A tale set in a Welsh farming community that examines in great detail the petty squabbles and minutiae of village life.The story starts when the integral characters are adults with a fleeting mention of the twins Lewis and Benjamin looking at a wedding picture of their parents, from then on its a retrospective look at not just their lives but also their parents so essentially you are reading the history or saga of generations.The action centres at first on Mary and Amos, their lives, marriage and subsequent birth of their twins Lewis and Benjamin, literally from the beginning of their lives their twinship and closeness transcends the relationships of other twins and in fact becomes a total interdependence on each other. Lewis more so than Benjamin seems to resent this a little and at times finds it restrictive when it comes to other friendships or relationships but there is a hint that though Lewis seems to be the stronger and physically dominant Benjamin seems to have a "mental" dominance and this is at one point hinted at, that Lewis is a little afraid of his brother but at the same time this doesn't lessen the love and loyalty that if at all threatened by an outside force adversely seems to strengthen the bond.In fact the reader gains the impression that the other residents in the village and even their own family sees their relationship as at the very least strange even a little abnormal but throughout the years nothing can ever separate them, nothing that is but time and eventual death.A wonderful and thought provoking narrative weaves a story that can be applied to real life, believable situations and characters make readers relate to and feel a sympathy for the brothers trapped by their farm, their lives and their dependence that cannot allow them to break free of invisible shackles. The dreams they harboured in childhood and youth throughout the book fall by the wayside so you instantly feel a sense of loss and opportunities missed.The overall impression is one of a narrow, confined existence and a helpless futility on the part of pretty much every character not just the twins, the fates of all are bound up in the "Vision" the family farm in some way even if indirectly.Bleak, stark but with an engaging plot this novel is reminiscent in some ways of the work of Richard Llewellyn, Frank McCourt and Alexander Cordell. As an introduction to the author this is a great book to start with. Definitely well worth reading.
I have been struggling to write a review for this book. I recently re-read it, after having first read it more than ten years ago. All I could remember was that I really liked it, but not what it was about. Now I have to say that I found it absolutely enchanting, but I still find it hard to say why. Also, it is the only Chatwin book that I truly liked (out of the four that I read). It is a short novel about the lives of unspectacular people, twin brothers born in the year 1900 in the Welsh countryside, with an English mother and a Welsh father. They live uneventful lives, choosing a life of social isolation. They try their best to shun two world wars, and they block out most complicating aspects such as modernity or courtship and wedlock. Instead, they retreat to a sort of old-fashioned rural innocence, even though they are much better farmers than their father was, continuously adding land and machinery to their property. Mostly, this book is about atmosphere. The portrayal of the landscape is poetic and profound; in its serenity and sheer beauty, the description of the transitory cycles of the seasons and the permanence of light and topography is absolutely stunning.Without making a lot of fuss, Chatwin gives us wonderfully drawn characters and evokes the lives of ordinary people and their struggles in a remote agricultural world, with undertones of nostalgia and inevitable loss. He also draws a clearly defined timeline of the 20th century, even though, for the most part, its progression seems to be absent from the lives of the Jones twins. This seems to be a quaint and simple book, but it is so much more. It's about tranquility, transience, and the dichotomy of how human lives are both significant and mundane.
What do You think about On The Black Hill (1998)?
...many years ago I, by chance, picked up and read IN PATAGONIA, deciding to find another Chatwin book, found a copy of ON THE BLACKHILL. Well chosen Tom - the life's journey of the Jones twins was the best part (though cruel, difficult, frustrating, hard) as the end is...well for most of us, the closing moments offer little glory. Independent People, was of a similar theme; rural isolation, mind numbing labor, cruelty, ignorance, prejudice, the hammering down of the few who would rise above. There is a baby though so one can smile and hope. It's a delight to read Bruce Chatwin's prose. He creates a realistic world and invites you in. I will be thinking of this book for awhile. Here in western Wisconsin brothers like the Jones twins are not uncommon (though disappearing - along with the 30, 40 head dairy farm). Every now and then the local paper will run an article on octogenarian brothers giving up the daily chores. The last two I remember were over by Coon Valley, back in some coulee. I can think of others who have been gone for some years now. When the first one goes the other doesn't last long.
—Tom Johnson
On the Black Hill is the story of a farming family in Wales. It begins in the last years of the lives of the identical twins named Lewis, marked with a cross to show he was born first, and Benjamin, both white-haired and venerating their mother's memory. From this follows the story of their parents' meeting, courtship, and marriage. The pages covering the birth of the twins and the circumstances and characters that made their parents' stormy marriage were the ones I found most absorbing.The boys grow up as two halves of a whole rather than as two separate people, and this is reflected as much in what they experience apart as together. Every attempt they make to widen their experience seems to result in tragedy, and it is understandable that they withdraw into "The Vision", their parents' farm acquired at great cost.As the years pass, unexpected visitors arrive, bringing fresh breezes from the outside world as well as fresh hurt. They bring, too, the unexpected fulfillment of lives filled with endless work and little joy. It is astonishing how much humor there is in this tale, and perhaps the best of it is very black indeed.
—Rachel
This is a nice, quiet little novel to pick up when you don't want anything upsetting or scary or suspenseful to read. It's very much place-driven and character-driven rather than dependent on an exciting plot. Chatwin covered 80 years in 250 pages, so there's no excess prose or boring passages. The beauty of the book is the way the author carries you away to a sheltered little farming community on the border of Wales and England. With very few words he richly creates all the small-town provincial characters you'd expect for that time and place. There's the gossip, the crazy person, the greedy one, the pious one---and then all the interlopers "from off" that the locals don't trust because they're new. The landscape and seasons and lifestyle are also vividly created with few words. The story follows the lives of Benjamin and Lewis Jones. They are identical twins who are so attached to each other that they're more like one person than two. Born in 1900, they spend their entire lives on their farm, with only one holiday away at the age of ten. Sounds boring, but the book has its own special charm.
—Jeanette "Astute Crabbist"
