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Available
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Publication
Open Road Media
Description
The tale of identical twin brothers who toil on the family farm in the wild and vibrant land of Wales and experience the oddities, wonders, and tragedies of human experience.
Media reviews
While I read ''On the Black Hill'' with unflagging interest and with small shivers of astonishment or delight at the author's skill, I was never profoundly moved by the human story. The novel's impact - and it is considerable - derives mainly from Mr. Chatwin's ability to mount his vividly imagined
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scenes of graphic, almost visionary, intensity and from what I would call the poetic dimension of his language. Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member AlisonY
This is a beautiful, quietly written book with an old soul. Set on a Welsh mountain side, it's a moving account of the bond between twin brothers who live at Black Hill farm throughout the entirety of their lives, and the often fraught relationships between family members and nearest neighbours.
I
For anyone who's already read this and enjoyed it, I thoroughly recommend Horatio Clare's memoir Running for the Hills. It has a very similar setting on a Welsh mountain farm and real-life eccentric rural characters. I kept thinking of it as I read this book (to the extent that I wonder did it heavily influence Clare's own book).
4.5 stars - a wonderful read. Highly recommended.
I
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really enjoyed this gentle novel. Reminding me of a cross between Thomas Hardy's and Kent Haruf's writing, it was emotive and moving with well executed characters trying to make ends meet in the rural isolation of the Welsh mountains. For anyone who's already read this and enjoyed it, I thoroughly recommend Horatio Clare's memoir Running for the Hills. It has a very similar setting on a Welsh mountain farm and real-life eccentric rural characters. I kept thinking of it as I read this book (to the extent that I wonder did it heavily influence Clare's own book).
4.5 stars - a wonderful read. Highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member Lukerik
An emotionally intense, beautifully written novel that's lyrical and sad. Check out this verse from chapter X:
"They lay on their backs and gazed at the clouds that crossed the fretted patches of sky; at the zig-zagging dots which were flies; and, way above, the other black dots which were the
At times it's also very funny. A subtle and cheeky humour.
One thing that impressed me from a technical standpoint is the lack of dialogue. There is reported speech but never really whole conversations. Virtually the entire novel is in authorial voice. Chatwin may simply be playing to his strengths, but it impressed me that a novel so successful could be written without using one of the novelist's main tools.
"They lay on their backs and gazed at the clouds that crossed the fretted patches of sky; at the zig-zagging dots which were flies; and, way above, the other black dots which were the
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swallows wheeling."At times it's also very funny. A subtle and cheeky humour.
One thing that impressed me from a technical standpoint is the lack of dialogue. There is reported speech but never really whole conversations. Virtually the entire novel is in authorial voice. Chatwin may simply be playing to his strengths, but it impressed me that a novel so successful could be written without using one of the novelist's main tools.
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LibraryThing member limoncello
It is ages since I read a book by Bruce Chatwin and I'd forgotten how much I love his writing. This is a wonderful story of "twinism" if there is such a word. It is compelling and lyrical and I found it hard to put down once I had started it.
LibraryThing member Laura400
A wonderful traditional novel about identical twin brothers in rural Wales. They are born at the beginning of the 20th century, and the story runs from the lives of their parents, through two World Wars, and into the 1970s or 1980s. The twins rarely leave their immediate rural area, but Chatwin has
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constructed a wide-ranging and affecting story of time, and frustration, and family love, which binds even as it supports, and tradition, and narrowness and even desperation. The book portrays a region's deep religiosity, but there is no sense of Providence. The land endures. People and animals pass away. Almost no one gets what he or she deserves. It is a sad book, but a lovely book. It is very different from Bruce Chatwin's better-known travel books, but it is equally masterful. Show Less
LibraryThing member PilgrimJess
This story is about identical twins Benjamin and Lewis Jones growing up and living on a farm in rural Wales and in many ways is a study of the ordinary unremarkable lives that many people live or certainly used to.
Chatwin paints a beautiful picture of the quiet life where very little ever happens,
However, I still felt that Chatwin's writing style was a little remote and that the characters were a tad two dimensional. Also the ending was a little flat, despite of loving the fact that nothing really happened I felt a litlle cheated when nothing did happen. A bit Freudian perhaps. All the same a very enjoyable read. To Benjamin 'the road to hell was the road to Hereford' and I know how he feels
Chatwin paints a beautiful picture of the quiet life where very little ever happens,
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where friendships and hatreds last a lifetime, and how people are at one with their surroundings. Where life is hard but in its own way satisfying because success and failure is down to their efforts alone.The book describes roughly 80 years of the twins life, a life spent together as two halves of one whole with neither barely ever leaving their Black Hill where their life largely revolved around their mother's love and their love for her. The attention to detail is wonderful giving the book a real chilled laid back, safe feel of times gone by and I admit to finding it rather refreshing to read a book that felt so un-threatening.However, I still felt that Chatwin's writing style was a little remote and that the characters were a tad two dimensional. Also the ending was a little flat, despite of loving the fact that nothing really happened I felt a litlle cheated when nothing did happen. A bit Freudian perhaps. All the same a very enjoyable read. To Benjamin 'the road to hell was the road to Hereford' and I know how he feels
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LibraryThing member gerrymcdonald
A wonderful, touching portayal of a tough life for two brothers who are farmers on the Welsh/English border. Their trials and tribulations are superbly portrayed. A real classic in the DH Lawrence tradition
LibraryThing member miketroll
Imaginative, strange, atmospheric tale of two ageing twin brothers, Lewis and Benjamin Jones, tending their remote sheep farm in the Brecon Beacons of South Wales.
