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Available
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Collection
Publication
Penguin (2009), Paperback, 224 pages
Description
Fiction. Literature. HTML: Sam Marsdyke is a lonely young man, dogged by an incident in his past and forced to work his family farm instead of attending school in his Yorkshire village. He methodically fills his life with daily routines and adheres to strict boundaries that keep him at a remove from the townspeople. But one day he spies Josephine, his new neighbor from London. From that moment on, Sam's carefully constructed protections begin to crumble�??and what starts off as a harmless friendship between an isolated loner and a defiant teenage girl takes a most disturbing turn.
User reviews
LibraryThing member kidzdoc
The story is set in contemporary Yorkshire in northern England, and the narrator, Sam Marsdyke, nicknamed Lankenstein by his classmates for his lanky appearance and strange ways, is an adolescent farmboy in a town that is rapidly being taken over by upper middle class families that want to live in
The description of the bleakness of Yorkshire Moors and Sam's slow descent into paranoia and madness were convincing and disturbing.
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the countryside. Their values (gourmet restaurants and shops) are in stark contrast with those of the townfolk, and several minor clashes and differences ensue. Sam befriends a bored younger girl whose family moves from London to the home of their recently deceased neighbor. She decides to run away, and insists that Sam accompany her back to London. Their journey ends badly.The description of the bleakness of Yorkshire Moors and Sam's slow descent into paranoia and madness were convincing and disturbing.
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LibraryThing member teresa1953
Wow...what an interesting book. The whole story is written in Yorkshire dialect. I have lived in Yorkshire, England for 40 years (just round the corner from Arnold Kellet, the gentleman whom the author acknowledges for his assistance in Yorkshire phrases and dialects) and so am well aquainted with
The plot is extremely menacing and very clever. This is Ross Raisin's debut novel and I eagerly await his next book.
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Yorkshire folks' way of speaking and this was a plus for me. I am intrigued to know how well someone who has never set foot in the county fares with the prose. To begin with, the lack of speech marks bothered me. However, the central character is a very disturbed young man and he tends to talk to himself and think aloud a great deal and it became totally natural after the first 10 pages. The plot is extremely menacing and very clever. This is Ross Raisin's debut novel and I eagerly await his next book.
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LibraryThing member gaskella
Sam Marsdyke is nineteen, and due to something that happened in his past, is stuck working on his family’s sheep farm on the North York Moors instead of getting a life. Virtually ignored by his parents, he wanders the moors with his dog looking at the world from up there with a mixture of
One day life starts to get more interesting for him. A family of ‘towns’ moves into the farm next door; moved out from the city to get a better life. He sees them arrive, and watches the teenaged daughter laughing with the removals men…
"She’d know about me before too long. Not me, course, but my history, painted up in all the muckiest colours by some tosspot, gagging to set her against me. A piece of gossip travels fast through a valley. The hills keep it in. It goes from jaw to jaw all the way along till it’s common news, true or not. Specially when the valley’s full of tosspots, such as this one."
It’s obvious right from the beginning that Sam’s resentments run far deeper than just the incomers, he has little time for anyone except his dog. It’s also obvious that he’s going to fall for the girl, and she too, appears to be interested in this lanky young man – or is she just using him? ’Ere long, they get into some scrapes together, and you know it will all go very, very wrong…
The entire novel is narrated entirely by Sam, and scattered finely with lovely Yorkshire dialect words such as fettling, trunklements and blatherskite – all good woody words, (to quote Monty Python). Unusually for me I didn’t find that the dialect got in the way, Raisin has a light hand with it and gives Sam a distinct voice. Underneath it all Sam is shy; his schoolmates all called him ‘Lankenstein’; he tends to blurt and lash out, making decisions that he played out totally differently in the fantasies in his head, making him a rather unreliable narrator. You’re never quite sure what he’s going to do next, as his thoughts and the reality of his actions are often very different. It was this duality to Sam that absolutely gripped me from the start.
I really enjoyed the scenery too tramping over the moors with Sam, who is quite the nature boy. There is a fair bit of humour in the novel, but as you might expect, it gets darker as it goes. I found this novel ‘reet gradely’ (well my maternal grandmother was Yorkshire-born), and thoroughly recommend it.
