Sheepshagger

by Niall Griffiths

Book by Griffiths, Niall

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, British Literature, Drugs, Mental Health, Novels, Dark

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Niall Griffiths was born in Liverpool to a Welsh/Irish/Romany lineage. He’s been a labourer, a barman, a server of fish and chips, a burglar, a farmhand, a tree feller, a factory worker and many other things too tedious to relate. Now, he’s a full-time writer, living at the foot of a mountain in mid-Wales, with seven novels published, several works of non-fiction and more short stories and radio plays and travel pieces and reviews than he cares to, or possibly even can, count. His fourth novel, Stump, won the Wales Book of the Year Award. A film adaptation of his third novel, Kelly+Victor, won a BAFTA. He’s now working on the screenplay for his sixth, Wreckage. His latest novel is Broken Ghost.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel is a real kick in the stomach; bleak, visceral, intense, at once compelling and repulsive. A very uncomfortable book. The dialect is difficult to follow and the language very strong throughout. The violence is intermittent, very graphic and stomach churning. Trainspotting without the humour, although there are some funny and tragi-comic moments.
It is set in Wales and is the story of Ianto, a young man who has been brought up by his grandmother, but who has lost his birthright; an old cottage, repossessed and sold to the middle class English for a weekend cottage (The English don't come out of this too well! The title comes from an insulting English term for the Welsh).
Ianto is a loner who divides his time between the Northern Welsh hills and countryside, squats and his "friends". The story is told from a variety of perspectives; Ianto's friends looking back, Ianto as a child in flashback and long passages describing a series of events.
It is set in the 1990s and depicts an underclass created by Thatcherism. A lost generation steeped in crime, petty violence, drink, drugs, benefits, casual sex and hopelessness. Ianto's friends are just as lost as he is. There is one pretty accurate description of an illegal rave; E and weed are the main drugs of choice, washed down by whisky.
The explanations given for Ianto's actions are a little simplistic, but the point about the sheer meaninglessness of the lives of the main protagonists is well made. the victims are in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The descriptions of the Welsh landscape and wildlife, and especially the birds of prey are magnificent. The birds of prey are symbolic in their viciousness and fragility. The intense natural descriptions linked to the human despair reminded me of Blake and in particular Jerusalem. Not the hymn murdered yearly by the WI and last night of the proms, but the full poem in all its imaginative intensity;

"A building of eternal death whose proportions are eternal despair"

and

"But they cut asunder his inner garments: searching with their cruel fingers for his heart".

Ianto's internal constructions are horrifying and given the complete absence of any sort of support for him and his kind, his demise is inevitable and as predictable as the actions of his friends.
But still the jump the reader is asked to make at the end, is, for me, just a little too simple.
Nevertheless, this is a startling, shocking novel, but is worth reading; with a glass of something strong in your hand.

[Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ianto is a misfit - jobless, homeless and drifting. His mother a long dead alcoholic and his father unknown. There are hints that the family's gene pool might be, shall we say, somewhat shallow. Brought up by his grandmother, she dies soon after they are evicted from their ancestral cottage, which is shortly thereafter bought by English incomers.

A bit of a loner, Ianto finds solace in getting drunk and stoned with a small band of friends, living from giro to giro. He is considered a bit of a simpleton and is a man of few words. No-one knows or suspects the dark secrets that have shaped him. Perhaps the clearest hint of darkness within comes when he thumps an Englishman at a festival, followed by kicking the shit out of the same poor unfortunate during a violent incursion into a holiday home.

Eventually Ianto loses it. Scenes from the past provide triggers for a sickening display of violence against innocents. How can the mild pothead suddenly have become a depraved monster?

This book was an interesting and unsettling read. I did not really enjoy the style, comprising as it did alternate flashbacks, eloquent and brutal descriptions of the unremitting bleak landscapes, and slabs of dialogue in regional dialect a la Irvine Welsh.

The rich evocation of the remote Welsh countryside reminded me a little of Cormac McCarthy, resplendent in obscure words, replete with dense breathless prose in interminable sentences, skies grey damp and dank, as it piteously describes the harsh struggle to survive and thrive.

