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The Mating Habits of Stags
Midwinter. As former farmhand Jake, a widower in his seventies, wanders the beautiful, austere moors of North Yorkshire trying to evade capture, we learn of the events of his past: the wife he loved and lost, their child he knows cannot be his, and the deep-seated need for revenge that manifests itself in a moment of violence. On the coast, Jake’s friend, Sheila, receives the devastating news. The aftermath of Jake’s actions, and what it brings to the surface, will change her life forever. But how will she react when he turns up at her door? As beauty and tenderness blend with violence, this story transports us to a different world, subtly exploring love and loss in a language that both bruises and heals.
- GenresFictionLiterary Fiction
224 pages, Hardcover
First published June 14, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
August 13, 2019
Four and a half stars. This needs to win awards. It is that good.
This is a highly evocative novel that quickly transported me back to the landscape of childhood and youth in the North of England. In particular to the Yorkshire Dales and the coastal town of Scarborough. Names such as Aysgarth, Askrigg, Helmsley and Byland Abbey brought back a flood of memories. At some point in my twenties, I stayed at a bed and breakfast in an old farmhouse with a fortified tower near Askrigg. Lambing was in full swing and there was still snow in the high fields, drifting against the dry stone walls. There were still winter thrushes, Redwings and Fieldfares, on the high pastures, while down in the river valleys the first Swallows were arriving. This book tweaks those memories from thirty years ago, bringing them back as clearly as though it was only yesterday. The descriptions that Robinson uses, rich with references to birds and flowers, trees and animals, lends an evocative power to the writing.
The story itself is beautifully wrapped through past and present. Memories and past histories twirl around current events, as we cut back and forth to fully comprehend what has happened.
Jake is a seventy-something farmer who has worked his whole life on Dales farms. He is still strong and wiry, still out there chopping wood in his shirt sleeves. His life is tinged with tragedy. His wife of many years has recently died, and now he is all alone in their home, smelling the familiar scents of his lost wife, the certain brand of handcream, watching forlornly the depression in the sofa cushion where she used to sit every evening. The couple had lost their son years before to a sudden illness that struck him down mid-way through a game of soccer. A double tragedy for Jake. He is on his own now, with the washing up piling up in the sink. All he has left are memories. The intensity of emotion in a few short lines, such as here, where Jake recalls his dead wife Edith.
“Like the day she asked where her mam was.
Jake, unsure, said She passed away, flower. Long time ago.
Oh, she said – an inhaled and startled: oh.
A few days later he found her at the window.
Jacob, when did we move here?
He touched her arm. I’ll mash us a brew.
But as Edith made her soft but rapid way towards death, it felt more like a disentanglement – addled from life, from reality.”
Into this mix comes Shelia, a younger woman of fifty with whom he forms a friendship. They enjoy each other’s company and a few drinks at the pub. The ghost of Edith still comes to watch from the corner of the room.
Beneath all of this is a much more sinister story, because as we move back and forth through time, we find that Jake is on the run from a murder he committed. He is living rough, hiding in barns and abandoned places, crossing the moors by night. He is being hunted by more than just the police, and the family of the victim. He is also being hunted by his own past, his memories and his regrets.
There is poetry in the language of this book. It is riddled with dialect words that hover on the edge of familiarity for me. Words for features of the landscape like ghyll, beck, garth, foss and thwait. And then there are lines of actual poetry, lines from traditional songs, scattered through the text, like half memories of school rhymes or songs from a mother’s knee. The more you read them the more they link to the story, but they can be full of dialect, the apostrophes a trail of left out letters and clues to the guttural sounds. Here is an example:
Noo awd Dicky Thompson ‘e ‘ad a grey mare,
‘E teak ‘er away ti Sedgefield Fair,
‘E browt ‘er back, Oh yis ‘e did
Becoss ‘e ‘and’t a farthin‘ bid.
There is the odd word thrown into the dialogue, such as ‘Thissen?’ which roughly translates as the question ‘Thy sen’ or ‘Yourself?’ Speaking them out loud will often solve the problem of what they mean for those not used to the Yorkshire accent.
It is hard to express just how very good this book is. So, let me leave you with a paragraph about Sheila, thinking about Jake:
“Some nights she stands on her doorstep in Scarborough inhaling the night air, listening to the ceaseless rhythm of the waves crashing on the beach, a rhythm mirroring the wheel of thoughts in her head, because even in Jake’s absence, even with all this distance, even though she knows he has gone, she can still feel his presence at the very core of her world.”
This is a highly evocative novel that quickly transported me back to the landscape of childhood and youth in the North of England. In particular to the Yorkshire Dales and the coastal town of Scarborough. Names such as Aysgarth, Askrigg, Helmsley and Byland Abbey brought back a flood of memories. At some point in my twenties, I stayed at a bed and breakfast in an old farmhouse with a fortified tower near Askrigg. Lambing was in full swing and there was still snow in the high fields, drifting against the dry stone walls. There were still winter thrushes, Redwings and Fieldfares, on the high pastures, while down in the river valleys the first Swallows were arriving. This book tweaks those memories from thirty years ago, bringing them back as clearly as though it was only yesterday. The descriptions that Robinson uses, rich with references to birds and flowers, trees and animals, lends an evocative power to the writing.
The story itself is beautifully wrapped through past and present. Memories and past histories twirl around current events, as we cut back and forth to fully comprehend what has happened.