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amusement, detachment and resentment.One day life starts to get more interesting for him. A family of ‘towns’ moves into the farm next door; moved out from the city to get a better life. He sees them arrive, and watches the teenaged daughter laughing with the removals men…
"She’d know about me before too long. Not me, course, but my history, painted up in all the muckiest colours by some tosspot, gagging to set her against me. A piece of gossip travels fast through a valley. The hills keep it in. It goes from jaw to jaw all the way along till it’s common news, true or not. Specially when the valley’s full of tosspots, such as this one."
It’s obvious right from the beginning that Sam’s resentments run far deeper than just the incomers, he has little time for anyone except his dog. It’s also obvious that he’s going to fall for the girl, and she too, appears to be interested in this lanky young man – or is she just using him? ’Ere long, they get into some scrapes together, and you know it will all go very, very wrong…
The entire novel is narrated entirely by Sam, and scattered finely with lovely Yorkshire dialect words such as fettling, trunklements and blatherskite – all good woody words, (to quote Monty Python). Unusually for me I didn’t find that the dialect got in the way, Raisin has a light hand with it and gives Sam a distinct voice. Underneath it all Sam is shy; his schoolmates all called him ‘Lankenstein’; he tends to blurt and lash out, making decisions that he played out totally differently in the fantasies in his head, making him a rather unreliable narrator. You’re never quite sure what he’s going to do next, as his thoughts and the reality of his actions are often very different. It was this duality to Sam that absolutely gripped me from the start.
I really enjoyed the scenery too tramping over the moors with Sam, who is quite the nature boy. There is a fair bit of humour in the novel, but as you might expect, it gets darker as it goes. I found this novel ‘reet gradely’ (well my maternal grandmother was Yorkshire-born), and thoroughly recommend it.
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LibraryThing member AllieW
My word, what a disturbing book. For the most part you find yourself believing the narrator and protagonist, Sam. However, about 3/4 of the way through it becomes apparent that he is not all he seems and things take a rather sinister turn. Brilliantly written with excellent characterisation, this
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is well worth a read. Show Less
LibraryThing member dokr
A great book and funny to read the Yorkshire accent - I understood most of it, even though English is not my first language. The author has a good grip on country side living and the transformation that happens in these years plus the main character is very well described. Can’t wait to see what
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this author will come up with next. Show Less
LibraryThing member jayne_charles
A top quality read, sort of like Wuthering Heights' delinquent great great great grandchild, it's a tour of the wilds of Yorkshire in the company of a narrator who is comic and sinister in equal measure. The author makes excellent use of the first-person narrative style to leave the reader
I particularly liked the use of dialect, happily reminiscent of my own childhood in Yorkshire, the only place I know where people use terms like 'ey up', 'buffit' and the rest. It was like coming home!
Of course there were no speech marks, and I have whinged about this in reviews of other books, but in this case it made sense somehow. It wasn't ever going to be a quick read, there is too much interest and meaning to be teased out of each paragraph, so I didn't mind the extra effort of figuring out the speech patterns.
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wondering right to the end whether the central character is a total psycho, just misunderstood, or somewhere in between.I particularly liked the use of dialect, happily reminiscent of my own childhood in Yorkshire, the only place I know where people use terms like 'ey up', 'buffit' and the rest. It was like coming home!
Of course there were no speech marks, and I have whinged about this in reviews of other books, but in this case it made sense somehow. It wasn't ever going to be a quick read, there is too much interest and meaning to be teased out of each paragraph, so I didn't mind the extra effort of figuring out the speech patterns.
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LibraryThing member AdonisGuilfoyle
A funny, poignant, but ultimately twisted tale about a young farmer's son from the North Yorkshire moors who forges an unnatural friendship with a schoolgirl. To begin with, Sam Marsdyke, who narrates in a broad Yorkshire dialect full of words like 'gradely' and 'blatherskite', comes across as a
I enjoyed the narrative voice, which reflects Sam's character - blunt, comical, but also of another time and place. For the most part, he speaks with a plain Yorkshire accent, but Raisin peppers his character's thoughts and dialogue with archaic words and phrases, straight out of Kellett's Yorkshire Dictionary of Dialect, showing how Sam is tied to a dying breed of moortop farmers. He's nineteen, and living in a contemporary world of Wetherspoon's and Heartbeat daytrippers, but he sounds like a rustic character from James Herriott's books: '[the ram] steadied up when he was with the wether - poor castrated sod who kept himself pot-of-one the rest the year waiting for his charver the tup to come and stay, though I didn't know what the bugger it was them two had to talk about'. Some of Sam's observations had me smirking, but the unravelling of his disturbed mind soon sobered me up.
