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As Birds Bring Forth the Sun and Other Stories
The superbly crafted stories collected in Alistair MacLeod’s As Birds Bring Forth the Sun and Other Stories depict men and women acting out their “own peculiar mortality” against the haunting landscape of Cape Breton Island. In a voice at once elegiac and life-affirming, MacLeod describes a vital present inhabited by the unquiet spirits of a Highland past, invoking memory and myth to celebrate the continuity of the generations even in the midst of unremitting change.
His second collection, As Birds Bring Forth the Sun and Other Stories confirms MacLeod’s international reputation as a storyteller of rare talent and inspiration.
His second collection, As Birds Bring Forth the Sun and Other Stories confirms MacLeod’s international reputation as a storyteller of rare talent and inspiration.
176 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1986
19 people are currently reading
542 people want to read
About the author
Alistair MacLeod
39 books243 followersWhen MacLeod was ten his family moved to a farm in Dunvegan, Inverness County on Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Island. After completing high school, MacLeod attended teacher's college in Truro and then taught school. He studied at St. Francis Xavier University between 1957 and 1960 and graduated with a BA and B.Ed. He then went on to receive his MA in 1961 from the University of New Brunswick and his PhD in 1968 from the University of Notre Dame. A specialist in British literature of the nineteenth century, MacLeod taught English for three years at Indiana University before accepting a post in 1969 at the University of Windsor as professor of English and creative writing. During the summer, his family resided in Cape Breton, where he spent part of his time "writing in a cliff-top cabin looking west towards Prince Edward Island."
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-Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
April 8, 2021
In my opinion, Alistair MacLeod’s tender portrayals of the Canadian East Coast remain unsurpassed.
A good decade ago, The Lost Salt Gift of Blood had bowled me over with its love of the land and its people, its bits of Gaelic thrown in out of reverence toward the old countries – a song’s verse here, a saying there, nothing in excess or without context – and the ordinary lives it depicted so truthfully yet with so much inspiration. MacLeod wrote his characters not unlike Kent Haruf might have, for instance, or Richard Yates; the time and place differed, that’s all.
Now, the same way The Lost Salt Gift of Blood (1976) had featured short stories that never truly left my heart, As Birds Bring Forth the Sun and Other Stories (1986) just delivered a fresh new batch of them. My heart feels so full it may well burst. While I’m under the impression that the first collection was a smidge more powerful, this second one lacks nothing of the lore or the insight that had first won me over and that’s to mention nothing of MacLeod’s gifted writing.
Every single time I pick up something by this author, I come to the realization that the last time I thought “Now here’s someone who captures what it is to be from the East Coast at its very core” was the last time I read… him, again.
There was a time long ago when the lobsters were not thought to be so valuable. Probably because the markets of the larger world had not yet been discovered or were so far away. People then ate all they wanted of them and even used them for fertilizer on their fields. And those who did eat them did not consider them to be a delicacy. There is a quoted story from the time which states that in the schools you could always identify the children of the poor because they were the ones with lobster in their sandwiches. The well-to-do were able to afford bologna.
A good decade ago, The Lost Salt Gift of Blood had bowled me over with its love of the land and its people, its bits of Gaelic thrown in out of reverence toward the old countries – a song’s verse here, a saying there, nothing in excess or without context – and the ordinary lives it depicted so truthfully yet with so much inspiration. MacLeod wrote his characters not unlike Kent Haruf might have, for instance, or Richard Yates; the time and place differed, that’s all.
Now, the same way The Lost Salt Gift of Blood (1976) had featured short stories that never truly left my heart, As Birds Bring Forth the Sun and Other Stories (1986) just delivered a fresh new batch of them. My heart feels so full it may well burst. While I’m under the impression that the first collection was a smidge more powerful, this second one lacks nothing of the lore or the insight that had first won me over and that’s to mention nothing of MacLeod’s gifted writing.
Every single time I pick up something by this author, I come to the realization that the last time I thought “Now here’s someone who captures what it is to be from the East Coast at its very core” was the last time I read… him, again.
There was a time long ago when the lobsters were not thought to be so valuable. Probably because the markets of the larger world had not yet been discovered or were so far away. People then ate all they wanted of them and even used them for fertilizer on their fields. And those who did eat them did not consider them to be a delicacy. There is a quoted story from the time which states that in the schools you could always identify the children of the poor because they were the ones with lobster in their sandwiches. The well-to-do were able to afford bologna.