LibraryThing member isabelx
I'm not fond of stories like this, where one person suffocates another, getting his own way in everything and preventing the other from living his life the way he would have wanted. It was well-written but I was hard put to finish it.
LibraryThing member thorold
A lovely miniature agri-epic, depicting the life of a pair of twin brothers on a hill farm on the Welsh border as the 20th century fast-forwards all around them. Oddly reminiscent of Patrick White, I thought, but maybe that's just from the resemblance with the situation of The solid mandala.
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Chatwin's style certainly doesn't much resemble White's jerky prose. Fun to see Penelope Betjeman making a cameo appearance towards the end of the book. Show Less
LibraryThing member jerryhall
Good story and writing. Very human.
LibraryThing member amerynth
Having read and loved "In Patagonia," I was curious to see if Bruce Chatwin's fiction stood up to his travel writing. I wasn't disappointed, as "On The Black Hill was a delightful novel.
The book tells the story of Lewis and Benjamin Jones, identical twins who grow up on "The Vision," a farm in
There isn't a ton of plot in the book. It's mostly a series of vignettes about the twins and their parents and the neighbors with whom their lives tend to intersect. Chatwin has an amazing ability to set a scene and his descriptions of the landscape, the farmhouses and the people are what really carry the story forward.
There isn't a meaty book that requires a deep level of thought, but for a lighter read, it still managed to keep my interest. Overall, just a fun, easy read.
The book tells the story of Lewis and Benjamin Jones, identical twins who grow up on "The Vision," a farm in
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Wales. They are so intertwined that they rarely leave each other or the farm where they were born and raised. It's a simple setting for a fairly simple book.There isn't a ton of plot in the book. It's mostly a series of vignettes about the twins and their parents and the neighbors with whom their lives tend to intersect. Chatwin has an amazing ability to set a scene and his descriptions of the landscape, the farmhouses and the people are what really carry the story forward.
There isn't a meaty book that requires a deep level of thought, but for a lighter read, it still managed to keep my interest. Overall, just a fun, easy read.
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LibraryThing member pnorman4345
Not a novel, rather a series of vignettes centered on twins in an impoverished area on the border of Wales and England.
It is often beautifully written. Chatwin seems fascinated by the strength, persistence, and beauty of his characters, often destructive, blind irrationallity.
It is often beautifully written. Chatwin seems fascinated by the strength, persistence, and beauty of his characters, often destructive, blind irrationallity.
LibraryThing member starbox
'For forty two years, Lewis and Benjamin Jones slept side-by-side in their parents' bed at their farm ...', 20 Dec 2014
Set on the Welsh/English border, this is the story of elderly twins in a remote rural community, opening in the late 19th century, with their parents' courtship, and concluding in
As other reviewers have observed, nothing massive happens; there is interaction with the local aristocrats, the Bickertons; with various neighbours, notably the unfortunate Watkins family - daughter Meg puts one much in mind of a Mary Webb character.
World events seem relatively far away, although the First World War leaves its traces on one of the twins. They remain - largely - uniquely close to one another. Thus during a separation:
(Benjamin) 'hated Lewis for leaving and suspected him of stealing his soul. One day, staring into the shaving mirror, he watched his face grow fainter and fainter, as if the glass were eating his reflection until he vanished altogether in a crystalline mist.'
And as time moves on, there are new faces and long-lost relatives...
This life of ordinary people is perhaps summed up in a Harvest Festival sermon at their chapel: 'Our life is a bubble. We are born. We float upwards. We are carried hither and thither by the breezes. We glitter in the sunshine. Then, all of a sudden, the bubble bursts and we fall to the earth as specks of moisture. We are as these dahlias, cut down by the first frosts of autumn.'
A really enjoyable read.
Set on the Welsh/English border, this is the story of elderly twins in a remote rural community, opening in the late 19th century, with their parents' courtship, and concluding in
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the 70s, with the twins in old age.As other reviewers have observed, nothing massive happens; there is interaction with the local aristocrats, the Bickertons; with various neighbours, notably the unfortunate Watkins family - daughter Meg puts one much in mind of a Mary Webb character.
World events seem relatively far away, although the First World War leaves its traces on one of the twins. They remain - largely - uniquely close to one another. Thus during a separation:
(Benjamin) 'hated Lewis for leaving and suspected him of stealing his soul. One day, staring into the shaving mirror, he watched his face grow fainter and fainter, as if the glass were eating his reflection until he vanished altogether in a crystalline mist.'
And as time moves on, there are new faces and long-lost relatives...
