Sheepshagger: A Novel [Hardcover]

Niall Griffiths (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 6, 2002

This is the story of Ianto: the feral, inarticulate, inbred, ignoble savage; haunter of mountains, killer of innocents. Ianto is a sheepshagger -- a yokel, a Welsh redneck. But Ianto is also a seer, a visionary -- the genius loci -- who comprehends nature with a Blakean intensity, and is at one with the world he lives in: the moss and lichen, the lamb and the raven, the summit and the scree.

Robbed of his ancestral home -- a near-derelict hovel in the mountains of west Wales -- Ianto pledges revenge not only on the English yuppies who have turned his grandmother's cottage into a weekenders' barbecue party but on all those who have violated him and the land that is his. The oppression and abuse that Ianto has faced triggers his lurid imagination into unspeakable savagery -- embodying the most primal fears of physical threat and a world beyond his control.

An extraordinary prose amalgam of Old Testament prophecy and demotic slang, of Faulkner and Cormac McCarthy, Sheepshagger is written in a language charged to the highest level: lyrical and hieratic, saturated -- like nature -- in beauty and violence. And the spirit of its place, Ianto, at once both Caliban and Prospero, will hang in the memory of all who read his story like a devil or a god.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Published to critical acclaim last year in the U.K., Sheepshagger, the amazing second novel from Niall Griffiths (Grit), is as raw and unsettling as its title. Ianto is an orphan, raised by his grandmother in the Welsh countryside. Ugly, withdrawn and semiretarded, he is the classic outcast, finding solace first in nature, later in drugs and the company of a few mates. The ramshackle family farm is sold and his fury at his displacement ultimately impels him to murder. Griffiths's prose matches the savage intensity of his protagonist: stoned reminiscences by Ianto's friends are woven with flashbacks (both wondrous and horrible) of Ianto's childhood and the events leading up to the murders, creating a chilling portrait that is nearly mythological in its intensity and pathos.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Danny, Marc, Griff, and Llyr spend their time taking as many drugs as they can afford, which they mix with quantities of cheap liquor. On the night of the novel, they are trying to make sense of the murders committed by one of their circle, Ianto. A skinny, inarticulate young man, Ianto has brutally killed three people in the mountains near their home. Welsh author Griffiths (Grits) tells his story in three narrative strands: the profane ruminations of Ianto's mates; flashbacks to the recent events that led up to his murderous, inchoate rampage; and scenes from Ianto's childhood that are by turns glorious and brutal. The tragedy of the young man's life is the tapestry of this novel, woven with brilliant images of nature and the squalid reality of a life in which the only release from despair is drugs and liquor. The novel's profanity and graphic brutality will put off many readers, but the power of the narrative is undeniable. Sheepshagger belongs in most adult fiction collections. Andrea Kempf, Johnson Cty. Community Coll. Lib., Overland Park, KS
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books; 1st edition (June 6, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312300735
• ISBN-13: 978-0312300739
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,065,302 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A dark masterpiece, June 24, 2002

By 

Richard A. Ellis "arellis" (Mill Valley, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sheepshagger: A Novel (Hardcover)

There will be inevitable comparisons with Cormac McCarthy, which are well-taken, as the language is certainly evocative of some of McCarthy's earlier works, such as "Child of God" "Outer Dark" and, especially, "Blood Meridian." But Griffiths has his own voice and it is a distinctive one. This is a haunting story , set in modern Wales, concerning a feral young man named Ianto who in his rage against, among other things, yuppies who have usurped his ancestral home, wreaks bloody revenge upon various outsiders. The langauge is incredibly rich in describing nature and his surroundings, certainly over-the-top in its lyrical lushness. The sense of class rage is never far from the surface, as the Welsh underclass is set against rich interlopers, and one can symphatize with their antipathy towards the new arrivals. (There's a fair amount of graphically described violence in the book, and it is certainly not for the squeamish.)
I read this in the UK edition a while ago, and it is the second of three Griffiths novels to come out there. I suspect all three will be soon available here, if they are not already (the others are "Grits" and "Kelly + Victor".) "Sheepshagger" is certainly one of the most impressive modern novels I have read in years, and I'm surprized it was not considered for any major awards. I had the same excitement reading this that I had when I first picked up "Blood Meridian" 15 years ago or so, and I think most readers will also feel the same way.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Blue Eyed Sheep?, December 13, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Sheepshagger: A Novel (Hardcover)

A blurb on the jacket of Sheepshagger makes a comparison between Mr. Griffiths and Cormac McCarthy. It then continues, to state Griffiths is "his own man."

