Watermelon

Book Description

February the fifteenth is a very special day for me. It is the day I gave birth to my first child. It is also the day my husband left me...I can only assume the two events weren't entirely unrelated.

Claire has everything she ever wanted: a husband she adores, a great apartment, a good job. Then, on the day she gives birth to their first baby, James informs her that he's leaving her. Claire is left with a newborn daughter, a broken heart, and a postpartum body that she can hardly bear to look at.

She decides to go home to Dublin. And there, sheltered by the love of a quirky family, she gets better. So much so, in fact, that when James slithers back into her life, he's in for a bit of a surprise.

Customer Reviews:

Watermelon makes you want to come back for more.......2007-10-13

Watermelon was another story of a wonderfully dysfunctional Irish family. This is a fun, light book. Claire's husband leaves her a few hours after delivering her first child. Any woman's worst nightmare! Marian Keyes manages to take this tragedy and turn it into a comedy and romance. Claire moves back into her parents house and let the hilarity begin. If this is your first Marian Keyes book, be forewarned, there ARE a lot of characters and family members to keep up with. However if you like this family Marian Keyes has several more books to keep you up to date with the rest of this quirky yet loveable clan.

Amazing.......2007-10-11

Charming and warm... I would recommend this book to anyone that appreciates a fun love story.

A Wonderful Story.......2007-10-04

I think that Marian Keyes is the most humorous and interesting authors out there on the market today. In "Watermelon" she not only gave me a trip to Limerick and a visit to an Irish family and all the love, disappointments and values that go with this family of characters, but I got a wonderful story and a terrific read. Highly recommend.

Looking for a stunning Women's Fiction then check out Gathering of Cans by Robert L. Saunders. The author heralds the relationship between husband and wife in this romance with a bit of mystery novel. In this warm and wonderful story you will travel with Zoie Baker, the heroine, on her quest to build a swimming pool by gathering aluminum cans. She feels right down to her bones that this is her destiny. Unique cans that she stumbles on, i.e., Nehi, Mountain Dew, etc., takes the reader on a glorious journey in the life of Zoie from World War II where she meets Nat, a Marine, at a USO Club, through the 1980's. This gripping story will keep you up to read just one more chapter. Check it out. You won't be disappointed! Bye

A Favorite, but not an All-Time Favorite. . ........2007-10-02

In keeping with my recent ambition to re-read many books that I've dubbed "favorites" over the years, I picked up Watermelon for the first time since I originally read the book about seven or eight years ago. I felt it was about time to let some of my favorite books re-prove themselves to me that they could be, years later, indeed worthy of such titles. And Watermelon just happened to be next on my list.

In reading Watermelon for a second time, I immediately fell in love with the first chapter all over again. It was sharp, quick, and funny. Claire seemed like someone you'd want to get to know and her story seemed like one I'd want to listen to. Many parts of the book were very funny and there were certain quotes and thoughts about life that I found myself nodding at and remembering back from the first time that I had read them years ago.

However, during the journey back through the book, I wavered between liking Claire and hating her. Towards the middle, I wanted to smack her and at certain times right before the book was resolved, I really couldn't bring myself to understand her nativity. I guess when I was in my teens I could accept a little more how she might let her ex-husband try to manipulate her. And I guess I'm happy to say that in my 20s, I am not so willing to let her off the hook for lacking some serious self-respect.

That isn't to say that I didn't like Watermelon, because I really did and, to be honest, I still do. But I don't LOVE it in the way I think I remember I once did. The story was fun to follow, but way too long; some of those middle chapters (and certainly the ones that didn't have to do with Adam) dragged on forever. And the Adam character still seems too dreamy to believe. I think my teenage self definitely believed a little too much that a character like that could just appear in someone's life, and my older self just wants to shake my head. (Not that the idea is impossible, but let's admit the fact that it's just not incredibly likely that one's marriage would completely fall apart and one would meet/fall in love with the most perfect dreamy guy in less than four months!) However, that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy reading about and imagining just how pretty and perfect he seemed. We all need a bit of that sometimes - myself definitely included!

All that being said, I found that while I had always referred to Watermelon as one of my favorite books, I very much failed to take into consideration just how many books I'd be reading in the coming decade. I've read probably hundreds of books since I had first read the first of Keyes' novels to be printed in America. Now Watermelon, which at some point might have fit in my top 10 or top 20, might now be more likely to fit into my top 50 or top 100 if I were to make a list that large. And it would certainly make those lists. I feel at this point (years later) that I'd want to read some of Keyes' other books now that I have Claire's other sisters (like Helen) fresh in my mind. I think it would be fun to see how Keyes' other books tie in the same family. (Note: I had read Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married which was okay, and half of Rachel's Holiday, which I embarrassingly admit I never finished, in the immediate years following my first Watermelon read).

