Something is not right with George the shepherd. His sheep have gathered around him outside the cozy Irish village of Glennkill to assess the situation. George has cared for the sheep, reading them books every night, and now he lies pinned to the ground with a spade. His flock, far savvier about the workings of the human mind than your average sheep, sets out to find George’s killer, led by Miss Maple, the smartest sheep in Glennkill (and possibly the world).
Her team of investigators includes Othello, who was rescued from the Dublin Zoo; Mopple the Whale, who is always hungry and remembers everything; and Zora, an existential ewe—just to name a few. Together, the sheep discuss the crime late into the night, and their speculations vary wildly. Determined to unravel the mystery, they embark on furtive missions into the village, where they encounter a hoof-full of two-legged suspects. There’s Ham, the terrifying butcher who smells of death; Rebecca, the secretive village newcomer; and Father Will, a sinister priest the sheep call God.
With wit and heart, this clever international bestseller is a mystery to chew on—and savor.
Now a major motion picture with Hugh Jackman
The trailer to the movie got me first interested. Then I absolutely loved the movie and started telling everyone about it. Eventually, I discovered that the movie is based on a book and suggested that one for our book club. With the idea of watching the adaptation afterwards, people were quickly in for it. While and after reading the book, I am realizing though that there are not that many similarities but four the main characters. And as sad as it is to say that, I definitley prefered the movie as it streamlined the story better and also didn’t have such an unsatisfying ending.
The Sheep Detectives
The book brings a lot of humor with it as our main perspectives are through the eyes of some of the sheep. Sometimes, our perspective changes though and we are thrown into the head of some of the humans involved in the death of George Glen. While listening to the audio book, these transitions were not always clear to me and generally confused me quite a lot. That’s certainly a benefit of the movie.
Crime but with a dissatisfying ending
I loved the humor we got through our sheep being not acquainted with human metaphors but trying to decipher people’s talking and motifs. I really had a great time with their dialogues and them trying to make sense of the crime that happened. Nonetheless, I found the crime itself to be resolved quite disappointingly. Maybe here I was too comparative with the movie, which brought in more interesting characters and used them cleverly, but in the end of the book, I felt let down… And that is on top of some moments that seemed to drag on and confused me sometimes.
In conclusion,
I was unfortunately not as taken by the book as I was with the movie, which us vaguely based on Leonie Swann’s original, I’d say. I was excited at first but my enthusiasm wore out after half of the book and left me quite annoyed and disappointed with the end. Which doesn’t mean there weren’t some great and hunorous parts in between!
The Author:
Leonie Swann earned degrees in philosophy, psychology, and communications from Munich University and has worked in journalism and public relations. Currently working on her doctorate in English literature, she lives in Berlin. Source