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Noah's Castle (1975)

av John Rowe Townsend

MedlemmarRecensionerPopularitetGenomsnittligt betygOmnämnanden
683386,423 (4)3
The coming winter was going to be a hard oneand not because of the weather. As England descends into economic chaos, sixteen-year-old Barry Mortimer's life turns upside-down when, without warning, his father moves the family from their cozy home in the city to a grim brick mansion on the outskirts of town. Strange and mysterious events follow. Why does Father evict their friend and long-time lodger? Why isn't anyone allowed to visit the Mortimers' new home? What is Father doing in the basement and why is he keeping it a secret? As rumors of skyrocketing prices and food shortages become reality, Barry's world begins to crumble. Can his family hold together as a nation collapses around them? Terrifying because it could happen tomorrow]]… (mer)
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England, ca 1976
Norman Mortimer var soldat under anden verdenskrig, men nu er han bare en butiksbestyrer, der har bestyret samme butik i mange, mange år. Derhjemme styrer han familien uden at spørge dem om hvad de synes om det. Konen May er vænnet til aldrig at blive taget med på råd. En dag køber han en stor kasse af et hus, hvilket familien ikke er begejstret for, men dog accepterer. Han holder øje med samfundsudviklingen og synes ikke at det går godt. Priserne stiger og stiger. Han virker som om det nye hus kun er købt fordi det har en meget stor kælder?
Historien fortælles af hans 16-årige søn Barry Mortimer. Han har flere søskende, Ellen på 10, Geoff på 15, Agnes (kaldet Nessie) på 17. Ved det nye hus møder Nessie en Terry, som ikke er Normans kop te. I det hele taget har Norman ingen lune eller humor, men en stærk pligtfølelse til at værne om familien på sin egen måde. De flytter ind første november. Landet er i krise, der er livlig inflation, regeringen trykker flere papirpenge, men udlandet vil ikke have dem. Priserne stiger og der er færre varer. Nessie spekulerer over hvad faderen har gang i og får fat i nøglen til kælderen. Faderen har sat hylder op i hele kælderen og stiller store mængder ris, konserves, sæbe og lignende ind på dem. Hans mål er at have forråd til 2 år. Det er som Noahs ark bare uden dyr. Og det er helt bogstaveligt, for Ellens hund Peggy bliver givet væk, fordi han ellers ville have aflivet den. Barry begynder også at gå faderen på klingen og han fortæller at han har lånt til det hele, for om kort tid er pengene ikke det papir værd, de er trykt på. Der går et par måneder. Der er færre varer og sortbørshandel begynder at tage fart. Hamstring og sortbørshandel bliver strengt forbudt. Barry møder en Wendy Farrar. Norman bytter nogle sko for en hel del kød ved slagteren. Til gengæld bliver Nessie irriteret på ham over en snyltegæst mr Gerald, som han har inviteret ind. Nessie flytter hen til Terry på sin 18-års fødselsdag. Senere flytter også Ellen og May, så der kun er Norman, Geoff og Barry til at holde samling på det hele. Barry engagerer sig i en privat maduddelingstjeneste DEL LIGE, og det er ikke så dumt for han får gode forbindelser til mange mennesker.
Norman får snylteren til at flytte, men til gengæld angiver denne ham.
I første omgang sker der ikke mere, men det er gået op for Barry at enten ender det med en katastrofe eller også må Norman acceptere at dele sit hamstringsgods. Det ender med at kælderen bliver plyndret / tømt af to-tre forskellige bander / organisationer, men ingen bliver dræbt selv om Norman sårer en enkelt overfladisk.
Nogenlunde samtidigt begynder det at gå bedre for landet og det værste tryk tager af.

Udmærket lille bog med en masse solide etiske overvejelser at gøre sig. Hvad er de gode og hvem er de onde? Er der overhovedet nogle onde i historien? ( )
  bnielsen | Jun 10, 2018 |
It took me a long time to get into this book. Barry's father is just so horrible, even before he starts hoarding, that I didn't think I could handle a book full of him. For example:

"You always used to be at work all day until we moved here," Mother pointed out.
"That was before the present crisis," said Father. "Now I have the shopping to do."
"It was you who insisted on doing it," Mother said. ... "I sometimes wonder what I'm for. Just cooking and cleaning, I suppose. I might as well be a servant."
"A servant would need wages," Father said -- unaware, I was sure, of any cruelty in the remark.
p.43

Except that he is aware. He spends the entire book making belittling comments about Barry's mother and older sister Nessie, mostly about their inferior, womanly minds. And, for the most part, they just took it. Nessie gets all riled up about it, but only in front of Barry. No one stands up to Father. It wasn't until Barry started to doubt his father that I started to get into Noah's Castle. Then Nessie started actively defying her father and it really started to get good.