So the verdict has come down that Watermelon is certainly a book that I look upon favorably and with appreciation, but no longer an all-time favorite. And I'm okay with that. I do have a lot of respect for Marian Keyes and my mission now becomes finding a book of hers that I love as much as my teenage self once loved Watermelon.

Wishy Washy Woman with no wits about her!.......2007-09-28

I'm not too sure where I stand with this novel. It was a slow read for me, but it was still good. It's about a woman who married a conniving adulterer. He leaves her the day she has their baby, Kate, for a woman he had been sleeping with during the pregnancy. That really made me furious....but what really made me mad was how the main character handled her jerk of a husband when he finally changes his mind and comes back....I had to skim through this part b/c I was so frustrated.

I think it was a good summer read, but I think I wouldn't have picked it up if it weren't a pick of someone else's in my book club.

I'm not a big fan of dry senses of humor...but the other man in the story...ADAM seemed to be a hunk....and that story line I kept trying to get to!!

So, there were good parts, and a lot of bad parts....but at least it made me feel some kind of emotion that I think was intended. I think this was a first published book for this author...so I've been told that she has gotten better.

Average customer rating:

I am a better person for having read it
love this
Life changing
Couldn't Put it Down
Interesting story

The Mermaids Singing
Lisa Carey
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Family Saga | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Mothers & Children | Women's Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0380815591
Release Date: 2001-11-06

Book Description

There is an island off the west coast of Ireland called Inis Murúch -- the Island of the Mermaids -- a world where myth is more powerful than truth, and love can overcome even death. It is here that Lisa Carey sets her lyrical and sensual first novel, weaving together the voices and lives of three generations of Irish and Irish-American women.

Years ago, the fierce and beautiful Grace stole away from the island with her small daughter, Gráinne, unable to bear its isolation. Now Gráinne is motherless at fifteen, and a grandmother she has never met has come to take her back. Her heart is pulled between a life in which she no longer belongs and a family she cannot remember. But only on Inis Murúch can she begin to understand the forces that have torn her family apart.

Customer Reviews:

I am a better person for having read it.......2007-03-23

Three generations of Irish women. Three generations of women who do not understand their mothers. Three generations of women who do not know how to communicate with their daughters. But all of the women filled with complete love for the woman in their life that they do not comprehend. Cliona, the grandmother of the novel, did not see her mother for what she was. However, despite her best efforts, she did not give her daughter what she thinks her daughter wanted and needed. Grace, Cliona's daughter, resented her mother and vowed to tell her daughter, Grainne, everything; to be close to her and to avoid the pitfalls she had with her own mother. But no one is ever the mother they think they will be.

The Mermaids Singing does a beautiful job of placing three very flawed relationships in the beautiful setting of an island in Ireland. The island calls to Cliona while Grace rejects it. Grainne is left to sort through her confused feelings in an effort to find a place to call home. Lisa Carey adeptly changes the narrator from character to character in order to convey the feelings of each. Despite the conflicting emotions, the reader is able to understand each woman's perspective in an effort to reconcile the feelings between mother and daughter.

It takes about 100 pages to get a feel for the characters and get invested in the story. But once it sinks in, the novel takes off and is emotional and moving. The incorporation of traditional Irish fokelore and poetry makes for an even richer story. This is a novel to which any mother or daughter can relate.

love this.......2007-02-05

I loved this book. Honestly, I picked it up in some discount area and I can't imagine my life without it. Silly, maybe but true. I thought it was amazing as a teenager and saw it in a whole new light after losing my aunt to cancer. I've read it many times and I just think it's the best book. It's all about what's not said & the dangers in not speaking up, about how valuable time is and life in general.

I just love the whole thing. I loaned it out so many times, I had to buy another copy just for myself again.

Life changing.......2006-11-11

This book is such a powerful and emotional book that it gives you a new outlook on life. Wonderfully crafted, the story transports you into a different reality. The realism is so moving because the book combines magic into reality which causes you to believe there is more to life than what is on the surface. This is my favorite novel of all time and it was the book I looked to when I was depressed. A MUST read

Couldn't Put it Down.......2006-07-27

I've had this book for several years and have read it about 4 times. Once I began to read it the first time I was hooked! Since then I've shared it with some of my best friends, who also couldn't put it down. The tale of three generations and their interaction, or lack thereof at times, paints a picture that is rarely seen outside the confines of such a family. Some reviewers discuss how Grace's character seems unrealistically selfish, but if you take the time to look, Grace portrays a new generation of mothers - though not the best style of raising a child, one that does truly exist.

