Tarka the Otter

ChrisJB · #1 (**permalink**) 30-09-2009, 09:07 PM

Has anyone read this? I've just finished it and found it a beautifully written book, but what a desperately sad ending (I knew it didn't look good when it was written on the title page: 'His Joyful Water-Life and Death in the Two Rivers'). The final chase was just so vivid, yet to me horrific. I just kept thinking of those words, 'joyful water-life and death' and the cruelty of his pursuers. I ended up reading the last few pages over and over again to get my head round it.
I doff my flat-cap to Henry Williamson. His style and descriptions are first class.

Regards, Chris

Kleftiwallah · #2 (**permalink**) 30-09-2009, 09:12 PM

Have you heard of the new addition to the menu down the local Indian?

Chicken tarka masala. Just like chicken tika masala.....just a little otter!

I'll get me coat...... Cheers, Tony.

ChrisJB · #3 (**permalink**) 30-09-2009, 09:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kleftiwallah

Have you heard of the new addition to the menu down the local Indian?

Chicken tarka masala. Just like chicken tika masala.....just a little otter!

I'll get me coat...... Cheers, Tony.

Heard it, but still a good un!

Regards, Chris

UB4 gardener · #4 (**permalink**) 30-09-2009, 09:30 PM

I read this book over 30 years ago. still call herons "old nog"to this day. fantastic book and hopefully walking some of the Tarka Trail in a couple of weeks.

Chris

loripo · #5 (**permalink**) 30-09-2009, 09:31 PM

Yes thats a wonderfull book , years since I read it though. Have you read Gavin Maxwell's book about his keeping otters? Ring of Bright Water is actually a great read, so is the following The Rocks Remain. No happy ending though - only in Disneyland it seems...

Hedgehoggy · #6 (**permalink**) 30-09-2009, 11:15 PM

Yes, me too. I read Tarka many years ago during my school years and it made me cry!

. As did Barry Hines's a 'Kestrel for a Knave' (Kes) and Joy Adamson's 'Born Free', both of which I read around the same time as Tarka.

loripo · #7 (**permalink**) 01-10-2009, 08:28 AM

Henry Williamson also wrote 'Salar the Salmon' - have pinched the blurb from a review:
In Henry Williamson's great nature story, Salar is a five-year-old salmon returning to the stream of his birth. He faces great dangers--cruising lampreys, poachers with their cruel nets and spears, sharp-eyed otters, cascading falls--all between Salar and his goal in the spawning sands.
must still be available as a classic.

Susie · #8 (**permalink**) 02-10-2009, 08:23 PM

Read that (Tarka the Otter) so many years ago I can't remember how many.

Has anyone on here read Duncton Wood? It was about moles and was probably out about 20 years ago now. I am sure there was about badgers too, can't remember what that was called.

volence · #9 (**permalink**) 03-10-2009, 01:34 PM

I have read a couple of the duncton wood books but i prefer the redwall series myself. And the classic watership down, i used to read it over and over and have gone through so many second hand copies

loripo · #10 (**permalink**) 03-10-2009, 04:53 PM

Dare I mention 'the Wind in the Willows' - I know it's anthropomorphic (need a spell checker), but I nearly sold my soul at a school jumble sale for a copy of that when I was eleven

The other most favourite read is 'The Log from the Sea of Cortez' by John Steinbeck. Its based on his travels to collect marine samples with a scientist friend. Talks about the influence of the moon on sealife and lots of other fascinating bits. The quote I always remember is 'and so on and on to the shore, and to the point where the last wave, if you think from the sea, and the first if you think from the shore, touches and breaks. And it is important where you are thinking from'