Kindle Price: | £6.49 |
Sold by: | Amazon Media EU S.à r.l. |
Your Memberships and Subscriptions
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet or computer – no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
The Carhullan Army: 'The Lake District's answer to The Handmaid's Tale.' Guardian Kindle Edition
'The Lake District's answer to The Handmaid's Tale.' Guardian
England is in a state of environmental and economic crisis. Under the repressive regime of The Authority, citizens have been herded into urban centres, and all women of child-bearing age fitted with contraceptive devices. A woman known as 'Sister' leaves her oppressive marriage to join an isolated group of women in a remote northern farm at Carhullan, where she intends to become a rebel fighter. But can she follow their notion of freedom and what it means to fight for it?
'At the vanguard of the new wave of futuristic dystopian literature . . . an accomplished, provocative novel.' Literary Review
'Hall's fierce and shocking writing captures the cruel beauty of Cumbria.' Telegraph
'A dystopian vision of a disturbingly near future in which the floods have risen and the oil has run out . . . entirely modern and brutally fresh.' Independent
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherFaber & Faber
- Publication date25 Nov. 2010
- File size1526 KB
Popular titles by this author
Product description
Review
Sarah Hall is garnering a reputation as a strong regional voice with her flavoursome historical fiction ... Hall is unflinching, yet sensitive, in her anatomisation of the psychology of survival, but she draws back from describing bigger events, in this case the final climactic battle, skipping straight to its aftermath instead. Excelsior is always a good motto. (Rachel Hore Independent on Sunday)
With rivers bursting their banks, the Stock Market taking a tumble, an ever-present terrorist threat at home and British forces engaged in two intractable conflicts overseas, the publication of Sarah Hall's third novel could not be more timely ... Like her first novel, Haweswater (2002), The Carhullan Army is set in Cumbria, and Hall's sharp and vivid evocation of landscape ("The light was fading fast, and the rust-coloured bracken in the banks looked like a tide of scrap metal") has the value of rooting her dark fantasy in a recognisable rural world ... the seriousness of Hall's intent and the scale of her achievement are to be highly commended. (Michael Arditti Daily Telegraph)
Her [Sister's] brutal initiation is the start of an intoxicating account of her conversion to extremism. Hall's fierce nd shocking writing captures the cruel beauty of Cumbria. (Telegrph)
Whether imagining the future or the past, Hall's evocation of place and atmosphere is a joy ... an accomplished, provocative novel. The farm and its community are a triumph of the imagination: you could almost believe the author had lived among them as part of her research. This, combined with the luminosity of the prose casting its light across an emotional and intellectual landscape as bracing as the fells themselves places The Carhullan Army at the vanguard of the new wave of futuristic dystopian literature. (Martyn Bedford Literary Review)
This is also a serious political novel that convincingly explores the mindset of fanaticism. It anatomises gender with precision, suggesting that notions of women as a softer sex are ingrained nonsense ... Furthermore, Hall writes about the land with supple beauty, layering her words into a thick impasto that evokes the ridges and moorland she describes. (Alistair Sooke Seven (Sunday Telegraph))
The Carhullan Army could be the Lake Districts answer to The Handmaid's Tale. Dystopian and projecting a strong femalepolitical imagination, Hall's fourth novel is set in a post-democratic, post-climate-change future... Hall's murky, hackle-raising landscapes are full of emotional and symbolic significance... when Hall writes scenes rather than synopsis, the personal drama ensures the political gravity becomes genuinely gripping. (Guardian)
A dystopian vision of a disturbingly near future in which the floods have risen and the oil has run out, Hall's award-winning third novel has shades of Orwell and The Handmaids Tale, but is entirely modern and brutally fresh. "Sister", its protagonist, has fled "The Authority" to head for the hills and a tooled-up collection of rebel women. Cue harsh landscapes, harsher relationships and a brilliantly bleak denouncement. (Independent)
In prose as stark and lyrical as the Cumbrian landscape, Hall picks apart notions of absolutism, individuality and moral responsibility. What does it take to drive a woman to violent insurgency? Hegemony of another sort, it would seem. (Observer)
Her work renders the darkest emotional landscapes with a sharp eye and a warm heart. Hall's acidic poetry follows through in 'The Carhullan Army' (Mia Hansson Time Out)
About the Author
Product details
- ASIN : B004EPXXFQ
- Publisher : Faber & Faber; Main edition (25 Nov. 2010)
- Language : English
- File size : 1526 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 229 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: 418,333 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- 1,170 in Political Fiction (Kindle Store)
- 3,021 in Political Fiction (Books)
- 4,325 in Dystopian Science Fiction (Kindle Store)
- Customer reviews:
About the author
Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read book recommendations and more.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings, help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyses reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the book engaging and enjoyable. They praise the writing quality as excellent and beautiful, with felicitous descriptions. The story is thought-provoking and conveys a lot of verisimilitude. However, opinions differ on the narrative quality - some find it interesting and well-told, while others feel the ending is abrupt or jarring.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers enjoy the book's readability. They find the idea engaging and the story moves at a good pace. While some feel the story drags by the end, others say the characters and societal collapse story keep their interest until the end.