Interesting story.......2006-03-25

I have mixed feelings about this family saga which is both heartbreaking and heartwarming. The inner healing, reaching out and reconciliation between Cliona and her granddaughter Grainne, and the rest of their family, following the death of Grace, was tragically beautiful. And the harsh island setting and Irish folklore was very interesting. However, this family was far too dysfunctional and the characters were way too sexually preoccupied for my tastes, and that took away from my feelings towards them and towards this story.

Average customer rating:

such a moving story!
Very readable novel gives insight into life in 1950's Ireland
Disappointing, really.
THE MAGDALEN SISTERS...
Wayward Girls and Fallen Women

The Magdalen
Marita Conlon-McKenna
Manufacturer: Forge Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Friendship | Women's Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0765305135

Book Description

The wide open spaces of Connemara, filled with nothing but sea and sky, are all lost to Esther Doyle when she is betrayed by her lover, Conor. Rejected by her family, she is sent to join the 'fallen women' of the Holy Saints Convent in Dublin where, behind high granite walls, she works in the infamous Magdalen laundry while she awaits the birth of her baby.At the mercy of nuns, and working mostly in silence alongside the other 'Maggies,' Esther spends her days in the steamy, sweatshop atmosphere of the laundry. It is a grim existence, but Esther has little choice--the convent is her only refuge, and its orphanage will provide shelter for her newborn child.Yet despite the harsh reality of her life, Esther gains support from this isolated community of women. Learning through the experiences and the mistakes of the other 'Maggies,' she begins to recognize her own strengths and determination to survive. She recognizes, too, that it will take every ounce of courage to realize her dream of a new life for her and her child beyond they grey walls of the Holy Saints Convent.

Customer Reviews:

such a moving story!.......2007-07-20

I read this book after seeing the movie from Blockbuster.
It's such an interesting, moving story. It takes you into a completely different culture - Very interesting and sad.

Very readable novel gives insight into life in 1950's Ireland.......2006-07-26

The book is very readable and the descriptions of small town family life in an Irish fishing/farming village are well rendered. The first half of the book describes Esther living with her family and the story unfolds in a compelling albeit tragic way. Esther is an attractive heroine with whom it is easy to identify and sympathize. Once she arrives at the laundry in Dublin though the book seems to lose momentum. The book is quite predictable and many of the secondary characters (especially those she meets in the laundry) are not as fully developed as they could be. The author makes the right choice in ending the book on a hopeful but not an unrealistic "happily ever after" note.

Disappointing, really........2005-07-10

The topic and the story line are really compelling--there's so much potential. The note on the cover that it's an Irish Bestseller sets readers up with very high expectations. For me, though, the storytelling was bland: not enough vivid description to really put me there (and there's SO much opportunity for this, what with the contrast between the open and wild western part of Ireland and stuffy, confined Dublin) and a lot of awkward dialogue (with a great many exclamation points!) makes the characters seem stilted. There are quite a few moments where things are repeated, or explained so similarly to other things that much of the story's potential momentum is lost. I'm glad I read it, for the topic, but I was hoping for a better experience.

THE MAGDALEN SISTERS..........2005-05-02

It is little wonder that this book was a number one bestseller in Ireland, as it deals with a shameful episode in its history, that of the Magdalen Laundries. Run by the Catholic Church, these were homes that were set up for "fallen" women. Originally set up for prostitutes, they devolved more into homes for unwed mothers. Young women, many of whom were teenagers, who found themselves unwed and pregnant, were often sent there by their families. They would then work in the adjacent laundry of the home until they gave birth, at which time the child would be removed to an orphanage and placed for adoption.

Many of these young women, called penitents by the Catholic Church, were often deserted by their families. They would then find themselves living a lifetime of servitude in the Magdalen Laundries for their transgression. That these laundries existed until 1996 is, in and of itself, scandalous and almost incomprehensible. This book gives a fictional account of such a woman. It is through her eyes that the reader sees the travesty that was known as the Magdalen Laundries.

Esther Doyle was one such woman. She lived an isolated life in rural Connemara, where she was forced by her father to leave school at an early age, in order to help her mother around the house, after her mother gave birth to mentally challenged child in 1944. An intelligent but naive young girl, Esther would spend her days helping her mother and taking care of her baby sister, Nora Pat. After her father disappeared one night, while fishing at sea, and was later washed ashore, having drowned, life became hard for the Doyle family. Yet, left penniless, they managed to survive.

In 1951, Esther, now a pretty teenager, met a young, handsome ne'er-do-well named Conor O'Hagan at a dance. As he was not a local, having just moved to Connemara from West Cork, her family viewed him with some misgivings. Still, Esther found herself in the throes of first love with this young man, only to later find herself pregnant by him and then betrayed, when she discovered that he was also seeing someone else whom he intended to marry.