A fascinating novel, but a truly frightening character.
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bit of a modern day Heathcliff, abused and misunderstood. His father is bad-tempered, his mother has distanced herself from him, and all Sam has is nature - the farm animals and the wild moors - and his young sheepdog pup, Sal. So when Jo, the fifteen year old daughter of the 'townies' who buy a neighbouring farm, starts talking to him, and showing an interest in the workings of the farm, the reader almost feels glad for Sam. There are warning signs from the start - the incident at school, and taking revenge on a neighbour for imagined gossip - but perhaps Sam deserves a chance to prove himself. Is he lonely and frustrated, or angry and dangerous? The truth is like a betrayal of the reader's trust, and suddenly Sam is no longer merely quirky and awkward, with a droll line in introspection, but a complete stranger.I enjoyed the narrative voice, which reflects Sam's character - blunt, comical, but also of another time and place. For the most part, he speaks with a plain Yorkshire accent, but Raisin peppers his character's thoughts and dialogue with archaic words and phrases, straight out of Kellett's Yorkshire Dictionary of Dialect, showing how Sam is tied to a dying breed of moortop farmers. He's nineteen, and living in a contemporary world of Wetherspoon's and Heartbeat daytrippers, but he sounds like a rustic character from James Herriott's books: '[the ram] steadied up when he was with the wether - poor castrated sod who kept himself pot-of-one the rest the year waiting for his charver the tup to come and stay, though I didn't know what the bugger it was them two had to talk about'. Some of Sam's observations had me smirking, but the unravelling of his disturbed mind soon sobered me up.
A fascinating novel, but a truly frightening character.
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LibraryThing member Ma_Washigeri
Four stars for the writing. I love books written in dialect and this one really comes alive. Probably make a fantastic radio play. The narrator also comes alive and while you see clearly the people around him, by the end you feel how deeply he is cut off from from all other human beings. They are
I finished the book feeling a bit queasy and reluctant to give it 4 stars and I am still exploring just why. I felt the author was colluding with the verdict of many in the book that he was 'a bad one' and that nothing could have been done, which does not fit my own philosophy. However I decided that the author is telling it like it is - and I can read it as a person not put together right, or broken - rather than evil. There is also a dark North Eastern english element simmering in the background. Unforgiving. I shall not want to re-read this book, but while I was reading it was very compelling and I'm glad I did, despite it being so uncomfortable once the half way mark had been passed and you realise there is no salvation.
Comic it is not. Don't know how anyone could use that word with this book.
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part of the scenery for him, or less than the scenery. He cares for animals and people but without fully understanding the expectations between people that underpin family ties and a wider society. This is sufficient for working on the farm, but not for normal relationships with people.I finished the book feeling a bit queasy and reluctant to give it 4 stars and I am still exploring just why. I felt the author was colluding with the verdict of many in the book that he was 'a bad one' and that nothing could have been done, which does not fit my own philosophy. However I decided that the author is telling it like it is - and I can read it as a person not put together right, or broken - rather than evil. There is also a dark North Eastern english element simmering in the background. Unforgiving. I shall not want to re-read this book, but while I was reading it was very compelling and I'm glad I did, despite it being so uncomfortable once the half way mark had been passed and you realise there is no salvation.
Comic it is not. Don't know how anyone could use that word with this book.
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LibraryThing member filmbuff1994
The unreliable narrator. How much of what he says is true? What does he hold back? Is there ever a time you should take his word on a given event, or is the wisest thing to do turn around and accept the opposite as given truth? As these kind of characters go, nineteen-year-old misanthropic oddball
Sam swears he didn’t try to rape schoolgirl Katie Carmichael in detention as a teen, but his parents- nay, the whole Yorkshire community, believe different. The incident has made Sam quite the outcast, and, maybe because of it, he has developed a revulsion for his peers and people in general. Sam is the farmer son of a cowed mother and an abusive, gruff father, and he develops a rapport with the animals on the farm- Sal, his sheepdog puppy, and even the livestock.
His conversations with animals and even inanimate objects are offbeat and sometimes laugh-out-loud funny. The Yorkshire dialect is difficult to wrap your head around, but it’s not really a very tough read- you can usually riddle out what a word means from the context. When Sam meets Jo, a newcomer to ‘God’s Own Country’ and also an off-limits fifteen-year-old girl, it’s obsession at first sight. Jo and Sam strike up a casual friendship, not so casual for Sam, who is completely enamored with her, but the fun doesn’t last long as Sam becomes increasingly obsessed and volatile.
