On the Black Hill - Feb 2021 Book Group discussion thread

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Hanneke Feb 2021 10:29pm, 22 Feb 2021 70,774 posts	0 Hanneke Yes, totally agree Columba. Mary is a heroin of the highest order and I think a proper sufragette/feminist well before her time.
LazyDaisy Feb 2021 5:08pm, 23 Feb 2021 32,646 posts	0 LazyDaisy I haven't read back through this thread yet, so I have no idea if I'm on the same page as everyone else or not. I was disappointed. I found it quite claustrophobic, and like a lot of novels which are 'birth to death' type narratives, I got the feeling that BC was getting a bit bored with the twins towards the end. I would have far preferred to know more about Mary who was a much more interesting character. There was lots in the incidental detail that I recognised, as a child from the other side of the Brecon Beacons. (Possibly something that put me off - gave me that claustrophobic feeling - was the memory of a tableau in Cyfarthfa Castle Museum, which we used to visit regularly when I was a child (you could see the Castle from our kitchen window.) The tableau was of a typical Welsh cottage kitchen, with a model of an old woman sitting in the chair by the range, and it used to freak me out!) The description of the land was good, and I've been in chapels just like the one the twins attended. I wasn't totally convinced by their increasing wealth - perhaps on that side of the Beacons the living was easier than on mine. I got a bit muddled up with the characters that seemed to come thick and fast towards the end. The flight in the plane was a nice touch though seemed too thoughtful for Kevin as I'd understood him. All in all, a 6-7. I'm not inspired to read any more Chatwin, I'm afraid.
Columba Feb 2021 5:14pm, 23 Feb 2021 20,877 posts	0 Columba I'm liking it more and more. Lots of dysfunctional individuals and dysfunctional families, yet somehow they all look out for one another. The grocer turns a blind eye when Ethel lifts a few inexpensive items from his shelves; and confronts her - gently - only when she goes a bit far with a large tin of ham. Jim, despite his utter incompetence at everything, just about manages to phone for help (public phone box, reverse charges) when Meg becomes so ill he thinks she's dying. Orphans, and abandoned and illegitimate children, get brought up somehow, by someone; nobody even tut-tuts very much.
Columba Feb 2021 5:18pm, 23 Feb 2021 20,878 posts	0 Columba Agreed, Daisy; too many characters to keep track of, which is why I'm re-reading. In that, it reminded my of Reservoir 13 (was it 13?).
Diogenes Feb 2021 5:19pm, 23 Feb 2021 57,888 posts	0 Diogenes It was 13.
Little Nemo Feb 2021 2:53pm, 28 Feb 2021 11,990 posts	0 Little Nemo Finished this last night and either I missed something or this is just not my type of book. It felt as though it just skimmed over the lives of the people and I didn't really get to know any of them properly. I think I would have preferred the book if it had given more depth to fewer parts of the characters' lives. By the end I didn't care enough about any of them and I'd forgotten who some of them were too. I did like the descriptions of the countryside and the workings of the farms but I don't think the author's style elevated it into anything more beautiful. He had quite an abrupt style and although the book was easy enough to read I never found it carried me away. I'm still glad of the chance to read it as I would never have picked it up otherwise. It wasn't the bleak read I was imagining but it's not inspired me to look out for any of his other books. I gave this book a 5. Off to read everyone else's views now!
Night-owl Mar 2021 3:25pm, 7 Mar 2021 35,777 posts	0 Night-owl I better post here first before I blog or I'll get told off by McGoohan I liked it. I certainly wouldn't have picked this otherwise so thank you Dio. Did take a couple of chapters to get into. There are short chapters. I liked the twins though I liked Benjamin better can you really do that. I liked Mary she seemed a good woman though not treated well by her husband didn't like her sister? If I remember right more or less you made your bed you can lie in it. But then the story would have ended differently Some characters/chapters I didn't care for but overall I liked it. Also made it to 1982 on read a book from each year of your life
Minnie Mad Mar 2021 10:08am, 13 Mar 2021 2,959 posts	0 Minnie Mad Sorry it took me so long, but here goes: Perhaps there’s nothing new in literature, everyone has to get their ideas from somewhere. The first thing that sprang to mind was The Farmer’s Bride by Charlotte Mews, as we were given a description of Amos’ marriage to his first wife. The second thing that popped up was Michael Morpurgo’s Private Peaceful with similar descriptions of young men shamed or guilted into signing up, and Benjamin’s awful experiences. And Rosie Fifield’s ministrations to Reggie Bickerton have something of the “Lady Chatterley” story it. There is a bit of the Thomas Hardy about it and I kept waiting for the sheep to be chased over the cliff edge, and wasn’t surprised when the horses copped it instead, and there might have been a feel of Larkrise to Candleford about it, except whilst it didn’t exactly lack love, it lacked the warmth and humour that Flora Thompson injects into her writing. There isn’t really much plot to the rest of the story, as it’s a book about farming on the Welsh boarders, and a timeline of the brothers lives as the world changes from 1900 when they are born, to the 1980s and the end of their lives. Also about how possessive parents can ruin your life. There are detailed descriptions of some very odd things, some more plausible than others, some descriptions more pleasant than others. It reminded me of some of the RS Thomas poetry I read years ago when I did my A-levels, the phrases “ah yes, I remember the mixen” popping straight in there without Google! There are lots of ideas about freedom, or lack of it, and that sense of restlessness at being stuck in one place without being able to move on. I’m glad Lewis did to get go up in a plane towards the end of their lives, but that sadness that neither of them ever married, Lewis never got to travel and they never went their separate ways in life, however close they were. My son has 4 cousins, all of whom are twins, but I don’t think any of them have the same feelings of being part of a whole together that the author suggests, which is a bit fanciful. It’s the Black Hill that never changes, remaining dark, unforgiving, challenging to work and downright hard to eek a living from. Perhaps the two men have created their own barriers to freedom, I don’t know, but I couldn’t have lived a whole life with that underlying sense of needing to get away and do something. I’m not sure how to rate this novel. It’s well written with some fantastic descriptions of a dying out way of life, but it didn’t give me any sense of having read a really good story. I’d never heard of Bruce Chatwin before this, so I am glad I gave it a go, so I’ll give it 8 for literary ability and a 5 for how much I actually enjoyed it, or not, as was the case here. Another deposit for the phone box that is a book exchange down the lane. I’m glad the book thread is challenging me to read things I wouldn’t otherwise have tried, but so far nothing’s really caught my imagination. Looking forward to Line of Beauty next.
LindsD Mar 2021 10:16am, 13 Mar 2021 45,629 posts	0 LindsD Thanks for this. Chimes in a lot of ways with my feelings
Hanneke Mar 2021 10:20am, 13 Mar 2021 71,308 posts	0 Hanneke Having re-read the book, which is situated in my back garden, and after reading all your comments, I have come to the conclusion that the real reason why I love this book is that Chatwin really brings this area to life. I suspect that, other than Columba who knows this part of the world, you really miss that connection which flattens the book.