Coupled with the fact that her younger sister, left momentarily unattended, died an unnecessary death, Esther's mother was less than sanguine about Esther's condition when it was discovered. Reviled by her mother and her brothers for the shame that her condition would bring upon the family, Esther was spirited away by her Aunt Patsy and sent to the Holy Saints Convent in Dublin. While there, she would work in its infamous Magdalen Laundry to earn her keep, while she awaited the birth of her baby.

At the Holy Saints Convent and its Magdalen Laundry, Esther would discover what hell on earth was. Harshly treated, given only the minimum of food necessary to survive, Esther would spend her days toiling in the hot, steamy laundry, along with other such women with whom she bonded in a unique sisterhood. Some of them were women who had spent their entire lives there. Some were the victims of rape and incest, while others were simply young, unwed mothers such as Esther. All were subject to the reign of terror orchestrated by the nuns who ran the Magdalen Laundry.

It is at the Magdalen Laundry, however, that Esther's world view is broadened. It is through her suffering at the hands of those whom she had supposed would have protected her that Esther truly comes of age. When her child is born, Esther comes to think of herself as a person independent of her family and finds the courage to realize for herself a vision of a new life. She envisions one outside the walls of the Magdalen Laundry and one beyond that of the family who had so cruelly renounced her in her hour of need.

This book is written is crisp, clear, terse prose, with little sentimentality. It is a straightforward story that has overtones of the melancholia that often permeates Irish Catholicism. For this book, such is simply fitting. This is a wonderful book that places one of Catholic Ireland's most shameful secrets on public display in a fictionalized setting that perfectly showcases it.

Those readers who are interested in this subject matter will also enjoy the film, "The Magdalen Sisters", which also fictionalizes life in the Magdalen Laundries. One should view it on dvd, because the dvd contains a heartbreaking British documentary, "Sex in a Cold Climate", which contains actual footage of the Magdalen Laundries and interviews of three survivors of the Magdalen Laundry experience.

Wayward Girls and Fallen Women.......2003-12-04

Esther Doyle is unmarried and pregnant, in the rustic, rural town of Connemara. Her lover has jilted her at the first words of the unwanted pregnancy. Esther is left alone to deal with the scandal. However, the only people Esther expected help from, her family, are ashamed and resentful. Her mother and brothers banish her from the home, sending her to Dublin.

Esther's new home is The Magdalen Home for Wayward and Fallen Home. A laundry, run by nuns, is where she will earn her keep. When her nine months have passed, her baby will taken from her and given up for adoption. Esther and the other women work long, hard hours on their feet and are under the constant watch of the nuns. The women live the lives of prisoners. There is no recreation, no fun. The women are there to pay penance for their sins and ask God for forgiveness. However, these women, otherwise knows as "The Maggies" manage to form strong frienships. Their companionship allows Esther to fight her way out of a deep depression and struggle to reclaim her life. The Maggies help Esther to realize that her baby deserves a happy life and so does she.

Amazon.com

Shireen Dodson was on vacation with her family when she decided she needed to find "a way to spend some special time" with her daughter. What she did was start a mother-daughter book club. In this sweet little book, Dodson offers practical advice about starting a similar club. The heart of the book, though, is in the insights she offers about the benefits--the chance to explore ideas and feelings, to discuss each other's lives, and to establish what Dodson calls a "bridge of sharing" that involves both mother and daughter listening to each other.

Book Description

Combining the practical with the personal, The Mother-Daughter Book Club tells the story of 10 mothers and their preteen daughters and how their relationships were enriched through a monthly reading club. With step-by-step guidelines, stories, anecdotes, reading lists, sample themes and related activities, it offers practical instructions for starting a book club while encouraging mothers and daughters to learn to talk openly with one another.

At a key stage of their daughter's development, mothers will find a hopeful antidote to depression, eating disorders, self-destructive behavior and other problems facing adolescent girls. Most important, The Mother-Daughter Book Club shows that reading, learning and spending time together helps girls build self-esteem.

With suggested reading lists from authors and experts ranging from Kaye Gibbons, Joyce Carol Oates and Tipper Gore to Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Beth Winship and Ann Martin, The Mother-Daughter Book Club has the potential to inspire whole networks of reading clubs nationwide.

Customer Reviews:

Extremely Useful Resource.......2007-02-18

I think the reviewer that gave this 2 stars for the fact that it wasn't about boys completely missed the point. The woman who wrote this book started a mother-daughter book group and wrote about THAT experience. She also folded in a lot of great book recommendations from a variety of sources, along with many tips about how to have a successful mother-daughter book club. If that is what you are interested in doing or have already started, this will be a very useful resource for you. It will give you ideas about books to read, meeting format, additional activities and other places to look for ideas.

A friend and her daughter recently invited my daughter and me to join a book club she was forming. We have used a lot of the ideas from this book and found them to have improved our experience of the book club.

