Elmet: LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2017 [Paperback] [Aug 10, 2017] Mozley, Fiona Paperback – January 1, 2017

It's unusual for a first novel to become shortlisted for the prestigious Man Booker Award, but Fiona Mozley has done it this year with "Elmet". From Wikipedia: " Elmet was an area of what later became the West Riding of Yorkshire and an independent Brittonic kingdom between about the 5th century and early 7th century."Although the novel is sent in present day, it reads like a medieval Fairy Tale, not in magical terms, but in tone, iconic plot and characters, and the haunting, direct-article bereft, Yorkshire dialect. Daniel, a young teen, is our first-person narrator. He and his slightly older sister Cathy (a la Hazel and Gretel), live with their "widower" father, John (a Giant, a Woodsman), in a secluded forest in Yorkshire. John often participates in (illegal) Bare-knuckle Boxing matches for money. Enter the Evil Landlord and his slimy sons (Ogre plus Trolls). Thus we are set up for a showdown of good verses evil.Although that all sounds simplistic, that's not the case. Mozely raises it all to true literature through her poetic prose and her sumptuous and stunning descriptions of the Yorkshire forests. These are characters we immediately care about, especially Daniel, and his personal journey to find himself, as well as his physical journey in search of this his sister. I can't wait to read more from this gifted writer. 4.5 stars!

Spoilers: I took my time reading Elmet; it's the kind of writing that deserves attention and effort. I try to read something with real nutritional value once a month to balance out all the throw-away suspense / woman-in-jeopardy / junk-food reads I default to when my attention span is impaired. This was well worth the investment, though I wish there'd been more closure on Cathy's fate. I gotta say, I'm so tired of rape as plot point; at least this wasn't graphic. Loved spending time in a world I know nothing about - the author is so skilled, I felt like I understood the setting. I did not connect with Vivien's character and was unsure about what she brought to the story. Perhaps banal cruelty (refusing the dad's request for help with the kids) to offset the overt violence of the Price gang. Will await Ms. Mozley's next book.

Elmet is a literary suspense novel set in Yorkshire, England, about John, a fighter for pay and former enforcer of rents, struggling to protect his two children and to save their home, which he built himself on land owned by Mr. Price, his violent and rapacious old boss.Invoking an ancient Celtic Kingdom that once existed in Yorkshire, Elmet is a story that could take place across the centuries. 15-year-old Cathy and 13-year-old Daniel come of age in the woods, each whittling their own bow and arrow from ash trees, hanging homemade Christmas lights from pine trees, and hunting for deer for their dinner in the copse behind their house. What little formal education they receive is provided by a school where their poverty makes them targets and, later, by Vivienne, a next-door neighbor who teaches Daniel—while Cathy runs free in the woods—the beauty of old sagas and imparts rudimentary technology skills using household appliance blueprints.Cathy is a wild child at heart, unsuited to society’s norms and consumed with anger at the dangers women and girls face, whether from strangers, from the sons of Mr. Price, or from the ginger-haired travelers with whom they sometimes interact. Like her father, she is a formidable opponent and drives much of the story’s disturbing ending, when the conflict with Mr. Price and his cartel of fellow landowners comes to a horrifying crisis.Elmet is a grim story, but its gorgeous prose and sharp delineation of character speak deeply to the love of a son for his Daddy and the bond that exists between siblings—and how hard one will search for the prodigal family member who has not yet found her way home. Elmet was a finalist for the Man Booker prize in 2017, an honor that it richly deserves.

Under another rating system, this book wouldn't get five stars, because of a few flawed moments that struck me as glaring. I still loved it though, and just saying "I liked it" doesn't do my experience reading it justice. Elmet is outstanding, and better than the vast majority of books one will read. I'm not from the area described, but I'll bet Mozley's writing nails the dialect. Her occasional omission of articles before nouns in the course of some dialogue strikes the reader as an authentic touch.The small family's story is dark and the flawed giant of a man, Daddy, still commands sympathy in his efforts to protect his children from the world as he experiences it. We know from early on that something will go horribly wrong, and the reader's growing affection for the family makes the tension nearly unbearable at times.Unfortunately, there are two or three spots...important spots...where the dialogue gets too high-flown for the character speaking. When most of the speech is laconic and direct, deviations stand out. And one relatively flowery monologue, at a crucial juncture near the end, seems completely out of place. It brought me out of a spell under which I had been turning pages without realizing it. I hate that. But even with that vaguely sour grapes feeling, I found the book pretty amazing.