This life of ordinary people is perhaps summed up in a Harvest Festival sermon at their chapel: 'Our life is a bubble. We are born. We float upwards. We are carried hither and thither by the breezes. We glitter in the sunshine. Then, all of a sudden, the bubble bursts and we fall to the earth as specks of moisture. We are as these dahlias, cut down by the first frosts of autumn.'
A really enjoyable read.
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LibraryThing member N.W.Moors
Lewis and Benjamin are identical twins born to a farming family on the Black Hill in the southeastern part of Wales near the Wye River. This book is their story along with neighbors and friends who lived there in the late 19th century up until about 1980-ish. It's a hard life but rewarding in the
I was just hiking in this area and I can envision their farm, in fact, I probably stayed in a similar place turned into a B&B but still having sheep and other animals. This is beautiful writing, evoking exactly what that section of Wales looks like with the different colored fields, flowers, and animals. The stone houses and barns dotted along my walk probably looked much the same as when Lewis and Benjamin were born, and Mr. Chatwin does a lovely job with it.
The characters are all interesting; they make me think of Thomas Hardy's works in the way they go about their daily lives. This is a lovely book, one I enjoyed very much and would heartily recommend.
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connection to nature and God. The twins are joined in a manner that many identical twins have - they can feel each other's pain and are connected very tightly. This is both a blessing and a hindrance because it's hard to have a life outside the other.I was just hiking in this area and I can envision their farm, in fact, I probably stayed in a similar place turned into a B&B but still having sheep and other animals. This is beautiful writing, evoking exactly what that section of Wales looks like with the different colored fields, flowers, and animals. The stone houses and barns dotted along my walk probably looked much the same as when Lewis and Benjamin were born, and Mr. Chatwin does a lovely job with it.
The characters are all interesting; they make me think of Thomas Hardy's works in the way they go about their daily lives. This is a lovely book, one I enjoyed very much and would heartily recommend.
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LibraryThing member piemouth
Not sure what to say about this book. An oddly compelling story of twin Lewis and Benjamin Jones who have spent their lives on their farm in Wales. Odd family dynamics; a little magical realism; beautiful descriptions of the land. I found it sad, others may not. I think it's fair to say that I
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prefer plot-driven fiction. Show Less
LibraryThing member Kristelh
This is a five star book for me, loved this story and it read so easily that I was able to finish this book in record time for me. This author died at 48. That is a loss to the literary world. The story of a place on the border of Wales and England that began in the 1890s and goes to the 1980s. So
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a span of 100 years makes this a fresh look of how life has changed. The Twins are the main protagonist but here are many other characters that add to the story. My book stated on the cover leaf; Bruce Chatwin has charted the passage of the twentieth century from the viewpoint of people who live within the radius of a few square miles. The landscape is extraordinary and the characterization is brilliant with passionate men and women. Show Less
LibraryThing member quondame
The lives and background of twin brothers from the turn of the 20th century and how their lives were shaped or perhaps warped by their intense interdependence and the necessities of their location and history. Hypnotically told, it only jarred in the treatment or lack of treatment of their younger
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sister who exists only to have left behind a single offspring. Show Less
LibraryThing member laytonwoman3rd
The leisurely story of the lives of identical twin brothers Lewis and Benjamin, who spent almost all of their 80 years together on the family holding near the Welsh border, keeping body and soul together with hard work. This is not so much a novel as a photo album...we get marvelously detailed
July 2019
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descriptions of the landscape, the house, the neighbors, the animals, the mucking, the shearing...but there just isn't much story to it, at least no over-arching plot. I enjoyed reading it very much, but it's hard to say much about it. The single-person-split-in-two nature of identical twinship is very nicely illuminated. I will resort to the old fall-back of "If you like this sort of thing, this is the sort of thing you'll like".July 2019
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LibraryThing member ParadisePorch
Beautiful vintage writing, set in mid 20th century Wales.
LibraryThing member TimBazzett
Beautiful little tale of farm life on the English-Welsh border from the turn of the last century covering nearly a hundred years, with a pair of twin brothers, Lewis and Benjamin Jones, taking center stage as they journey together from childhood to old age, largely untouched by wars and the outside
- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER
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world, clinging to old ways and values learned from their parents and grandparents. ON THE BLACK HILL (1982) is a quiet character-driven story filled with a strong sense of place and atmosphere. My first book by Bruce Chatwin, who died at only 49, in 1989. A most enjoyable read. Very highly recommended.- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER
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LibraryThing member edwardsgt
Interesting fictionalised story of farming twins growing up on the Herefordshire-Wales border between 1900 and 1980s.
LibraryThing member snash
A quiet atmospheric tale of character and place; the place being a farm on the Welsh/English border and the characters a set of twins, their parents and neighbors.
Awards
Costa Book Awards (Shortlist — First Novel — 1982)
James Tait Black Memorial Prize (Winner — Fiction — 1982)
Notable Books List (1983)
Original publication date
1982
ISBN
9781504038348
DDC/MDS
| Fic Gen Chatwin |