Of course at the same time, problems much bigger than a horrifically controlling and sexist head of household are looming all around the Mortimers. As food goes beyond "scarce" right to "rare," people around them start to starve. Barry, Nessie and their mother have to deal with the guilt of knowing that they have plenty when so many other people are suffering and dying of want. Father, on the other hand, feels no guilt. Those people are ill-prepared and none of the Mortimers are allowed to share with them, not matter how hungry, elderly, young, or sick they are. This conflict is the core of the novel. As much as you want to help the needy around you, how do you give away all of your food, not knowing when you may get more, knowing that it means your sickly little sister may go hungry? It's an impossible question with no rights answer, and none is given in the book. But the rights and wrongs of everyone's actions are explored.

Of course, the wrongness of the sexism isn't explored to its fullest, but maybe that would be a bit too much to ask of a book originally published in 1975. Luckily, Nessie struggles against her father's beliefs and bullying and seems like she'll escape the Mortimer house unscathed.

Book source: Review copy provided by the publisher.
1 rösta lawral | Jul 1, 2010 |
Reviewed by John Jacobson, aka "R.J. Jacobs" for TeensReadToo.com

16-year-old Barry Mortimer is a fairly carefree person, living with his domineering father, Norman, his complacent mother, and his siblings in fair comfort. But a crisis is on the rise - the UK is producing more and more money, yet it gets harder and harder to afford to buy items as prices rise. If matters weren't confusing enough, Barry's father goes and buys the family a large, looming house that's much too big for them, and begins putting up hundreds of shelves down in the basement.

When the signs of the crisis begin to show, with food prices insanely high, the old are left to afford almost nothing, and the talk of food rationing begins. Barry's suspicions of his father grow. When he discovers his plans - to hoard several years' worth of nonperishable foods in their basement, hidden from the rest of the community - Barry's met with an important decision: To keep his family safe for the long haul and risk being discovered, or to go against his father's wishes and refuse the stores.

NOAH'S CASTLE was originally published in the 1970's, so the book reads as a contemporary-historical novel, though that in no way detracts from the power of the story. Townsend has a great voice in Barry; simple but strong. While readers will identify with him, his sister Agnes, and some other characters that come along, the real star of the novel is Barry's father, Norman. Norman's character is written as amazingly complex, with every emotion and motive shaded grey. There is no easy side for the reader to take, and the excitement over the moral issues alone will keep you wanting to read. Action-wise, the story moves along quickly, each and every scene flowing with tension and emotions that really capture the dystopian setting.

The setting, as mentioned, is one of the novel's strongest points. With novels like INCARCERON and HOW I LIVE NOW gaining acclaim in the same genre, this really stands out. What makes it do so is its believability. It has no magic or vampires, just the plain old world going through a realistic crisis. It almost scared me as to how easily I could see this happening. (And indeed, it actually did. Townsend based the events off of a German economic upheaval after World War I.) Every moment seems real, adding a horror novel-like aspect to it that's hard to shake away.

Most notably, Townsend managed to write a novel with little fault to it. Some of the characters could have been fleshed out more, especially the women. Understandably, the time period reflects some of these behaviors, so it's not as bad as something that would be written and originally published today, but he still could have done more. What he did do was still intriguing enough to make me enjoy reading about them.

Overall, it's an enjoyably quick read that will send your mind whirling. Five Stars and the Gold Award. ( )
1 rösta GeniusJen | Mar 10, 2010 |
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The coming winter was going to be a hard oneand not because of the weather. As England descends into economic chaos, sixteen-year-old Barry Mortimer's life turns upside-down when, without warning, his father moves the family from their cozy home in the city to a grim brick mansion on the outskirts of town. Strange and mysterious events follow. Why does Father evict their friend and long-time lodger? Why isn't anyone allowed to visit the Mortimers' new home? What is Father doing in the basement and why is he keeping it a secret? As rumors of skyrocketing prices and food shortages become reality, Barry's world begins to crumble. Can his family hold together as a nation collapses around them? Terrifying because it could happen tomorrow]]

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