Jake is a seventy-something farmer who has worked his whole life on Dales farms. He is still strong and wiry, still out there chopping wood in his shirt sleeves. His life is tinged with tragedy. His wife of many years has recently died, and now he is all alone in their home, smelling the familiar scents of his lost wife, the certain brand of handcream, watching forlornly the depression in the sofa cushion where she used to sit every evening. The couple had lost their son years before to a sudden illness that struck him down mid-way through a game of soccer. A double tragedy for Jake. He is on his own now, with the washing up piling up in the sink. All he has left are memories. The intensity of emotion in a few short lines, such as here, where Jake recalls his dead wife Edith.
“Like the day she asked where her mam was.
Jake, unsure, said She passed away, flower. Long time ago.
Oh, she said – an inhaled and startled: oh.
A few days later he found her at the window.
Jacob, when did we move here?
He touched her arm. I’ll mash us a brew.
But as Edith made her soft but rapid way towards death, it felt more like a disentanglement – addled from life, from reality.”
Into this mix comes Shelia, a younger woman of fifty with whom he forms a friendship. They enjoy each other’s company and a few drinks at the pub. The ghost of Edith still comes to watch from the corner of the room.
Beneath all of this is a much more sinister story, because as we move back and forth through time, we find that Jake is on the run from a murder he committed. He is living rough, hiding in barns and abandoned places, crossing the moors by night. He is being hunted by more than just the police, and the family of the victim. He is also being hunted by his own past, his memories and his regrets.
There is poetry in the language of this book. It is riddled with dialect words that hover on the edge of familiarity for me. Words for features of the landscape like ghyll, beck, garth, foss and thwait. And then there are lines of actual poetry, lines from traditional songs, scattered through the text, like half memories of school rhymes or songs from a mother’s knee. The more you read them the more they link to the story, but they can be full of dialect, the apostrophes a trail of left out letters and clues to the guttural sounds. Here is an example:
Noo awd Dicky Thompson ‘e ‘ad a grey mare,
‘E teak ‘er away ti Sedgefield Fair,
‘E browt ‘er back, Oh yis ‘e did
Becoss ‘e ‘and’t a farthin‘ bid.
There is the odd word thrown into the dialogue, such as ‘Thissen?’ which roughly translates as the question ‘Thy sen’ or ‘Yourself?’ Speaking them out loud will often solve the problem of what they mean for those not used to the Yorkshire accent.
It is hard to express just how very good this book is. So, let me leave you with a paragraph about Sheila, thinking about Jake:
“Some nights she stands on her doorstep in Scarborough inhaling the night air, listening to the ceaseless rhythm of the waves crashing on the beach, a rhythm mirroring the wheel of thoughts in her head, because even in Jake’s absence, even with all this distance, even though she knows he has gone, she can still feel his presence at the very core of her world.”
February 24, 2020
Hmmmm. So close. This is a good book, so nearly a great one.
Northern noir that starts as a manhunt through the North York Moors. An old man called Jake, a gun, a quad bike, police and vigilantes on his tail. He's killed a man, so they say. But they can't get near him. He's worked these parts all his life as a farmhand and knows them better than anybody.
Great story, crisp spare prose, glorious setting. I mean, yeah, awesome, sign me up. But after 150 pages, about the time he should be wrapping things up, it turns into something slower and duller that is dragged out way too long (I'll not say what to save from spoilers). Worth a read if you like Cynan Jones, Ben Myers or Daniel Woodrell, but it could have been something special.
Northern noir that starts as a manhunt through the North York Moors. An old man called Jake, a gun, a quad bike, police and vigilantes on his tail. He's killed a man, so they say. But they can't get near him. He's worked these parts all his life as a farmhand and knows them better than anybody.
Great story, crisp spare prose, glorious setting. I mean, yeah, awesome, sign me up. But after 150 pages, about the time he should be wrapping things up, it turns into something slower and duller that is dragged out way too long (I'll not say what to save from spoilers). Worth a read if you like Cynan Jones, Ben Myers or Daniel Woodrell, but it could have been something special.
July 17, 2019
Once again that weird book symmetry has cropped up. The last book I read was based in the Welsh countryside and featured the more animalistic side of human nature. The Mating Habits of Stags takes place in the Yorkshire farmlands and has people behaving according to their instincts.
Jake is on the run, he has just committed a crime and has escaped into the woods to hide. His only friend Sheila does not want him to stay with her. Why does Jake commit this crime? and more importantly why is Shelia bearing the repercussions of Jake’s actions when she didn’t have anything to do with the felony committed?
I may make this sound like a thriller but The Mating Habits of Stags is not that. This is a book about profound relationships. How the love for a person may affect you? How one can overcome problems and love someone no matter the circumstances. As more clues are revealed in the book we reader’s find out that both characters have made sacrifices in order to love, be it a partner or child. No matter what the circumstances are love prevails.
Robinson’s writing is beautiful, there are passages about nature, which I had to reread, same with Jake’s first dalliances with true love. However the writing also shifts according to the character. When there’s a rough character then the writing shifts a bit into Northern dialect, the more sensitive people have poetic writing.
The Mating Habits of Stags works on all levels. It is a pleasure to read. There are fully formed characters and it examines feelings in a deep and sensitive manner. It is also worth noting that the book started life as a short film before, also written by Ray Robinson and worth watching.