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April 28, 202010/10
Review in progress ...
Review in progress ...
July 2, 2016
Lesenotizen zu den einzelnen Stories
THE CLOSING DOWN OF SUMMER
Wie ein Schwarm Zugvögel sitzen sie da, am Strand von Nova Scotia, und warten auf das Zeichen zum Abflug in Richtung Afrika: eine Gruppe von Minenarbeitern, aus der Zeit gefallen wie antike Schauspieler oder Mastodons, von der Ausrottung bedroht.
Sie führen ein archaisches Leben, die Gesundheit fortwährend bedroht von Stolleneinstürzen, Steinschlägen oder Flutungen, den Großteil des Jahres weit entfernt von den Familien, vor allem aber entfremdet. So isoliert vom "normalen" Alltag, dass die Sprache kaum hinreicht, die persönlichen Erfahrungen auszutauschen und man ins Gälische zurückfällt, in die Sprache, die wenigstens innerhalb der Gruppe einen Zusammenhalt bietet, und fern der entfremdeten Hitparaden gälische Lieder singt:
"Songs that are for the most part local and private and capable of losing almost all of their substance in translation".
Der Story gelingt, woran der Erzähler kaum glauben mag: da wird etwas mitgeteilt, das sich dem Vorstellungsvermögen so sehr entzieht, dass es fraglich scheint, ob Worte die Kluft überbrücken können.
Eine Wahnsinnserzählung, sprachlich unglaublich stark!
WINTER DOG
Der Erzähler wartet auf schlimme Nachrichten. Es ist Dezember und es schneit. Ein Nachbarshund, der mit den Kindern spielt, erinnert ihn an den Hund, der ihm als Kind das Leben gerettet hat. Doch davon hat er niemandem berichtet, und später wurde dieser Hund erschossen.
Die Erzählung vibriert vor Kälte und Lebensbedrohung. Selten habe ich auf nur wenigen Seiten so intensiv über treibende Eisschollen gelesen. Selbst im Sommer möchte man die Heizung hochstellen.
THE CLOSING DOWN OF SUMMER
Wie ein Schwarm Zugvögel sitzen sie da, am Strand von Nova Scotia, und warten auf das Zeichen zum Abflug in Richtung Afrika: eine Gruppe von Minenarbeitern, aus der Zeit gefallen wie antike Schauspieler oder Mastodons, von der Ausrottung bedroht.
Sie führen ein archaisches Leben, die Gesundheit fortwährend bedroht von Stolleneinstürzen, Steinschlägen oder Flutungen, den Großteil des Jahres weit entfernt von den Familien, vor allem aber entfremdet. So isoliert vom "normalen" Alltag, dass die Sprache kaum hinreicht, die persönlichen Erfahrungen auszutauschen und man ins Gälische zurückfällt, in die Sprache, die wenigstens innerhalb der Gruppe einen Zusammenhalt bietet, und fern der entfremdeten Hitparaden gälische Lieder singt:
"Songs that are for the most part local and private and capable of losing almost all of their substance in translation".
Der Story gelingt, woran der Erzähler kaum glauben mag: da wird etwas mitgeteilt, das sich dem Vorstellungsvermögen so sehr entzieht, dass es fraglich scheint, ob Worte die Kluft überbrücken können.
Eine Wahnsinnserzählung, sprachlich unglaublich stark!
WINTER DOG
Der Erzähler wartet auf schlimme Nachrichten. Es ist Dezember und es schneit. Ein Nachbarshund, der mit den Kindern spielt, erinnert ihn an den Hund, der ihm als Kind das Leben gerettet hat. Doch davon hat er niemandem berichtet, und später wurde dieser Hund erschossen.
Die Erzählung vibriert vor Kälte und Lebensbedrohung. Selten habe ich auf nur wenigen Seiten so intensiv über treibende Eisschollen gelesen. Selbst im Sommer möchte man die Heizung hochstellen.
June 25, 2016
German review below
This was an absolutely fantastic read, the writing is superb, at times breath-taking. The stories center around traditional life on Cape Breton Island, the force of nature and mortality.
A huge thank-you to Amanda Center, on whose Booktube channel I discovered this little gem.
