Sunset Song (Canongate Classic) [Paperback]

Lewis Grassic Gibbon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1988 | Series: Canongate Classic (Book 12)

Divided between her love of the land and the harshness of farming life, young Chris Guthrie finally decides to stay in the rural community of her childhood. Yet World War I and the changes that follow make her a widow and mock the efforts of her youth.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"His three great novels have the impetus and music of mountain burns in full spate."
-The Observer (London) --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Lewis Grassic Gibbon (1901-1935) is the pen name of James Leslie Mitchell, one of the outstanding figures in Scottish literature.
Ali Smith is the author of Hotel World, which was short-listed for both the Orange Prize and the Booker Prize, and The Accidental, winner of the 2005 Whitbread Novel of the Year.
William K. Malcolm is a director of the Grassic Gibbon Centre. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Canongate Pub Ltd (November 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0862411793
• ISBN-13: 978-0862411794
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 4.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,862,109 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding, January 8, 2008

By 

SusieQ (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sunset Song (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

Several years ago, I saw a PBS "Masterpiece Theatre" adaptation of SUNSET SONG. It was excellent, and prompted me to go out & quickly purchase a copy of this novel. I have since re-read it at least once a year. The story of the life of a young girl, Chris Guthrie, in turn-of-the-century Scotland to the end of WWI, it is a page-turner, filled with vivid characterizations; disturbing in some parts, filled with tenderness in others. A truly compelling, beautiful novel that memorializes another place and time, vividly. Cannot recommend this novel highly enough.

My understanding is that this the first novel in a trilogy called "Scots Quair" but I have never read the other two novels. SUNSET SONG can easily stand alone, in my opinion; I don't want to take Chris any farther than she's brought here. I felt her character and her life were fully developed (heartbreakingly so) by this novel alone.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Language as music, May 29, 2009

By 

sr (vt) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sunset Song (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

I don't even know where to start on this one.

Look, if you've got a tin ear, short attention span, are raised on video games, and don't want challenges to your own experience, curl up to a Stephen King and a Bud on the vinyl lounge chair on the patio and be happy. But for heaven's sake don't crack these pages. You'll just suck air into the R-complex, and you'll have to purge it.

On the other hand, if you want to do the rad in lingo, strap yourself into another more advanced mind, Mr. Gibbon's for instance, and struggle up through the depths where most of us crab around sideways mouthing syllables, and claw your way up into the sublime.

To the place where language and music merge with life. The place of tragedy and joy. To the world not your own. The evocation of a lost time and place and culture. A lost quality of light. Savagery. Humility. Humor. Perseverance. The coming of age of a young woman. Danger. This. This work of high art. The gift of another.

0 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars i side with those who have called this tedious., July 16, 2007

By 

fluffy, the human being. (forest lake, mn) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sunset Song (Paperback)

this book has been hanging out at my house for about 20 years now, and i finally decided it was time for it to earn its keep. well, i'm now giving it the boot. off to the goodwill with the thing. this is suppose to be a masterpiece of scottish literature. ?. c'mon, you scots can do better than this! i know you can. this book is so weighed down with obscure & tedious scottish vernacular that i simply could not finish it. i made it to about page 100, then said, "i'm outta here." if you are one of the folks who love this book, well: God love you. this book just was not my cup of tea, and i'm sure legions of others will feel the same way. the unsuspecting should be better forwarned about what lays between the covers of this book. that's my aim here. job done.