[Blair · Rating 4 out of 5]

(3.5) This is one of those books that’s been on my to-read list for years; I think I first became aware of it because I read a review somewhere comparing it to God’s Own Country, a personal all-time great. The parallels are clear to see: both books are about young working-class men in rural areas who feel shut out from their ancestral land by newcomers and unable to function like their friends/peers, ultimately turning to violence. The difference between this and Raisin’s novel – or, say, something like Spider – is that we never get inside the head of the central figure, Ianto. Griffiths explores his character’s broader circumstances – homelessness, poverty, alienation – but doesn’t detail what thought process, if any, drives his sudden personality shifts. Where the other books engender a shameful sympathy for their protagonists, Sheepshagger doesn’t manage to persuade, not because the softer moments aren’t convincingly written, but because Ianto the shy, animal-loving friend and Ianto the killer feel like two wholly different people. The voices we do hear are those of his friends, operating not quite as a Greek chorus but not far off; revisiting their memories of him in dialogue-only sections scattered throughout the book. A third-act revelation, delivered via flashback, helps the reader make a little more sense of Ianto, but isn’t enough to solve the problem of his crimes’ narrative hollowness.

Griffiths’ writing is always arresting, though: lots of run-on lines and paragraphs, adjectives clustered together with little punctuation; I had to skim over many of the scenes of violence, visceral and lucidly described. There are some beautiful examples of nature writing, and I can’t quite explain this but the style somehow perfectly captures a sense of the landscape being truly ancient that I think I had as a child but have since mostly lost.

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[Bettie · Rating 2 out of 5]

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[Daniel Sheen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a stunning novel. Bleak and shocking and yet one of the most beautifully written books I've ever read. A real tour de force in creativity and imagination. Described as Cormac McCarthy × Irvin Welsh ÷ Faulkner + Willam Blake, (and I'd say that's pretty accurate), this is the tragic and disturbing story of a Welsh redneck called Ianto. Not for the faint of heart, this story features some of the most stomach churning violence I've ever read, so just bear that in mind when you're going in. But it also features the sort of heart and soul and beauty and empathy that so many books are missing. Along with not just some of the best nature writing ever committed to paper, but by far the most vivid and authentic ten page description of an illegal rave that I've ever read - and I should know, I used to organise them, lol. This is a 250-page long, wet howl of despair at Thatcherism and the modern world. A rampage of soul crushing abuse and heart-breaking wisdom. This book will make you feel things. It will make your soul soar through the blackened sky with the birds of prey. But it will also make you angry. It will make you feel used. You will feel dirty having read it. You might even want a shower afterwards. But you will also feel strangely alive. A truly one of a kind experience. For fans of linguistic poetry, apocalyptic nature writing and nauseating bursts of extreme violence. And also for fans of something real, something different, something truly inspiring, something that pushes all the boundaries. I will definitely be reading more of Neil Griffiths!

[Priya Sharma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Niall Griffiths' novel is a stunning Greek tragedy - from Ianto, illmade son of Wales who has lost his kingdom, to the unreliable Chorus that he runs with, through pubs, squats, and raves. It manages to be primal, ancient, and modern all at once.

The violence is extreme and rendered in the same detail and beautiful language as the landscape writing. Unlike "Child of God" by Cormac McCarthy, Ianto's genesis is depicted in all its horrors, making his end all the most poignant.

[Nicky · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'll confess up front: I haven't read the whole of this. I skimmed it. It's disturbing and upsetting, and not something I want to be reading. Since I'm not likely to write about it in my essay, that's okay.

I do want to say some things about it, though. It's very powerful, and though I agree with one of the other reviewers that the descriptions of landscapes and such sometimes tip into being overdone, for the most part they're so amazingly rich and right on the nose.

The one reason I might end up writing on this for the essay is the portrayal of the way Welsh people speak. It's very well done.

Comparisons to Trainspotting are, I think, fair -- though I haven't read more than a few extracts from Trainspotting.

