The Old Country

by Sam North

Michael is a 66-year-old drunken arisotcrat fallen on hard times. He used to manage the family pile, a maginficent estate called Sitten Hall. But when the family got stung for inheritance tax he was forced to 'gift' it to the National Trust. Now he's stuck in sheltered housing, his mother, Granny Banana, is seeing out her last in Greenaways Nursing Home, and his despised brother Philip lives in suburbia with his exotic young wife and three children. But Michael's doing ok - until Granny Banana accidentally falls out of the back of his landrover. The least he could do was to give her the funeral she wanted, to be buried back at Sitten Hall with her cherished dog. But the family coffers aren't what they were, and Philip insists on a cremation and for the ashes to be scattered in the grounds of a local hotel. Determined to salvage the last of Banana, Michael contrives to steal the ashes, replacing them in the urn with sugar, but a farcical bungling of events leads to Granny Banana being baked into one of three cakes to be presented as a raffle prize at the local swimming gala… THE OLD COUNTRY is Sam's most mature book yet.

352 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ik weet niet goed wat te denken van dit boek. Het is beslist goed geschreven. Het hoofdpersonage is een behoorlijk egocentrisch mens met bijzonder weinig aandacht voor ander mensen, zelfs zijn eigen dochter. Al doet hij dan wel alle moeite om zijn moeder volgens haar wensen te begraven. En dat lukt zelf bijna. Maar waarom is het verhaal achterstevoren verteld? Het leert ons niets extra over de evolutie van het personage want die is op het einde (dus het begin van het boek) niet bijster veel sympathieker dan naar het einde toe. Ik vond het maar verwarrend.

[JanGlen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I gave this only 2 stars because I simply didn't enjoy it - it was just not my thing. It is certainly not badly written and I'm sure many people would enjoy the humour, but I found that much of it made me either squirm in discomfort for the characters, or want to clobber Michael out of his hopeless passivity.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was fun: perceptive, sad, amusing, tinged with black humour. Sir Michael Gough, as old age descends, clutches at straws to preserve something of the way of life he has lost after the coffers have run dry. The stately home owned by generations of his family has been turned over to the National Trust. He lives in an unconverted barn in the most dire circumstances, looks back over the events that have marked his family's progression towards the future and struggles with his personal resources - limited in every respect. He has never shifted from his eccentric, self-centered existence, yet he has an endearing nature; he loves his family and they love him. How are they to cope with a funeral, a wedding and a christening?

[Kate (Tremain) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It was skilfully and beautifully written. The multiple point of view style worked really well in most cases especially when the narrater was a man. A tiny bit less convincing when written through the eyes of the woman characters. My favourite scenes were the birth scene and the ashes scenes which had me laughing out loud. It has been maligned on here for it's backwards time scale but I felt this gave the book real depth as you learned about each character retrospectively. I couldn't put it down.

[Charlotte · Rating 1 out of 5]

I actually gave up on this book. it started off Ok but got progressively less interesting, it was written travelling back in time, the main character got increasingly unintersting and dull and although only 60 pages to go i couldn't be bothered.... and I never do that!

[Stan Armiger · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was the best of a bad bunch on the shelf but once I started reading it I really enjoyed getting involved with poor old eccentric Michael and his extended family and found it very hard to put down.

[Janncot · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quirky book that had me laughing! Don't think it will be to everyone's taste but I enjoyed it!