A little pastichey in parts but generally worthwhile. ( )

I was excited by the concept of this book before I started and appreciate much of its achievements having completed it, but the actual reading of it was challenging at times. The various chapters are unconnected in any normal narrative sense but layer over each other to create an integrated whole. The narratives of the individual are fascinating, but a couple of them required from me a real concentration to read . It was worth the effort though, a remarkable insight into the history of a village - how that history is made, how it is told and retold, and how, in the end, it is packaged up and used as a marketing tool; yet still it comes back to assert itself on the present. 8 June 2016 ( )

Three centuries of a fictional English village told in the voices of 7 residents over the ages. OK, but failed to grab me.
Read in Samoa July 2002 ( )

I wish I could say that I loved this book, because I found the subject really appealing (kind of a psychogeography of an imaginary south English village, told using a variety of documents and first person accounts). It is really well written and quite varied in its story lines, though there are some repeating elements and themes. It stretches from the mid-seventeenth century to the late 1980s, with a great callback to the first chapter in the final pages, with the appearance of a character named "Adam Thorpe, local author & performer."

However, I made the mistake of reading this on an airplane (long transatlantic flight) and I think jet lag, tiredness, and overhearing the banal conversations of other passengers really interrupted my enjoyment and understanding of the book. Even under the best conditions I think it would have been difficult to understand chapter 9 ("Stitches," 1887), but I admit to having literally NO conception of what that section was about. I usually get rid of books after I read them unless I absolutely love them, but I think this is one I'll keep around to reread at a time when I can give it more focused attention. ( )

Sometimes a book just calls to you, through cover or blurb, and Ulverton is a prime example. Great concept - the history of a small country village told through various first-hand accounts, from letters to a documentary - but not the easiest book to read. The semi-illiterate letters from a mother to her jailbird son and a stream-of-consciousness ramble from a broadly spoken farmer nearly defeated me (I'm still not sure what was said, and had to wait for a 'translation' of events in the following chapters), yet I persevered, such is the amazing skill of the author. He has the reader believing in these characters, and in the equally fictional Ulverton itself, by the distinctive narrative style and humour of each 'voice'. I don't regret plucking this somewhat experimental novel off the library shelf, but be warned: some of the chapters will leave you with a frown and a headache, like trying to read small text or decipher bad handwriting! ( )