This book has two main plot threads going for it- the modernization of rural farmlands all over (but specifically in England,) which exasperates Sam and his working man father, and Sam’s descent into madness, culminating in the arrival of Jo and her family. The narrative really reminded me of ‘The Butcher Boy’ by Patrick McCabe, in that you’re sucked into the world of a flippant, charismatic madman. The first-person narration really crackles and the psychology behind the character’s madness is pretty legit too.
The only real issue I have with “God’s Own Country” (re-titled “Out Backward” for its US publication) was it was so grim it left me feeling sucked dry by the end. Sam’s sardonic voice alleviates the misery for a while, but as he goes down the rabbit-hole mental health wise you’re left shaking your head in horror. One Librarything user discussed a ‘lack of redemption,’ and she’s absolutely right.
Sam never really learns anything from his experience, though he does manage learn to adapt to his increasingly horrid circumstances by the book’s end. Which may be realistic, but it’s a lot to swallow. “God’s Own Country” was in also unnerving in that it made me sympathize with an increasingly depraved personality. A very bad person, or a person who does very bad things? You can decide for yourself if an when you decide to read this troubling and brilliant book.
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Sam Marsdyke is a whopper of of an unreliable narrator. Even as his soul turns dark and sour, you want- desperately need- to believe this troubled boy’s story.Sam swears he didn’t try to rape schoolgirl Katie Carmichael in detention as a teen, but his parents- nay, the whole Yorkshire community, believe different. The incident has made Sam quite the outcast, and, maybe because of it, he has developed a revulsion for his peers and people in general. Sam is the farmer son of a cowed mother and an abusive, gruff father, and he develops a rapport with the animals on the farm- Sal, his sheepdog puppy, and even the livestock.
His conversations with animals and even inanimate objects are offbeat and sometimes laugh-out-loud funny. The Yorkshire dialect is difficult to wrap your head around, but it’s not really a very tough read- you can usually riddle out what a word means from the context. When Sam meets Jo, a newcomer to ‘God’s Own Country’ and also an off-limits fifteen-year-old girl, it’s obsession at first sight. Jo and Sam strike up a casual friendship, not so casual for Sam, who is completely enamored with her, but the fun doesn’t last long as Sam becomes increasingly obsessed and volatile.
This book has two main plot threads going for it- the modernization of rural farmlands all over (but specifically in England,) which exasperates Sam and his working man father, and Sam’s descent into madness, culminating in the arrival of Jo and her family. The narrative really reminded me of ‘The Butcher Boy’ by Patrick McCabe, in that you’re sucked into the world of a flippant, charismatic madman. The first-person narration really crackles and the psychology behind the character’s madness is pretty legit too.
The only real issue I have with “God’s Own Country” (re-titled “Out Backward” for its US publication) was it was so grim it left me feeling sucked dry by the end. Sam’s sardonic voice alleviates the misery for a while, but as he goes down the rabbit-hole mental health wise you’re left shaking your head in horror. One Librarything user discussed a ‘lack of redemption,’ and she’s absolutely right.
Sam never really learns anything from his experience, though he does manage learn to adapt to his increasingly horrid circumstances by the book’s end. Which may be realistic, but it’s a lot to swallow. “God’s Own Country” was in also unnerving in that it made me sympathize with an increasingly depraved personality. A very bad person, or a person who does very bad things? You can decide for yourself if an when you decide to read this troubling and brilliant book.
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LibraryThing member DeltaQueen50
Out Backward is the story of a young loner named Sam Marsdyke who works on his father's farm after being forced to leave school for inappropriate behavior. Nineteen year old Sam is an unreliable narrator and he spins a slightly creepy tale about his connection with a recent neighbour, 15 year old
Eventually Jo and Sam run away together and slowly both Jo and the reader come to see the fine line Sam is treading between sanity and madness. Things take a decidedly nasty turn when Jo decides to ditch Sam and return home.
The reader first feels sympathy for Sam but ultimately realizes that he is exhibiting psychopathic tendencies. Written in a thick Yorkshire dialect, I strugged a little at first with the language, but this did help bring Sam to life and make the setting all the more authentic.
Out Backward was an absorbing, troubling, terrifically written and and highly readable book.
