Ugh, this is going to be a challenging review.

I really wanted to like this because I love sheep and really wanted a good sheep story. I did read some of the reviews prior to starting this book so I was prepared for the author’s hypocrisy, entitlement and superiority complex. I wasn’t, however, prepared for the anger.

This book has me conflicted in so many ways. There are two distinct themes in this book:
Firstly, the beautiful landscape and animals that call the Lake District home. I loved the sheep, the weather and the geography. When someone is passionate about their home, it comes through in the writing. This author is passionate about his home.
Secondly, there is a lot of anger, defensiveness and bitterness in this book. The author strikes me as a very angry individual and it made reading this a challenge. This didn’t pair well with a very poor writing style and the haphazard, throw-together layout of the book.

I need to get some thoughts out about what specifically irked me in this book:

The author is hiding a lot of stuff from the reader which only dampens credibility further. Tell the whole story, open up completely, or don’t bother. Not only does not being honest damage your relationship with the reader, it also leads to an overall disjointed story. In my lowly opinion, I feel this book would have been far better if the author had omitted the sections on his life and his angst. If this would have been just about the land and the sheep, it would have been excellent.

With that in mind, I love sheep. I’ve read a lot of online material about sheep and wool. I like jumpers with sheep. I make little wool sheep toys. This summer when I was in England, I actually saw sheep off the M4! It really pained me to have such an angry and off-putting “driver” through my tour of this world. I wanted to immerse myself in the area, the sheep and the culture but I just couldn’t. This wasn’t because of content but purely the venom and contempt for the very readers of this book in the narrative voice.

Another major issue I had was editing. This book is a mess. It’s divided into four “seasons” (chapters) but it’s all disjointed and rambling throughout. (As an aside, the season chapters would have worked beautifully if this was a book purely about the sheep!) The story jumps around a lot. A new paragraph will suddenly start in the present tense but for an event from the author’s childhood. There is a significant amount of repetition and many glaring grammatical and sentence structuring errors. It felt choppy and, at times, pedestrian.

Lastly, I have huge problems with the author starting this book bashing teachers. He’s very hypocritical about education. I’ll admit that the whole “degree” obsession in North America gets my goat (mostly because education does not equate intelligence and it’s a pay-to-win system here), but smashing school equipment and bullying teachers will not sympathize people to your cause. This author nearly wrenched his arm from its socket patting himself on the back for being such a “rebel” and then quickly back-peddled and was suddenly at Oxford (for reasons we never find out). I grew so weary about hearing how “genius” he was.

In summation:
There are some good sheep bits (where the author doesn’t talk about himself, but the sheep) and the photos. Again, if he wanted anonymity he could have written a far better book by omitting his own story from the book altogether. Buyer beware though, this isn’t a typical feel good animal book and you may not feel very good reading it.

Deeply nostalgic for me since I spent formative childhood years just across the Pennines from where James Rebanks calls home. But really, who knew a book about sheep could be so engrossing?

A refreshing and down-to-earth book.