Many thanks to Lightning Books for providing a requested copy of The Mating Habits of Stags in exchange for an honest review.
Jake is on the run, he has just committed a crime and has escaped into the woods to hide. His only friend Sheila does not want him to stay with her. Why does Jake commit this crime? and more importantly why is Shelia bearing the repercussions of Jake’s actions when she didn’t have anything to do with the felony committed?
I may make this sound like a thriller but The Mating Habits of Stags is not that. This is a book about profound relationships. How the love for a person may affect you? How one can overcome problems and love someone no matter the circumstances. As more clues are revealed in the book we reader’s find out that both characters have made sacrifices in order to love, be it a partner or child. No matter what the circumstances are love prevails.
Robinson’s writing is beautiful, there are passages about nature, which I had to reread, same with Jake’s first dalliances with true love. However the writing also shifts according to the character. When there’s a rough character then the writing shifts a bit into Northern dialect, the more sensitive people have poetic writing.
The Mating Habits of Stags works on all levels. It is a pleasure to read. There are fully formed characters and it examines feelings in a deep and sensitive manner. It is also worth noting that the book started life as a short film before, also written by Ray Robinson and worth watching.
Many thanks to Lightning Books for providing a requested copy of The Mating Habits of Stags in exchange for an honest review.
August 7, 2019
I genuinely do not know how I am going to review this book, it seems as pointless and ridiculous as trying to catch and pin a butterfly to a board for the gaze of others.
Every word on every page of this 222 page novel is chosen with deliberation and care to make a maximum impact on the reader-it is intense, incredibly wrought and leaves a bone deep impression.
Jake is on the run, a manhunt on his tail, a reward on his head after killing a man. As he hunts, forages and strives to keep ahead of the police and his victim's son's armed posse , just long enough to get back home which is an idea, a concept he has in his head, his commune with nature reflects his life up to this point.
''The scroll of waves mimics Jake's pulse,ebb and flow dragging pebbles and sand,misery and regret.Across the shelf of the sea Jake stares,feeling shipwrecked.This coast is his heart,the waves its liquid pulse.The itch of tears on his cheeks.Pain is he has left of them now.''
Told in both the present and flashbacks, Jake recounts his love for his wife, his overwhelming passion for her, their life together until her eventual passing in haunting detail.
''Trying to change himself over the years.Trying to let go and be a better man.But deep inside all he ever felt was guilt and shame and fury.Because once you taste what's under the rage the hunger never leaves your mouth.''
Sheila , his friend and lover has moved from North Yorshire to Scarbrough to escape the ties of her life-her husband, daughter, granddchild and mother, watching the news for updates on Jake and hoping to see him once more.
It seems so bare to look at the plot pared down so much, it is next to impossible to capture in a couple of sentences the majesty of this novel, the way it resonates with the beauty of the moors, the assault on your senses of the iron rich blood of Jake's kills, the wildlife he observes and the places he goes to ground in,the melodies he remembers.
Punctuated with what I think are folk songs and melodies which would probably be familiar with farmers and those local to the moors, these add depth and a sense of surrealism to what is happening. They are as embedded into Jake as his feelings for his wife, Edith, and the land he walks upon. His connection with nature and his deep,abiding love for his son in a life marred and scarred by happenstance and tragdey is incredibly moving as is Sheila's. The lengths she went to to be her own person, to have a child then have that child grow to be the complete oopposite of what she hoped for is so well rendered you can feel her pain, her disappointment withe herself as well as Karen,her daughter are universal themes of parenting.
What you want, and expect for, and of ,your child are often so very different from the reality that it can leave you reeling.
The whys and wherefores of who Jake killed, and why he did it at the age of 73 is less important than the journey he is physically on, whilst simultaneously the very reason he is running in the first place. Sheila is waiting on the coast, he is working his way to her, then back home to Dove Cottage, the place he lived in all his life with wife Edith and son William.
It is an incredible book which , as a reader has left me feeling bereft at the very end. The entire, circuitous journey into the heart of a griefstruck man is a wounded and beautiful beast.
I am not going to explain the title, rather I will leave it for you to read in context as when it happens, it brings so much truth to the story that you really really need to read it for yourself. 'The Mating Habits Of Stags' has gone straight into my top 5 all time favourite books without a doubt.
Highly recommended for those who love reading intense, deep and resonant fiction .
Every word on every page of this 222 page novel is chosen with deliberation and care to make a maximum impact on the reader-it is intense, incredibly wrought and leaves a bone deep impression.
Jake is on the run, a manhunt on his tail, a reward on his head after killing a man. As he hunts, forages and strives to keep ahead of the police and his victim's son's armed posse , just long enough to get back home which is an idea, a concept he has in his head, his commune with nature reflects his life up to this point.
''The scroll of waves mimics Jake's pulse,ebb and flow dragging pebbles and sand,misery and regret.Across the shelf of the sea Jake stares,feeling shipwrecked.This coast is his heart,the waves its liquid pulse.The itch of tears on his cheeks.Pain is he has left of them now.''
Told in both the present and flashbacks, Jake recounts his love for his wife, his overwhelming passion for her, their life together until her eventual passing in haunting detail.
