I got this book because I wanted to learn about the Highland Clearances in Scotland between 1790 and 1850, in which untold numbers of crofters were displaced from the land. This, according to web reviews, was the definitive novel on the period. I found it to be fascinating, both as history and as literature.
The book is told by a 70-year-old widow who is being forced from her home, where she was born, and generations before her had been born. The voice is a simple one, at times confused and rambling. At first, I was put off by the extreme negativity of her character, and her general bitterness towards life (even before the notification of being displaced). She had led a really hard life.
As the introduction to the book points out, however, the fact of her joylessness is really one of the main points of the book. For the author is writing about the effect of religion on the Scots people just as much as about the Clearances. He paints a picture of a church that has warped the souls of the people, making them live in guilt and fear of hell, begrudging them even the simplest of pleasures such as a little music on a Saturday night. The greedy landlords and their agents are certainly portrayed as villains. But an even greater villain is the church, which actually goes so far as to say that the people are being evicted as punishment from God for their sinfulness.
What makes this a memorable book is the gradual change of heart in the old woman, where she sees how she was at fault in many of the tragedies in her family relationships -- yet was a victim in other circumstances, which previously she had taken for granted. This gives the book a richness and depth, rather than being just a social commentary. We see a poorly educated woman gaining clarity on a social situation, and shifting her prior attitudes -- a wonderful sign of growth despite the dire circumstances she is in.
Upon concluding the book, you can't help but ask similar questions about our current times. How are we victims of, or passive witnesses to, terrible iniquities in our own era? And how have we been blinded to ways in which our own attitudes have led to the demise of valued relationships?
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Top reviews from other countries
FictionFan
An interesting character study…
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 9, 2022Trondra Norquoy
The sparse tone of the novel is one of its greatest strengths but at the same time its weakness
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 10, 2018