Are you in the mood for a book that will whisk you away from 21st century troubles? Our April selection is the heart-warming modern classic, All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot, which recounts Herriot’s days as a veterinarian in rural England in the 1930’s. His stories about his practice, his co-workers and the people of Yorkshire are both funny and moving, and the book has sold over 60 million copies since its publication in 1972.
The original New York Times review described Herriot as a natural storyteller with an uncanny ability to remind readers "what a satisfying thing ordinary life can be.”
“If there is any justice, All Creatures Great and Small will become a classic of its kind . . . With seemingly effortless art, this man tells his stories with perfect timing and optimum scale. Many more famous authors could work for a lifetime and not achieve more flawless literary control.” ―Chicago Tribune Book World
“Herriot charms because he delights in life, embraces it with sensitivity and gust, and writes with grace.” ―The New York Times Book Review
Ooh, I’ve never been in a Book Club thread but I’ve read that one (the whole series) several times since middle school. Most recently a year ago, when the new PBS series came out.
The library sent me a notice—Herroit’s biography (written by son Jim Wight) is on reserve for me, so I will go and pick it up and read it as it may add more insights to the book for April.
For longtime book club people … you may be especially intrigued by the Sunday New York Times crossword (March 6). I won’t say more so as not to spoil your fun!
Halfway through the biography and thoroughly enjoying it, including some laugh out loud moments I really appreciate. The original vet sounds like someone who would have been wonderful to have known.
Sadly YouTube removed sone of the Herriot videos due to copyright. Happily, our public library has the videodisks with the original actors, including Timothy Christopher as James, so I’m reserving them and hope they’re soon available. It’s a mere $1 for a week rental.
There is another biography, “James Herriot: The Life of a Country” by Graham Lord that was written before Jim Wight’s book. In fact Wight references it a few times in his book.
Lord was a reviewer for London’s Sunday Express and his laudatory review of an early Herriot book has been credited for launching Herriot’s career. Lord enjoyed a warm relationship with Herriot until Herriot’s passing. After seeing this thread I got both books from the library. Lord’s book has a somewhat different take than Jim Wight’s book, with more attention to Herriot’s childhood and early years. In Lord’s book the relationship between Herriot and Siegried is depicted as more strained. Wight of course has more insight into life in the family, Lord more about Herriot and the publishing world.
I found the two books to be complements and learned more about someone who is still one of my favorite authors. If I was going to read only one it would be Wight’s book.
Thanks for bringing Lord’s book to my attention. I may try to find it but have my hands full with Heriott’s other books & 2 videodiscs, so it may be awhile.
It’s April 1st! Welcome to our discussion of All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot. This was a re-read for me after about a 40 year interim. I was surprised at how much I remembered as the stories unfolded. I thought it held up well — so much has changed in the world since 1937, yet in certain ways, people (their love of family [and animals], their humor, woes, joys) are very much the same. Since Herriot wrote the book in 1972, it has a more modern sensibility — meaning that I think there might have been more sexism, classicism, etc. if actually written in the 1930’s.
Some questions to muse, if desired:
Discussion Questions
In chapter 1 of this narrative, a sarcastic and derogatory character known only as Uncle tells the typically hard at work Herriot: “You can ‘ave your book learning. Give me experience every time” (p. 4). Discuss this remark as a key theme of All Creatures Great and Small. Do all of the small farmers and countrymen in this book feel as Uncle does? What about Herriot himself—how do you think he would finally answer the debate about knowledge vs. experience?
Revisit the end of chapter 7, where Herriot compares (as he does at other points in his book) working in the city with working in the country. Shortly thereafter, at the beginning of chapter 8, he likens looking out over the Yorkshire countryside to “taking time out of life” (p. 51). What does he mean by this?
“I often wondered what drove him on,” writes Herriot of Siegfried Farnon (p. 51). Many pages later, Herriot refers to him as “my gifted but mercurial boss” (p. 216). What do you think drives or motivates him? Why do you think he’s so “mercurial”?
