Official Review: Across the Sheugh by James Woods

[Lucy Kelly]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Across the Sheugh" by James Woods.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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The book, Across the Sheugh, by James Woods, was a charming story of an Irish boy that spent his beginning years growing up in the Northeast of England, and subsequently moves back to Northern Ireland. It takes place in the 1950s and 60s. Woven throughout is some history of the unrest between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, from the perspective of the writer.

Unfortunately, the book is riddled with editorial issues, which made reading it a labor. There were sentence structure problems, mixed tenses, typos, and an overwhelming number of unnecessary quotation marks. On page 30, there was a whole section in which somehow, whole sentences appeared to have gotten out of sequence. Some of the photographs were stock photos, which didn’t contribute much, or were confusing, as they didn’t really match the story. A few photos seemed authentic, especially in later chapters.

The flow of the story was often uneven, repeating already stated people or events, or a certain event would be told in slow, often unnecessarily excruciatingly mundane detail. With all of those problems, however, the charm of the story and its teller managed to shine through. Some descriptions hit the mark and drew me in to the little boy’s experiences of his family and surroundings. I did get a taste of Ireland, and a sense of what his life was like. While a lot of Woods’ handling of language was clunky, sometimes the color did show through.

Very few characters are developed at all, with the exception of his mother. He describes a few of his friends and teachers, but sometimes they don’t end up doing the things in the end as he introduces them in the beginning. Some of this seems to be a result of very linear, chronological storytelling, which from his perspective as a boy I suppose changed over time. It did lend a little confusion to an already bumpy ride.

I give the book a rating of 2 out of 4. The charm and captivating vignettes kept me reading it till the end, even though sometimes it was a hard go. I think that kept me from giving it a 1. It could do with a reworking, and a good editor. Though interested in the history of Ireland, I am no expert, but I felt as though I got a good overview. Those interested in Irish history may enjoy this inside account. Anyone who can’t abide with a very rough copy would not want to read this.

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Across the Sheugh
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[Joy Boudreau]

Hmm. Thanks for sticking this out! It's too bad so much more editing is needed. I know a very small amount of the Irish history, and would love to learn more.

[va2016]

Great review! As a person interested in diplomacy, I would be very interested in understanding the Ireland related issues. But then, I am not good at tolerating mechanical errors and keep going with reading. My patience is very low in that aspect. So, may be I will wait for the next edition?

By the way, is it a translation from some other language? If yes, it's possible that all the mechanical errors were because of machine translation!

[kandscreeley]

Wow. It's sad that the editing was that poorly done. Thanks for the review anyway. Hopefully there will be an edit soon.

[Lucy Kelly]

Great review! As a person interested in diplomacy, I would be very interested in understanding the Ireland related issues. But then, I am not good at tolerating mechanical errors and keep going with reading. My patience is very low in that aspect. So, may be I will wait for the next edition?

By the way, is it a translation from some other language? If yes, it's possible that all the mechanical errors were because of machine translation!

No, I believe it was written in English. Just not edited well. It's a shame, really. Very charming portrait of Ireland at that time.