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Working class Scotland comes to life in Logan's
book, May 4, 2006
By Lorna
Doone (Pittsburgh, PA USA)-
Working class Scotland comes to life in Logan's
book and it's a far cry from the romanticized notion
we have of bagpipes and kilts in the Highlands. Inverness is often a very
tough place to live. Miller is caught between the world of books and
spirit horses, and the tawdry world of Thin Oinker, Fido and Fat Pig.
Bringing Something Back is at times lyrical and at other times violent. I
read it almost two years ago, but there are phrases from it never far from
my consciousness.
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Freed From My Own Smallness, April 3,
2006
The book begins with stories that have been told
to Brian about his great uncles when they were young. One about horses is
especially important to Brian and wonderfully written in its own right.
These stories have been told during the period when Brian and his family
are still living on the farm before his brother, Duncan, drowns in the
river. Duncan's death tears the family apart. Brian feels in some way
responsible for his brother's death and begins to define people and
experiences in terms of the death thread and the life thread. After he
leaves the farm, he gets caught in the system and he navigates his own way
through a rough adolescence, where he mostly feels the tug of the death
thread. But it is through the discovery of books that he is "freed
from my own smallness." Through books, writing,
meeting a young woman named Sue, and the stories of his great uncles that Brian feels the tug of
the life thread. Logan does a beautiful job of circling back to the farm
and the stories of his great uncles.
This is an honest book with strong, original language. The reader can come
to understand how certain moments can determine how a person defines
himself... how a person comes to terms with who they are and how life
experience has shaped them. As a reader I feel like I have come to
understand the character Brian a little better. I highly recommend
Bringing Something Back, it connects you to another soul... frees you from
your own smallness. Logan's style of writing really draws me in and I look
forward to seeing future work.
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Strange Times in the Highlands, October
18, 2004
In this powerful book, Logan takes us through
times both ancient and modern in the Scottish Highlands. The book explores
relationships between people's present experiences and the past that they
have inherited. It examines philosophical questions concerning social
responsibility, ethics and morality. Logan's characters are filed with the
raw energy of life, and he conveys the full spectrum of life's extremes;
from brutality and tragedy to tenderness and romance.
You cannot help but be moved by the impact and honesty of the writing in
Bringing Something Back.
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Modern Coming of Age Novel, January 16,
2004
John Logan brings a new twists and different
perspectives to this fresh coming of age novel. From the death of his
brother to the present, Logan tells this tender and powerful story using
unique writing styles and different points of view. A must read for all
20-somethings!!!
Down to the farm again, to the lonely sea and
sky..., 28 Feb 2006
By A Customer
This review is from: Bringing
Something Back (Paperback)
Logan writes a gritty, muscular prose that
reflects the reality of growing up in working class Scotland in the 1980s.
But, the ghosts of Brian Miller’s ancestors are never far away, looking
over him in his struggle to grow up and inspiring unexpected lyricism.
Bringing Something Back is well worth reading.
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Read
A Modern Parable |
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