Auf Cape Breton Island in der kanadischen Provinz Novia Scotia leben vorwiegend Nachfahren schottischer Auswanderer, die während der Highland Clearances aus dem schottischen Hochland vertrieben wurden. Dieses Erbe prägte die Kultur der Insel entscheidend, man sprach lange noch Gälisch, was sich heute vor allem noch in der reichen Musiktradition widerspiegelt. Der 2014 leider verstorbene Autor Alistair MacLeod, der auf Cape Breton Island aufwuchs, lässt die Traditionen und die Lebensweise der Insel in seinen Werken aufleben.
Es kommt nicht häufig vor, dass ich gleich auf der allerersten Seite eines Buches zum Bleistift greife, um schöne Sätze zu unterstreichen. Dieses Buch ist so eines. Die Naturbeschreibungen von Alistair MacLeod kommen mit einer Wucht, einer unbändigen Kraft, die nahezu atemberaubend ist. Etwa die Beschreibung der Forellen in den fast ausgetrockneten Flüssen im Sommer:
„They are very unlike the leaping, spirited trout of spring, battling and alive in the rushing, clear, cold water; so electrically filled with movement that it seems no parasite could ever lodge within their flesh.“ (Seite 7)
Die kraftvolle Sprache ist jedoch keinesfalls auf Naturbeobachtungen beschränkt, sie tritt überall in Erscheinung, zieht sich durch das ganze Buch:
„The music causes the hair to bristle on the backs of our necks and brings out the wildness of our grief and dredges the depths of our dense dark sorrow.“ (Seite 14)
Ich kann mich nicht erinnern, wann ich zuletzt eine so eindrückliche Sprache genießen durfte. Thematisch beschäftigen sich die sieben Kurzgeschichten mit dem einfachen Leben auf der Insel, das durch Naturgewalten und den Kreislauf der Jahreszeiten geprägt ist, sowie den Traditionen, die weit in die Vergangenheit in Schottland zurückreichen. Die Geschichten sind dabei vor allem durch zwei zentrale Aspekte gekennzeichnet: Naturgewalten und Sterblichkeit bzw. Tod, letzterer auch im übertragenen Sinne bezogen auf das Aussterben der Traditionen, begleitet von einer wunderbaren Melancholie, die nie wehleidig wirkt, sondern nur bedauernd zur Kenntnis nimmt, dass die Zeiten sich ändern.
In der sprachlich besonders eindrucksvollen ersten Geschichte, „The Closing Down of Summer“, geht es beispielsweise um die Männer, die in der traditionellen Bergbauindustrie der Insel arbeiten und jederzeit mit Tod oder zumindest Verletzungen rechnen müssen, ein Fakt, der die Mentalität der Familien prägt:
„Yet we are not surprised or critical of each other, for she too is from a mining family and grew up largely on funds sent home by an absentee father. Perhaps we are but becoming our previous generation.“ (Seite 18)
Doch auch diese Tradition stirbt aus, auch weil die Väter nicht anders können, als ihren Söhnen von einer solchen Karriere abzuraten:
„And yet because it seems they will follow our advice instead of our lives, we will experience, in any future that is ours, only an increased sense of anguished isolation and an ironic feeling of confused bereavement.“ (Seite 23)
Die Kurzgeschichten von Alistair MacLeod sind ein wunderschönes sprachliches Juwel, das ich euch wärmstens ans Herz legen möchte. Noch nie hat ein Werk dieses Genres mich so beeindruckt zurückgelassen.
This was an absolutely fantastic read, the writing is superb, at times breath-taking. The stories center around traditional life on Cape Breton Island, the force of nature and mortality.
A huge thank-you to Amanda Center, on whose Booktube channel I discovered this little gem.
Auf Cape Breton Island in der kanadischen Provinz Novia Scotia leben vorwiegend Nachfahren schottischer Auswanderer, die während der Highland Clearances aus dem schottischen Hochland vertrieben wurden. Dieses Erbe prägte die Kultur der Insel entscheidend, man sprach lange noch Gälisch, was sich heute vor allem noch in der reichen Musiktradition widerspiegelt. Der 2014 leider verstorbene Autor Alistair MacLeod, der auf Cape Breton Island aufwuchs, lässt die Traditionen und die Lebensweise der Insel in seinen Werken aufleben.
