Akenfield: Portrait of an English Village

The author takes you deep into village life in England in the 1960s. He’s insightful, respectful, diligent, even humorous. I learned so much from his descriptions of the people he encountered and well as the work they did.

Ronald Blythe, the describer and recorder of these village voices, from 1967-1969 in Akenfield likens it to "making a strange journey to a familiar land" since he himself is a native of Suffolk in East Anglia. It is a captivating book which, if it has a message, might well be "Anthropology begins at home." Here is testament that one needn't travel to Sumatra or New Guinea or some such place to discover foreign attitudes, outlandish practices or fascinating rites. Simply take a stroll down the street on which you live and get people to talk, to express themselves, which is not an easy thing, wherever one goes.I think for this review, I'll simply follow Blythe's example and let the people do the talking:Poet:"Although you may not be capable of loving your neighbour as yourself, you can at least know him as well as you know yourself."Resettled Scotsman:"The big skies leave the East Anglians empty. The skies are nothing. The horizons are too wide. There is nothing for a man to measure himself by here."Schoolmaster:"Perhaps I'm too contented. Perhaps I lack a demon. Life just charms me - how daft can you get? I worry about this."These are but random snippets. But, suffice it to say, once you are carried along through this book, you'll emerge from it suffused with a deep, instinctual feeling of knowing a place and its people as they existed 46-48 years ago, as of this review. It's a grand achievement, this book.

Interesting, authentic (oral history), I especially appreciated the way some of the craftsmen and agriculturists describe what they do and how they do it, it's admirable and enviable at the same time. They practice karma yoga without thinking of it, they reach contentment through what they do. Pride on what they can do and humbleness are well balanced in them. They have strong feeling of belonging and of having control over their lives. The rhythm of their work is wonderful.

amazing insight into the revolutionary changes afoot in rural Britain in late 1960's where the cultural/sexual/industrial/popular shifts were slow to bite and devastating in the shades/effects of change they wrought. Truly fascinating first-person lucid and tangible stories across all classes. A MUST for anyone seeking revelation about what the WW2 generation thought of the 'yoof' of the 1960's, and vice-versa. A BBC movie was made in the 1960's and has recently been digitally restored by the British Film Institute. The book is BOUND to be waaay better and more details. You can literally taste these people's lives from the pages.

A masterpiece of oral history. The text creates Akenfield reality for the reader in a unique and compelling way.

Great book

An absolutely charming read, written in the words (except no doubt for some editorial shaping) of English villagers nearing the end of an era (actually the 19th century). I enjoyed the follow-up 2006 book, "Return to Akenfield," just as much.

I thought myself well read and then I found this book and it’s been out for years and I wondered where I’ve been that I’ve never heard of such a wonderment. Especially the last chapter.

I like books like this one -- it gives you an accurate picture of a world completely different from your own from the perspective of the people who actually live in the village. I found it quite captivating.

If you want to know why people didn't leave the dark satanic mills and go back to the land, read this.

I was delighted to find this Folio Society edition of Ronald Blythe’s classic word picture of a Suffolk village in the 50s. A second hand copy in superb condition - a great addition to my library.

Il libro e' eccezionale come testimonianza di un'epoca ormai terminata da diversi decenni. Attraverso i colloqui con gli abitanti del villaggio, scopriamo la vita di un paese. Lo scrittore e' molto perspicace nelle valutazioni dei personaggi e attraverso i loro racconti vediamo ancora la vita di quasi un secolo fa. Eccezionale.

The collection of memoirs presented by Ronald Blythe gives a fascinating and extremely balanced insight into rural life in Suffolk [ and for that matter doubtless anywhere else in the English countryside ] in times gone bye. As someone who relatively recently retired to the country from suburban Sutton it made me appreciate all the more the stories of village life I used to hear so many years ago from and about my Norfolk grandparents and uncles and aunts. There are countless books on the poverty and struggle and hardships endured during the industrial revolution and life in the slums of London. But as this points out only too well everything was not a bed of roses for country folk either. A thorougly recommended read