This novel was shortlisted for The Man Booker Prize and it is clear to see why. This is a modern day fairy tale, a contemporary fable and a novel that echoes the prose of literary classics but with a freshness and a poignancy that makes it unforgettable and powerful.The story is set in a small place called Elmet, in the wilds of Yorkshire. Although this is a fictitious location, Elmet was actually 'the last independent Celtic kingdom in England'. In the epigram at the beginning of the book, Mozley quotes Ted Hughes who refers to Elmet as the 'badlands....a sanctuary for refugees from the law' and this helps establish the atmosphere of the book and some of the themes it explores. This is a novel about the bonds between a father and his children but also explores power, poverty and people who live on the margins of society. The allusion to outcasts, Robin Hood and those living unconventionally is obvious and enhances the sense of isolation and protection that exists within this unique family set up. Daniel, his sister Cathy and their father are a tight knit family who are self sufficient and live off the land; their father teaches them how to hunt, kill and survive in the woods and they are reliant on nothing but their own physical strength and instinct to survive. Without the continuous mention or reference to gadgets and devices used daily in modern life, this book feels as if it belongs in the past but actually it is set in contemporary times and the concerns, themes and issues are relevant and important.The novel is narrated by fourteen year old Daniel who is returning North in search of something. There are two narratives; the present day chapters are written in italics and then the others, also narrated by Daniel, take us back and lead us through the events that precede the horrific catastrophe that has been foreshadowed by the ominous atmosphere and growing sense of violence. Despite Daniel and Cathy's contentment and satisfaction with their childhood spent roaming in the woods, occasional schooling and a strong relationship with their father, there is evidence that this will not continue forever. Every now and again their father disappears to fight. His anger and rage dissipates when once back with them, but when a local landowner turns up on their doorstep claiming that the land is not his, this sanctuary he's created doesn't actually belong to him, then this capacity for violence is awakened in the one place the children thought they were safe.This is a beautifully written, poetic and mesmerising read with descriptions, images and sentences that are nothing short of brilliant. For the most part it is unassuming, simple and stark. Mozley's clever use of language captures the landscape, isolation and dynamics between the characters who believe they have found an idyllic way to live. I could quote pages and pages of exquisite passages that recount routines, details from their daily life, their roaming and adventuring, the moments they share and the wisdom that is imparted through gesture and sparse dialogue. Mozley's writing is understated but powerful. And then as the novel journeys towards it's denouement, the language becomes bleak, powerful and haunting with an ending that has to be one of the most shocking and horrific scenes I have ever read. Mozley's prose is so bare, raw and stunning that this is book sweeps you up with its lyrical intensity. It leaves you breathless and battered and bereft.I was reminded of Ted Hughes, Thomas Hardy and of course, the Yorkshire countryside always conjures the ghosts of the Brontes, but I was also reminded of Claire Fuller's Our Endless Numbered Days as she is another writer who uses beautiful writing to describe complex and sinister stories.This is a highly memorable, truly engaging literary read. It is draws on many influences and genres to tell a story full of depth, warning and tragedy. My highlighter pen has run dry from marking lines I loved but you are not here to read an English essay. If you like Claire Fuller, Jon McGregor, Sarah Perry and books that are shortlisted for such prominent awards, then Elmet should be on your bookshelf this year.

