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This book following on from Dublin by the same author, beginning in 1597 and going right through until the twentieth century. Much like the last book, this one is centred in Dublin but also includes other parts of Ireland. It is in this sector of Irish history that we see the devastation wrought by Oliver Cromwell in the 1600s in his attempt to convert the Irish to Protestantism. Following on from this, the difficulties in attempting to build a representative parliament and the block-outs of those who followed Catholicism. Moreover, and perhaps more famously the potato famine of the 1800s started by a blight and later leading to mass starvation. Perhaps surprisingly this famine ended not when health was restored, but when England decided it had had enough and told everyone the famine had ended when it had not.
More so than the last book, I found many of the characters in this book entertaining and interesting. Fortunatus, for example of the Walsh family, who was brought up a Protestant unlike the rest of his family and who trains as a doctor rising up to become gentry. Georgiana was also surprising as a strong female character, who eventually is estranged from her son when he forsakes his family. There are several more strong characters which keep the book moving along well.
I think the sequel was definitely an improvement on the first book. It was fairly consistent throughout as none of the periods of history it covered were uncertain ones from a historical perspective. It also links into the context of wider Ireland as well as Dublin which helps move the story along.
Again I would recommend this, but make sure to read Dublin first. Chock full of historical facts and interesting asides, these are both decent books
This is the first in a series of books lent to me by a friend. The subject matter of all these books is a place, rather than a person. Many people come and go throughout centuries and although some of the characters are fairly well-developed, it is the place you get to know, rather than any character in particular.
It is obvious a large amount of research went into this book, which details the history of Dublin up until 1550. In this vein, it is largely inconsistent. Obviously, there are large amounts of research on certain periods of history, while others remain uncertain. Because of this, the beginning of this book in hunter-gatherer periods drifts a fair bit, as there is very little Rutherford can be sure actually happened. For this reason, he uses a lot of fairly descriptive language, which is scant in other parts of the book.
In all respects, this book and all those that follow it is chock-full of interesting historical information and Rutherford provides interesting commentary as to the sureness of this information in history books. Moreover, knowing the setting of these happenings well, as you get to throughout the book, assists the reader in understanding and placing events within context. As someone with an interest in Ireland generally, it made for an incredibly interesting read.
It's difficult to put a rating on this book. A lot of things about it could be improved. That said, it is an amazing book in that it contains such a large amount of information in a fairly interesting and acceptable manner. If you have any sort of interest in history or Ireland, it is an incredible book.
This was a recent purchase because
1) I love the Irish and
2) I had never read anything by Roddy Doyle before.
This book more or less encompasses what it is to be a boy in the setting. The beginning of the book is written in a style quite similar to stream-of-conciousness and it takes us through Paddy's early exploits and introduces us to his family, specifically in the earlier years, his brother Sinbad who tags along on his adventures and appears to cramp his style. While it seems at the beginning that Paddy is just an ordinary boy, the book expands on his realities and relationships and the family atmosphere he is surrounded by serves as a central part of the story.
Paddy becomes an interesting character for the reader early on in the book. His thoughts on mundane daily activities are exposed to the reader and are continually changing through his childhood. The relationship between his parents gets worse and worse and eventually Paddy takes his parents' problems into himself. He starts to see Sinbad as a fellow listener, but when Sinbad doesn't wish to be involved, his actions towards his brother become abusive perhaps reflecting what he is seeing in his parents.
The writing in the book is flawless, the Gaelic phrases throughout intensified my wish to learn it (but damn it's so hard to pronounce anything). The continued events throughout the book and the slow disintegration of Paddy's family acts as a constant backdrop and shapes the events and his behaviour throughout the book. Not much more can be said without going too deeply into the plot.
A Booker Prize winner, this book is well worth a read.
I first read this book when I was about 15. At the time I was enthralled and amazed by it and Joyce's ability to create characters that were readable if not likeable and to summarily use almost every form of prose imaginable successfully. A second read of the copy I bought second-hand was no disappointment, expect that I perhaps found it more of a marathon to get through. I began this book in 2009 and finished it in 2010 which seems fitting for what has been called one of the most difficult books to read in the English language.