''Trying to change himself over the years.Trying to let go and be a better man.But deep inside all he ever felt was guilt and shame and fury.Because once you taste what's under the rage the hunger never leaves your mouth.''
Sheila , his friend and lover has moved from North Yorshire to Scarbrough to escape the ties of her life-her husband, daughter, granddchild and mother, watching the news for updates on Jake and hoping to see him once more.
It seems so bare to look at the plot pared down so much, it is next to impossible to capture in a couple of sentences the majesty of this novel, the way it resonates with the beauty of the moors, the assault on your senses of the iron rich blood of Jake's kills, the wildlife he observes and the places he goes to ground in,the melodies he remembers.
Punctuated with what I think are folk songs and melodies which would probably be familiar with farmers and those local to the moors, these add depth and a sense of surrealism to what is happening. They are as embedded into Jake as his feelings for his wife, Edith, and the land he walks upon. His connection with nature and his deep,abiding love for his son in a life marred and scarred by happenstance and tragdey is incredibly moving as is Sheila's. The lengths she went to to be her own person, to have a child then have that child grow to be the complete oopposite of what she hoped for is so well rendered you can feel her pain, her disappointment withe herself as well as Karen,her daughter are universal themes of parenting.
What you want, and expect for, and of ,your child are often so very different from the reality that it can leave you reeling.
The whys and wherefores of who Jake killed, and why he did it at the age of 73 is less important than the journey he is physically on, whilst simultaneously the very reason he is running in the first place. Sheila is waiting on the coast, he is working his way to her, then back home to Dove Cottage, the place he lived in all his life with wife Edith and son William.
It is an incredible book which , as a reader has left me feeling bereft at the very end. The entire, circuitous journey into the heart of a griefstruck man is a wounded and beautiful beast.
I am not going to explain the title, rather I will leave it for you to read in context as when it happens, it brings so much truth to the story that you really really need to read it for yourself. 'The Mating Habits Of Stags' has gone straight into my top 5 all time favourite books without a doubt.
Highly recommended for those who love reading intense, deep and resonant fiction .
February 11, 2021
This beautiful and sad tale of loss, of secrets, of introspection, impressed me. Though perhaps I had less in common with the characters than in other Ray Robinson novels I have read, there was plenty which was human and thought-provoking, plenty that was universal about how we cope with things. I also got plenty additional pleasure and resonance from the geographical setting, close to where I was born and raised.
Perhaps though it is my age and my urbanity. Perhaps I'm a bit middle class. I very much enjoyed the final third from a different POV, but thought the first two thirds had a style where the local dialect, local setting, local culture was laid on with a trowel at times. I'm not sure whether I'm being harsh in feeling this, but it did tiptoe over the line from character to caricature at points.
Perhaps though it is my age and my urbanity. Perhaps I'm a bit middle class. I very much enjoyed the final third from a different POV, but thought the first two thirds had a style where the local dialect, local setting, local culture was laid on with a trowel at times. I'm not sure whether I'm being harsh in feeling this, but it did tiptoe over the line from character to caricature at points.
May 18, 2020
“I love it up here, she said. It’s so wild.
Wild?
A-huh.
There’s nowt wild about it. It’s all man-made.
But it’s nature, you know.
It’s a desert. These hills are nowt but a sheep ranch.”
“These hills should be covered in forest.
She scanned the landscape. I didn’t realise.
Pricks that own the land, swiddening the moor, burning heather off to create new shoots for grouse to feed on. Reason yon dale floods. Peat acts like a sponge but when they burn it, they knacker it. All that damage to folks’ homes and businesses just so some posh southern twats can come up here once a year and shoot some game.”
The Mating Habits of Stags, by Ray Robinson, is set in Yorkshire where the protagonist, septuagenarian Jake Eisner, is on the run from both the police and the son of Charles Monroe – an elderly man he has recently murdered. After a childhood marked by poverty, Jake spent most of his life as a farmhand. He knows the land and how to survive.
Jake is a widower, his beloved wife, Edith, having died a year ago. They raised a son, William, but he too is dead. Jake’s friend, Sheila, cannot understand why Jake would have killed a wealthy landowner who was already in poor health and living in a care home. She does not know their shared history. Jake has talked little about his past. What Sheila does know of him she has gleaned from having been born and raised in the same locality. She would have liked to get to know him better but he often rebuffed her attempts to spend more time together.
The timeline of the story jumps back and forth giving the reader glimpses of lives marked by actions and their consequences – the beauty and pain of living. It is a tale of: desire, grief, love, revenge.
Jake makes his way across woods and moorland, camping out or finding occasional shelter in farms he once worked at. He moves on regularly to evade capture. With winter closing in he turns to those he hopes might offer assistance. He learns that he has become prey.
“Fox hunters: terrier men on quads, pony clubbers in hacking jackets, car horns and bugle calls – those privileged hooligans.”
Sheila is perplexed by Jake’s actions but is distracted by her own worries about her daughter and grandson. Feeling used and taken for granted, she has recently moved away from her home town. When Jake turns up on her doorstep she must make a decision. It is one she will come to regret.
The narrative offers a no nonsense glimpse into the lives of working class families in an area where what wealth exists is in the hands of those who made it from others’ hard graft.
“He eyed the north face of the magnificent Monroe Hall. Such places sickened him with what they represented: generations of downtrodden poor in the factories and mill-towns. Claggy-arsed industry, scab of the North Country.”
