book is what House of Leaves would love to be. ( )