Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru
I Saw a Man
I Saw a Man
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Disgrifiad Cymraeg / Welsh Description
Stori gyffrous sy'n symud o Lundain ac Efrog Newydd i anialwch Nefada, yn archwilio trais, euogrwydd ac ymgais am achubiaeth, gan gynnig sylwebaeth fanwl ar y cylch teulu ac ar gwestiynau pwysig yn y byd cyfoes. Mae I Saw a Man ar rhestr fer Llyfr y Flwyddyn 2016.
Disgrifiad Saesneg / English Description
Moving from London and New York to the deserts of Nevada, I Saw a Man is a brilliant exploration of violence, guilt and attempted redemption, written with the pace and grip of a thriller. Owen Sheers takes the reader from close observation of the domestic sphere to some of the most important questions and dilemmas of the contemporary world.
Manylion y cynnyrch / Product details
- ISBN 13
- 9780571317745
- Gwales Code
- gwales.com.9780571317745
- Gwerthwr / Vendor
- Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru
- Long Title
- I Saw a Man
- Awdur / Author
- Sheers, Owen
- Current Price ex VAT
- £8.99
- Current Price inc VAT
- £8.99
- Availability Status (EN)
- Available
- Availability Status (CY)
- Ar gael
- Dyddiad cyhoeddi / Publication Date
- 2016-05-11
- Cyhoeddwr / Publisher
- Faber and Faber
- Media Type (EN)
- Paperback / softback
- Media Type (CY)
- Clawr meddal
- Pages
- 322 pages
- Size
- 200 × 130 mm
- Language Code
- English
- Categori / Category
- CY: Nofelau a Storïau ar Gyfer Oedolion (yn Saesneg) | EN: Adult Fiction and Stories (in English)
- Is-gategori / Subcategory
- CY: Datrys A Dirgelwch (yn Saesneg) | EN: Genre Fiction-Crime, Mystery and Thriller (in English)
Adolygiad y Cyhoeddwr / Publisher Review
Michael is in his neighbours’ kitchen, soil on his hands from his gardening, looking for a screwdriver he lent Josh. The back door had been left open so he presumed someone was home. But the house is silent, and he’s worried that someone could have come in from Hampstead Heath, which the house backs onto. He stands there and looks and listens intently. There is no sign of disturbance. There is utter quiet. This is the moment when Michael could turn around and walk back out of the door, back to his gardening, and the cascading series of events that follow would never have occurred. After years working as an ‘immersion’ writer and then receiving great accolades for his book on the lives of two hard-pressed brothers in Manhattan, Michael had met a woman who finally managed to immerse him in his own life. No longer living vicariously, Michael is swamped by the strength of his love for Caroline, and they tuck themselves away in an isolated Welsh cottage the better to enjoy each other’s company. They are intensely happy and Michael works on his next book while Caroline works for a small TV company. She has given up her work as a journalist which had taken her to many of the most dangerous places on earth. The pull of that life is still there for her though, and she is thrilled when an opportunity arises to head undercover into Pakistan. She never comes back. Michael moves to London, to a flat next door to Josh and Samantha and their two young daughters. He is shattered by the loss of Caroline, and the natural, unthinking kindness of his neighbours only slowly, slowly helps to repair some of the cracks. But then he goes round to get back a screwdriver, and everything changes for ever all over again. Owen Sheers has written a book which flows with intensity from one moment to another in past and present, to different characters, and across the world to different locations. By twisting the path of time through the novel, Sheers keeps the tension spinning upwards. As time inches forward in the present, as Michael stands and turns in his neighbours’ kitchen, the past balloons up and pours out the events that led up to this moment. It’s obvious that Sheers feels a close sympathy for each of his characters, their struggles with what life hands out to them, and the decisions they make as they blunder through tragedy and guilt and its after-effects. Sheers brings us intimately into their lives and emotions so we are thoroughly gripped. There is much in the novel that explores the nature of guilt and responsibility: from Michael’s immersion in the lives of the two brothers in America and his withdrawal once he has what he needs for his book, to the man who causes Caroline’s death. Atonement is strived for in different circumstances and not always attained; too much is ultimately unforgivable. And always and everywhere, life goes on. Whatever the size of the tragedy and the enormity of the survivors’ emotional suffering, life continues. Some people walk around with a crushing weight of guilt on their shoulders and still they function, and sometimes are even happy.
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