Es kommt nicht häufig vor, dass ich gleich auf der allerersten Seite eines Buches zum Bleistift greife, um schöne Sätze zu unterstreichen. Dieses Buch ist so eines. Die Naturbeschreibungen von Alistair MacLeod kommen mit einer Wucht, einer unbändigen Kraft, die nahezu atemberaubend ist. Etwa die Beschreibung der Forellen in den fast ausgetrockneten Flüssen im Sommer:
„They are very unlike the leaping, spirited trout of spring, battling and alive in the rushing, clear, cold water; so electrically filled with movement that it seems no parasite could ever lodge within their flesh.“ (Seite 7)
Die kraftvolle Sprache ist jedoch keinesfalls auf Naturbeobachtungen beschränkt, sie tritt überall in Erscheinung, zieht sich durch das ganze Buch:
„The music causes the hair to bristle on the backs of our necks and brings out the wildness of our grief and dredges the depths of our dense dark sorrow.“ (Seite 14)
Ich kann mich nicht erinnern, wann ich zuletzt eine so eindrückliche Sprache genießen durfte. Thematisch beschäftigen sich die sieben Kurzgeschichten mit dem einfachen Leben auf der Insel, das durch Naturgewalten und den Kreislauf der Jahreszeiten geprägt ist, sowie den Traditionen, die weit in die Vergangenheit in Schottland zurückreichen. Die Geschichten sind dabei vor allem durch zwei zentrale Aspekte gekennzeichnet: Naturgewalten und Sterblichkeit bzw. Tod, letzterer auch im übertragenen Sinne bezogen auf das Aussterben der Traditionen, begleitet von einer wunderbaren Melancholie, die nie wehleidig wirkt, sondern nur bedauernd zur Kenntnis nimmt, dass die Zeiten sich ändern.
In der sprachlich besonders eindrucksvollen ersten Geschichte, „The Closing Down of Summer“, geht es beispielsweise um die Männer, die in der traditionellen Bergbauindustrie der Insel arbeiten und jederzeit mit Tod oder zumindest Verletzungen rechnen müssen, ein Fakt, der die Mentalität der Familien prägt:
„Yet we are not surprised or critical of each other, for she too is from a mining family and grew up largely on funds sent home by an absentee father. Perhaps we are but becoming our previous generation.“ (Seite 18)
Doch auch diese Tradition stirbt aus, auch weil die Väter nicht anders können, als ihren Söhnen von einer solchen Karriere abzuraten:
„And yet because it seems they will follow our advice instead of our lives, we will experience, in any future that is ours, only an increased sense of anguished isolation and an ironic feeling of confused bereavement.“ (Seite 23)
Die Kurzgeschichten von Alistair MacLeod sind ein wunderschönes sprachliches Juwel, das ich euch wärmstens ans Herz legen möchte. Noch nie hat ein Werk dieses Genres mich so beeindruckt zurückgelassen.
May 14, 2016
The first story was amazing, absolutely wonderful in its quietness and brutality and mortality. The next two were grand winter tales I will love rereading. The rest of the stories didn't leave as good of impressions, but they all captured the hardworking, pastoral, Canadian life. I will definitely be reading more by this author!
September 17, 2008
In my mind, Alistair MacLeod is one of today's best writers. He doesn't try to grab you with flashy techniques or weird storyline twists or profound social comment. Rather, he's a storyteller, pure and simple. This is a collection of some of his rare short stories that chronicle the lives of people in his native Nova Scotia. They are beautifully crafted and moving in their simplicity. If you enjoy a quiet, yet moving story, well told, I recommend anything written by Alistair MacLeod.
March 12, 2018
This is one on my favourite Canadian authors. His stories are timeless and reach into the heart of a person being told from the heart of the story teller. My favourite stories:
The Closing Down of Summer is an amazing story of miners that probably spoke most to me as my father was a miner. 5 star no question.
To every thing there is a season: evocative of Dylan Thomas and A Child's Christmas in Wales. Indeed Macleod is in my mind the Canadian equivalent of Thomas.
The tuning of perfection; wonderful, lyrical, powerful.
Al the stories speak of a time of past and present blended.
The Closing Down of Summer is an amazing story of miners that probably spoke most to me as my father was a miner. 5 star no question.