[Carol Fenlon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a real shocker. Not for the fainthearted but beautiful beautiful writing. Some might struggle to get through the stream of consciousness style and I did feel a little overpowered by the language at times but I was so emotionally gripped by the characters and the plot that there was no way I was going to put it down. If you are looking for romance and happy endings this is not the book for you, its a sharp hard dystopian vision of dispossessed Welsh youth, their lack of purpose set against the backdrop of their ancient homeland. I did feel that the English characters, the yuppy farm buyers and especially Ianto's childhood abuser were overly stereotyped and lacked depth but that didn't stop me avidly reading to the end. It's a long time since a book hauled me in like this and a long time since I was filled with such admiration for both style and content. Having discovered this one, I will certainly be looking out for Griffiths's other work.

[Tuck · Rating 4 out of 5]

my love for all things wales started here with niall griffiths. about a country lad fighting back against modernity. guess who wins?

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many years ago I tired to read Sheepshagger but abandoned it after a few pages. Dialect has never put me off reading but it wasn’t the right time. I have always believed that timing is important when reading a book and in this case, it was.

Sheepshagger’s structure is quite interesting as it’s divided, roughly into three narrative strands. The first deals with a group of friends discussing the fate and psychological milieu of their friend and main protagonist Ianto. The second narrative focuses on certain events in Ianto’s childhood and the third narrative strand is about the actions Ianto’s friends speak about.

But who is Ianto? without giving too much away, he is a troubled youth who has his land taken away from him. Coupled with his childhood experiences, he decides to go on a crusade where he seeks revenge on all those who have shaped or ruined him.

Although the unreliable narrator is often used, this is the first time I have read about a whole group of unreliable narrators. In the sections where Ianto’s friends are discussing him, we get a picture of a mentally ill person, when in reality a lot of his later problems are caused by the same group of friends who are equally unstable.

Sheepshagger is not only a book about a persona losing their mind though. It’s also a jab at social classes and society’s norms. There are philosophical discussions about nature vs nurture and pastoral digressions, probably to show the reader that in the natural world there’s perfect symmetry, while in the human one it’s all wonky.

Unfortunately Niall Griffiths tends to be compared to Irvine Welsh, mainly because both write in dialect, can be disturbing and focus on things like rave culture and drug use but I would not say that Sheepshagger is the Welsh version of Welsh. It stands on it’s own as an examination of an unbalanced society.

[PhattandyPDX · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read. Dark and disturbing; equal parts Cormac McCarthy‘s Child of God, Irvine Welsh’s Ecstasy & Glue, and Hubert Selby Jr.‘s Last Exit to Brooklyn.

A group of Welsh friends drink and drug, while including a feral peer who was abandoned by his alcoholic mother, and raised by his grandmother. Ianto, lives in squats when in town, and abandoned shelters in the mountain.

The novel has its complexities in regard to human relationships, gentrification, and the Welsh relationship with the English.

[Ned Kelsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

a deeply disturbing read on how violence is perpetuated, classism, and a nation cut off from its own heritage. grim but unforgettable

[Jamie Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5. Disturbing but brilliant

[Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one brings out the Welsh in me. Sheepshagger is the derogatory English term for the Welsh. And, after reading this novel, I need to make sure I don't come into contact with any lads with plummy English accent or wearing All England t-shirts any time soon. At the center of this story is Ianto and his rage at the loss of his home to the English tourists who continue to buy up the Welsh country side. But Ianto's homelessness at the hand of the English goes deeper for he has been make to feel like an outsider in his own country since his childhood. As the novel progressing, you learn that his alienation from the land he loves, that he has a natural affinity with, has its origin in a traumatic childhood event that is directly traceable to an English cause. And, from the beginning, you know this is not going to turn out well. The story is told through chapters that alternative between Ianto friends discussing the violent aftermath to a look at Ianto in various stages of childhood to a third person narrative of the immediate events lead up to the book's very violent conclusions. The dialogue is filled with Welsh vernacular (and a little bit of Welsh, which ironically Ianto cannot even understand). But it is a memorable read.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Men, write a book that doesn’t contain multiple disgusting sex or masturbation scenes challenge. This book has already failed that challenge.

