A review by kim_hoag
The Gift of Stones by Jim Crace

2.0

This slim book has garnered praise from dozens of authors and reviewers for its poetic language and insight. Taking place at the end of an indistinct Neolithic time, it focuses on a boy who doesn't want to work in flint, loses an arm, and becomes a teller of tales. I love books whose authors use great language to reveal; where the words become metaphors in and of themselves. I did not see that here and I did not care for this book. I wearied of the author's “poetic” language which often seemed pretentious. There were moments when Crace slipped between the cracks of character and action and revealed much (in the character of Doe, for instance), but those moments were not enough. He evidently did a lot of research on knapping (shaping flint) and it shows, yet much of the book just did not strike me as true. He turned an entire village of flint workers into nerds who only worked the stone or sold it—no shamans, no one had a goat—what ancient village could afford such a mono-subsistence? An entire village of flint knappers and there were no flint knives to cut an arm off with? Someone had to go make the knife first?

But the most difficult for me to swallow was that the protagonist did not tell stories, the author made it clear he was a liar. He entertained with his lies. I am a storyteller and I'm aware of the cultural history of that calling and of its importance to the people. This “shaper of lies” did not sit well with me nor did it seem accurate in any way. If the story was a parable or an allegory, it was lost on me. Crace needed to do research on more than just flintknapping. I understand it was never meant to be an historical novel, but, except for some great moments, I was not able to enjoy it on any level.