The book centres around a man called Leopold Bloom. It almost becomes a necessity to like Mr. Bloom from the start or at least be interested in him. His life on this day is intertwined with Stephen Dedalus' who he comes into contact with and corresponds with throughout the book. The book follows him over a day walking around Dublin encountering life, death and many things in between. Joyce manages to symbolically fit in aspects of Ireland at the time the book is set as well as an intricate character. Joyce has a gift of translating thoughts, sounds and visions into words so intricate that they are capable of creating a vivid imagination in the reader's mind.
If you are looking for a book with a plot and suspense; don't read this book. Despite being to me and to many others such a dazzling display of literature; it is also about an unexciting day in the life of a fairly ordinary man and readers have to be able to grasp the ideas and to read between the lines to fully appreciate what is being put across. Almost the entire book is written in a stream-of-conciousness style making it often difficult to follow and towards the end of the book it becomes a play, a set of questions and answers and finally a continual stream of thought of Mr Bloom's wife, Molly.
It's impossible to fit my thoughts about this book into a short review. It is readable, far less so than his other books but definitely possible. It is intricate and often difficult to follow and I would not advise reading it while you are tired. The time it took me to read the book this time was by no means a waste, however. Joyce is amazing, this book is amazing and I would love to study it in more depth when I have a spare year or two.
This is an astonishing memoir of growing up in Catholic Ireland. I read this at about age 12 and loved it all through high school and decided it had been a good couple of years since I had read it so read it again.
The novel starts off with a four year old Frankie in the USA, and he tells the story of his very young years. His mother comes to the USA for a new life, before meeting Frank's father Malachy and Frank is born only a few months after his parents' marriage rendering him a bastard. The family moves to Ireland when Frank's little sister dies as just a baby. They travel through Dublin, visiting Malachy's family and end up in Limerick. The next part of the story chronicles growing up with an alcoholic father and surviving with not enough money for food and relying on grants from various Christian foundations and 'the dole' as well as living assistance where possible and IOUs from the grocery store down the road. The thing that makes this memoir so heartbreaking is that it is written from the perspective of his young self. Frankie tries to model himself on the masculine figure his father never was and is constantly under the watchful eye of his Catholic God and spends a lot of time in confession. He finds himself rejected from local high schools because of the family's low social status, rejected from being an altar boy despite knowing the Latin phrases back to front. His family are at constant threat from "the typhoid", "the galloping consumption" and other illnesses which are not made less likely when the family moves next to a sole lavatory in a street where sewage is emptied from the other houses in the lane daily.
The book continues as Frankie struggles as a 13 year-old to make a life for himself, with the over and above goal of leaving Ireland for the USA, he makes his living firstly as a telegram boy and then as a magazine deliverer. An especially amusing part of the book is when one of the magazines they deliver accidentally has a page advertising contraception, Frankie is made to rip out the pages of the magazines where they have been delivered, not having a clue what contraception is and sells these scandalous pages for a profit.
The Irish lilt is noticed throughout and this is something that draws the reader even more into Frankie's life and his dedication to becoming something different than his upbringing would have him believe. His father's Dublin accent is scorned throughout by the other families in the area. McCourt truly had (he died recently) a great gift for writing and for displaying events as they happened in his mind at the time which is something a lot of memoirs struggle with. This remains on my list of favourite books. I highly recommend it.
Maybe it's all the Dickens I've read, maybe I just read complicated things all the time or maybe this book is an exception but I had heard that Joyce's works were notoriously difficult to read. I found this book intriguing and easy to follow for the most part.
It follows the central character Stephen Dedulas through his life in Ireland, from humble beginnings at a Catholic school, to confusion as a teenager to the climactic end to this confusion as he sets off to unknown places in search of some sort of self identity. It seems like many novels follow this sort of line - guy gets confused then finds himself but this is done in the midst of the truly unique Irish culture. Born into a Catholic-oriented world Stephen follows the path less travelled: he sins, he repents and then he walks away entirely. The whole section of the book in which Stephen is terrified into Catholicism sent shivers up my spine. The usual sort of burning in hell speech but very aptly put in a speech by a priest.
Joyce's style of writing is also pleasant, sort of stream of counciousness but not in the same way as other authors. The relationships between him and his mother, his father and a girl are all written between the lines of prose. As well as this, his connection with stringent Catholicism leads to some spectacular philosophising spelled out in conversations between him and his friends, much in the same way as Plato's Republic.
I don't know if I only enjoyed this book immensely and read it quickly because I should be studying for my law exam but I would highly recommend it any way!
