George Mackay Brown (1921–1996)

Historical fiction about the life of Orkney Islands native Ranald Sigmundson from boyhood to death. It starts with the journeys of his youth. He stows away on Leif Erikson’s voyage to Vinland and continues his travels by sea to Greenland, Iceland, Norway, and Ireland. He eventually settles into a farming life in his homeland. This story is set in period during and just after they heyday of the Vikings. The part about Vinland is short but gains importance in Ranald’s life as time passes.

I enjoyed the first half of this book, which is focused on Ranald’s youth and travels. I did not maintain the same enthusiasm for the second half, which shifts to the rivalries among various Earls of Orkney, and their interactions with nearby Kings. Ranald becomes increasingly disillusioned with the politics and internecine squabbles among leaders, and retreats into an introspective life. As he ages, he prepares for his final journey, examining religious beliefs. Ranald’s’ story represents the process of gaining wisdom and finding what is important in life.

George Mackay Brown’s writing style is lovely. He tells Ranald’s allegorical tale in a manner that evokes the epic storytelling traditions of the past. I liked this book enough to read more of his back catalogue.
… (mehr)

Eighteen short stories, none really boring and none really captivating. Fairly good reading for winter nights, in that somewhat old-fashioned, unhurried pace of storytelling.The Christian overtones are maybe sometimes too conspicuous: reading a third take on a ‘modern version’ of the same New Testament story can feel a bit monotonous, even if the theme is appropriate for the collection’s title. Appropriately too for an 'end of the year' tales, several are told in a ‘calendar’ format, describing a single year with a paragraph for each month.… (mehr)

Someone on Twitter recommended Brown a couple of years ago, and so I’ve kept an eye open for his books in local charity shops ever since. Which is how I stumbled across Beside the Ocean of Time, which I thought good; and why I later picked up this book when I found it in a charity shop. It’s a collection of twenty-two very short stories, some of which work very well and some of which didn’t seem to work at all. Some barely qualify as stories. They’re all set in Brown’s home ground, the Orkneys, and they take place between the eleventh and twentieth centuries. They’re not arranged chronologically, but jump about. The title story is historical, and reads more like a fable than a short story. Another, about a mean old lady who leaves a surprising bequest, feels a bit out of place. A short story about the town’s first lamp-lighter is especially good. Another about a writer researching his past also stands out. Some of the stories seemed less… lyrical than I had expected, not that Brown’s prose is ornate, it’s typically very plain but it’s also very evocative. And in a few places here, that felt slightly lacking. However, the more by Brown I read, the more by Brown I want to read. So I’ll continue to keep eye open for his books.… (mehr)