Sheila decries her daughter’s work ethic and choice of partners but recognises that her own history is chequered. She has a difficult relationship with her mother. She still has feelings for her second ex-husband – and also for Jake.
The glorious use of language provides a vivid evocation of the landscape.
“A swap of wind scurries through the abandoned mill, a wind made of leaf mould and rusted rabbit wire.”
“The plop and patter of rainwater, a liquid metronome”
The dark beauty of the place and the people who live there are rendered in unsentimental yet emotive detail. As the reasons for Jake’s behaviour are teased out, along with their repercussions, his journey and its outcome inexorably alter Sheila’s future. And yet there is much, it seems, that cannot be changed.
The sparse yet salient prose drops a depth charge into the reader’s sensory responses, the story offering so much more than the actions portrayed. The characters’ flaws are the cracks that enable a flow of empathy and understanding. This is an uncompromising depiction of northern England that I unreservedly recommend.
Wild?
A-huh.
There’s nowt wild about it. It’s all man-made.
But it’s nature, you know.
It’s a desert. These hills are nowt but a sheep ranch.”
“These hills should be covered in forest.
She scanned the landscape. I didn’t realise.
Pricks that own the land, swiddening the moor, burning heather off to create new shoots for grouse to feed on. Reason yon dale floods. Peat acts like a sponge but when they burn it, they knacker it. All that damage to folks’ homes and businesses just so some posh southern twats can come up here once a year and shoot some game.”
The Mating Habits of Stags, by Ray Robinson, is set in Yorkshire where the protagonist, septuagenarian Jake Eisner, is on the run from both the police and the son of Charles Monroe – an elderly man he has recently murdered. After a childhood marked by poverty, Jake spent most of his life as a farmhand. He knows the land and how to survive.
Jake is a widower, his beloved wife, Edith, having died a year ago. They raised a son, William, but he too is dead. Jake’s friend, Sheila, cannot understand why Jake would have killed a wealthy landowner who was already in poor health and living in a care home. She does not know their shared history. Jake has talked little about his past. What Sheila does know of him she has gleaned from having been born and raised in the same locality. She would have liked to get to know him better but he often rebuffed her attempts to spend more time together.
The timeline of the story jumps back and forth giving the reader glimpses of lives marked by actions and their consequences – the beauty and pain of living. It is a tale of: desire, grief, love, revenge.
Jake makes his way across woods and moorland, camping out or finding occasional shelter in farms he once worked at. He moves on regularly to evade capture. With winter closing in he turns to those he hopes might offer assistance. He learns that he has become prey.
“Fox hunters: terrier men on quads, pony clubbers in hacking jackets, car horns and bugle calls – those privileged hooligans.”
Sheila is perplexed by Jake’s actions but is distracted by her own worries about her daughter and grandson. Feeling used and taken for granted, she has recently moved away from her home town. When Jake turns up on her doorstep she must make a decision. It is one she will come to regret.
The narrative offers a no nonsense glimpse into the lives of working class families in an area where what wealth exists is in the hands of those who made it from others’ hard graft.
“He eyed the north face of the magnificent Monroe Hall. Such places sickened him with what they represented: generations of downtrodden poor in the factories and mill-towns. Claggy-arsed industry, scab of the North Country.”
Sheila decries her daughter’s work ethic and choice of partners but recognises that her own history is chequered. She has a difficult relationship with her mother. She still has feelings for her second ex-husband – and also for Jake.
The glorious use of language provides a vivid evocation of the landscape.
“A swap of wind scurries through the abandoned mill, a wind made of leaf mould and rusted rabbit wire.”
“The plop and patter of rainwater, a liquid metronome”
The dark beauty of the place and the people who live there are rendered in unsentimental yet emotive detail. As the reasons for Jake’s behaviour are teased out, along with their repercussions, his journey and its outcome inexorably alter Sheila’s future. And yet there is much, it seems, that cannot be changed.
The sparse yet salient prose drops a depth charge into the reader’s sensory responses, the story offering so much more than the actions portrayed. The characters’ flaws are the cracks that enable a flow of empathy and understanding. This is an uncompromising depiction of northern England that I unreservedly recommend.
September 9, 2020
I absolutely *adored* this book. It felt like opening a chest of treasures that creates its own light, in that I was experiencing something beautiful and incredible but I felt a little selfish about it, I wanted to keep it all to myself. But equally, I want to encourage everyone I have ever met to read it.
The prose is sparse which I absolutely loved, the story and the characters are so well nuanced, the zoom and focus on nature was enchanting and the dialogue was so well done.
I have mixed emotions in terms of how it makes me feel as a writer: ‘I wish I’d written this,’ ‘I will never write anything as good as this’ and ‘I am INSPIRED.’
Anyway, it’s a cracking book and I would definitely recommend!
The prose is sparse which I absolutely loved, the story and the characters are so well nuanced, the zoom and focus on nature was enchanting and the dialogue was so well done.
I have mixed emotions in terms of how it makes me feel as a writer: ‘I wish I’d written this,’ ‘I will never write anything as good as this’ and ‘I am INSPIRED.’
Anyway, it’s a cracking book and I would definitely recommend!
November 4, 2020
So unique, and so rough and raw, and yet beautiful in a real earthy way. The style of writing is like nothing I've read before. The plot was completely gripping, but it was the writing I couldn't get enough of. 100% recommended.