Maybe.

Griffiths is obviously heavily influenced by McCarthy, not necessarily a bad thing, but with the crawling out of the woodwork plethora of McCarthy imitators being published,
is he just another sheep in the flock?

Like some wide eyed proselyte Griffiths lifts ideas and passages from several McCarthy novels in Sheepshagger; The Shrike from Blood Meridian. Judge Holden's proclamations
on man and nature is turned into (or, in to, as Griffiths habitually disdains compound words in the rather of making up his own sometimes hyphenated ones, sometimes not- another McCarthy trait, the latter) one of Ianto's stoner friends declamation on good versus evil. Lester Ballard's necrophilia, from McCarthy's Child Of God, is evident. The omnipresent work of weathering as in "wind blown stone" used repetitiously by the author. There is more.

That said, Sheepshagger is one powerful novel. While others try to imitate, or duplicate, Griffiths expands. As a McCarthy purist, I found this novel an exteroceptor that stimulated the same primeval substrata of brain that McCarthy's works do.
Once the author puts aside his archaic thesaurus he is capable in a single sentence, or two, of accomplishing the description of feeling and place and objects that other writers ascribe to and do not accomplish with entire novels.
One can also read, in Sheepshagger, a wholly profound passage and find nary one misplaced word. The scenes overcoming their own velocity, their very decrepitation scrawled as if on paper described as if "wind worn" into a stone of the authors own making. The violence unapologetic, real for you to delineate.

I could find fault with this novel, anyone could, but the sheer intelligence of the writing does not allow that. Sheepshagger is a singular work of, at times, almost astounding brilliance. You will find reflections of Trainspotting and A Clockwork Orange, besides McCarthy's novels, held within. Go at your own risk. If you are a survivor of sexual abuse, please take extra caution.

Cormac McCarthy was awarded a `MacArthur Genius Award' for his writing. His being.
Mr. Griffiths isn't close to that yet. But, I will be most certainly waiting for his next novel with the hopes that he, like McCarthy, will not fear repetition.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Invader vs. native: truly gripping & sensitive tale, December 24, 2002

By 

John L Murphy "Fionnchú" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sheepshagger: A Novel (Hardcover)

While not a fan of Cormac McCarthy, this Welsh work I enjoyed immensely. Alternating vignettes of natural and inner beauty with harsh violence and chemically-induced ecstasy, Griffith allows Ianto and his mates to emerge here to gain both the sympathy and aversion of the reader. Never straining for sensationalism at the expense of character development, the author sets the figures in a landscape embodying the ancient clash of Welsh native against English invaders while avoiding heavy-handed allegory.

Griffith's accounts of raves, drunken binges, and sheer frustration provide an engrossing narrative. I wondered, when reading, if the characters had previous encounters in other Griffiths novels or stories; there's a lived-in quality they share that I found appealing--as if I was eavesdropping on them rather than viewing them as fictional figures. I don't give five stars easily. I suppose only waiting for more astounding heights for Griffiths to climb prevents five stars for a writer at the start of his career.

I anticipate his other books will gain greater distribution soon; if there's a trilogy, then it deserves serious attention.
Similar to Irvine Walsh, the dialect may slightly put off those wanting a quick dash through its pages; rewarding by its density and wit, this novel kept me eager to return to its pages. Similar to George Saunders' stories, a genuine compassion underlies the sensational surface. Similar to Magnus Mills' novels and Michel Faber's Under the Skin, Griffiths mixes stark settings with nearly symbolic tension overwhelming its visitors.