Jumping on the band wagon.......2003-07-13

I thought that the book was going to be wonderful after reading the introduction. However, after reading the first chapter I realized that I was wrong. The concept of a parent/child book club is marvelous, but to assume that boys do not need it as well is idiocy. The author jumps on the band wagon that girls are repressed in the classroom and are in dire need of help. The book includes statements such as reading is "especially meaningful for a girl, because I think in school girls tend to be a little reticent and hesitant to speak up". PLEASE!! Give it up already! Everyone is sick of hearing about how bad girls have it. I have been in a lot of classrooms and let me assure you that girls are NOT afraid to speak up. I am a professional woman with a daughter, and I can only hope that I am able to raise her in today's society without her being warped into thinking that she is some poor child in need of saving because, without intervention, she is destined for failure.
Both boys and girls need to be raised in such a way as to bring out their best and help them reach their full potential. So, stop bashing boys (which is the implied undertone of the message) just to build up girls and stop implying that a girl can not be strong and confident unless she is as good as, or better than, a boy in subjects that are typically dominated by males. People need to realize that children have their own strengths and weaknesses and that is a fact of life.
Why can't someone write a book that is a little positive on subjects like this? It would be a lot better than this biased (and misguided) message.
Great concept, poor presentation.

Anxiously waiting our first meeting........1997-07-01

Give Shireen Dodson and the Mother-Daughter Book Club 10 gold stars. Complete instructions along with excerpts from their members makes this book a must for mothers interested in SHARING special times with their daughters and breaking the communication gap. The book comes with extensive reading lists and letters from a number of famous people from all walks of life. After reading the stories about their meetings and the closeness that can be shared between a mother and daughter through reading, my daughter and I set forth to organize a mother daughter book club in our small south Texas community.The book gave us ideas on how to start and form the club which we are in the process of doing and having our first meeting next week. With this book in my arms I am ready. Thanks Shireen for such a wonderful gift that you have shared with us

Average customer rating:

Utterly haunting....

Disappointing

Folklore and mystery combined

Must read!

A lyrical labor of love, loss and beginning...

The Nature of Water and Air
Regina McBride
Manufacturer: Touchstone
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Family Saga | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Domestic Life | Women's Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Mothers & Children | Women's Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | United States | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

The Land of Women : A Novel

The Marriage Bed: A Novel

In the Country of the Young

The Mermaids Singing

Love in the Asylum : A Novel

ASIN: 0743203232

Book Description

"My mother was never easy in the world of houses. She was a tinker, a traveler girl who had married a wealthy man. Her name was Agatha Sheehy....There are silences all around my mother's story."

So begins The Nature of Water and Air, set on a patch of Irish coast where, amid a flurry of whispers, we meet Agatha's only surviving daughter, Clodagh. Determined to secure her mother's elusive love and the truth about her, Clodagh is swept into a relationship with a handsome, isolated man. He brings her to the heart of her mother's story, where she must confront the questions "Does a truth change love?" and "What madness will come from chasing a secret?"

Powerfully sensitive, this startling debut novel about forbidden love will place Regina McBride among our most celebrated novelists.

Download Description

"My mother was never easy in the world of houses. She was a tinker, a traveler girl who had married a wealthy man. Her name was Agatha Sheehy....There are silences all around my mother's story." So begins The Nature of Water and Air, set on a patch of Irish coast where, amid a flurry of whispers, we meet Agatha's only surviving daughter, Clodagh. Determined to secure her mother's elusive love and the truth about her, Clodagh is swept into a relationship with a handsome, isolated man. He brings her to the heart of her mother's story, where she must confront the questions "Does a truth change love?" and "What madness will come from chasing a secret?" Powerfully sensitive, this startling debut novel about forbidden love will place Regina McBride among our most celebrated novelists.

Customer Reviews:

Utterly haunting...........2006-10-24

This is quite possibly the most haunting novel I have read in a very long time. Long after reading the last page the imagery and the story stays with me. The ancient legends of the selkie, the seal/women, has always been one of my favorites and McBride weaves the Irish legends and other folktales through her tale of a daughter's search for her strange and mysterious mother.

McBride's prose is lyrical and magical. Her characters seem strange and haunted and yet so familiar. This is classical romanticism in the best possible sense of those words. The Brontes would love it.

Disappointing.......2006-06-06

Sorry to disagree with the majority on this one. It started off well but soon descended into drek. The author seemed to be trying way too hard to create a magical-mystical Celtic creature out of her protagonist (who really was nothing more than a selfish girl who wanted her way at any cost). Kathryn Harrison didn't succed in glorifying incest (IMO), and neither can McBride. If you want good Irish lit, go back to Joyce or read Jane Urqhart, William Trevor, etc.

