The siege of trenchers farm pdf download

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The Odyssey - Homer - "Wilson's language is fresh, unpretentious and lean It is rare to find a translation that is at once so effortlessly easy to read and so rigorously considered. Memories of an incident told them by their parents, a rapist brutally slain by a pack and never caught because no one talks, tells them what they have to do. The police are walking in from nine miles away, the phone lines have been cut, and George Magruder stands between an armed mob and his family.

I've never seen the movie, but a Wikipedia entry shows there were considerable changes, though the basic plot is there. The new film moves the location to Los Angeles. I was caught up in the action in this one. Jan 07, Chris Meigh rated it liked it Shelves: reviewed.

The Siege of Trenchers Farm, a very good book that inspired a great film. Though half the book was about two or three hours on Christmas in the village of Dando, Gordon Williams manages to make it exciting and extremely tense. The book is clearly written and I particularly liked the way the "locals" spoke in their own dialect.

The only criticism I have is that i found the end a little anti-climatic, but having said that I enjoyed reading the journey. Jan 19, Peter Ayscough rated it liked it. Probably most people that have an interest in this book will have been drawn to it by an interest in the films Straw Dogs which it inspired.

It's therefore probably worth establishing straight away that the films at least the first one - I haven't seen the remake divert from the book quite substantially. Some main differences note - some of the following might be considered spoilers are: - In the film as I recall , the village was the wife's childhood home. In the book this is not the case Probably most people that have an interest in this book will have been drawn to it by an interest in the films Straw Dogs which it inspired.

In the book this is not the case. She was from England, but not from this village. This is absent from the book. There are plenty of other differences, but I think you get the idea.

I don't generally read thrillers, so the experience of getting no sleep due to not being able to put a book down, was pretty new to me. I found it very engaging.

Secondly, its core concepts, in the context of present-day gender politics, seem embarrassingly archaic. So much so that I expect there will be readers who will be uncomfortable and possibly even angry, or maybe bemused by some of the old-fashioned attitudes that are pivotal to this book.

One of its central themes is that the wife does not respect the husband until he: A Discards his consistently patient and reasonable approach to her, and starts instead, exercising old-fashioned brute male power over her, and B Discards his faith in pacifism and intellectual rationality, and instead embraces his violent potential, to meet the violence that surrounds him.

As a male, born and raised during the time this novel was written, I personally felt quite self-conscious about the gut-level attraction I felt for it. It probably worked on my reptilian brain, or something. I related to the male protagonist and felt excitement with each new milestone he met on his personal journey from ineffectual egghead to supra-violent alpha male.

Yet at the end of the novel I had to reconcile my enjoyment of reading it with my overwhelming rejection of its thesis. The set of values that provide direction to my life are founded on the same reasonable, rational and pacific ideals our hero comes to eventually leave behind in the book.

And therein lies its strength: The novel is fundamentally about the dichotomy between reasoned approach and gut instinct. And if, having read it, you are compelled to question yourself along these lines; if you need to have a slightly uncomfortable dialogue with your own psyche and look into what it is that actually motivates you, then I think it can probably be said to have succeeded, at least on one level.

Apr 07, Robert Beveridge rated it liked it Shelves: finished , owned-and-gave-away. In true Peckinpah style, the source material was gutted, twisted, and ripped to shreds. The Siege at Trencher's Farm itself, while not exactly a model of stiff-upper-lip British reserve, is to Straw Dogs what Saving Private Ryan is to the sanitized war films of the fifties.

Williams gives us a bookish professor who's taken a year's sabbatical to the British countryside to finish the final draft of a book on a remarkably minor figure in British letters, a sabbatical that gives his English wife an opportunity to go home for a year and give the kid a chance to experience life outside the good old U. Through a series of misunderstandings, a coincidence or two, and a few very bad misreadings of the British class structure all of them, predictably, by the highborn , events bring us to the bookish professor needing to call on the primal side of his nature in order to defend home and family.

There's nothing surprising here, certainly not when the book is looked at in relation to the period in which it was written. However, it's a good read, a quick one, and with the exception of a grievous contemporaneous historical error Williams, writing in , tells us America pulled all its troops out of Vietnam that year!

Just don't go in expecting the Peckinpah version. View 1 comment. Sep 14, Amelia M. Since when is a civil society looked upon as a bad thing? Intriguing concepts of civility kept the wheel in my head turning like a hamster in a cage.

In contrast, the explicit aggression and hunger for violence that the townspeople have is jaw-dropping and eye-popping. In short, this is anything but a dull read. I thought it was really good. Good action sequences, very visceral and visual. Okay, so this book isn't for everyone. There is a lot of violence and cheating and aggression and uber-creepiness in it. HATED, with a passion, like they had called my momma fat, hated.

Even Alexander Skarsgard in all his glory could not save the modern remake. The only good thing in the entire movie was the siege at the end, and Mr. Even then, I pretty much just wanted to vomi Okay, so this book isn't for everyone.

