Status
Available
Call number
Library's review
England, ca 1999
Sjak nr 3 består af de to skotske hegnsarbejdere Tam og Richie og den sjakbajs de lige har fået udnævnt af chefen Donald. Chefen går meget op i om hegnene er lige. Kunderne går op i om hegnet er spændt hårdt nok op. Ejeren Robert og hans hund Ralph går ikke op i ret meget.
De gør Perkins hegn færdigt og går også igang med nogle dyrefolde for brødrene Hall, men det er for stort et job og de stikker af fra det og stiller igen ved Donald.
Han er nu ved at omstille til elektriske højspændte hegn og sender dem på et nyt job ved brødrene Hall. Her ender de med at bygge meget høje pigtrådshegn ved en uhyggelig slagterifabrik og Mr Hall ser ud til at vide noget om McGrindle.
Sort humor fortalt underspillet og helt straight face
Sjak nr 3 består af de to skotske hegnsarbejdere Tam og Richie og den sjakbajs de lige har fået udnævnt af chefen Donald. Chefen går meget op i om hegnene er lige. Kunderne går op i om hegnet er spændt hårdt nok op. Ejeren Robert og hans hund Ralph går ikke op i ret meget.
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Tam og Richie ligner headbangere med langt vikingehår og gummistøvler og har ikke ret travlt, når de er på arbejde. De bliver sendt ud til Hr. McGrindle for at rette op på gårsdagens sjuskejob og desværre kommer de til at slå McGrindle ihjel ved et uheld. Han bliver begravet i et pælehul og så tænker de ikke meget mere over det. De bliver nu sendt til England til Upper Bowland og skal sætte et hegn op for Mr Perkins. Ham kommer de også til at slå ihjel og forresten laver de også et hegn sort for et andet firma ejet af brødrene Hall. Det er derfor ikke så godt da chefen Donald dukker op. Det går dog selv om han er noget overeffektiv, men efter et par dage dukker Robert op for at hente Donald og uheldigvis rammes Robert af et løst hammerhoved. Donald tager det pænt og Robert havner også i et pælehul.De gør Perkins hegn færdigt og går også igang med nogle dyrefolde for brødrene Hall, men det er for stort et job og de stikker af fra det og stiller igen ved Donald.
Han er nu ved at omstille til elektriske højspændte hegn og sender dem på et nyt job ved brødrene Hall. Her ender de med at bygge meget høje pigtrådshegn ved en uhyggelig slagterifabrik og Mr Hall ser ud til at vide noget om McGrindle.
Sort humor fortalt underspillet og helt straight face
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Genres
Publication
[Kbh.] : Lindhardt og Ringhof, 1999.
Description
Written by a London bus driver, The Restraint of Beasts is a queasy, spooky, murderously funny tale - with no adverbs. Tam and Richie are dour Scots labourers who, when sent to a farmsite by their boss, despatch one client after another.
Media reviews
Er verrät es uns nicht, der Autor dieses zugleich furchtbar komischen und tieftraurigen Buches: Magnus Mills hat bei seinem Erstling so ziemlich alles richtig gemacht, obwohl der 46-Jährige erst vor etwa neun Jahren mit dem Schreiben begonnen hat. Damals arbeitete er als Busfahrer und bot dem
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"Independent" Artikel über seine Erlebnisse mit den Londoner Verkehrsbetrieben und ihren Benutzern an. Darin finden sich solch trockene Einsichten wie die folgende: "Busfahren wäre einfach, wenn es da nicht die Passagiere gebe." Das sitzt. Aber für Magnus Mills waren solcherart feuilletonistische Weisheiten und Fingerübungen zum Glück nicht genug. Er bemerkte rasch, dass sich als Schreiber nur einen Namen machen kann, wer sich an die ganz grundsätzlichen Themen wagt. Das hat er getan und irgendwie instinktiv gespürt: Je einfacher und trockener eine Geschichte erzählt ist, desto eindringlicher kann sie geraten. Er profitierte dabei von seinen Erfahrungen als Zaunbauer, einem der ungewöhnlichen Jobs, mit denen sich Mills in früheren Zeiten über Wasser hielt. Heraus kam der Roman "The Restraint of Beasts", der nun von Katharina Böhmer - ebenfalls einer Debütantin - kongenial übersetzt wurde und unter dem Titel "Die Herren der Zäune" auf Deutsch vorliegt. Damit sind wir um zwei der kuriosesten Romanfiguren der letzten Jahre und zudem um die Ahnung reicher, dass man nicht Universitätswürden erreicht und Schreibseminare durchlaufen haben muss, um ein guter Autor zu werden. Mills Debüt wurde übrigens in über zwölf Sprachen übersetzt, in England sind bereits zwei weitere Romane von ihm erschienen. Man darf gespannt sein. Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member Gold_Gato
Oh, what a dark comedy read was this. I think I can even still hear the pounding of the fences being driven into the ground by the loafers who take pride in their lack of ambition. Of course, this book isn't about fence-building, but it's not about employment either. It's not about Scotland either.