Folklore and mystery combined.......2004-03-21

This book is beautifully written, almost poetic. Regina McBride tells a gripping story that revolves around love, folklore, and the ability to find yourself.

Clodagh is on a journey to discover herself and the secrets of her family. She wants only to find some acceptance and love. She does find it but only to realize that other darker things are at work here.

The atmosphere in this story is what helps to make it so compelling. We can almost see the buildings, the water and the fires that burn. We can most definitely feel Clodagh's pain and anguish.

While this is a dark story, it is worth the read. I hated to see it end.

Must read!.......2003-09-03

Sure, it's melancholy. But it's so beautifully written and there are so many layers to these characters. This is a story that stays with you long after finishing. I'll definitely be picking up McBride's second novel.

A lyrical labor of love, loss and beginning..........2003-02-01

As dense with fable and mystery as the Irish coast, this is the work of a poet whose images are cast in the clothes of her luminous prose. The recurring theme throughout is of love and death, the bonds of attachment and the anguish of loss. This tale is so seductive as to draw the reader ever closer to the line between mythology and truth, where life is divided between reality and the insistent song of the sea. "It seemed to be the nature of water and air, to be random, heartless". Not so, this novel.

Young Clodagh Sheehy lives in thrall of her distant mother, Agatha, who comes from the world of itinerant tinkers, and listens carefully to the call of this wild land where they live. Agatha's actions are shrouded with secrecy and full of sexual innuendo, and she drifts just beyond her daughter's knowing, unwilling to be trapped by the child's need and loneliness.

Clodagh's fragile twin sister, Mare, has died and the girl wills Mare to remain, if only as her other half, the opposite coin of her identity. She plays the piano one-handed, leaving the other part, the other hand, for Mare, and sometimes stares into the cloudy mirror, hoping for a glimpse of her other self. Their father, Frank Sheehy, dies before the twin's birth, and Clodagh, in anguished desperation, clings to the only person remaining, her mother. But like the mythological selkie, half-seal, half-woman, Agatha returns to the depths of the sea, now lost as well. Cut adrift and friendless, but for a loving housekeeper, Clodagh begins a journey toward self-discovery, often tangled between the worlds of reality and superstition. In reaching out to identify the face of her mother, Clodagh discovers the truth of herself. Her adolescence is often painful and life changing, her passion for music frequently the only solace. Clodagh's dead father Frank, her possibly-alive real father, a tinker, and her early foray into sexuality are without satisfaction until she breaks free and claims herself.

McBride's novel is flooded with page after page of images. The vast canvas of such rugged, gorgeous geography serves as the background for dreams and emotions as tumultuous and changeable as the storm-tossed waves that beat along the coast. This author has accomplished more than storytelling, she has offered a glimpse of the true nature of Ireland, the very nature of water and air. Luan Gaines

Average customer rating:

The Communication Crisis in Pearl

An Intelligent Read

I didn't, but some will need toothpicks...

Is Pearl under a bushel or is she allowed to shine?

Incorrect Information

Pearl: A Novel
Mary Gordon
Manufacturer: Pantheon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Mothers & Children | Women's Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Final Payments

SPENDING: A Novel

Seeing Through Places: Reflections on Geography and Identity

Gilead: A Novel

March: A Novel

ASIN: 037542315X
Release Date: 2005-01-18

Amazon.com

Without preamble, Mary Gordon takes the reader straight to the heart of the matter in Pearl. On Christmas night, in 1998, Maria Meyers gets a call from the State Department. Maria, a New York liberal, keeps the illusion of control of her surroundings, and the news she gets is confusing, annoying, and frightening. Confusing because she doesn't understand why Pearl, 20 years old and Maria's only child, has done what she has done, annoying because there has been no forewarning, and frightening because Pearl might die. Maria is definitely not in control here, a condition that makes her vastly uncomfortable. The caller tells Maria that Pearl has chained herself to the flagpole at the American Embassy in Dublin, where she has gone to study the Irish language. Her action is the culmination of six weeks of starvation. She is very ill, dehydrated, and near death. She has left three letters on the sidewalk: one meant for the media, one for her mother, and one for their dearest and oldest family friend, Joseph Kasperman.

The media letter says "...I am giving my life in witness to the death of Stephen Donegan and to the goodness and importance of his life. Second, to show my support, my admiration for the Peace Agreement, and those who have worked toward it. Third, to mark the human will to harm." Pearl believes that, due to a careless remark said in anger, she is responsible for Stephen's death. She has been consorting with members of the Real IRA, those hardliners who will make no accommodation to stop the violence. Pearl breaks with them over an act which places Stephen, a hapless, slow-witted boy, in the hands of the law. Her primary philosophical concern is her conviction that the "human will to harm," is pernicious and pervasive. She wants to opt out of any further possibility of harming anyone.

