Two counter-culture friends, bonded together through their art and quirks of personality, undergo an ambitious project of crop circles in ‘89, near London, attempting to outdo anything before constructed.

It’s a quiet, odd kind of story. Their relationship is very endearing. Neither militant or full-on hippies, but more concerned with what the book feels to be attempting to convey: Anyone with a radical idea can add another layer of mythos to culture. In this case in a very literal sense, as they use the land in a harmless way to produce art that hopefully entices people to question the nature of their society, and what they think they know about the world. Hoping to unconventionally and originally revolutionary, leaving an indelible mark.

Of course, I was a child at that time and I know very well, drop circles. We know that these two people constructing what was often said to be impossible, did leave a mark. But it’s also fiction, of course. But an interesting thought in relation to what crop circles beg to ask of the viewer. There’s some fun meta context reading this now, and I’m sure in the future.

This won’t be for everyone though. The prose are gorgeous. Sense of place, then natural world superbly well rendered. There’s no real plot other than the two working up to their final, grand design. The “conflicts” they encounter aren’t really that, and exactly what you’d expect. The ending does his a good note. But it certainly isn’t interested in telling anything other than a humble story of two humble people, stepped on by the government, fighting back in an unusual way. I could see some people saying it’s a book where nothing really happens, no plot, all those things. But plenty happens, it’s just not a conventional story. But not did it blow me away with its unconventionality, either. It’s a solid piece of writing that deserves to be consumed. No more, no less.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the e-arc.