Everything builds very slowly, and I, being the fool that I am, stayed right in step, believing the author was moving down one path, when he was taking me elsewhere. By the time I realized what was happening, it was just too late to retreat. Funny but serious.
The nice folks in the nice town of Portland recommended this one to me...which makes me start to wonder about the denizens of the Rose City.
Book Season = Autumn (find a pub)
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There.Everything builds very slowly, and I, being the fool that I am, stayed right in step, believing the author was moving down one path, when he was taking me elsewhere. By the time I realized what was happening, it was just too late to retreat. Funny but serious.
The nice folks in the nice town of Portland recommended this one to me...which makes me start to wonder about the denizens of the Rose City.
Book Season = Autumn (find a pub)
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LibraryThing member yarb
Rip-snorting deadpan comment on the tribulations of contract labour. The end is a cop-out but this is still a great novel.
LibraryThing member Eily
I didn’t entirely get it. Once you reach the part where the second innocent interferer in the fence-laying of the main protagonists is hit accidentally on the head and killed and is then buried under the fence, you’ve kind of lost all sense of this being worthy of a Booker prize. Okay, so
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it’s funny in a bleak way. Working class labourers with no lives to speak of, building fences, getting drunk, and living in caravans. I mean, literally, there is nothing more to this than the short description above. No other incidents, no plot lines, no character development. Just that – stark, succinct, unrelieved. Show Less
LibraryThing member -Eva-
What a bizarre little story. Definitely the first time I've read a comic novel about laborers putting up fencing in a near Kafkaesque situation where severe deeds matter little and minor events have seemingly cataclysmic ramifications. Lots of "What...?!" moments and a few laughs - the result of
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the joiner's work (eh?!) and Tam's tattoo spring to mind - and the end result is an odd little story with much information about high-tensile wire and some insights into menial labor, which is hardly menial, and its effect on the minds of some very special people. Show Less
LibraryThing member MiserableLibrarian
An odd black comedy about an Englishman who is newly appointed as foreman over two Scottish fence builders. The foreman’s odd boss and the tension with the two Scotchmen form the central themes of this tale, sometimes macabre, sometimes humorous. The writing can be quite droll, and the somewhat
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surreal story makes for pretty good entertainment. Show Less
LibraryThing member oblongpictures
A funny, deadpan read that takes in the futility of existence, the bizarrely humdrum nature of English village life and the frustration of working for a capricious boss. I'm still not sure what happens at the end but the journey there was definitely worth it.
LibraryThing member sanddancer
A bizarre but simply written story about an Englishman put in charge of a fence-building project and overseeing two Scottish labourers. Absurd is the best word to describe it but it is absurd in a good way.
LibraryThing member clfisha
Two printable comments that immediately spring forth when I finished was an angry "What the.." and "I cannot believe he just did that". Yet half an hour later I was smugly basking in the glow of having just finished a wonderful book, deliciously imagining what exactly was going on. This is not a
Through deadpan humour and tight sentences we follow the our narrator who has just been made foreman of two lazy ne-er do wells in a small high tensile fencing company. Yes it's the exciting world of building fences, mingled with that great British past time of pub drinking. And quite frankly it's great.
The characters are superb, the plot amusing and an un-nerving feeling that clashes wonderfully with the every day. It's a great book to try Magnus Mills plus it's quite short so what have you got to lose? Fans of his will of course have read this already....
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book for people who like neat & tidy plots, nor those who do not appreciate black humour. It's a wonderful piece of misdirection really. Through deadpan humour and tight sentences we follow the our narrator who has just been made foreman of two lazy ne-er do wells in a small high tensile fencing company. Yes it's the exciting world of building fences, mingled with that great British past time of pub drinking. And quite frankly it's great.
The characters are superb, the plot amusing and an un-nerving feeling that clashes wonderfully with the every day. It's a great book to try Magnus Mills plus it's quite short so what have you got to lose? Fans of his will of course have read this already....
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LibraryThing member isabelx
'And to think they only started off building fruit cages,' said Tam.
'Who?' I asked.
'The company.'
'Did they?'
'That was before your time. Or yours, Rich. Raspberries mainly.'
'To stop them escaping? asked Richie.
'Er . . . No. Not really . . . no.'
Deadpan humour in this story of Scottish fencers,
'Who?' I asked.
'The company.'
'Did they?'
'That was before your time. Or yours, Rich. Raspberries mainly.'
'To stop them escaping? asked Richie.
'Er . . . No. Not really . . . no.'