May 21, 2020
this was a stark, often despairing but beautifully written story exploring the thoughts of grief and loneliness as we follow Jake on the run - not normal for a man in his seventies, but as his story unfolds we see the moments that lead to this and it is such a powerful exploration of how humans deal with situations they find themselves in, and how they and the people closest to them deal with the consequences.
Jake is a man missing his wife, Edith. But he finds friendship with Sheila and they find comfort in each others company as Sheila is dealing with her own family issues and disappointments, so when Jake goes on the run she is left contemplating their friendship and waiting to hear from him.
And while Jake is on the run, finding new places to hide and hoping his actions don't catch up with him, we get flashbacks of his life - his marriage to Edith is the main feature - and he's left alone with his memories both good and bad which isn't always the best for his mental state.
I loved the difference in the two characters in the lives they had lead but how they were drawn to one another and how they just clicked. At only 220 pages long, this is a book that has a powerful impact on you as a reader as the characters are written with such clarity and full of flaws, but those make the characters easier to relate to. We've all been disappointed by people in our lives, as have Jack and Sheila, and it's that impact on how their lives turn out because of the actions of others that we are witnessing throughout this story. Their reactions, their anger, frustrations - laid bare for us all to see.
It's one of those books that is gripping, unsettling, heartbreaking and intense and I loved every single blooming page of it! Highly recommended!!
Jake is a man missing his wife, Edith. But he finds friendship with Sheila and they find comfort in each others company as Sheila is dealing with her own family issues and disappointments, so when Jake goes on the run she is left contemplating their friendship and waiting to hear from him.
And while Jake is on the run, finding new places to hide and hoping his actions don't catch up with him, we get flashbacks of his life - his marriage to Edith is the main feature - and he's left alone with his memories both good and bad which isn't always the best for his mental state.
I loved the difference in the two characters in the lives they had lead but how they were drawn to one another and how they just clicked. At only 220 pages long, this is a book that has a powerful impact on you as a reader as the characters are written with such clarity and full of flaws, but those make the characters easier to relate to. We've all been disappointed by people in our lives, as have Jack and Sheila, and it's that impact on how their lives turn out because of the actions of others that we are witnessing throughout this story. Their reactions, their anger, frustrations - laid bare for us all to see.
It's one of those books that is gripping, unsettling, heartbreaking and intense and I loved every single blooming page of it! Highly recommended!!
October 8, 2019
'Jake and Edith followed the sheep-trods up the side of the fell, moving through last year's bracken frost-scorched a deep rust colour. They paused to catch their breaths, taking swigs from their water bottles, listening to the wheels of lapwing in the sky'
What a beautifully described tale this is. I read it in a day and was transported to the landscape of the North Yorkshire Moors whilst also reading a thoroughly absorbing story. Told in both the present and recent months, we follow Jake, a widower in his seventies, on the run from the police and others wanting revenge for a crime he has committed.
On a 'tour de force' of the most wonderfully descriptive writing we travel with Jake through his local landscape as he hides out, evading capture for as long as possible. During this time,and here with the use of flashbacks, we learn of his past and of the reasons behind Jake's act of violence.
Still mourning the death of his wife we learn about his wife Edith and of his son William and read of the joy and pain they both bring to him
'Those endless blissful days on the beach. Those indestructible bonds'
'The scroll of waves mimics Jake's pulse, ebb and flow dragging pebbles and sand, misery and regret. Across the shelf of the sea Jake stares, feeling shipwrecked. This coast is his heart, the waves its liquid pulse. The itch of tears on his cheeks. Pain is all he has left of them now.'
We also follow his friend and sometimes lover Sheila, as she learns of the rumours surrounding Jake and read of her concerns for his well being and whereabouts. It is also partly her story of her escape to Scarborough to get away from the burdens and responsibilities her daughter puts upon her, the strained relationship she has with her mother and of her life as a currently single woman of 50.
'She pulls the view into her, feeling it at the centre of her being.'
I found this a gorgeous read about love and grief, and of the consequences a persons actions can have on another. It is beautifully written and seamlessly mixes an array of emotions in it's wonderfully described characters, and feelings from the beautiful but equally harsh landscape of the area. I loved the way the sense and vocabulary of the book changed slighted for each character and the way the book used time to break up the story lines.
A highly recommended read.
What a beautifully described tale this is. I read it in a day and was transported to the landscape of the North Yorkshire Moors whilst also reading a thoroughly absorbing story. Told in both the present and recent months, we follow Jake, a widower in his seventies, on the run from the police and others wanting revenge for a crime he has committed.
On a 'tour de force' of the most wonderfully descriptive writing we travel with Jake through his local landscape as he hides out, evading capture for as long as possible. During this time,and here with the use of flashbacks, we learn of his past and of the reasons behind Jake's act of violence.
Still mourning the death of his wife we learn about his wife Edith and of his son William and read of the joy and pain they both bring to him
'Those endless blissful days on the beach. Those indestructible bonds'
'The scroll of waves mimics Jake's pulse, ebb and flow dragging pebbles and sand, misery and regret. Across the shelf of the sea Jake stares, feeling shipwrecked. This coast is his heart, the waves its liquid pulse. The itch of tears on his cheeks. Pain is all he has left of them now.'
