The Devil's Footprints
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Product Description
The Times
`renowned poet... haunting'
Herald
'A mesmerising, claustrophobic novel... be alarmed, but it's never what you think in this exhilarating, astonishing fusion of reality and dream'
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I started reading this book because my dad had taken it out of the library to read himself, and just happened to show me a particular page that he thought I might find interesting. After having read the part he was showing me, I spent the rest of the day reading it. After having read it I bought it. The book is poetic in the deepest sense of the word, and seems to be narrated on the most part from a view lying below the normal reality of life. The plot is interesting-though slightly wierd in places-and left me with a feeling somewhere between sadness and longing.
It also woke up a feeling in me that inspired me to write. A good book to read if you've forgotten who you are, and are lost in a life you're not sure why you're living.
It also woke up a feeling in me that inspired me to write. A good book to read if you've forgotten who you are, and are lost in a life you're not sure why you're living.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The Devil's Footprints is a meticulously written character study of alienation. Prefaced by a tale of cloven hoofprints in the Coldhaven snow, we follow the self-narrated story of Michael Gardiner, a middle aged Coldhaven resident in more recent times.
Michael tells his story very precisely. There is self-depracating humour; wisdom; and absolutely no feeling for other people. He interacts with others, often quite normally, but seems to have avoided close friendships with his peers, assisted in no small measure by his parents' failure to be accepted into the small Scottish fishing community into which they had moved. There are tales of bullying, alienation, loneliness.
John Burnside plays loose and fast with timelines, carefully withholding information until it can be dropped into the story just late enough for the reader to have to reappraise the previous sections. It's not a particularly unreliable narrator - if anything, Michael is abnormally reliable - it's just the sequencing is done with particularly devastating effect. The story itself is of a very ordinary, normal person who has occasionally done things that are not normal. But always, the explanations are clear and the rational is logical. There's a heavy dose of self pity, but the feeling is that Michael is basically a pretty decent guy. This is impressive, since Michael does one or two things that are pretty far from decent. Hence there is a delightful conflict of emotions as the story unfolds.
The language is very plain and very clear, but at the same time exquisitely beautiful. John Burnside evokes the landscape, the town and the people so very clearly. It's so understated, but quite perfect. Poetic without being flowery.
It would be difficult to say more without giving away the book's secrets. That would be a shame; it's not a long read and it deserves to be uncovered layer by layer.
Michael tells his story very precisely. There is self-depracating humour; wisdom; and absolutely no feeling for other people. He interacts with others, often quite normally, but seems to have avoided close friendships with his peers, assisted in no small measure by his parents' failure to be accepted into the small Scottish fishing community into which they had moved. There are tales of bullying, alienation, loneliness.
John Burnside plays loose and fast with timelines, carefully withholding information until it can be dropped into the story just late enough for the reader to have to reappraise the previous sections. It's not a particularly unreliable narrator - if anything, Michael is abnormally reliable - it's just the sequencing is done with particularly devastating effect. The story itself is of a very ordinary, normal person who has occasionally done things that are not normal. But always, the explanations are clear and the rational is logical. There's a heavy dose of self pity, but the feeling is that Michael is basically a pretty decent guy. This is impressive, since Michael does one or two things that are pretty far from decent. Hence there is a delightful conflict of emotions as the story unfolds.
The language is very plain and very clear, but at the same time exquisitely beautiful. John Burnside evokes the landscape, the town and the people so very clearly. It's so understated, but quite perfect. Poetic without being flowery.
It would be difficult to say more without giving away the book's secrets. That would be a shame; it's not a long read and it deserves to be uncovered layer by layer.
12 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I thought this short Burnside novel was really wonderful. Intriguing, haunting, nail-biting, entertaining and written in the most wonderful pared back poetic prose. The child at the heart of the story is just brilliantly brought to life.
I'd definitely recommend it.
I'd definitely recommend it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
The Devil's Footprints
I had been meaning to read this book for a long time, ever since I saw a review in The Times. It is not what the title supposed it to be, and rather a strange story.
Published 17 months ago by d hunt
Intriguing Internal Novel
This is one of Burnside's most accessible books. Marked by excellent character development this novel takes place in the present although the narrative is inspired by past events. Read more
Published on 14 Jun 2008 by K K Scott
"To to be separate, to be apart, is to be whole again."
A meditation on the effects of guilt on the life of one man shapes this profoundly moving novel which is mostly set in a small Scottish coastal town called Coldhaven. Read more
Published on 24 Mar 2008 by Michael Leonard
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