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Books : Sacred Country
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Sacred Country by: Rose Tremain List Price: £7.99 Vegetarian Books Price: £5.99 You Save: £2.00 (25%)Prices subject to change. |
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Binding: Paperback EAN: 9780099422037 ISBN: 0099422034 Label: Vintage Manufacturer: Vintage Number Of Pages: 384 Publication Date: July 03, 2008 Publisher: Vintage Studio: Vintage Sales Rank: 2453 Related Items: Related Items:      see moreBrowse for similar items by category:
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
 Rating: - Moving in the extremeThe first quarter of this wonderful book left me in doubt. Mary/Martin was the character that most interested me, and I found the numerous other stories distracting. But, in Part Two, the gender identity issue came to the fore, and the purpose of the web of other characters became clear. From then on, I loved every page of it. It's a novel about the journeys of people's lives, and the factors - controllable or otherwise - that shape them. In particular, it focuses on the struggles of non-conformists, and people trapped where they don't want to be: in the wrong body; in mental illness; in a small rural village, with a mind-numbing job. The message seems to be: be true to yourself, chart your own journey, and don't let others constrain ... Read More: Rating: - Pass over this book and it's your loss....Buy this now! ;-) I first read this book many years ago, soon after Rose had amazed me when she was on Desert Island Discs - she sounded so intelligent and interesting that I had to see what her books were like. I was stunned by it (and by the fact that's she's still comparatively little known) and lent my copy to several people, but in the end it didn't come back. So, in July I ordered a new copy and read it again - it was even better than I'd remembered - the plot, structure, exquisite use of the language and humour (as well as many other emotions) combine to make it one of my two favourite books. In case you're wondering the other is Last and First Men/Last Men in London by Olaf Stapledon - but that's out of print more often than not. ... Read More: Rating: - A great novel.I loved this novel. I haven't read it recently so some of the details are fuzzy but I do remember being amazed by the story and the author's writing style. "Sacred Country" is about a young girl, Mary Ward, who, at the age of six, realizes that she should be boy. The book is a chronicle of her life from that point on. I found the detailed descriptions of the odd things that captured Mary's curiosity as a child (and as an adult, in a different way) intriguing. I won't lie, this is a very sad story at times, and is hard to read in some parts because of Mary's loneliness. The loneliness is never stated and packs a harder punch because of it. All in all, this book explained to me in stunning writing, the process of finding all of the right ... Read More: Rating: - A melange of characters crocheted to hook the reader.This is a can't be put down book. At first the topic seems unpromising, an infant girls transexual realisation. However this frame is used as a trellis to support a honeysuckle plot of intertwining tendrils. Not a word is wasted, not a word ommited in demonstrating not ony the wordsmith at work but also the artist. The book is funny, sad, tender and quite vicious all in one. Rating: - The most fantastic book ever published.In the summer of 1996, when I was feeling particularly confused and lonely I picked up a copy of sacred country and read it. Wow is the only word I can think of to summarise how I felt about the book. It gave me insight in to the struggles of others; the dilemas faced by Mary, Timmy, Estelle, Cord, Sonny Walter and the many other characters in the book opened my eyes to the world around me and made me alert to the emotions and insecurities of others. I have read the book 32 times since then and each time I find something else to break my heart or I notice something new in the story I never did before. The last time I read it I cried when Mary/Martin sat at the fountain in London wondering which parts of Mary she would miss when she finally became Martin. ... Read More: |
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