"...in a post-apocalyptic environment makes for a fascinating and worthwhile read...." Read more
"Readable but dragged by the end due to the following: - character, character and character...." Read more
"Great book. A good read and believable characters. I gave this a 5 star as once I got started, I could not stop reading." Read more
"...of environmentalism, feminsim and fanaticism are the core of this engaging book; it is difficult to imagine any more relevant backdrop for the near..." Read more
Customers appreciate the writing quality of the book. They find the prose excellent and beautiful, with detailed descriptions of Cumbrian fells. The language is stark in comparison to Hall's previous work, but there are no literary tricks. The descriptions convey an evocative dystopia set in a women's commune that can easily be put into a modern context.
"...What distinguishes it from the pack is the astonishing descriptions which are lyrical, detailed and original and which convey a huge amount of..." Read more
"...I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in well-written dystopian fiction and the feminist movement." Read more
"...There is no artifice, there are no literary tricks, just interesting stories well told...." Read more
"...There are still some felicitous descriptions, invariably of the Cumbrian fells, the novel's locale: `All around, the wind stroked the tawny grassland..." Read more
Customers find the book thought-provoking and well-written. They appreciate the clever, interesting subject matter and intelligent writing style. The story is described as inspiring and convincing, conveying a great deal of verisimilitude.
"...which are lyrical, detailed and original and which convey a huge amount of verisimilitude...." Read more
"...The imagery of nature fighting back again containment is convincing - government control of human reproduction represents an attempt to control..." Read more
"...writing is excellent and the dystopian subject matter of this novel is clever and interesting...." Read more
"Very thought provoking and well written. Enjoyed the fact it was local and set in the near future. Would recommend" Read more
Customers enjoy the evocative prose that captures the setting, environment, and atmosphere. They appreciate the author's love for the area.
"...The fact that she chooses such a bleak, desolate and yet beautiful setting in which to tell the tale, directly reflects her mixed feelings towards..." Read more
"...The author clearly loves the area in which its set and it uses the br" Read more
"Quality prose, evocative of the place, environs and atmosphere as always with Sarah Hall, her work is always inspiring reading" Read more
Customers have mixed opinions about the narrative quality. Some find the stories well-told and evocative, while others mention issues with the narrative and ending. They mention the ending is abrupt, the story tends to jump around, and there are missing chunks in key sections. The dystopian scenario is unconvincing at the start and the book becomes overwritten and rushed by the end.
"...of feminism in a post-apocalyptic environment makes for a fascinating and worthwhile read...." Read more
"...a sense the book becomes overwritten and rushed by the end" Read more
"...There is no artifice, there are no literary tricks, just interesting stories well told...." Read more
"...The novel's ending is devastatingly inevitable but not necessarily bleak...." Read more
Top reviews from United Kingdom
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 April 2022'Sister' (we never learn her real name) escapes a town under authoritarian rule, where toiling but redundant workers subsist on meagre rations in overcrowded and squalid tenements and reproduction is controlled, to seek out Carhullan, the semi-mystical feminist hill-farm commune. But can the women learn to defend themselves if and when the urban Authority seek to extend their rule? And in what way is the frequently tyrannical leader of Carhullan any more moral than the more anonymous rulers of the Authority?
This is classic dystopian fiction. What distinguishes it from the pack is the astonishing descriptions which are lyrical, detailed and original and which convey a huge amount of verisimilitude. The first quarter of the book is stuffed with these and the world-building is carefully drip-fed in but the reader is motivated to keep reading because ambiguous and perplexing hints as to what might happen next are provided. This is achieved because, although the story is told in retrospect, we discover the action as if the narrator is living through it, learning the mysteries of her new life bit by bit.
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 13 April 2014The Carhullan Army opens with a nameless woman preparing to make her escape from a Cumbrian town which is under the auspices of an oppressive regime. The woman, who we know only as 'Sister', abandons a husband she no longer loves, and sets off in search of Carhullan, a farm-commune consisting solely of women, where she hopes to find sanctuary. She is met, however, by a gun barrel and a punch that fractures her shoulder, and is promptly incarcerated in a tiny metal tank for three days while the women of Carhullan wait for her to crack.
Carhullan's women are taut and unsentimental, prepared to do whatever it takes to protect their lifestyle. Their leader is Jackie, whose language is blunt and crass, but whose actions shimmer with intellect and idealism. 'Sister' passes the initiation test, and is subsumed into the world of the commune. Life, at first, seems to be improving. But then Jackie, the leader, starts to assert her own agenda and forces the women to either support her plans for revolution or leave Carhullan. Will Sister stay and fight?
Ultimately, Hall's exploration of feminism in a post-apocalyptic environment makes for a fascinating and worthwhile read. I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in well-written dystopian fiction and the feminist movement.
