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A review by sjbozich
Seven Steeples by Sara Baume
3.0
I haven't read it, but this seems to be similar to Baume's earlier novel, "Spill Simmer Falter Wither". Just that here we have 2 introverts, 2 dogs, they never go more than 20 miles from their home, and the book is half as long.
2 Irish city introverts move to a home they rent that is a few miles outside a small vilage on the Atlantic coast of Ireland.
While the description of Nature there is "interesting", it is hardly beautiful. And not like the couple takes advantage of it either (they finally climb the nearby mountain that looms over their home in their 8th year there). There for 8 years by the time the novel suddenly ends, the home and the property is slowly crumbling about them and being overwhelmed by dirt, fur, insects, broken items and brickbrack they pick up at the local resale shop. So it is hardly a "Nature is invigorating" kind of book. It is actually rather depressing and sad (the same 7 meals week after week!). And thank God for the UK dole, because they don't work at all, yet somehow get on.
I have to admit that one of the problems that limited my enjoyment of this book is there are lengthy passages naming the growth all about them - and not knowing what the plants and trees and such are, or what they look like, it is hard to imagine what it is Baume is putting down on the page.
The typography on the page changes now and then as well - spaces and lines between words. Reading it as an ebook (thanks to my local PL) it may not work as effectively in that format. Because it did not seem to add much to the story.
Also, their days are pretty much the same one after another (changing some, like their meals, by season), and it is not like they are doing any great thinking or research. They are just being hardcore introverts, who stay away from other people, and are lucky enough to have found one another.
I do worry about them in the years to come - what happens when a beloved dog dies, a computer (they do have one, and Internet access!) is outdated, the car turns over for the last time?
While being rather dour, it was still a worthwhile read. An unusual couple of characters, in a like setting. I am not sure I will go back and read her earlier, sounds similar, novels (it appears they are all somewhat autobiographical regarding the introverts going off to be on their own, at a distance from others). Twice as long, and half the number of humans, I am unsure I would stay interested in the stories for nearly 300 pp.
2 Irish city introverts move to a home they rent that is a few miles outside a small vilage on the Atlantic coast of Ireland.
While the description of Nature there is "interesting", it is hardly beautiful. And not like the couple takes advantage of it either (they finally climb the nearby mountain that looms over their home in their 8th year there). There for 8 years by the time the novel suddenly ends, the home and the property is slowly crumbling about them and being overwhelmed by dirt, fur, insects, broken items and brickbrack they pick up at the local resale shop. So it is hardly a "Nature is invigorating" kind of book. It is actually rather depressing and sad (the same 7 meals week after week!). And thank God for the UK dole, because they don't work at all, yet somehow get on.
I have to admit that one of the problems that limited my enjoyment of this book is there are lengthy passages naming the growth all about them - and not knowing what the plants and trees and such are, or what they look like, it is hard to imagine what it is Baume is putting down on the page.
The typography on the page changes now and then as well - spaces and lines between words. Reading it as an ebook (thanks to my local PL) it may not work as effectively in that format. Because it did not seem to add much to the story.
Also, their days are pretty much the same one after another (changing some, like their meals, by season), and it is not like they are doing any great thinking or research. They are just being hardcore introverts, who stay away from other people, and are lucky enough to have found one another.
I do worry about them in the years to come - what happens when a beloved dog dies, a computer (they do have one, and Internet access!) is outdated, the car turns over for the last time?
While being rather dour, it was still a worthwhile read. An unusual couple of characters, in a like setting. I am not sure I will go back and read her earlier, sounds similar, novels (it appears they are all somewhat autobiographical regarding the introverts going off to be on their own, at a distance from others). Twice as long, and half the number of humans, I am unsure I would stay interested in the stories for nearly 300 pp.