On this convoluted thread, Mary Gordon marches forward with a stunning exploration of revisited themes, such as Catholic-Jewish heritage, trouble with fathers, and the nature of personal responsibility. A stylistic note: Gordon employs an omniscient narrator to make comments, in the nature of "Gentle Reader" asides. It is sometimes irritating, but a small price to pay for Gordon's careful deconstruction of everyone's thoughts and actions as Maria and Joseph arrive in Dublin, where Maria confronts Mick, the American angel of the Real IRA, Finbar, Pearl's lover, and Pearl's doctors. She is used to directing traffic and is thwarted on all sides by people whose agendas are vastly different from hers. Joseph is a shadowy figure, more acted upon than acting, and when he does decide to stand up he makes a ludicrous error. Gordon has forged an entirely satisfactory and plausible ending for a precarious set of circumstances. The book is thought-provoking, asking and inspiring the reader to take a position on issues as old as time and as new as the headlines. --Valerie Ryan

Book Description

On Christmas night of 1998, Maria Meyers learns that her twenty-year-old daughter, Pearl, has chained herself outside the American embassy in Dublin, where she intends to starve herself to death. Although Maria was once a student radical and still proudly lives by her beliefs, gentle, book-loving Pearl has never been interested in politics–nor in the Catholicism her mother rejected years before. What, then, is driving her to martyr herself?

Shaken by this mystery, Maria and her childhood friend (and Pearl’s surrogate father), Joseph Kasperman, both rush to Pearl’s side. As Mary Gordon tells the story of the bonds among them, she takes us deep into the labyrinths of maternal love, religious faith, and Ireland’s tragic history. Pearl is a grand and emotionally daring novel of ideas, told with the tension of a thriller.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

Download Description

The long–awaited new novel from acclaimed writer Mary Gordon.

Customer Reviews:

The Communication Crisis in Pearl.......2007-06-18

Mary Gordon's Pearl is a novel written in an elegantly fascinating style. The plot might appear not that excitement-ridden, yet the content is so profound that at some points I thought I was reading a philosophical text disguised in a novel's attire. Dealing with political and ideological extremism, the novel explores a human, communicative crisis that is in urgent need of repair. The crisis is a special one in which communication has become crippled by virtue of a detachment in the characters' process of understanding and defining the world. In this crisis the parent-child connection has grown a tenuous relation. While each character thinks that they understand, ultimately they realize that their understanding is plagued by doubt that stems from the fact that they understand the world totally differently from those who supposedly share the same understanding as theirs.

The novel treats a very significant issue that of parent-child relationships. As obvious as it appears, no one of the characters is involved in a healthy parent-child relationship to the extent that the readers themselves start reflecting upon and questioning whether their family relationships are in good shape or not! This sort of reflection and questioning presumably is what Mary Gordon succeeded in, through fabricating a story that proceeds until it reaches a point where the readers find it dull, and find themselves not in the right mood to carry on turning over the novel's pages. The fact is that at this point the readers start feeling the dullness of life the characters arrive at when they realize that whatever they believe in is to be questioned, and that their answer is not The Answer.

(......)

At the end, we feel that Pearl's characters have learnt something. They have learnt to forgive, to give up their ideals for the sake of solving the communicative crisis. Though she still seems not able to figure out what her daughter needs beside love, Maria, entangled in her daughter's critical situation, rethinks her rearing of Pearl, and questions the validity of her political values that once separated her from her father. When Maria was informed that her father passed away, "she could not weep, would not, because she knew if she allowed herself to grieve she would become a mourner, which would dilute her sense of righteousness, her sense of acting in the name of justice" (90; ch. II). But at the end she asks her dead father for his forgiveness, and "weeps for the lost face of her father, the face of her child, in danger of being lost to her forever" (321; ch. III). Pearl realizes that, though one day each one will have no choice whether to stay alive, death is not a choice, and answering her question "Why is it that it's life we want?" (339; ch. III), we want life to live reality that is constituted for us, and also reality that we constitute. We live reality as it is produced and maintained, from a transmission perspective, and also we live it as we repair and transform it, from a constitutive view. This way, communication is possible, and this is how James W. Carey In Communication as Culture defines communication, stating that it is a "symbolic process whereby reality is produced, maintained, repaired, and transformed" (23).

(For your comment, you can reach me at: bensaidmohsine@gmail.com)

An Intelligent Read.......2006-10-01

Mary Gordon has published five novels, a book of novellas, a collection of short stories, a memoir, two books of essays, and a biography of Joan of Arc. She is a recipient of the Lila Acheson Wallace Reader's Digest Award, a Guggenheim fellowship and a 1997 O. Henry Prize for best short story. Her latest novel, "Pearl," may delve into similar issues as her other works: religion, motherhood, feminism, yet it is unlike anything I have read before.