And also, the blurb? Does not match the overall story at all. I was genuinely expecting a book about one man’s fight against the colonisation of his family’s land, and instead I got nearly 300 pages of the Welsh version of Trainspotting.

Hhmm.

The plot didn’t seem to exist at all, until suddenly people were dying and we had to figure out why Ianto had suddenly decided that that was the correct way to deal with his problems.

Yeah, I didn’t enjoy this one at all.

[Priya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Welsh people running amok, with the help of jump cut scenes and cool dialects. The main guy shares his name with a character in Torchwood. Bloody miserable all around and yet very readable, especially if you're already feeling despondent and want a reason to feel worse.
Highly recommended to be read with a glass of strong alcohol by your side and, ideally, on a hot summer day.

[A.E. · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book is an obvious work of genius but it's hard going. It's gritty, really gritty. And perhaps slightly creepy. If you want to be made uncomfortable for 98% of the book this one is for you. Otherwise put it down and walk away slowly.

[MarjaHannele · Rating 3 out of 5]

Erittäin epämiellyttävä kirja. Kammottavia väkivalta kuvauksia, jatkuvaa päihteiden käytön kuvausta, alimpaa alatyyliä olevia keskusteluja. Toisaalta hienoa luontokuvausta ja oivaltavaa tarinan kerrontaa. Kaikessa ällöttävyydessään ihan luettava teos.

[sofia wahlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

An Amazing novel about a boy Ianto who is robbed of his family and country left broken, alone and disturbed.
it is not a happy book but oh my goodness, it is quite brilliant.

[Rick Seery · Rating 2 out of 5]

A definite two star, or 2.5 star that begs the bigger literary question when is stream-of-consciousness as a device formally or thematically justified.

Hmmm. So, one can put this novel in the context of New Labour Britain [Celtic Tiger for Ireland], and within the British Isles new enfant terrible moment of literary fashion that includes: Pat McCabe [Ireland/Northern Ireland], Irvine Welsh [Scotland] and Griffiths [North England, but predominantly Wales].

Griffiths employs three different narrative strands here - one which operates as a sort of modern day Greek chorus retelling of the events of the novel; one which is italicised in brief shards to recount the antihero's pre-tragedy pastoral existence before corruption and degeneration sets in; and a third mostly linear accounting of the modern-day tragic culmination which the novel idly builds towards with characteristically grotesque, occasionally stream-of-consciousness and bursts of inconsequential dialogue pulled out of some nightmarish, go-nowhere sitcom of your dimmest nightmares.

The writing itself is often just run-on-lines, intensely visual and impressionistic. I suppose Griffiths employs a camera's eye to sort of focalise events around his dismal anti-hero as he not so subtly reveals the dual tragedy which unfolds and neuters said anti-hero like some hellish figure eight.

The idea seems a little grand, and there are some rather disgusting scenes especially towards the end. Griffiths no doubt intends this to have a more symbolic resonance to illuminate the falseness and hypocrisy of the New Labour moment - revealing something of the dark fissures of the national psyche in grotesque, blithe fashion akin to Pat McCabe's Winterwood. Ultimately Griffiths' narrative lacks the subtlety of McCabe's dank renderings.

[Moriquen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ooof, this is a special book. One I would definitely recommend, however the recommendation would need to come with loads of warning labels.

First off I would want to mention that the way in which Griffiths tends to describe the scenery is just magnificent. Using colours or scents to describe things that are neither is slightly mind boggling, but beautiful nonetheless. The story is absolutely grimm, murky and appalling. And even though unspeakable things happen, Griffiths always manages to show you Ianto's vulnerable side even though he is as much a monster as the people that created the monster in him.

With the magnificent descriptions also comes the massively long run-on sentences. Sometimes I had to double back to remind me what the sentence was about. This is a little annoying if it happens too much.

The dialogue is difficult to read, especially since I have little experience with Welsh accents and sounds. So in my head I pieced together what little I knew and basically had to sound it all out. Which makes for slow reading.

