Customer Reviews

Outcast

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Once again, Rosemary Sutcliff has written an outstanding work of fiction! Enticing, suspensful, and all-around wonderful, Outcast is the best book I have read in a long time. Outcast is the story of a young boy named Beric, who is raised in the village of a celtic tribe living in Britain at the time of the Roman Conquest. However, Beric is actually a Roman child, whose parents died in a shipwreck and who was rescued by a kind-hearted Celt and then adopted. But when the village has a series of bad turns, the local druid manages to convince the chief that Beric is the cause of all the trouble. Exiled from the only life he has known, Beric must learn to survive in the harsh Roman world that is so different from his own. And things take a turn for the worse when Beric falls into the hands of a slave trader! Outcast is a refreshing historical novel that gives startling insight into the ancient cultures of Britain. This one is definately a keeper!

"Outcast" is an excellent literary composition that tells the tale of Beric, who is branded as cursed by a druid since he was in a frightful shipwreck whilst he was only a newborn child, and was the solitary survivior.
So the tribe that have taken in Beric are insistant that the holy beings in which they place their faith are unhappy with them for this, because Beric is a red-crest.
I found parts of the book deeply disturbing and so would reccomend any easily - unsettled reader of my age to be prepared before you read it.
Nevertheless Rosemary Sutcliff vividly describes every needed detail without overbalancing action with description.

I really enjoyed this book. I have always been interested in this period of British history. This book is too scary for young children: I would not recommend it for a child less than 10 years of age. The Outcast is a Roman boy, found nearly dead on a beach after a shipwreck, fostered by a Celtic family. He is thrown out of his tribe when a series of misfortunes convinces some in the village that they have offended their gods by harboring a Roman. Going to the Roman village, he is captured by slavers, and a truly horrible four years as a slave begins. The book reveals the Horror That Was Rome, when we have too often heard only of the Glory.

Culture clash in Roman Britain is presented in an unbiased manner for both Celts (or Picts, judging from the facial tattoes) and Romans in this interesting YA novel. Sutcliff's predilection for ancient times and primitive civilizations results in a gripping plot of teenage identity crisis, while
presenting precise historical detail about Roman culture
superimposed upon the Celts in a way that does not impede enjoyment. Instruction and Enlightenment the easy way.

An infant boy miraculously survives a shipwreck off the coast of prehistoric Britain, providing filial replacement for a cherished infant who recently perished. Raised as one of the tribe until the age of 9 Beric, suddenly realizes that he is not universally or automatically accepted, despite his loyalty to his foster tribe. There is a long and bitter history of hatred for the Red Crests, who prove to be his Roman progenitors.

For the next 6 years the boy must constantly prove his right to remain in the village, struggling aginst both his peers, superstition and even an adult nemesis. He also battles his own internal doubts as to his identity--in which world does he truly belong? Can he wander through life belonging to neither or both? A sincere youth caught in the remorseless web of Nature vs Nurture, Beric faces difficult choices in a harsh adult world, where men abuse and torture him without compassion. Will Beric ever be freed of the shackles of hate and humiliation re his mixed heritage which bind his soul, even more surely than the chains on his body? Many teenagers--searching for their personal Belonging Place--can recognize his anguish. An excellent introduction to the Roman world; for readers of all ages.

This was one of my all time favorite books when I was around twelve years old, and now rereading it as an adult I still love it. It tells the story of Beric, Roman by birth, but orphaned as a baby and adopted into a British tribe. He fights valiantly for acceptance but through no fault of his own becomes an outcast. Then his own people, the Romans, enslave him. Even when he is sent to the galleys, he retains his courage and human decency. Rosemary Sutcliff writes beautifully, and her compassion and understanding for her young hero makes this a deeply moving book. It's not a childish story. There is real suffering and real loss here. It is impossible not to empathize with Beric. We root for him to survive and triumph against all odds. The story is well plotted and absorbing. In my opinion OUTCAST is the best of the many outstanding novels by this very fine writer of historical fiction. It is simply great.

ROSEMARY SUTCLIFFE, a British author who died only in 1992, created many memorable books, ostensibly in the "young adult" category. However, her prose is so sophisticated, that it defies the "young adult" category, and has always been, to the librarians of my acquaintance, anyway, the "young adults" author with the most complex sentence-structure, and the most "adult, grown-up" story-lines. (Here on Amazon, this book, 'THE OUTCAST' is listed as for people aged "10 and up"!)

"THE OUTCAST" is the mesmerizing, totally involving story of Beric, who, as an infant, was the only survivor of a Roman shipwreck. He is adopted into a primitive British tribe, despite the warnings of some of the members of that tribe that adopting an "outsider" will do the tribe no good. Beric, happy and secure in his place in the tribe, reachers his teen-age years -- but bad things begin to befall the tribe, and Beric -- whose origins have never been forgotten -- is blamed for these occurences. His friends turn against him, and he is....cast out.

Astonished, hurt, and alone, Beric starts out. He winds up -- as might be expected of a penniless wanderer in Roman times -- as a house-slave. Things get worse, however, and he is soon made a galley-slave. The conditions of degradation of galley slaves were never more completely and horrifically described -- except, perhaps, in the original "Ben-Hur", with which tge sadly lesser-known Ms. Sutcliff's descriptions, are on a total par. Missing from "Ben Hur", however, is any semblance of the description of Beric's oar-mate in "THE OUTCAST". It is a sensitive description of a sensiitive, and doomed young artist, and the story of how this young artist was sent to the galleys is a story-within-a-story, which could have been the basis for another novel, all by itself. Beric's story -- and that of his oar-mate -- are tales that never leave one's consciousness, (or at least, they have not left mine), once one reads them.

An epic drama, so very, very well told. I loved this story as a young girl, and still love it today. It is to Ms. Sutcliff's credit that, as a young girl, I naturally preferred my historical novels to have a heroINE as the main character.
But "THE OUTCAST" is irresistable in its telling and in its story. It is the ONLY book that, as a budding-feminist-without-knowing-it, I still immensely enjoyed -- even though the main protagonist was a teen-age boy, and not a teen-age girl!

The ONLY reason this book may be categorized as a "young adult" novel is that the protagonist IS a teen-ager. But it is an involving, satisfying read for ALL ages, and both genders -- from precocious pre-teen, to those of the age of centenarian plus! This is a book with strong and sometimes painful scenes -- but it is still one of the most satisfying books I have ever read.

A classic of the highest order, for all time, and one that should be far better known. As with most of the historical novels I have read, I imagine that "THE OUTCAST" would make one heck of an outstanding motion picture!

Sutcliff puts you right in the life and times of tribal early life, slavery in Rome,at an oar in a Roman tireme, and in a Roman Legion stationed in Britton all in the same small book, wonderfully written.

This is a great book for pre-teens, teens, and even adults who like fiction set in the ancient world. Here we see the harsh social realities faced by foundlings in the life of Beric, Roman child adopted from the sea by Britons during the Roman Empire -- when exactly isn't given. While I'm glad the attempt was made to show the harshness of life both in the north and then among the Romans there was still a bit of sugar-coating that is perhaps the result of wanting to respect our own morals or the result of a lack of knowledge. Thus the sexual terror and abuse of slavery is not mentioned and there is the idea that slaves have special clothes or jewelery to mark their status which is not the case unless one had been a runaway or a master really wanted to use a collar or brand or tattoo. The ending was also a bit too positive but then again most people don't want to read a sad tale even if it is more realistic.