Reviews

The Quarry Wood by Nan Shepherd

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nenich19's review against another edition

4.0

A very interesting read and a relatable one, I think. The main character is a girl I can easily identify with, as a girl from a small community. Seeking education, the desire for education, is something that I believe is, inherently, a female trait. Especially considering the fact that women were denied their right to it for centuries.
The language, however, was something I had to tackle. It was much easier to read it out loud as Doric is mainly phonetic, but, as I live in Scotland, it was a bit easier for me to understand it.

bluestarfish's review

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5.0

Martha Ironside lives in a small farming community but manages to carve a different path as a university trained teacher, although one who is travelling 8 miles each way to school while looking after two invalids in the evenings and weekends at one point. I found it a fascinating story of a girl growing up to be a woman and how life is strange. I only found the glossary of dialect words at the back once I'd read the book, so I had to muddle through the words, but that wasn't too much of a barrier really. The close observation of life made this for me.

harrythorpe's review

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

tjasa_f's review

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3.0

I struggled a bit with the parts written in the Scottish dialect, but I'm really intrigued by Nan Shepherd and I want to read more.

c_totume's review

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emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I really enjoyed the book. I never read the later Anne of Green Gables novels but i imagine them to be similar. Definitely would recommend it to anybody liking L.M. Montgomery. My only problem, as someone who’s first language isn’t english, was the dialogues written in a Scottish accent. Had to read them out loud and more than once to make sense of them and I’m still not sure if i understood everything correctly. But it did not impact my overall understanding of what was going on.