Young Art and Old Hector, [Hardcover]

Neil Miller Gunn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1944

255 page hard cover novel about Art, a lovable small boy living in the Scottish Highlands in an unspoiled, peaceful community with his friend Hector.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

YA-- It's tough being an eight-year-old boy living in a small Scottish village around the turn of the last century. At least young Art finds it so. Among the many growing pains he encounters, his exclusion from his older siblings' adventures, the school bully, and the birth of a brother after eight years of being the youngest of a large family loom large. Art's friendship with old Hector, the village sage, helps him to overcome the hurdles of childhood. Hector, for his part, shares with the boy the excitement of youth without the pain one experiences the first time around. This is a book with which YAs can identify. The childhood fears and the relationships are realistically described, while the use of myths and legends adds to the appeal. Once read, this book will not be easily forgotten.
- Pamela B. Rearden, Centreville Library, Fairfax County, VA
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

The fifth posthumous US publication for Scottish novelist Gunn (1891-1973) is a charmingly low-key turn-of-the century coming-of-age story. Eight-year-old Art Macrae--youngest son of a family that includes his fisherman father and brothers Duncan and Donul and older sisters Morag, Janet, and Neonain--and 80-ish Hector Macdonald are best friends: Old Hector tells Art fairy tales, listens to his complaints about his new baby brother Henry James, and accompanies him on quiet adventures. In a series of episodes reminiscent of Faulkner's The Unvanquished, Art runs messages between Morag and Shepherd Tom, feels pangs when Henry James is taken ill (after Art has wished that he would go away), stumbles on a still in the care of a circle that includes Donul and Old Hector, watches as Old Hector bests the officers sent out to find it, and finally comes to terms with Duncan's marriage and Donul's departure as he's sent to a farmer in the great world beyond. Though Gunn's characters can be a little monotonously quaint, they share with their landscape a fairy-tale magic, and the writing, shorn of the metaphysical excesses of The Key of the Chest (1988) and The Other Landscape (1990), is as refreshing as a sip of spring water. Slight, old-fashioned, and utterly captivating. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 255 pages
• Publisher: G.W. Stewart, inc (1944)
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0007E7A6Q
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,355,250 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best introduction to Scottish Highland life .., August 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Young Art and Old Hector: A Novel (Hardcover)

If anyone has never been to the Scottish Highland's and would like to read how it looks and canjure up the smell the sights&the lifestyle almost gone forever then read this..i've lived in the highlands and this is like taking a walk in the hills every time you pick it up, it's also a great study of an old and wise man passing on his way's to his younger admirer. Neil Gunn is the most ignored and virtually undiscovered Scottish version of John Steinbeck...Educate and enlighted yourself..or stay in the dark......