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 9 September 2017Readable but dragged by the end due to the following:
- character, character and character. Only about two characters are dignified with reasonable fleshing out. Otherwise the names become meaningless and as a reader, I failed to remember who was who.
- unconvincing dystopian scenario. Especially at the start. Similar to the Handmaid's Tale, but with that novel the narrator appeared politically clueless enough to smooth over the sketchiness
- too much landscape, especially over characters and dialogue
- a sense the book becomes overwritten and rushed by the end
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 9 August 2014I must declare an interest. I've really enjoyed reading Sarah Hall's other novels and short stories, I love her open, honest, sort of story telling. There is no artifice, there are no literary tricks, just interesting stories well told. It does help if you have her love for the north, because her storytelling is firmly rooted there, and you probably live round the corner to some of her characters as well.
But I did approach 'The Carhullan Army' with some trepidation. This is not my genre. Futuristic stories of imagination test my ability as a reader, to the maximum. And a feminist book to boot! But I need not have feared because the issues, which roar out of this book, are immediately recognisable. Whether the issues are environmental or political, they are easily put into a modern context. I don't know the history of the name change of the title, but the Carhullan Army, with its militaristic sound, is apt. There are battles going on throughout this story, with 'Sister', as the central character, at their heart. The 'ordinary' woman driven to 'extraordinary' lengths in her search for elemental truths. As a male reader I should be challenged, by the supremacy of the female protagonists. But I wasn't. Trying to compare what the reaction of a group of males, in similar circumstance, would have been, became a major part of my reading,
another aspect of an enthralling tale.
Top reviews from other countries
- DqkReviewed in Australia on 1 May 2020
5.0 out of 5 stars Extraordinary
An extraordinary imagining of a bleak future that doesn’t seem at all far fetched in the current times. A female settlement isolated, and aiming for a better world in its separation from a deteriorating society. Eventually worsening circumstances close in and force an inevitable and brutal conclusion. It is a harrowing imagining of a failed political ideology, and a warning. It isn’t an easy read but it’s impressive.
- Caro_Reviewed in Germany on 21 October 2015
5.0 out of 5 stars great!
Original, page-turner, really liked it.
Would have loved it to be longer because I wanted to continue reading.
Definitely recommended.
-
D. LegareReviewed in France on 12 November 2009
4.0 out of 5 stars La fin d'un monde
C'est du fond de sa prison que `Sister' nous livre son récit. Nous voici dans un monde qui a fait naufrage après une immense guerre, une inondation qui laisse la moitié du pays sous les eaux et l'épuisement des hydrocarbures. Nous sommes en Grande-Bretagne et en Cumbria pour être plus précis.
`Sister' - qui ne livrera pas son som - nous raconte comment elle a plannifié son évasion de la petite ville de Cumbria (Nord-Ouest de l'Angleterre) où elle vivait pour aller à la recherche de la communauté féminine de Carhullan. Car dans le monde où vit Sister, il y a peu de joie et peu d'espoir, les ressources sont maigres, les rapports sont codifés et policés, très policés. Le travail est répétitif et lugubre. Les femmes sont soumises à la contraception, et seules celles qui sont tirées au sort peuvent concevoir. C'est alors que `Sister' s'échappe de la `zone sécurisée' et va rejoindre cette communauté de femmes installée au fin fond de la lande, dans les collines. Là, ces femmes vivent en autarcie (ou presque). Sa décision, la mènera jusqu'au bout d'elle-même et des autres.
Voici un roman qui ressemble à La Servante Ecarlate de Margaret Atwood, pour la description du monde dystopique où le récit se déroule. Des thèmes intéressants sont abordés sur la fraternité, le courage, le charisme, le jusqu'au-boutisme (?) - eh oui, quel choix a-t-on quand on n'a plus le choix ? Quand au charisme, Sarah Hall pointe du doigt la frontière variable qui existe entre un être charismatique et un `gourou'fanatique. Je dirais donc plutôt bien pour ce roman assez court dont la fin est aussi inéluctable que rapide.
- Yours Truly, DianaReviewed in Germany on 31 January 2021
1.0 out of 5 stars Not My Favorite
Unfortunately, this book wasn't for me. It was easy to read, and it has good moments, but I wasn't highly interested in the outcome.
- Paola ÝrReviewed in the United States on 24 May 2016
3.0 out of 5 stars ... not two because as a whole I had a good time reading this novel
I decided to give three stars and not two because as a whole I had a good time reading this novel. However, quite a few things did not convince me. I liked the man idea of a different kind of society as opposed to the dominant tyranny. Still, if the point is supposed to be constructing a story on a strictly female society, the men in the next village only represent an implication of failure. The characters are hardly developed. We get a good picture of Jackie through Sister, the main character/story teller. All the other characters, Sister included, are just sketched. The title is misleading as this is not so much about the army. There is hardly any background. The things that are not good enough are too many for this to be a really good story.