A Single Swallow
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Product Description
Review
`It's graphically done, making me feel that I was with him all the way'
--Telegraph
`...his descriptive prose is faultlessly evocative.'
-- Daily Mail
`an exciting book, and often very moving' --The Lady
`This is a book of rare lyrical beauty' -- Irish Times
--Telegraph
`...his descriptive prose is faultlessly evocative.'
-- Daily Mail
`an exciting book, and often very moving' --The Lady
`This is a book of rare lyrical beauty' -- Irish Times
Review
`Clare has produced an enthusiastic, often elegiac, chronicle of his encounters with the swallows'
--This text refers to the
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
A modern day Laurie Lee - but with more grit and honesty. A Single Swallow is many things - part natural history, part journalism, part autobiography. There is spiritual observation and thought, there is romance and there is of course history and geography. The portrait of West Africa is dark, shocking, humorous and beautiful. Clare's ability to be both personal and objective in how he writes and observes, aided by his phemomenal and rhythmic prose, are winning ingredients in this quite brilliant book.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
What a disappointing book after the author's excellent Running for the Hills.
These kinds of travel books need a hook, and superficially the idea of following the swallow's migration from South Africa to Britain is a good one, but what lightweight execution! The author can't be bothered to get the right visas or sort out a viable continuous route across the African continent before his departure so has to interrupt his journey with flights in and out of the swallow's migration route on the way, which rather punctures any narrative flow.
Some of the journey, for example across Namibia, CongoBrazzaville and Cameroon, is interesting and occasionally funny, which makes the rest so much more disappointing.
The overall impression given is that of a barely-travelled gap-year student mooncalf, full of wide-eyed admiration for all things African and Arab while contemptuous of everything white and Western. The naivety and self-indulgence become tiresome very early on, and by the time the author has a hissy fit in Gibraltar, throwing his notebooks into the sea in some kind of Road to Damascus revelation about the evils of his European birthright, this particular reader was ready to call it a day.
An irritating and superficial travel book that taught me little about swallows I didn't already know and (with a couple of exceptions) even less about the countries the author travelled through.
These kinds of travel books need a hook, and superficially the idea of following the swallow's migration from South Africa to Britain is a good one, but what lightweight execution! The author can't be bothered to get the right visas or sort out a viable continuous route across the African continent before his departure so has to interrupt his journey with flights in and out of the swallow's migration route on the way, which rather punctures any narrative flow.
Some of the journey, for example across Namibia, CongoBrazzaville and Cameroon, is interesting and occasionally funny, which makes the rest so much more disappointing.
The overall impression given is that of a barely-travelled gap-year student mooncalf, full of wide-eyed admiration for all things African and Arab while contemptuous of everything white and Western. The naivety and self-indulgence become tiresome very early on, and by the time the author has a hissy fit in Gibraltar, throwing his notebooks into the sea in some kind of Road to Damascus revelation about the evils of his European birthright, this particular reader was ready to call it a day.
An irritating and superficial travel book that taught me little about swallows I didn't already know and (with a couple of exceptions) even less about the countries the author travelled through.
18 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book is a wonderful account of the journey of a swallow throughout its migration. I am completely in awe of how this little bird can fly so far. All the countries it flies over and to are discussed in a brilliant narrative. Buy it! Then next time you see a swallow arrive in the spring imagine its journey and be amazed.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Unexpected, thought provoking and material for a re-read soon.
Not my first Horatio Clare read - Running for the Hills was a very good introduction to his broad embrace of diary, description, anecdote, characters (often introduced by means of... Read more
Published 7 months ago by C. Ramsay
read this
a wonderfully warm and engaging read, makes you feel what the traveller feels and it makes you want to go with him on an adventure, in fact, it makes you want to get him to adopt... Read more
Published 13 months ago by rebecca shooter
Fresh & enlightening
From the moment you open the book, the reader is touched with the sensitivity and genuine warmth of the writer, who offers the reader an opportunity to almost be a part of the... Read more
Published 18 months ago by Mr. Paul F. Stevens
Subtitle: What I did in my Gap Year
This is my impression of Mr. Clare after reading his book.
Rich white kid hasn't got a proper job. He can't face another cold English winter. Read more
Rich white kid hasn't got a proper job. He can't face another cold English winter. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Denzil Walton
a single swallow
This book turned up in great condition, super quick and at a great price, thankyou.
Published 19 months ago by stix
A book about Swallows??
Very disappointed with this book as I had high expectations of a good read. Instead of Swallows and descriptions of their epic journey from South Africa to UK I had to read a book... Read more
Published 19 months ago by Peter Collins
Good reading
We have swallows nesting at our home each year and it is very interesting to read about them 100%
Published 21 months ago by Mr. Patrick Wilson
The Journey of a Single Bird.
Swallows have been loved, mythologised and studied by almost all human cultures where they are found. Read more
Published on 12 Aug 2009 by SCM
Stunning
A beautiful book which tells a story of travelling and love. The writer sets the scene beautifully, even the most closed of minds can picture the journey he takes and the true love... Read more
Published on 13 May 2009 by Ms. E. J. Shooter
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