In chapter 19, remembering how he watched a batch of newborn piglets gather around their mother, Herriot writes: “I couldn’t say how long I had been standing there looking at the wonder that never grew stale” (p. 116). Make a list of other such moments—moments defined by wonder—that you recall from these pages. Discuss the relationship between this timeless “wonder” and the book’s broader universality (as in, its widely appealing and ever-applicable story).
More than once in this book, we as readers encounter a character who loves animals, takes care of animals, cherishes animals, is committed to saving animals, and is also fond of eating those same animals. This even applies to Herriot himself, and to Siegfried. Is this contradictory to you? Why or why not?
“The calf felt no pain now that the broken ends of the bone were immobilized,” writes Herriot in chapter 40, “and the fear which always demoralizes a hurt animal had magically vanished” (p. 246). Is it fair to say, regarding the pain and fear that animals experience, that whenever a vet treats one, he or she is automatically treating the other as well? Is this duality also true among doctors and human patients?
Later in chapter 43, Miss Stubbs—who’s on her deathbed, and who owns several beloved pets— asks Herriot if he thinks that animals have souls. How does he answer her? Is he telling her what he really believes, or is he telling a dying woman what he thinks she wants to hear?
The wealthy and reclusive John Skipton enlists Herriot’s help in chapter 45. Skipton has a pair of old horses who are both ailing; one is thirty, and the other is a year or two younger. He says of his horses: “They were two slaves when I was a slave” (p. 282). What does he mean here? Why is he taking such devoted care of two very old horses?
Look again at the beginning of chapter 55, where Herriot talks about how money “has always formed a barrier between the farmer and the vet” (p. 346). Why are farmers, in Herriot’s experience, often reluctant to pay their veterinary bills? Why does he state that “the veterinary surgeon [now] stands pitilessly exposed as the only man who has to be paid?”
“You don’t find people like the Bramleys now,” writes Herriot of a certain family (p. 375). Describe this family, and explain why the author thinks that such “simple people” are no longer to be found nowadays. Also, discuss the fact that—for a book primarily about farm animals and their treatment— this text is actually filled with memorable human beings. Did this strike you, as a reader, as odd? Ironic? Surprising? Necessary? All of the above, or none?
“I often wondered what drove him on,” writes Herriot of Siegfried Farnon (p. 51). Many pages later, Herriot refers to him as “my gifted but mercurial boss” (p. 216). What do you think drives or motivates him? Why do you think he’s so “mercurial”?
Siegfried drove me just a little nuts. His habit of denying or distorting previous conversations was infuriating, although I know I should have just been laughing because I think a large part of his behavior was written for comic relief. Siegfried’s real-life counterpart, Donald Sinclair, wasn’t too pleased with his portrayal (“a test of our friendship”), but from what I’ve read, it was pretty true to life. Sinclair was married for 53 years and he and his wife Audrey had two children; I wonder why Herriot made him a bachelor. I was sad to read that Sinclair committed suicide in 1995 (at age 84), shortly after the death of his wife and the real-life James, Alf Wright.
As for the Siegfried of the book, maybe being “mercurial” was a reflection of some frustration with the bucolic country life that James found so wondrous. I don’t remember Siegfried ever waxing poetic about the fields and sky and open air the way James did. Siegfried might have been happier as a racehorse vet in the city (where his “mother” lived ).
I had thought I’d enjoy this romp through the past as I vividly remembered the first chapter and vaguely remembering the rest of the book. Well I felt like we read the first chapter over and over again. Vet responds to call. Colorful locals know a better way, but the vet saves the day. Everyone has tea, or beer or sausages. Rinse and repeat.
These chapters were interspersed with chapters involving Siegfried and Tristan both of whom I despised. The misogyny, the occasional veiled homophobia, and general unpleasantness. Ugh. This was supposed to be a heartwarming book?
Thankfully the second half picked up. The rural characters became more interesting and we saw considerably less of the Siegfried and Tristan.
I really wanted to like this book but I found it a chore/bore to read. Goes down as one of my least favorite books I’ve read in a very long time.
I agree that Siegfried and Tristan were completely unlikeable and other than Mrs. Stubbs and her beloved little dogs, I felt no emotional connection to, or interest in, anyone in the book, including Herriot.
I had to go away and come back before it jumped out.
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