We also follow his friend and sometimes lover Sheila, as she learns of the rumours surrounding Jake and read of her concerns for his well being and whereabouts. It is also partly her story of her escape to Scarborough to get away from the burdens and responsibilities her daughter puts upon her, the strained relationship she has with her mother and of her life as a currently single woman of 50.
'She pulls the view into her, feeling it at the centre of her being.'
I found this a gorgeous read about love and grief, and of the consequences a persons actions can have on another. It is beautifully written and seamlessly mixes an array of emotions in it's wonderfully described characters, and feelings from the beautiful but equally harsh landscape of the area. I loved the way the sense and vocabulary of the book changed slighted for each character and the way the book used time to break up the story lines.
A highly recommended read.
January 12, 2020
'Staring at his reflection in the windowpane, at the gathering darkness beyond, he got the uncanny sense he was being watched by some unseen presence outside, his reflection doubled and vague-becoming his own ghost.'
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Set in the North Yorkshire Dales in the middle of winter, We find Jake, a 70 year old widower thats on the run, wanted for questioning for murder. Its quite hard to describe any more of it without giving away potential spoilers, but throughout the book we get insight into the events that led up to Jake's escape across the moors.
.
.
A cross between Emily Bronte and Cormac McCarthy the writing style is incredibly poetic and harsh at the same time. Every sentace in the book as to deliver maximum effect and it certainly does that. Unlike Bronte, Ray Robinson has a good understanding of the Yorkshire dialect and can put it down on paper without loosing all meaning.
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I can't pass comment on the book without mentioning the cover, its stunning. A piece of art itself. Food for the eye and the soul. I know this is my first book this year but im definately going to have to say its my favourite of the decade so far.
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Set in the North Yorkshire Dales in the middle of winter, We find Jake, a 70 year old widower thats on the run, wanted for questioning for murder. Its quite hard to describe any more of it without giving away potential spoilers, but throughout the book we get insight into the events that led up to Jake's escape across the moors.
.
.
A cross between Emily Bronte and Cormac McCarthy the writing style is incredibly poetic and harsh at the same time. Every sentace in the book as to deliver maximum effect and it certainly does that. Unlike Bronte, Ray Robinson has a good understanding of the Yorkshire dialect and can put it down on paper without loosing all meaning.
.
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I can't pass comment on the book without mentioning the cover, its stunning. A piece of art itself. Food for the eye and the soul. I know this is my first book this year but im definately going to have to say its my favourite of the decade so far.
October 27, 2020
This belongs to a band of books (often very slight) that manage to quietly evoke the beauty and also underlying menace and sadness of the bleaker parts of the British countryside, and don’t really seem to get the recognition that they deserve. Reading this you feel yourself in North Yorkshire, amidst the hopelessness of many of the characters and especially Jake’s overwhelming grief for his (maybe undeserving?) wife. I wasn’t sure about the last third, but it’s still making me think about the reasons the author had for including it, and all in all I found this to be moving and something a little bit different.
January 14, 2023
I didn't enjoy the change of POV two thirds of the way through the novel. It was jarring and I ended up skimming slightly to get through it.
Other than that, judging the first two thirds alone, my rating would've been 4.5*.
The beautiful northern landscape; Jake as our protagonist; and having the plot slowly unfold so we come to know why Jake killed the man in the care home. All great.
3/3 points for concept
2/3 points for writing
2/3 points for enjoyment
0/1 point for feeling/moved
= 7/10 (3.5/5*)
Other than that, judging the first two thirds alone, my rating would've been 4.5*.
The beautiful northern landscape; Jake as our protagonist; and having the plot slowly unfold so we come to know why Jake killed the man in the care home. All great.
3/3 points for concept
2/3 points for writing
2/3 points for enjoyment
0/1 point for feeling/moved
= 7/10 (3.5/5*)
December 10, 2019
I'm not quite sure what to say about this book. The language and the description of North Yorkshire is absolutely superb. I could not fault it. But I couldn't quite get into the main character of Jake or the awfulness of what he did, and that spoiled my enjoyment of the book. I read lots of books about war and conflict and the terrible things that humans do to each other but for a reason I can't quite put my finger on this novel didn't quite make it for me.
August 4, 2020
It isn't unreasonable to claim this as both a crime novel and a thriller because, although, in many ways, at the literary end of the genre and as much a book about place and relationships, regret and misunderstandings, that is precisely what it is, the tension of it tight and gently ever-winding for more than half the book.
And, as with everything of Ray Robinson's work I have read, is beautifully, mesmerisingly told.
And, as with everything of Ray Robinson's work I have read, is beautifully, mesmerisingly told.
July 3, 2020
I struggled to connect with this. The descriptive writing was really good - but was overdone and every sentence felt like you were gorging on sickly chocolate. I thought the author tried to do too much with the story also, and it jumped all over the place backwards and forwards in time. A shame as I was really looking forward to reading this.
July 10, 2020
Wonderful descriptions of people and place and how the interaction of present and past contributions impact on our stories. Needs to be read slowly so that you can almost wallow in Robinson’s prose. Really beautiful.
July 11, 2020
This is the story of a man's sudden act that changes the course of his life. I really liked the small town characters. There was a great deal of warmth in them. I enjoyed the unassuming and subtle quality of the narrative. For that it gets a 3.9/5.