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troubled teen, Jo Reeves.Eventually Jo and Sam run away together and slowly both Jo and the reader come to see the fine line Sam is treading between sanity and madness. Things take a decidedly nasty turn when Jo decides to ditch Sam and return home.
The reader first feels sympathy for Sam but ultimately realizes that he is exhibiting psychopathic tendencies. Written in a thick Yorkshire dialect, I strugged a little at first with the language, but this did help bring Sam to life and make the setting all the more authentic.
Out Backward was an absorbing, troubling, terrifically written and and highly readable book.
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LibraryThing member gypsysmom
I got quite caught up in this story about a young Yorkshire man, Sam Marsdyke, who was expelled from school 3 years previously for attempted rape of a classmate. The book opens with him in the fields of his family's farm watching some ramblers (walkers) in another field. He throws rocks at them
Some new people (towns) move into the next farm and there is a teenage girl in the family. She is friendly with Sam and he is quite taken with her. When she has a fight with her parents she comes by the barn and asks Sam to run away with her. And off they go into the moors. Inevitably, it ends badly and Sam is certainly guilty of some crimes but I felt sorry for him. And as the book ended I wondered what would Sam end up doing?
At times the writing was confusing because Sam likes to make up scenarios and it was hard to tell what was true and what was daydreams. It is the authors first novel so I think he will get better and it should be worthwhile keeping an eye out for him.
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from behind a wall just because they irritate him. At this point it seems like he is a little daft but as the book goes on he appears to be quite smart. I couldn't decide if he has some psychological problem or if he just hasn't been exposed to many different types of people. Some new people (towns) move into the next farm and there is a teenage girl in the family. She is friendly with Sam and he is quite taken with her. When she has a fight with her parents she comes by the barn and asks Sam to run away with her. And off they go into the moors. Inevitably, it ends badly and Sam is certainly guilty of some crimes but I felt sorry for him. And as the book ended I wondered what would Sam end up doing?
At times the writing was confusing because Sam likes to make up scenarios and it was hard to tell what was true and what was daydreams. It is the authors first novel so I think he will get better and it should be worthwhile keeping an eye out for him.
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LibraryThing member oldblack
'Brilliantly comic' says the blub. Depressingly dark, I say.
LibraryThing member Ma_Washigeri
Four stars for the writing. I love books written in dialect and this one really comes alive. Probably make a fantastic radio play. The narrator also comes alive and while you see clearly the people around him, by the end you feel how deeply he is cut off from from all other human beings. They are
I finished the book feeling a bit queasy and reluctant to give it 4 stars and I am still exploring just why. I felt the author was colluding with the verdict of many in the book that he was 'a bad one' and that nothing could have been done, which does not fit my own philosophy. However I decided that the author is telling it like it is - and I can read it as a person not put together right, or broken - rather than evil. There is also a dark North Eastern english element simmering in the background. Unforgiving. I shall not want to re-read this book, but while I was reading it was very compelling and I'm glad I did, despite it being so uncomfortable once the half way mark had been passed and you realise there is no salvation.
Comic it is not. Don't know how anyone could use that word with this book.
Show More
part of the scenery for him, or less than the scenery. He cares for animals and people but without fully understanding the expectations between people that underpin family ties and a wider society. This is sufficient for working on the farm, but not for normal relationships with people.I finished the book feeling a bit queasy and reluctant to give it 4 stars and I am still exploring just why. I felt the author was colluding with the verdict of many in the book that he was 'a bad one' and that nothing could have been done, which does not fit my own philosophy. However I decided that the author is telling it like it is - and I can read it as a person not put together right, or broken - rather than evil. There is also a dark North Eastern english element simmering in the background. Unforgiving. I shall not want to re-read this book, but while I was reading it was very compelling and I'm glad I did, despite it being so uncomfortable once the half way mark had been passed and you realise there is no salvation.
Comic it is not. Don't know how anyone could use that word with this book.
Show Less
Awards
Dublin Literary Award (Shortlist — 2010)
Betty Trask Prize and Awards (Award Winner — Shortlist — 2008)
John Llewellyn Rhys Prize (Shortlist — 2008)
Guardian First Book Award (Shortlist — 2008)
Dylan Thomas Prize (Shortlist — 2008)
Sunday Times Charlotte Aitken Young Writer of the Year Award (Winner — 2009)
Guildford Arts Book Prize (2008)
Language
Original publication date
2008
Physical description
224 p.; 7.72 inches
ISBN
0141033525 / 9780141033525
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