Deadpan humour in this story of Scottish fencers,
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building high-tensile fences on an English farm. I enjoyed it more than "All Quiet on the Orient Express", but not as much of some of his other books. Show Less
LibraryThing member VisibleGhost
Building high-tensile fences should be a boring repetitive routine job. Dig some holes, place some posts, string some wire. Repeat until the beasts are restrained behind their new wire homes. This slightly inept crew somehow manages to create a body count with their laid-back, carefree attitude
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fence building. That's not the payoff with reading this book though. That would be the sparse, lazy, meandering dialogue where little is spoken but much is said. I found myself wondering if [[Elmore Leonard]] might have a son that emigrated to the UK to pursue his writing craft. I wouldn't read this expecting fireworks but with the attitude of slowly drifting down a calm stream with the occasional hidden underwater object to render a jolt or two in the otherwise profanely serene waters. Show Less
LibraryThing member bnewcomer
This was unnerving, comical, and plodding (but without being slow). Some of the comedy is uncanny and quite possibly misdirected, so that you can tell something about the scene you're reading is funny, but you're not quite sure what. Repeat that sentence, replacing funny, also, with "ominous", and
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"gruesome", and you cover most of what happens. Enjoyable to read, though I couldn't exactly say why. I'll probably be re-reading this later, and also seeking out other Magnus Mills to figure out whether or not I actually liked this book. Show Less
LibraryThing member RobinDawson
A very odd book, yet very engaging. Who knew that installing fences in wet English weather could be so entertaining! And who knew anyone could drink as much as these three. I'm a bit surprised that it was shortlisted for the Booker. The ending left a great deal to be desired but I enjoyed the
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journey with this trio of wastrels. Show Less
LibraryThing member ivan.frade
I cannot put my finger on what did this book so fun. It is a very dark comedy, with surprising and some times ridiculous moments (in the good sense). The hard work-skipping characters, with such lack of ambition, sounded deeply realistic under the exaggerated surface.
LibraryThing member nog
My copy from 1999 does not contain "comedic" in the title, as it is listed here. This book is like you combined Kafka and silent screen comedy. It's not laugh-out-loud funny, but consistently amusing in its deadpan black comedy. When one approaches the ending, a queasy and ominous feeling is evoked
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that signals that things are going to go very wrong for our fence crew. (It has to do with a certain feature of their last fence.) Mills leaves it to our imagination what will happen to them, which is perfect. Show Less
LibraryThing member mbmackay
Well, this one is different! Apparently the tale of an accident prone fence building crew, the reader sooner or later realises not all is as it seems. The plot unfolds, but doesn't seem to go anywhere, and that seems to be one of the points. Billed as "tragi-comedy", I was also slow in catching on
Very quirky, but very readable.
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to the comedy. But by the the the ending came, I was getting the drift, and was wanting more.Very quirky, but very readable.
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Awards
Booker Prize (Longlist — 1998)
Dublin Literary Award (Longlist — 2000)
Costa Book Awards (Shortlist — First Novel — 1998)
James Tait Black Memorial Prize (Shortlist — Fiction — 1998)
McKitterick Prize (Winner — 1999)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1998
Physical description
196 p.; 21.9 cm
ISBN
8759511427 / 9788759511428
Local notes
Omslag: Bente Jarlhøj
Omslaget viser to småkiksede mænd, der er monteret ind i et pub-interiør og med små billeder af får, køer og hegn som vignetter udenom det store billede
Omslaget er lavet efter den engelske originaludgave af Cheryl Saunders
Indskannet omslag - N650U - 150 dpi
Side 74: (om en bog) Hvad handler den om? Det ved jeg ikke, jeg er ikke færdig med den endnu.
Side 131: Robert skal ned under lukkestolpen, ikke den, der bærer leddet.
Side 136: Der er arbejde-arbejde, og så er der det arbejde man laver når man sætter andre til at lave arbejdet for sig. Jeg foretrækker den sidste slags.
Side 194: Skuffelse er skuffelse. Det burde I i hvert fald vide. I har efterladt jer et sandt spor af skuffede mennesker.
Oversat fra engelsk "The Restraint of Beasts" af Mich Vraa
Omslaget viser to småkiksede mænd, der er monteret ind i et pub-interiør og med små billeder af får, køer og hegn som vignetter udenom det store billede
Omslaget er lavet efter den engelske originaludgave af Cheryl Saunders
Indskannet omslag - N650U - 150 dpi
Side 74: (om en bog) Hvad handler den om? Det ved jeg ikke, jeg er ikke færdig med den endnu.
Side 131: Robert skal ned under lukkestolpen, ikke den, der bærer leddet.
Side 136: Der er arbejde-arbejde, og så er der det arbejde man laver når man sætter andre til at lave arbejdet for sig. Jeg foretrækker den sidste slags.
Side 194: Skuffelse er skuffelse. Det burde I i hvert fald vide. I har efterladt jer et sandt spor af skuffede mennesker.
Oversat fra engelsk "The Restraint of Beasts" af Mich Vraa
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Pages
196
DDC/MDS
| 823.914 |