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A review by tanja_alina_berg
The Shepherd's Life: A Tale of the Lake District by James Rebanks
4.0
This is a delightful, well-written, and decidedly unromantic story about farming life. The book is divided into seasons, as is natural, from a farming point of view. The author tells of his life and the book follows a somewhat chronological timeline. What is most fascinating about this, is that it describes a way of life which is - despite modern inventions such as antibiotics - much like it has been for centuries. It's a story not told. It's muck, blood and cold rain. A story of sheep that are "hefted", meaning they will stick to a certain number of hills and stray no further. Some of the people growing up are also "hefted" in a sense, not wanting to be anywhere else.
You have to be deeply rooted in tradition and have a strong sense of meaning to lead a life like this. A life where your life much depends on weather, disease and luck - but above else, hard work.
I once thought that I would like to be a vet, or at the very least, work with horses. So one summer I worked as a groom. That meant 12-13 hours a day, six days a week. It was summer, so the work was comparatively easy, the horses in the fields did not need to be fed. While I was there, there where others who tried their hand at being a groom, and quickly gave up. I had also enough after a summer. In fact, I never went back to horses after this. I also gave up on my dream of being a vet, which in addition to having required some extra classes to have any chance of making a cut, would also mean back-breaking, unromantic work with large animals. So no, a life where a large number of lives would depend on me always getting up on time and going the extra mile - that's not for me.
However, if your family has lived the life of shepherds and farmers for hundreds of years on the same land - well, that does mean something. The hills that you look upon being the same as your forefathers never admired. I can see how keeping this up has value, and I deeply respect the few that still bother with this life. Since most of us don't and have no idea what such a life means, read this book!
You have to be deeply rooted in tradition and have a strong sense of meaning to lead a life like this. A life where your life much depends on weather, disease and luck - but above else, hard work.
I once thought that I would like to be a vet, or at the very least, work with horses. So one summer I worked as a groom. That meant 12-13 hours a day, six days a week. It was summer, so the work was comparatively easy, the horses in the fields did not need to be fed. While I was there, there where others who tried their hand at being a groom, and quickly gave up. I had also enough after a summer. In fact, I never went back to horses after this. I also gave up on my dream of being a vet, which in addition to having required some extra classes to have any chance of making a cut, would also mean back-breaking, unromantic work with large animals. So no, a life where a large number of lives would depend on me always getting up on time and going the extra mile - that's not for me.
However, if your family has lived the life of shepherds and farmers for hundreds of years on the same land - well, that does mean something. The hills that you look upon being the same as your forefathers never admired. I can see how keeping this up has value, and I deeply respect the few that still bother with this life. Since most of us don't and have no idea what such a life means, read this book!