Even then, I pretty much just wanted to vomit for most of the film, that's how much I disliked it. Then I found out it was re-make. Holy crap, I'm gonna watch that NOW!

It MUST be better! It was exactly the same. Such a waste of time. But one thing came out of it - I noticed in the credits that the screenplay was based on a little book called "The Siege of Trencher's Farm". So sick curiosity made me look it up, and it looked I loved the concept of the film, a siege, protecting a house, blah blah, so maybe with a couple tweaks, the book could be good? The book, to me, was completely different from the movie.

The ONLY similarities are the fact that a group of people converge on a house with the intent to break in and cause harm. I liked George. I hated his wife, but I could understand her feelings. Not once. All he ever did was make the horrible mistake of marrying her. She cheats on him, thinks ill of him, and then when the siege starts, she refuses to help, gets in his way, and in the end when he's perilously close to death, she's too "hysterical" to help.

Please, someone push her in a well, pronto. I really liked it a lot. If you don't mind being taken out of your comfort zone and you like a book that kinda wraps around your brain like a fog and creeps you out and makes you think about it long after it's done, whether in a bad way or a good way I'm not sure, then this book is for you.

Rating: 4. I haven't seen either movie yet, so I don't know how they compare to the novel. Young married couple George and Louise Magruder are considered outsiders when they rent an old farmhouse in a small English town for the winter. Just like your typical rednecks in any small southern U.

Events unfold that cause a standoff between the Magruders and the townsfolk, testing the individual strength of George as a husband, father, and man, as well as the bounds of George and Louise's marriage. Plenty of suspense and tension lead up to a good dose of action as the Magruders fight to protect their family and home.

Half a point subtracted for talk of killing animals - I always hate that!!! From civility to brutality — that is the backwards evolution of this book. And, instead of giving a feeling of recession, this change in character is portrayed as a means of progression. George is an educated man who believes in being rational.

Succumbing to brute force with people is animalistic in his eyes. Of course, whe From civility to brutality — that is the backwards evolution of this book. Beat or get beaten. The odd part is watching George and his family think more highly of themselves for reducing themselves to physical violence. Pride and admiration seem odd prizes for brutality, but really, what other choice is there when his home is under attack.

Jul 31, Daniel Polansky added it Shelves: fiction. An effeminate American professor and his shrewish, beautiful wife, find themselves besieged by inbred English peasants. The first three quarters are a razor-sharp dissection of the fears and anxieties which are the core of masculine self-id An effeminate American professor and his shrewish, beautiful wife, find themselves besieged by inbred English peasants.

The first three quarters are a razor-sharp dissection of the fears and anxieties which are the core of masculine self-identity, as well as being relentlessly plotted and bitterly funny. But the end wraps the thing up in so neat a package that one almost feels uncomfortable — of course, everyone dreams about saving their wives from rampaging savages — that there are, these days, so few savages or perhaps so many is one of the essential problems of modernity, how to excise masculine energy in a healthy rather than self-destructive fashion.

Then again, that might be asking a lot of an awfully slender text. Still, the it starts a lot stronger than it ends. Apr 12, Paula Day Johns rated it really liked it Shelves: thriller , books-to-movies. I was engrossed in this book from beginning to end.

A man is simply trying to finish a book, moves to England, his wife's home, and finds himself in the middle of a culture that is isolated with quirky folks, volitile twists, and a writer who finds himself and his family in a demanding situation! Book is excellent, movie was a winner! Copyright , original title, "The Siege of Trencher's Farm" In front, floorplans of the farmhouse.

Mar 01, MrsPyramidhead rated it it was amazing. This book was well written and fast paced once I got past the first few pages. The movie and book are quite a bit different but both are very good in there own way.

Definitely worth a read. I really enjoyed this story. Dec 30, Samantha rated it liked it. After watching the Straw Dogs, I knew I had to read this book.

In all honesty, it was a little disappointing. I knew it wouldn't be too much like the film, but I was expecting something I couldn't put down.

It was offensive or anything, it just wasn't realistic in the slightest. Don't get me wrong, I love British books - Georgia Nicholson is one of my favorite characters albeit that is YA writing and this book was in a different category.

George, the American husband, would frequently say British things, which wouldn't have been that annoying except that on occasion the author would try to make George sound more American by saying things like, "You guys are going to pay for this! Aside from the awful depiction of American language, the book got much more interesting towards the end. Although it is sexist, I did rather enjoy the part about Louise thinking George wasn't a real man until he slapped her.

I was glad he slapped her, she was getting really annoying! Karen sort of felt like an afterthought, but I think the author was pretty accurate in showing how George kept forgetting she and Niles were there - he was too hell-bent on protecting his domicile. I think the story in general was very plausible. One thing I liked compared to the film is that you actually get some background info on Niles his name is different in the film, Jeremy I think?

In the movie, he seemed like a random character that only served as an ignition for the siege or whatever you want to call it. In the book, however, you actually learn what happened to him, why he's a child molester, all that. He is also a complex character because the others feel both pity and disgust towards him. I like how the author made George into a guy protecting his home, not defending Niles. Truly, Niles is not a major part of the story.