To every thing there is a season: evocative of Dylan Thomas and A Child's Christmas in Wales. Indeed Macleod is in my mind the Canadian equivalent of Thomas.
The tuning of perfection; wonderful, lyrical, powerful.
Al the stories speak of a time of past and present blended.
May 22, 2017
2.5 stars. The writing was often poetic, and I appreciated the 'oral storytelling' style and the desire to record a culture and disappearing way of life. And yet somehow the stories didn't quite connect with me; I'm not sure why. Maybe I just didn't feel I really entered into the experience and inner life of the characters. But that's a purely personal evaluation, and I would still recommend the stories to others who might feel differently.
July 30, 2017
Alistair Macleod was a complete and undeniable genius. His two books of short stories are among the best things I have ever read. I cannot single out any one story because they are all masterpieces in miniature. I highly recommend this collection.
January 26, 2018
Collection of short stories many of which are about mining and Cape Breton and have the same powerful creation of character and place as No Great Mischief. The imminence of death seems to prevail everywhere and family connections are paramount. I prefer MacLeod as a short story writer as things are tight and controlled whereas his novel seems to be wandering on occasions.
March 14, 2019
Last week I had never even heard of this collection. Now, it is one of my favorites of all time, but not for the reasons that I usually look for in a short story collection.
"The Closing Down of Summer" - Exemplifies MacLeod and my surprising fascination with him. I should not like this story. It is a description of a man's thoughts, snippets of his life and his surroundings as he prepares himself to journey to South Africa on yet another mining operation. You get a feel for the life of the Cape Breton miners who left for all corners of the world once their coal mines faltered. It ends with a sense of foreboding that the man will not survive this trip. Nothing really happens. There is no ironic ending or wild story concept which I usually crave. However, I was captivated the whole time by the descriptive and lyrical power of the presentation. MacLeod surpasses Willa Cather as the master of modern English prose. THIS GUY COULD WRITE A SENTENCE! Every sentence is a thing of beauty.
"To Everything There is a Season"- A nine page masterpiece about a child being welcomed into the world of adults. He is invited to stay up on Christmas Eve to see that the packages his brother has been sending home from his job on the Great Lakes are in fact the Christmas Gifts. Yes, there is no Santa Clause. "Every man moves on, but there is no need to grieve. He leaves good things behind," his father says. Simple story told before, but just read the first paragraph and you'll think you would give up everything you own to write this well.
"Second Spring" - subtle and well crafted. He gives a detailed overview of life on a farm over the course of a year. The central theme is that there is so much that one cannot control, including the cow the young boy breeds ends up being impregnated by the wrong bull. Soon after he discovers baseball. The attraction? Fielding the ball - "In my small area of the earth it seemed that everything was under my control." His "Second Spring" was finding an activity so unlike farm life.
"Winter Dog" - A memory of a dog who saved the protagonist's life while they were off on the sea ice. Energetic story with a sad twist. When he returns home he does not want to be embarrassed or get in trouble so the boy says nothing about the dog's heroics. Thus, the father has little difficulty arranging the dog's death when he becomes a problem on the farm. After all, he had never been useful in his eyes to begin with.
"As the Birds Bring Forth the Sun" - Should we believe in a family curse in which a pack of dogs or some representation of them bring death? "we are aware that some beliefs are what others would dismiss as garbage. We are aware that there are men who believe the earth is flat and that the birds bring forth the sun." However, judging from the stories of the past, "You cannot not know what you do know." And so, the sons wait at their father's deathbed "Open still and fearful to the grey hair rising on our necks if and when we hear the scrabble of the paws and the scratching at the door." Now that's a great sentence to finish a story on.
"Vision" - Another story of a curse. A man who has visions of the future must give up his lover according to the local priest to make them stop. When he does she curses him. She goes blind in an accident and her daughter is raised by he and her sister. The children of this daughter come to visit many years after, but do not realize that the blind woman who repulses them is in fact their grandmother. One of the sons will lose his sight in world war II hearing and feeling the blind woman at that moment. Much latter a bar room brawl results in the blindness of yet another character. There are many many stories here, but the point comes at the end when a girls asks the riddle - who has eyes but cannot see. Turns out it is much more than potatoes. Yet another great story telling job. When you read the start of the story you don't realize that the man is blind. There are clues, but they are not apparent until his condition is revealed afterwards.