February 4, 2020
What a wonderful book. Completely striking and so beautifully written. I won't being forgetting this one anytime soon. Highly recommend
August 9, 2020
A good murder chase. Nice turns and pacy.
September 12, 2020
Loved it. Strong emotional story, different to what you read nowadays....
May 23, 2021
I liked this - it reminded me a bit of Ben Myers' books (but not as good). Nevertheless, the writing kept me interested even if the story isn't a new one. Worth a read - 3.5 stars.
April 5, 2022
Dark, sparse prose. This is a lean book but I felt it could've been even leaner and meaner. Definitely a good read but not quite in the top tier for me.
November 14, 2023
Good moody northern prose but a bit slow and aimless
April 17, 2026
Quite disappointed with this book. Thought it would be better but found it just an average read.
April 12, 2020
The tale of Jake and how he ended up on the run in the North York Moors is fascinating. Told partly in the present, following Jakes survival in the wild, and in flashbacks of Jakes past, starting with his courtship to his future wife. Ass the story unfolds we slowly find out how Jake ends up on the run, and how this all affects his friendship with one of the ladies in the village, Sheila.
The prose is stark and beautiful, and Jakes story is heart breaking. If the book ended with just Jakes story this would have been a five-star read, as the first two thirds of this book are absolutely brilliant. The final part however takes a slower turn, that didn't do it for me so much. It only made me knock one star off though as this is still a wonderful, dark story that can be finished in one sitting.
The prose is stark and beautiful, and Jakes story is heart breaking. If the book ended with just Jakes story this would have been a five-star read, as the first two thirds of this book are absolutely brilliant. The final part however takes a slower turn, that didn't do it for me so much. It only made me knock one star off though as this is still a wonderful, dark story that can be finished in one sitting.
December 3, 2019
‘So many dead moments since she moved to Scarborough, junctures bristling with regret and loneliness and boredom and worry. But she looks each moment in the eye and tells herself that pain is part of the process. This is what is costs to be free.’
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The Mating Habits of Stags is a sad, strange book, quite unlike anything I’ve read before (and what a cover!). Ray Robinson wrote a short film called Edith in 2016, the general premise of which became this book - it did extremely well and won a lot of awards, which makes sense because the novel is very visual. It follows Jake, an elderly man who kills another man in a nursing home and goes on the run throughout the northern moors and forests. The narrative constantly switches setting and time, telling the story of why Jake has been motivated to kill a member of the local aristocracy, and what secrets in his marriage to his recently deceased wife Edith he holds on to. What I liked about it is that it has some wonderful descriptions of northern wildlife and landscapes, as well as some truly beautiful writing about grief and loss. What I didn’t like is that the constant narrative shifts often became disorienting and sometimes made little sense. There is a big shift in the narrative focus in the last third of the book which was written well but ultimately didn’t fit very well with the book in its entirety.
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.
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The Mating Habits of Stags is a sad, strange book, quite unlike anything I’ve read before (and what a cover!). Ray Robinson wrote a short film called Edith in 2016, the general premise of which became this book - it did extremely well and won a lot of awards, which makes sense because the novel is very visual. It follows Jake, an elderly man who kills another man in a nursing home and goes on the run throughout the northern moors and forests. The narrative constantly switches setting and time, telling the story of why Jake has been motivated to kill a member of the local aristocracy, and what secrets in his marriage to his recently deceased wife Edith he holds on to. What I liked about it is that it has some wonderful descriptions of northern wildlife and landscapes, as well as some truly beautiful writing about grief and loss. What I didn’t like is that the constant narrative shifts often became disorienting and sometimes made little sense. There is a big shift in the narrative focus in the last third of the book which was written well but ultimately didn’t fit very well with the book in its entirety.
July 16, 2023
The overwhelming majority of the books I read are set in places I have never been. I now realise how important that is.
I thought this book would be made even more interesting because I know the places and people well. In actual fact it made it unbearable.
I found myself questioning the authenticity of everything, the descriptions of towns, landscapes, the dialect. Through no real fault of the authors I just could not synchronise with a book set in the lands I grew up in.
The writing was oftentimes interesting and occasionally questionable. There's something really problematic about a man describing the "almost orgasmic" sensation of breastfeeding. I cross referenced this statement with my wife and she was rather disturbed.
I also fail to understand why Sheila's navel scar was deemed to have significance to her daughter? I can understand Sheila's navel being a link to her mam? Navel > cord > placenta? And I can understand Karen's Navel being a link to Sheila's (her mam)?
I'm sure people will love this book, it has some great qualities but for whatever reason I just couldn't get into it.
I thought this book would be made even more interesting because I know the places and people well. In actual fact it made it unbearable.
I found myself questioning the authenticity of everything, the descriptions of towns, landscapes, the dialect. Through no real fault of the authors I just could not synchronise with a book set in the lands I grew up in.
The writing was oftentimes interesting and occasionally questionable. There's something really problematic about a man describing the "almost orgasmic" sensation of breastfeeding. I cross referenced this statement with my wife and she was rather disturbed.
I also fail to understand why Sheila's navel scar was deemed to have significance to her daughter? I can understand Sheila's navel being a link to her mam? Navel > cord > placenta? And I can understand Karen's Navel being a link to Sheila's (her mam)?
I'm sure people will love this book, it has some great qualities but for whatever reason I just couldn't get into it.
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