The Wake: A Novel

This innovative narrative is challenging at first, but stick with it. You'll soon catch on, and after a few pages it's just fun.And what an intriguing tale: classically medieval yet fresh, involving ancient folk that nevertheless exhibit recognizable motives, fears, and passions.This book was my first experience with the author. His more traditional writing appears in Substack and periodicals such as First Things and Touchstone, and it too is well worth reading.

Upon reading the 2014 Man Booker longlist announcement, I was immediately drawn to The Wake because of it's unique premise and because I believe it's the prize's first crowdsourced nomination. Sourced by readers? I had to give it a try.What is perhaps the most unique about this novel, and needs to be mentioned, is the language. Written in a version of Old English created by the author for layman readers, I didn't know what to expect. But what I think should be made clear is that Paul Kingsnorth didn't write this novel intending it to be a chore for the reader. He wrote it this way to reflect the world it takes place in, and he did so beautifully. The story is fascinatingly alien, and utterly relevant to a time we can only try and imagine. I appreciate Kingsnorth's reasoning in the note on the language:"The way we speak is specific to our time and place. Our assumptions, our politics, our worldview, our attitudes - all are implicit in our words, and what we with them. To put 21st-century sentences into the mouths of eleventh century characters would be the equivalent of giving them iPads and cappuccinos: Just wrong."And he's right. Ever get annoyed reading modern morals in a character of historical fiction? I bet Kingsnorth would too, but by taking the brilliant extra steps with language he's created something magical. Once you pick up on the "rules" of the language, reading it becomes second nature. It nourishes the story, never detracting from the tale. There is a partial glossary in the back, but I didn't use it once. Kingsnorth did all the hard work for us, and I found joy in understanding his new words through context.Set during the Norman invasion of England, the story follows Buccmaster, and his somewhat misguided attempt to bring England back to what it used to be. Buccmaster is cocky, outspoken, and probably schizophrenic, but oddly riveting in an endearing sort of way. Except for the homicidal tendencies of course. But it's 1066, and his entire world is in turmoil. The journey is dark, but dreamy, and I was sad to see it end. Not that I was expecting otherwise, but I'll be honest, this one caught me off guard. One of the best historical fictions I've read yet, it brings exciting new breath to the genre.I look forward to reading more of Paul Kingsnorth's work in the future. Highly recommended.

I greatly enjoyed this unique look into old England circa 1066-1068 (post Hastings); well researched and historically accurate. Mr. Kingsnorth certainly knows his subject, and he worked hard at capturing not just the facts, but the feel of life in those difficult times. Most of us were educated to view the Norman invasion as a net positive -- the birth of modern England -- but _The Wake_ will challenge this perception.For anyone interested in insurgency and counter-insurgency (COIN) warfare -- a big part of my interest, as a former Special Forces soldier -- this book will illuminate one such war that gets little attention in standard military history, the English resistance against William's forces.The literary mechanism Kingsnorth employs -- writing in a 'pseudo Old English' that he developed just for this book -- is effective, although it does make for a slow read at first. It helps if you have some knowledge of Old English, at least from reading Beowulf, Icelandic Sagas or similar works. It's worth it. In fact, it was this language device that piqued my interest in _The Wake_, from an interesting NPR radio interview with Kingsnorth.I read _The Wake_ as an ebook (Kindle) and I recommend this mode; I found myself jumping to wikipedia frequently for more information on places and people mentioned by Kingsnorth. He was invariably accurate. Although educated as a historian, he writes like a scientist (which I mean in the most positive way!). Not surprising perhaps as he is also an ecologist.The only thing I found odd in Kingsnorth's excellent work was the name of the central character, Buccmaster (which to military men will evoke memories of an early SEAL team combat knife). As he notes in his forward, it is not an Old English name. It would have felt better to me if the hero of the book had a more authentic sounding name. Minor quibble.Good work Mr. Kingsnorth; I look forward to reading more from this fascinating period!

Loved the writing style of the book. At first it is a very slow read as you trudge through the unfamiliar words, but as all the reviews say, soon enough you are moving though naturally.A reminder is that there is a glossary in the back for some harder to decipher words. I hadn't realized that until I was part way in the book, a few of my guesses as to what the words were ended up being spot on! The vast majority, though, were not.Another note is that I found that it was easier and more enjoyable to decipher the words if I read out loud (although I admit I only mumbled out loud).My disappointment with the book was this: after if was over, I am wanted to continue reading in the same writing style but had nothing else before me.I enjoyed the story too. You really get to see who this Buccmaster really is as a man.

Given this story takes place in a period and landscape of which I am only vaguely aware and in a language, initially only just recognisable as my own this was a surprisingly compelling read. Like the language Buccmaster the main character at first seems alien, then emerges as familiar, though in his case disturbingly so. This account of the England, that Christianity and then the Normans conquered and the way they colonised it, as told by a dissident and resistor, was persuasive. It certainly increased my interest in the anglo saxon aspects still evident in contemporary culture and society.

The Wake is a surprising and extremely rewarding story built around the native English uprisings against the arrival of the Normans in 1066. If you weren't expecting a book in quasi Early Middle English you might have been frustrated, but if you can work through it, it's a magnificent read. (I had an advantage in having taken EME and Old English before, so I didn't need the glossary, but the glossary does help.)I loved the book. The story is hypnotic and told piercingly from the viewpoint of its mad and desperate narrator, Buccmaster of Holland (Holland in Lincolnshire). Despite the pathetic and sometimes comical nature of his quest, the pain of his losses and the even deeper pain of a lifelong sense of failure and alienation. The ending, even though not surprising, had me glued to my Kindle until late at night.This is one of the best historical fiction novels I've ever read. Looking forward to Kingsnorth's next book.

I have to admit I was quite sceptical about the fake Old English (more of the "fake", than the "Old"). But on the other hand language was exactly the reason I had bought the book in the first place. And I did not regret it. In fact, it turned out to be one of my best reading experiences ever. It really is "something different". The language makes it always clear that this is a tale from a long gone world and the people's mind-set is quite different from ours.

I was very sorry to be unable to read this book: I thought first that this strange language was a test for the first pages but it was used for the whole book. The effort in order to understand the words overcame me and I have been unable to get to the subject of the book itself.

Astounding.Written in a shadow version of 11th century English which is incredibly evocative, this is stark and brutal and magical. An invaded country, groups of men driven to the woods and fens, a land haunted by dying gods where Christianity is the first invader. Told by a magnificent creation, buccmaster of holland, an inarticulate, rage-filled, brutal man consumed by paranoia and self-doubt that expresses itself in visions of Odin as Wayland Smith.This is a magnificent book. The author has tried to restrict the vocabulary to pre Normal English and the poverty of language is incredibly expessive - the struggles for expression, the grinding repetition. It's a difficult, struggling, dying language like the story it tells."deop in the eorth where no man sees around the roots of the treow sleeps a great wyrm and this wyrm what has slept since before all time this wyrm now slow slow slow this wyrm begins to mof"It's pretty hard work at first and takes slow reading, but my God, it's worth it.

A superb historical novel, giving a realistic idea of what life might have been like for Britons at the time of William the Conqueror. Set in the eleventh century, the main character is a very ordinary Briton - a small holding farmer, married with two sons. The novel traces the possible life of such a family in the times after the invasion of the Breton army from across the English channel in what is now western France. Kingsnorth shows how the French nobles subdued the peasant uprisings and gained total control of what became England.Kingsnorth's most amazing feat was the development of a language comprehensible to the reader, yet removed enough from modern English to be feasible as the language of middle ages England.