George even mentions it a few times that he is simply pissed they're trying to force their way into his home uninvited, and no matter who Niles is George isn't letting those jerks inside. I like that, and I like that he doesn't just give Niles up. As the situation increases in intensity, George really does change. He gets more confident and he gets over his aversion to violence.

He really does turn into a man, those reviews are true. Both he and Louise become far less annoying and almost admirable as the story unfolds. So overall, I would say this is a good book. I didn't really get pulled in until the last thirty pages or so, but then again I wouldn't normally pick up this type of book.

I like the idea a lot and I think Gordon Williams is a good author - aside from George saying very British things or very butchered American things, it wasn't terribly obvious it was a British novel.

So I would say I liked it, but it wasn't really what I was expecting, which is why it gets three stars. Oct 01, Samantha Leighanne rated it liked it Shelves: reads , reviewed. American professor George Macgruder has traveled to England with his British wife and daughter in hopes of finding a quiet place to finish his book.

They rent an old house known as Trencher's Farm in a small village. It's the holiday season and in the middle of a snow storm on their way home, they accidentally hit a child killer who's escaped from a mental institution. Being the nice people that they are, they bring the man home and await the arrival of the police and a doctor. But a group of lo American professor George Macgruder has traveled to England with his British wife and daughter in hopes of finding a quiet place to finish his book.

But a group of locals learns that they're holding the killer and a chain of events begins to unfold that will leave George fighting for his life as well as that of his family. This chronicles a man who is in the fight of his life, for both his own life and his wife and daughters.

And it was just It was fantastic and it wasn't horrible either. You spend the first half of the book leading up to the accident, then everything after that goes downhill. Louise, George's wife, is pretty much a giant bitch. This book is as much about their relationship as it is about these crazy things that are happening. Louise feels like she's been taking care of George for years and now she has all sorts of resentment towards him and even their daughter.

There were some transitions in this that I really hated. One minute you're in the Macgruder home and you're with Lousie and Karen, and the next paragraph you're in the local pub. Normally, there will be an elongated space or a little marker, showing a change is perspective and there wasn't anything like that, so there were moments of super confusion. But, it was pretty suspenseful.

There were moments where you really wondered if George would do anything to defend his family or if he would let them all get killed. Then you are wondering what the hell the crazy people are going to do next, so that made the suspense worth it. Like I said, this book was okay. If you like suspense, then you should give this book a shot. I can't compare it to the movie, so if that's what you were hoping for, sorry.

If I had a hard copy of this book, I'd swap it, or sell it to a used bookstore. Sep 30, Jonathan Sturak rated it really liked it. He believes in the advancement of mankind, using debate and discussion to address problems. George is an American. He married a Brit named Louise and together they have a young impressionable daughter.

The Magruder family has been living in Louise's country for several months as George works on a research paper. As George, the civilized outsider, complains to his wife about the uncivilized village surrounding him, a storm begins brewing. George is about to clash with a group of locals who wants to bury him and his family along with the other secrets plaguing this backwater village. During a series of bizarre mishaps, George finds himself harboring a legally insane pedophile as a group of hostile men, under the influence of not only alcohol, but years of repression, attempts to breach his house.

George has the simple yet very powerful objective of protecting his home and his family. The last half of the book plays out in near real-time. It's literary genius to see George transform right in front of your eyes. He becomes a "man," at least in his wife's eyes, and uses his book smarts to defend, and ultimately attack, these intruders. Every man has his breaking point and Mr.

If you enjoy action and becoming immersed into the details of an elaborate plot, then you must read this classic. Two films have spawned from Mr. Williams' words. Read it! Finally found a copy of this book to solve the mystery of the title "Straw Dogs" after all these years. And of course, this phrase is never mentioned in the text! In the Peckinpah movie, it was the baffling tagline on the poster, "In the eyes of every coward burns a straw dog," while in the remake, David talks about "an ancient Chinese ritual where 'straw dogs' were treated with reverence until they were no longer needed and tossed aside.

Bit of a stretch, but it did help make sense of how a former coach rather than a former soldier leads the assault on the hero's house in that remake. Anyhow, it didn't solve the mystery of the title which a Google search could probably do in seconds , but how was the book that inspired decades of manly home invasion movies?

Not a complete waste of time, but not as rowdy or ferocious as Gordon Williams' other books like the sordid page-turner The Last Day of Lincoln Charles , for example. But the book doesn't ponder this much at all.

Peckinpah obviously disagreed. So, essentially, in this novel, George simply reacts in mostly reasonable ways to what the world throws at him, and there's less to really solve about his character. Also, the inclusion of a daughter here something the films jettisoned for obvious reasons makes it more about saving a family than a marriage, which makes the big siege of the house a full final third of the book much more straightforward but far less messy.

Feb 16, Andrew Scarpati rated it it was amazing. Fun read that is breakneck in speed.