"The Closing Down of Summer" - Exemplifies MacLeod and my surprising fascination with him. I should not like this story. It is a description of a man's thoughts, snippets of his life and his surroundings as he prepares himself to journey to South Africa on yet another mining operation. You get a feel for the life of the Cape Breton miners who left for all corners of the world once their coal mines faltered. It ends with a sense of foreboding that the man will not survive this trip. Nothing really happens. There is no ironic ending or wild story concept which I usually crave. However, I was captivated the whole time by the descriptive and lyrical power of the presentation. MacLeod surpasses Willa Cather as the master of modern English prose. THIS GUY COULD WRITE A SENTENCE! Every sentence is a thing of beauty.
"To Everything There is a Season"- A nine page masterpiece about a child being welcomed into the world of adults. He is invited to stay up on Christmas Eve to see that the packages his brother has been sending home from his job on the Great Lakes are in fact the Christmas Gifts. Yes, there is no Santa Clause. "Every man moves on, but there is no need to grieve. He leaves good things behind," his father says. Simple story told before, but just read the first paragraph and you'll think you would give up everything you own to write this well.
"Second Spring" - subtle and well crafted. He gives a detailed overview of life on a farm over the course of a year. The central theme is that there is so much that one cannot control, including the cow the young boy breeds ends up being impregnated by the wrong bull. Soon after he discovers baseball. The attraction? Fielding the ball - "In my small area of the earth it seemed that everything was under my control." His "Second Spring" was finding an activity so unlike farm life.
"Winter Dog" - A memory of a dog who saved the protagonist's life while they were off on the sea ice. Energetic story with a sad twist. When he returns home he does not want to be embarrassed or get in trouble so the boy says nothing about the dog's heroics. Thus, the father has little difficulty arranging the dog's death when he becomes a problem on the farm. After all, he had never been useful in his eyes to begin with.
"As the Birds Bring Forth the Sun" - Should we believe in a family curse in which a pack of dogs or some representation of them bring death? "we are aware that some beliefs are what others would dismiss as garbage. We are aware that there are men who believe the earth is flat and that the birds bring forth the sun." However, judging from the stories of the past, "You cannot not know what you do know." And so, the sons wait at their father's deathbed "Open still and fearful to the grey hair rising on our necks if and when we hear the scrabble of the paws and the scratching at the door." Now that's a great sentence to finish a story on.
"Vision" - Another story of a curse. A man who has visions of the future must give up his lover according to the local priest to make them stop. When he does she curses him. She goes blind in an accident and her daughter is raised by he and her sister. The children of this daughter come to visit many years after, but do not realize that the blind woman who repulses them is in fact their grandmother. One of the sons will lose his sight in world war II hearing and feeling the blind woman at that moment. Much latter a bar room brawl results in the blindness of yet another character. There are many many stories here, but the point comes at the end when a girls asks the riddle - who has eyes but cannot see. Turns out it is much more than potatoes. Yet another great story telling job. When you read the start of the story you don't realize that the man is blind. There are clues, but they are not apparent until his condition is revealed afterwards.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 2, 2021
Great short stories about life and lives, about human beings', animals', and human beings and animals'.
These stories might not be so happy and the author does give any judgments of what has happened. But the truth of life, the surprise, the joy, the tragics, gaining and blessings, misfortune and losses are all revealed in front of you.
There is no formula for what kind of life we should live. Just live it and expect the least.
These stories might not be so happy and the author does give any judgments of what has happened. But the truth of life, the surprise, the joy, the tragics, gaining and blessings, misfortune and losses are all revealed in front of you.
There is no formula for what kind of life we should live. Just live it and expect the least.
August 2, 2020
It's a gentle (dare I say typically cliched Canadian) short story collection, that builds to its peak with the fabulous story "The Tuning of Perfection". But then it's followed by two stories that did absolutely nothing for me, and didn't touch me in any way. The end result is your typical mixed back of a collection, but it's at least tied together by a beautiful & delicate writing style.
March 8, 2023
To be honest I only read “as birds bring forth the sun.” for a class reading. Though I started to read the first short in this collection but I got bored of reading and deciding to return it.
MacLeod has a very interesting style and one day I do hope to finish the other stories in this collection.
