Sweetland

By: Michael Crummey

Narrated by: John Lee

The scarcely populated town of Sweetland rests on the shore of a remote Canadian island. Its slow decline finally reaches a head when the mainland government offers each islander a generous resettlement package - the sole stipulation being that everyone must leave. Fierce and enigmatic Moses Sweetland, whose ancestors founded the village, is the only one to refuse. As he watches his neighbors abandon the island, he recalls the town's rugged history and its eccentric cast of characters. Evoking The Shipping News, Michael Crummey - one of Canada's finest novelists - conjures up the mythical, sublime world of Sweetland's past amid a storm-battered landscape haunted by local lore. As in his critically acclaimed novel Galore, Crummey masterfully weaves together past and present, creating in Sweetland a spectacular portrait of one man's battle to survive as his environment vanishes around him.

©2015 Original material, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. (P)2015 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Critic reviews

"Crummey lovingly carves out the privation and inner intricacies that mark his characters' lives with folkloric embellishments and the precision of the finest scrimshaw." (Publishers Weekly)

"Narrator John Lee's deep voice and rhythmic intonation are perfect for this beautiful novel.... Sweetland is a spectacular meld of story and performance." (AudioFile)

What I would pay to have Gordon Pinsent narrate...

Great story - enjoyed it - lovely imagery and captured the spirit of deep bay Newfoundland very well. But as I sit here in St. John's, sitting in Tim Hortons, writing this review - how much of a great audibook this would have been if Gordon Pinsent, Andy Jones or someone who can pronounce by's, Burin, and even Newfoundland correctly had narrated it. They lost a character in the narration...but good story nonetheless!

4.5

Weak ending is what gave this audible book a 4.5 rating. Narrator was excellent for this story.

Wonderful Book But.....

I only wish the narrator had been a Newfoundlander. This narrator tried to sound like a Newfoundlander but failed miserably

Excellent story but...

Would you listen to Sweetland again? Why?

I lived in this area for a few years and grew up close by so I recognized the language, the mindset and am familiar with the gov't's efforts to move these isolated villages to the mainland. Crummy captures all of this very well. I was transfixed by this story of one man being left behind and the slow, meaningful unraveling of his life story.

What other book might you compare Sweetland to and why?

The Shipping News, by Annie Proulx, offers another view of small town Newfoundland and the very unique characters such a place produces.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

I usually enjoy David Lee's narration but he was the wrong choice for this book. Why use a British narrator when there are so many very capable one's from Newfoundland? Most actors from eastern Canada can also do a great imitation of this singsong, lyrical accent.The Newfoundland accent is truly delightful and is a major character of this story. Mr. Lee doesn't even pronounce "Newfoundland" like a local and many of other things were pronounced so wrong that I had to play them over and over before it dawned on me what he was saying. Truly a missed opportunity by the producer of this audio book.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

The story was engrossing but the narration was distracting.

Any additional comments?

I wish I had read this book, because I would've heard the accent correctly in my head. Listening to this version was distracting because the diction was so off.

A Beautiful Downer of a Book

Any additional comments?

I can’t deny the skill of this, but it is unrelentingly depressing. Moses Sweetland is the last holdout as the Canadian government wants to offer a collective resettlement package to the residents of a small and dying island community. As he confronts the inexorable fact of his situation, he explores old grudges, disappointments and disasters. The place is rich in history, but it’s a small, local history. And Moses, the keeper of those memories (almost literally so since he was the longtime lighthouse keeper) has almost no one to leave them to.

I couldn’t have chosen a more affecting time to read this, since I got to a big chunk of it on a return to my hometown for a visit to my dementia-suffering mother. It was too easy to see the town of Sweetland as a reflection of my own town, where the only friends I have left are in their late 80s and the only stories we have are the old ones. I felt my own home slipping away, and reading this was an echo of that feeling.

This novel holds up pretty well throughout, sustaining its difficult story and sustaining its depressing valedictory tone. But it is one awful moment after another, all woven together in a manner that reflects the nets many of the island’s fishermen once used. Moses is a stubborn and compelling figure, but his grudging love for a great-nephew afflicted with Asperger’s Syndrome is quietly beautiful.

I’ll caution that this gradually comes to rely on an unreliable narrator. That gets confusing, and sometimes frustrating, but it does feel right since, as Moses’s situation disintegrates, so does much of his capacity to keep his own mind together.

I admire this more than I can recommend it. Reading it did bring the gift of seeing my old home town in the light of its own sunset, but know going in that it’s a beautiful downer of a book.

Worst. Reader. Ever.

If you're going to read a novel set in Newfoundland, at LEAST learn how to pronounce the province. My God, how annoying and insulting!

A wonderful, enveloping story

I loved this book so much that I read the Kindle version in a day, and then listened to the audiobook (beautifully narrated by John Lee).

Sweetland is the story of Moses Sweetland, who's lived on Sweetland Island all his life and resists governmental pressure to leave (the government wants to move island residents to the Newfoundland mainland). As we get to know Sweetland, we learn that he's generally a good guy who helps his neighbors and has a good heart. He's happy with his life and circumstances, and unwilling to easily give up his life on the island. The story comes into its own at the point when most island residents permanently depart for the mainland...

Without giving away too much, I was rooting for Sweetland -- the man and the island. This was a compelling and completely enveloping read. This is a wonderful story, regardless of format. However, highly recommend the audible version for John Lee's wonderful narration.

Great as a bedtime listen

The narrator is really phenomenal and captures the accent of these northern Canadians. Book is well written and I’m sure is very indicative of the life in Newfoundland. However, Not much happens here and it was way too slow for my taste.

Narrator Mispronounces Basic Newfoundland Words

The narration is dismal. No, beyond dismal. The narrator took an almost okay book and butchered it. His demeanor, accent, pronunciation and style are the least Newfoundland things on earth...in a book about Newfoundland. For anyone who knows what the Newfoundland accent and pronunciation sounds like, this book is one giant annoyance.

There is such a gentleness and kindness to Newfoundlanders and this is not captured at all in this book. It was too heavy handed, too dark and did not even begin to capture the Newfoundland I know and love. It completely missed the target in so many critical ways. Skip it and read the incredible, best-book-I-ever-read Our Homesick Songs or even Shipping News. If Homesick Songs was a 100 on a scale of 1 to 100, this book is a -30 because you will feel so depressed reading it. Nothing positive or good or okay ever happens. Unless you have a problem being too joyful, this book is a long ride to the bottom of a giant emotional sinkhole.

I never write reviews. Something really has to suck to get me to take the time. This downer of a book with a giant downer of a narrator wins my 2021 Sucks Enough to Review Award.

Frustration for me

I am having a lot of difficulty with this book- not with the book itself but the narrator.
The narrative part is okay but having the Newfoundland dialect spoken with an upper class British is atrocious to this Newfoundlander. Worse yet is the incorrect pronunciation of "Newfoundland "and several town place names. It would be much better to have someone like Gordon Pinsent do the narration