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The Northern Clemency | 
| Author: Philip Hensher
Publisher: Fourth Estate Ltd
Category: Book
List Price: £17.99
Buy New: £8.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  31 reviews
Sales Rank: 398
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 736
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.4
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.3 x 2.4
ISBN: 0007174799
EAN: 9780007174799
ASIN: 0007174799
Publication Date: April 1, 2008
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review
An ambitious novelist who attempts something on as broad canvas as Philip Hensher does here is a rarity – add to that a fastidious attention to period (i.e. 1970s) detail, and – most daunting of all – a large panoply of points of view, shared among several protagonists. But in The Northern Clemency, Hensher accomplishes all of that – and more – with both precision and panache.Essentially, this is an (upmarket) family saga, detailing the lives of a pair of families who live on opposite sides of a street in Sheffield in the 1970s, bringing to life a host of characters whose problems – and ultimate destines – both disturb and move the reader. Philip Hensher couches all of this in prose that performs a fascinating balancing act: it is as descriptive and nuanced as one might wish, but it is also extremely refined -- in the sense that there is nary a wasted word; everything here absolutely justifies its place, and Hensher suggests to the careful reader that he has lavished the most forensic of attention on the craft of his novel. Perhaps the perfect audience for The Northern Clemency is the modern reader who has lamented that contemporary fiction lacks the heft and reach of the great novelists of the past. Such a reader will find that a taste for the substantial is more than fulfilled by Hensher’s highly accomplished saga. --Barry Forshaw
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| Customer Reviews: Read 26 more reviews...
 A Vast Epic December 3, 2008
Philip Hensher tackles the kind of huge, multi-character epic that reminds me of the best of Dilello and Pynchon, with a decade-long panorama that covers the intertextual, and intertwined twin fates of families in Sheffield. Set in 1974 to 1996 - the period Hensher grew up in the town in which it is set - it is clearly informed by the formative years under a failing Labour Government and the Iron Fist Of Fatcha with the bitter, and ugly, Miner's Strike. At the same time Hensher portrays the society that changed during those decades, the repressions and twitching curtains, the scandal and peer pressure that forms us without knowing. The langauge is a gift, the breadth of vision brings to life with clarity a time that is so very recent yet already slipping from our memories, a slow burn that unfolds like a vast word painting that will bring back memories to anyone alive in those years. A success.
 Dull December 2, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The author clearly wrote this with the intention of getting the words 'epic' and 'state of the nation' on the dust jacket, and picking up some weighty literary plaudits. In that sense he succeeded, even getting to the Booker Prize shortlist. Unfortunately, the novel itself is dull, flabby and prosaic, and I'm at a loss as to how it has won so many admirers.
Despite getting on for 800 pages, practically nothing happens, the characters are flat and meaningless and the writing itself is one step up from the text on the cornflakes packet. It's so 'padded' that there are huge sections devoted to really quite minor characters, who appear and disappear just as suddenly after serving their purpose (to add another ten pages to this monster).
I ploughed through it because I foolishly thought it had to get better - "perhaps it's just a slow starter" I kept saying to myself, but once I'd got to final 100 pages I had accepted that Northern Clemency was beyond redemption. It's just so utterly pointless, written for the sake of it, taking a heck of a long time to say nothing at all. Even for readers who lived through the era it describes (Britain, 1970s-1990s), there isn't much of a chord to be struck. Every observation is obvious and the lack of empathy I felt for any of the characters meant the rest made little impression on me. I even found myself skimming the text because it was such heavy going.
I can't really think of who I would recommend this to - certainly not those who like plot driven stories, but then neither would I recommend it to those keen on character exploration (there's none to speak of), or beautiful writing (it isn't). Maybe those in need of a new, blue doorstop might find a use for it. Other than that, you can read three great books in the time it takes to plough through this turgid tome.
Soap in a book! November 29, 2008
This book is about 2 families & their neighbourhood & what happens in their lives; mostly mundane everyday things such as one of their daughters moving to Australia & her life there.
It made me feel I was reading a soap. It is one of those books that could be turned into a television series. It took me more than half the book to get into it & although the story was entertaining, I found the long descriptions of objects & places (sometimes 1-2 pages of it) very annoying & boring. Frequently the author went on to describe a scenery for 2 paragraphs or more & it made me want to scream; Just get on with it!!
Although I couldn't put the book down after the last half of the book, I thought it didn't really have a climax & am wondering what was the point of the book.
It's not a book I'd rush out to buy but I enjoyed reading it somewhat.
Takes me back to my childhood - but a bit long winded November 28, 2008
A lovingly detailed and quirky view of various families growing up in the 70's and 80's. All sorts of details that bring back that era of formica, dodgy wallpaper, mushroom vol-au-vents and the miner's strikes. Seen from a variety of view points - children, teenagers and parents. There are a number of different strands to the story, but nothing is really inter-related, and the novel lacks a specific focus. However, beautiful prose, delightful descriptions and a gentle sense of humour.
This is a most interesting book... November 25, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
THE NORTHERN CLEMENCY by PHILIP HENSHER
This is a most interesting book. A truly epic tale (around 300,000 words) of the everyday that follows the lives of two Sheffield families from the seventies to the mid nineties - and it really is a story of the everyday. Nothing truly momentous happens, even the `Big' events are the Big things that happen to us all; death, sudden life threatening illness, emigration, job change, a court case. Nothing world-shattering happens. There are no startling twists of plot because there's actually, very little plot - just a vast, spidering tapestry of the normal things of Life .
Which is what makes it such an unusual and compelling book. I can't say I found it hard to put down - I did put it down, frequently (it's a very big book, my wrists got tired) but I always picked it up again. I wanted to know what was going to happen to these ordinary, fascinating, dreary, hateful, selfish, kind, cruel, indifferent, loving and loveable people.
Some I grew to dislike intensely; vain, self-centred Sandra, the oftentimes cruel and selfish Katherine. For all his deceits, I rather liked Nick. I adored poor sweet nerdy, Francis but most of all, my heart went out to Tim. I never really worked out whether the author wanted us to hate him, sometimes it felt like that, but I liked him. Life dealt him a rough hand and he didn't often deal with it well but from the moment his mother did the cruellest thing imaginable, he consistently broke my heart.
The politics was dealt with - probably correctly, bearing in mind the overwhelmingly middle class-suburban background of the characters. At the height of the MIner's Strile, the only true supporter is the (slightly cliched) middle-class Marxist.The only representative of the miners themselves is a right-wing would-be-scab-if-he-had-the-nerve. It's not how I remember it - and for that reason, it's the lowest point in the book for me, but there are plenty of much stronger things here to outweigh the weaker bits.
The style is smooth, unremarkable, intense in detail - in an almost Dickensian way at times. It doesn't get in the way of the characters and their world. It's a world I know quite well. My family are from that side of Sheffield described so meticulously and the places - Broomhill, Sheffield City Library, the Rivelin Valley, Cole Brothers - so very well drawn this book was special to me in that respect above all others. You don't have to be from Sheffield to love this book, but it does help.
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