MacLeod has a very interesting style and one day I do hope to finish the other stories in this collection.
September 16, 2023
Creative and lyrical through most of this, except for the last story, which to me was a bit odd.
Overall I liked the simplicity of telling, and the real ideas shown to the reader.
A good 3.5 stars
Overall I liked the simplicity of telling, and the real ideas shown to the reader.
A good 3.5 stars
February 22, 2019
Opowiadania. Jedne lepsze, inne gorsze, ale wszystkie bardzo dobre. Literatura przez duże L.
July 29, 2020
An absolutely beautiful collection of stories; often tragic, at times haunting, and all set against the incredible backdrop of MacLeod’s native Nova Scotia. A true master of the Canadian short story!
July 19, 2024
This guy Maritimes
September 3, 2024
quick read
February 9, 2019
"Ludzie w Nowej Szkocji przez wieki żyli zgodnie z nieubłaganym rytmem surowej przyrody, w głębokiej więzi z nią oraz sobą nawzajem, co doprowadziło ich do wypracowania specyficznego stoickiego światopoglądu, który MacLeodowi doskonale udaje się przekazać na przestrzeni tych kilku opowiadań".
Całość na:
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Całość na:
https://miedzysklejonymikartkami.blog...
May 27, 2017
I thoroughly enjoyed this. I've always wished this author wrote more. MacLeod tells stories about a people, their heritage, way of life and the land that is a part of them with love and always a tinge of melancholy. And somehow it makes me long to know these people more, to visit Cape Breton and to feel a kinship with them. The language is simple and eloquent at the same time, with no wasted words and the descriptions – which I can find onerous in novels – drop you right into the heart of the story's time and place. I've read a few collections of short stories by him and some other quality authors this year and I've come to love this format more than ever before. I highly recommend any and everything this author has written.
July 15, 2014
A delightful collection of crisp charged stories about Canadian Scots living in the beautiful, rough farming/fishing/logging/mining (heck, just about any type of work that demanded hard labor and danger) of the Cape Breton area of Nova Scotia. Well written, almost memoirish, with a fondness that infuses the stories, seemingly holding up the mostly male characters as admirable, honest, hard working, hard suffering, proud people. Description of life and land are wonderful. The stories sometime meander, and almost always have animals involved. I liked best the very first story about a Canadian miner getting ready to return to his duties with his crew to South Africa, as he contemplates the costs, as well as the art, of the life he has chosen deep in the mineshafts. MacLeod passed away this year, a strong and beautiful voice lost; although he is not as famous as some of the recently departed of this year (Angelou, Garcia Marquez, Gordimer), he is every bit worth picking up and trying. I recommend him.
October 19, 2013
Loved this book of short stories, although I'm not usually a big short story person. The characters came immediately to life and the pictures of life on the east coast were vivid. The stories are very real life, often leading from one story and ending in another, and often involving very difficult lives, both for the people and for the animals that appear frequently. But even though their lives were tough and sometimes filled with tragedy, I didn't find the book to be depressing. Definitely worth a read.
November 7, 2010
I generally much prefer novels to short stories but these were beautifully written, and somewhat haunting. Set against the landscape of Cape Breton the characters’ memories of life, change, loss, and the passing of generations are deeply poignant.
My book rating: 9 stars
My book rating: 9 stars
near-completion
January 8, 2026Read so far:
The closing down of summer --2
*Winter dog --
To everything there is a season --2
Second spring --
The tuning of perfection --
As birds bring forth the sun --2
***
The boat --3
The lost salt taste of blood --2
The closing down of summer --2
*Winter dog --
To everything there is a season --2
Second spring --
The tuning of perfection --
As birds bring forth the sun --2
***
The boat --3
The lost salt taste of blood --2
January 14, 2013
Stunningly beautiful writing. Do yourself a favor and read this book. Slowly, while no one is bothering you. Savor every word. It's not very long, but it's very, very good.
January 8, 2017
What Jane Urquhart said.
July 21, 2022
B-level insight wrapped in the finest Canadiana
May 30, 2022
节制又隽永的文字，遥远的生活里略感陌生的经验和情感，以及一些在缝隙之中无法用语言描述和定义的东西，不知为什么竟然也能理解。《冬天的狗》印象深刻。
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