I knew almost at the outset that this book would not be a favourite, but by the end I was matter-of factly picking it apart and framing a warning to other readers not to waste their time. It is redolent with improbability far beyond my ability to suspend disbelief: the narrator, a boy raised in isolation from other people and with no positive experience of school, talks like a Cambridge graduate and frames the narrative with poetic musings in italics. He cooks, producing soups, breakfasts, roast dinners; he decorates for Christmas with gold paper and scissors, all tossed off as if planning and skill or even knowledge of such things were not requisite, when a far lower level of achievement would be more probable in his situation. And the violence: I just hate it when characters we are induced to love suffer a prolonged and visceral end. I even started speed-reading so I would miss it if the dogs met a bloody end, as seemed probable.I am always inclined to like a book that gets the critical praise this one has, but honestly? I have never been so disappointed.

I bought this book in the strength of its Man Booker shortlist, and ended up being shocked by how poor it was. The narrative voice is implausible, the whole thing is full of cliches, inconsistent characterisation and many dead ends. There are lengthy passages of lyrical nature descriptions where either not necessary, or not in line with the narrator's expressive and intellectual abilities, while major issues that have been introduced are passed over, unexplained. Very frustrating and unsatisfying. The writer also seems to use a lot of words wrongly. I cannot believe that such a clumsy affair even got listed, let alone shortlisted.

My first thought when hearing this was nominated for the booker prize was that often things that are not understood are more likely to be considered art.The writing in this book is very literary but there are words which are used incorrectly and it is nothing to do with licence.The story does not have a beginning and an end it is a simple snapshot and when it doesn't it just stops without reason.Also there are four logs to each chapter in italics which go unexplained and do not seem to have any meaning or link to the story.I found the book very hard going for the first half as it was almost exclusively descriptive narrative by the author, far more than was necessary. I was close to stopping reading several times until finally just after halfway through the book some dialogue began they engaged me.Not a great book at all and not one I would recomend.

I can't say that I enjoyed this book. It's dark and foreboding, disaster is foreshadowed from the very beginning and the time hops that litter the book show that the something bad you feel is coming, has already happened, you just need to know what. It's a slow burn. Gritty, intense and strange. It has the quality of a folk tale or a myth, slightly out of step with modern times.

Elmet is a beautifully poetic book that revels in its slow place and building up of scene, setting, time and place. The imagery throughout is almost tangible, the places springing to life around you, but once you start actually thinking about what has been put in front of you aspects just don't seem to add up. I admit for a start to being somewhat confused as to when this book is set; it reads as though it is set in some far distant past but there are references to modern inventions like the motor car, a truck and the Job Centre that would seem to set it in the present day. The depictions of landowners and landless labourers would fit perfectly into a depiction of a feudalistic setting, but that doesn't seem to be the case here. The depictions of the landowners throwing tenants off properties and refusing to care for properties didn't seem to fit with the modern times, nor indeed did the labourers working cash in hand for a pittance.There is an undeniable sense of dark foreboding that builds steadily throughout the novel, and when you don't look too closely it all seems to build to an almost inevitable conclusion. The narrator as an uneducated fourteen year old boy, taken out of school and living on the land also doesn't quite stand up to close scrutiny. The language used is so poetic and advanced, the imagery so precise and flowery that the tone doesn't meet the reality that is trying to be portrayed. It makes for great reading at times, don't get me wrong, but it's out of place when compared to the level of education the narrator is supposed to have had. Take an example:'These boys were just so handsome. They were so much more handsome than me and Daddy, we could not even be compared. We were almost distinct breeds, adapted to different environments, clinging to opposite sides of the cliff. It was as if Dad and I had sprouted from a clot of mud and splintered roots and they had oozed from pure minerals in crystalline sequence.'This is the same boy who calls his father 'daddy' at fourteen.At the heart of the story, this is a battle between the rich and the poor and the power of family love. It drew me in and I certainly felt immersed in the tale, despite some of the jarring inconsistencies. The character set up is interesting with 'daddy' being a giant of a man, unbeaten in the boxing ring who made money through legal and illegal fights but now lives a quiet life in a home he built by hand. His love for his children is evident in near everything he does. Daniel is a rather effeminate young man with long hair and a love for making home and caring for the family, whilst his sister follows in their father's footsteps with ready fists and a talent for hunting. The boundaries of normal gender stereotypes are challenged, although never actively due to the isolation that they live in. The 'bad guys' are rather more stereotyped, with little motivation beyond greed and power and there was perhaps a trick missed in not making them complex and multi-dimensional characters.So whilst this is undoubtedly beautifully written there are some significant issues with the book as a whole. It is a measure of the writing that other than my confusion as to the period it was set in, most of these didn't occur to me until after the last page. As seems to be the fashion of the times, the ending disappointed me rather. The book is left on a loose strand, but more importantly the violence and brutality of the final chapters didn't quite seem to fit with the gentle yet foreboding tone of the book as a whole. I'd probably still recommend it, but with some concerns. But the writing style alone is reason enough to pick it up and give it a try.