All in all a good, harrowing book that has certain downsides. Worth the try, but you have to work for it. 😬

[Malte · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel is one of the best works of Welsh author Niall Griffiths. It tells the story of Ianto, a welsh redneck kind of white trash man, who finds himself in a violent struggle between Englishmen who try to buy his parents cottage and the post-colonial Welsh countryside, where youth have no future and engage in drug abuse, raves, violence, and crime.

Sheepshagger paints a dark, dire image of the lower classes of the UK, discusses poverty, class, post-colonialism, and youth. The novels language is intense, acoustic and graphic at once - it drags you into the story and makes you hate/love/adore/relate to/despise its protagonist.

IMO this is one of the great pieces of contemporary British literature. I am a Niall Griffiths fan and wholeheartedly recommend his novels & especially his poetry.

PS: Met Niall Griffiths once. Great man, interesting and fun to talk to and wow, this man can chug a beer. Inspiring encounter.

[Samuel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Savage, cathartic, and astonishingly powerful, ‘Sheepshagger’ revolves around the damaged psyche of Ianto, a feral mountain boy driven to depravity by the abuse of his body, his culture and his home. Niall Griffiths’s prose is alive and kicking, charged with political and emotional energy, with a firmly rooted sense of place. Ianto’s abnormal attachment to the natural world is part of what makes his brutal acts rational to him; Griffiths presents nature red in tooth and claw. A work of cruel beauty.

Moments of brilliantly black humour are juxtaposed with scenes of extreme and grotesque horror. If Bret Easton Ellis had been brought up in the Valleys, American Psycho may have ended up like this — Aberystwyth Psycho, if you will.

[Gareth Mitchell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Being both Welsh and a fan of this kind of fiction, I wanted to like this so much more than I actually did.

Droning descriptions of landscape were initially pleasant and pleasing to the minds eye but soon began to bog down the narrative somewhat. This combined with a, somewhat, predictable plot and scenes of graphic violence made for a read I couldn't quite put my finger on.

A part of me can't help but feel this was done to a far better extent a few years prior by Irvine Welsh in Marabou Stork Nightmares.

[Andrew Loof · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not much I want to say about this one. The juxtaposition of such poetic, beautiful prose and the depths of human trauma and depravity create a surreal, intoxicating world. The story is simple enough but what you come for is the tapestry that Niall weaves with his diction. The only thing I could say is, I found his use of the word supine to be rather liberal. Everyone and everything lays supine constantly! But, content warnings aside, if you are okay with graphic depictions of violence and other uncomfortable subjects, this book is beautiful poetry even when depicting the worst.

[Tara Rhoseyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The run-on sentences and sometimes-unusual syntax was difficult to contend with, particularly as the pace at which you have to read differs drastically from one section to the next. Nonetheless, the writing is poetic and compelling, accompanied by a perfectly structured narrative. The type of book that once you finish, you realise how the plot points and order of information fit together effortlessly.

As a warning though you do need a VERY strong stomach to get through this.

[zaynab · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insane. Crazy. Utter horror. The telling of Ianto's so-called friends is written in such a real yet terrifying way as they somewhat dismiss his actions is something I was not expecting yet i enjoyed a lot. The flashbacks are what gives this book a real kick. The part with the rabbit is something I shall never speak of again.

I will never forget what this incredibly written book made me feel. Ever.

[zunggg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Long lyrical passages which, although sometimes overwrought, capture the mid / west-Wales environment perfectly. Bursts of razor sharp vernacular dialogue. On Wales, this novel is near-perfect. But the drawing of the central character seems simplistic, psychologically. It's a fun read but not a lot of nuance, in the end.

[R.J. Spruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was thoroughly enjoying reading in a South Wales accent, until things got very serious and totally tragic! Ianto is such a likeable character. I honestly don’t know what more to say without revealing spoilers, all I will say is that some of the behaviour in this book is soul destroying. This does not detract from the brilliant and at times poetic writing.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

The further you read into this book the more it gets under your skin. It is an uncomfortable read due to the gruesome and graphic themes detailed within its page’s. I think for this reason alone it should be appreciated as not many books have this effect on the reader.