- Unknown Binding
- Publisher: John Murray; Paperback edition (2007)
- ASIN: B002NWBC32
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
George Mackay Brown: The Life
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book was shortlisted for the Costa (formerly Whitbread) Prize, and it comes with the imprimatur of Claire Tomalin, foremost of modern biographers - 'an outstanding biography ... it brings this extraordinary man to life on every page'. I found it absolutely marvellous. In his posthumously published autobiography, 'For the Islands I Sing', George Mackay Brown was highly selective, as he was quite entitled to be. This book fills in many, many gaps, it is beautifully written, it holds the attention on every page and, by so doing, it gives the reader a fuller and more satisfying apprecation of the work of this unique and uniquely wonderful Orkney writer. In particular, and most sensitively, it explores his relationships with women, and they form a key and very poignant element in the book. The relationship between life and work is underpinned by extensive, judicious quotation, and so often the poems or parts of poems seem to grow out of the page, so well has the biographer done her job. I am so pleased that the job has been so well done. GMB deserved it.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a highly readable biography of the extraordinary writer that was George Mackay Brown. He lived most of his life in Orkney, but his novels, short stories and poetry have the complexity, language, imagination and spirituality of a much-travelled man. GMB did not have an easy life and remained puzzled by (and uncomfortable with) his celebrity. He did not enjoy good health for much of his life; he lived simply and was a modest man but not one of those tortured souls grinding out poetry in guilt-ridden angst. He was more complex than he appeared, with a spiritual, almost holy, feel for the past that he was able to share through the prism of Orkney. I learned much from this biography, which dips into a range of sources, both personal and published. It is wonderful to see where some of GMB's inspiration came from. He was certainly one of Britain's greatest poets (and that's saying something). His writings are well worth exploring - they really are a joy. This well-written biography is a good introduction to the man, but you are likely only to find the real GMB through his writing, and that is a journey well worth making. Highly recommended.
13 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Summary: beautifully written, easy to read, in-depth study, warts and all.
Reviewer: an island lover from Hampshire.
As an avid reader of all GMB's work, including his own autobiography, I was apprehensive as to whether Maggie Fergusson's book was going to be either over-sentimental or lacking in depth.
It was neither. It detailed the key influences and events in GMB's life and the background to his major works. I was particularly impressed with the clear and straightforward way that GMB's sexuality was descibed. The descriptions of Orkney (as a frequent visitor)were beautiful; a fundamental influence on GMB's writing and his keen sense of hospitality.
One small request is to have a bibliography in future editions and please leave out 'Through the Eye of a Needle' in the title; it has no meaning?
Overall a wonderful book about a fascinating man.
Reviewer: an island lover from Hampshire.
As an avid reader of all GMB's work, including his own autobiography, I was apprehensive as to whether Maggie Fergusson's book was going to be either over-sentimental or lacking in depth.
It was neither. It detailed the key influences and events in GMB's life and the background to his major works. I was particularly impressed with the clear and straightforward way that GMB's sexuality was descibed. The descriptions of Orkney (as a frequent visitor)were beautiful; a fundamental influence on GMB's writing and his keen sense of hospitality.
One small request is to have a bibliography in future editions and please leave out 'Through the Eye of a Needle' in the title; it has no meaning?
Overall a wonderful book about a fascinating man.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Singing Islands
This is a wonderful biography: full of lyrical detail, and with an insight and sensitivity which delivers this self-effacing writer/poet to the reader with a genuine stamp of... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Sentinel
The Biography and the Poetry
At the suggestion of a friend in South Australia, I am reading this biography as an introduction to the poetry of George Mackay Brown before a planned visit to the Orkneys this... Read more
Published 15 months ago by W. D. E. Evans
For George Mackay Brown lovers and everyone else
This is not only a terrific biography of George Mackay Brown, it's a great story of an unusual man from Orkney, a genius of place and time. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Rosey
Biography - or hagiography?
George Mackay Brown was fortunate in having such a sympathetic biographer.
Others who were not so close to him or under his spell might have tempted to try and find out... Read more
Others who were not so close to him or under his spell might have tempted to try and find out... Read more
Published 16 months ago by John Fitzpatrick
Great debut biography
Having read and enjoyed two of GMB's books - An Orkney Tapestry and A Calendar of Love some 20 years ago, I was delighted to receive this book as a birthday present. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Mr. Jonathan Atkinson
Fascinating
I think the first I heard of GMB was when he died. Since then my awareness has grown and I wish I'd known more sooner. Read more
Published on 26 Aug 2009 by John G. Millar
Excellent insight into a wonderful writer
If you feel stressed, harrassed or bothered by the constant pace and change of everyday life, you should read the books of George Mackay Brown, which present a most effective... Read more
Published on 3 July 2006 by A. Heslop
Dreary and disappointing
What happened to the decent literary biography, well-written and well-informed? This book has the facts, but the narrative is so dreary, I'd doubt whether anyone would be able to... Read more
Published on 28 April 2006 by rastar
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