It is not often that you read a book that is perfect in many senses. The imagery that yanks one into the vivid scenes in the story and leaves one gasping in awe, the mastery of language, the emotions so genuinely conveyed without affectation, all left me wanting more. Some of the best metaphors I have ever come across. One of the most enjoyable books I have read in recent times. Fiona Mozley should have won the Booker instead of the disjointed book about Lincoln’s trysts with ghosts.

Undoubtedly a well written book, characters beautifully drawn, also the surroundings. But ultimately a depressing tale with no clear ending. It’s left me wondering what the point of it all was. I have read almost all the booker prize winners and the winners and shortlisted seem to be picked because the stories are obscure and outlandish, and this is no exception.

Slow read with rather more detail about Daniel's early life on the fringes of society than needed,loses tension. The final episode is horrifying in its brutality, a terrible death. The father is almost mythic, a giant in body and humanity brought down by meanness and spite. Cathy is another mythic force perhaps not as believable as her father in superhuman strength but a liberated spirit of nature.

So who swallowed a dictionary, the writer or the main character/narrator? Either way, not only big words but also knowledge and opinions kept appearing out of the mouths of people who either couldn't have known things they were apparently saying, or wouldn't have expressed it that way in any version of reality the book seemed to be portraying.And the long poetic explanation on the doorstep near the final instalment? By that point I had very nearly given up on this book. Perhaps I should have done, because after that there was just an avalanche of gore, pretty much.I am baffled as to why this book was praised by educated people who read a lot. I am also reasonably well educated and read a fair amount, and to me the whole thing was A patchwork of several things that didn't make a whole.I suppose I'm glad I read it, if only as a reminder that rave reviews don't necessarily mean much.

This was the best novel I had read for a long time, certainly all year. Lyrical, evocative prose traces the story of an unconventional family whose life in the woods is interrupted by the sort of violence only found amongst humans. The descriptions of the woods and Levels of the Ridings bring to mind a more visceral Wilkie Collins and will stay with me long after I finished the book.I don't think I will ever read anything quite like this again as the author has created such a new, refreshing masterpiece of a story. I could barely bring myself to carry on reading to the inevitable end, as the true horror of unfolds yet I could scarcely look away. Elmer will be one of the rare books I will return to again and again. A triumph.

This is a very unusual story which draws the reader in to the experiences of two young people brought up in virtual isolation from the modern world, but then forces us to realise that the modern world is still there, with its problems of class and violence. It is very well written and the only reason I have not given it 5 stars is that somewhere it was advertised as a modern version of 'Wuthering Heights', and the parallels, if they exist, are very remote.

A totally original story about prejudice. Set in the modern times (we know post miners strike) but the brutality and ignorance expected in the distant past- sadly as this book shows -not the case. Beautifully written book about a terrible subject. More art than literature

Oh my goodness. This was a heart-wrenching, stomach-churning and unsparing novel. Mozley writes beautiful as well as harsh prose and the voice of the teenage narrator rings true and the unflinching loyalty towards his father and sister is rendered with deep emotion. Highly recommended but if you're like me, beware of the graphic violence.

I didn’t like the dialect. I didn’t like the way characters would all talk like literary novelists doing regional. I did not t believe the story. I got bored of the contradictions. She moved like a young girl like an old woman like a tree like not a tree etc