From the Bookshelf of The Roundtable…

Harvest

Jim Crace

Start date: June 1, 2016

Finish date: June 30, 2016

Discussion: Genre

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 10 topics — 470 comments total

Genre

Genre - December 2016 - Ancillary Justice
By Dawn , Loves a Challenge · 57 posts · 41 views

last updated Jan 13, 2017 11:18AM

Genre - February 2016 - Whatever Science Fiction Books You Want to Pick Up
By Dawn , Loves a Challenge · 77 posts · 55 views

last updated Dec 17, 2016 04:13PM

showing 10 of 10 topics view all »

What Members Thought

May 29, 2013 Jen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, 2013-reads, 2013-releases

I liked this very much. It was the first book I read from Crace and I will definitely read more.

Above all, the writing is beautiful: poetic, elegant, timeless... timeless, because it feels on one hand very true in tone and style to the time / setting of the story (a point of time in England pre-industrialization?) - but written in a modern, accessible way. It 'feels' like a story from any place, any time - with much to say that is relevant today.

This is a short book which, ideally, I would have ...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Aug 19, 2015 Christopher rated it really liked it

Shelves: 21st-century, fiction, british

Well written prose, slowly moving but engaging plot in an interesting and unfamiliar but not alien setting. Crace writes a durn good novel.

5 likes · Like · see review

Jun 04, 2016 El rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: 21st-centurylit, library-borrow

Sigh. This was the book that made me think I wasn't able to read anymore. I had been through a few lackluster reads recently, and this one felt just as unattainable as everything else I seemed to be reading, and it was getting hot outside and summer-y and it was like, ugh, I will never be able to read again. (At least not until autumn.)

I don't doubt Jim Crace can write a lovely novel. I can tell he has skill and is a master of writing. But as a reader I constantly felt like I was being held at a ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

May 04, 2016 Gill rated it really liked it

4.5 stars

You can't fault the beauty of Crace's writing in this book. The reason I've given it 4.5 instead of 5 stars, is that I thought there were too many strands in the plot. I think that Crace could have included a few less (fewer?!) strands, and still put over everything that he wanted to.

I'll re-read this at some stage. I think it's quite possible that I'll increase the star rating at that stage. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jan 18, 2015 Pamela rated it really liked it · review of another edition

As summer reaches its end, the labourers in an unnamed village bring in the harvest, as they have done for years. But times are changing. The arrival of three mysterious strangers unsettles the village, and gradually the villagers find their old way of life unravelling.

Beautifully written, this novel has a haunting quality. The use of an unreliable narrator, Walter Thirsk, helps reinforce the impression that things are not what they seem. The course of action takes place over a single week, show ...more

Like · see review