Meadowland
This historical novel by Thomas Holt was remarkably good. It was about the Norse discovery of America, covering several attempts at settlement there, and following several notable souls including Erik the Red, Leif Erikson, Gudric, and King Harald (not the guy who lost the battle of hastings, but the norse guy he killed earlier). And while doing all this, he manages to explain clearly how the Eastern Roman empire worked, how bits of chance turn into history, and how the Norse religion and Christian religion dwelt uneasily side by side for some time.
Thomas Holt read ancient history at Oxford, so he knows what he’s talking about. He’s also written a lot of stuff, so he knows how to do that, too. His characters all have very distinctive voices, and he uses a pretty challenging technique of having almost the whole story retold to us through three narrators. Despite this, none of the action seems to be happening “off-camera”, so to speak; you’re there, sometimes wanting to avert your eyes (they are kind of Vikings, after all), but feeling everything that happens. He also gives you – another triumph, if you ask me – an unreliable narrator, perhaps two, perhaps three. That’s difficult and yet he pulls it off beautifully.
By setting it up so that the main narrator is a foreigner (a Greek), he is able to explain parts of Norse culture through the narrators without it seeming forced. He’s also able to show the difference between the Greek way of thinking and the Norse way, their different values and cultures, in a way that is equally biased and so quite balanced. There’s quite a few thoughtful asides about religion and philosophy which make sense in terms of the narrative. One of the cleverest outcomes of the set-up is the way he is able to show the nature of different characters through giving them the same scenario – America – again and again. There’s a very clever twist with one of the characters at the end of the story, too.
This is a funny, clever, thoughtful and informative book, which I was unable to put down. I’ll be looking out for his other books – after all, ancient history is a wide field. Hopefully he’s covered a fair bit of it.
Thomas Holt read ancient history at Oxford, so he knows what he’s talking about. He’s also written a lot of stuff, so he knows how to do that, too. His characters all have very distinctive voices, and he uses a pretty challenging technique of having almost the whole story retold to us through three narrators. Despite this, none of the action seems to be happening “off-camera”, so to speak; you’re there, sometimes wanting to avert your eyes (they are kind of Vikings, after all), but feeling everything that happens. He also gives you – another triumph, if you ask me – an unreliable narrator, perhaps two, perhaps three. That’s difficult and yet he pulls it off beautifully.
By setting it up so that the main narrator is a foreigner (a Greek), he is able to explain parts of Norse culture through the narrators without it seeming forced. He’s also able to show the difference between the Greek way of thinking and the Norse way, their different values and cultures, in a way that is equally biased and so quite balanced. There’s quite a few thoughtful asides about religion and philosophy which make sense in terms of the narrative. One of the cleverest outcomes of the set-up is the way he is able to show the nature of different characters through giving them the same scenario – America – again and again. There’s a very clever twist with one of the characters at the end of the story, too.
This is a funny, clever, thoughtful and informative book, which I was unable to put down. I’ll be looking out for his other books – after all, ancient history is a wide field. Hopefully he’s covered a fair bit of it.
posted by Carly at 2:05 pm
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