Immediately the reader learns of the crisis at the center of the book: Maria, a feminist single mother receives a call from the state department informing her that her daughter has chained herself to the flag pole outside the American Embassy in Dublin. She hasn't eaten for six weeks and her death has been planned to coincide with the celebration of the birth of Christ. We feel Maria's initial shock and helplessness as she makes plans to fly to Ireland.

What makes this novel so unique is Gordon's use of a sort of benign, cerebral narrator to tie the threads of three lives together and to clue the reader into all the nuances that led Pearl, Maria's daughter, to commit such a desperate, deliberate act of sacrifice. It's as if the reader is thrust into the action and then through skillful, yet sometimes painfully slow narration, the reader learns the why of it.

Tackling large issues such as Catholicism, Judaism, anorexia, Irish politics, martyrdom, feminism, motherhood, despair, human propensity toward violence, Gordon is fearless in illuminating all for the reader's examination.

In the letter given to Maria, Pearl writes:

"Try to call upon the values you have given me: a love of justice, a need to bear witness to the truth. I am doing this in the name of justice, in witness to the truth. I am marking a wrongful death, for which I was responsible, and other public wrongs that will lead to death and more death."

Pearl, a student of language, believes that her death will be the ultimate sentence, the viable only sentence she can offer in the name of her despair.

And in the letter given to a family friend, Joseph, the son of her Maria's father's housekeeper:

"I believe that of all people you will understand this best, will comprehend most fully the decisions I have made. A boy died because of me. Because I rendered him as nothing in my self-righteous blindness in the name of an idea. I made a thing of him. I stole his faith and hope.
I know about some things that you and my mother never told me: faith, hope, and love. I have never naturally been a person of hope. Nor, I believe, have you. I have lost my faith in the goodness of life. Replacing that belief: a belief about malignity. In the will to harm. And the dismay that this impulse is in myself."

Pearl has come to martyr herself not only out of profound guilt, but because she has lost her ability to see humanity in anything but the most dire of terms. To see any of characteristics other than the will to harm. The narrative offers examples of the most shocking genocides experienced in history: the Holocaust; Rwanda; Bosnia; Cambodia. And other equally horrific examples of violence on the smaller scale all brought to the page so that the reader may understand Pearl's despair. Fortunately, Gordon has also included forgiveness and redemption in the mix making the experience of reading the book a more fully realized contemplation on human nature.

At times the exposition feels slow, but by the end it won me over and I have come to see that slowness as one of its many good qualities. It allows the reader time to digest difficult, often painful, issues at a pace conducive to thought. This is not a novel to be devoured but rather savored. And a novel not to be missed.

I didn't, but some will need toothpicks..........2006-09-16

My feelings about the novel vary. There are aspects of it that I truly enjoyed, and aspects that I found weighty or hmmm... slow.
"Slow" is a death-knell of a word, in book reviews, so I want to qualify my use of the word here, because truly, Pearl is a book well worth reading, but one should maybe know a few things ahead of time.
Like, for instance, that the first few pages are a bit misleadingly promising.
By that I mean that they contain more real action in them than is to be found in the next 200! Admittedly, the book [I think] really gets the reader involved in its end pages, but these parenthetical highpoints bracket an immense amount of musings upon family, religion, and politics. A lot of nostalgic montage. Stuff that may call for toothpicks to hold open the eyes of some readers.
Secondly, the author has employed an all-knowing [God-like], yet totally unknown [to the reader] in the final analysis, narrator. In some ways it seems disappointing that we are never really shown who is telling the story. At one point, the narrator pops out from behind his or her curtain, and says, "Think of me this way: midwife, present at the birth. Or perhaps this: godfather, present at the christening."
Well... I don't know. I think I would like to know which it is!
Maybe for some, this would be OK. But for me, I found myself unduly preoccupied with wanting to know who this narrator is.
Deconstructionist DeconSHMUCKtionist!
But thirdly, and positively now, I am a reader that enjoys good [detailed, onion-peeling] character development, and I think we have that here, in this book.

Here's the gist of the story itself.
A New York Christmas night [not dark and stormy, that we know of...] the year, 1998. Maria Meyers returns from a party to find a phone message from the State Department, advising her to contact them. She learns that her 20 year old daughter Pearl, studying language at a university in Ireland, has brought herself to the brink of death by starvation and then chained herself to the flagpole of the U.S. Embassy. Motive currently unknown.
Maria is appropriately horrified. This is out of character for Pearl. A mother's worst news! "She packs her bag." [p.9].
Then she calls Joseph, an old family friend in Rome who thinks of Pearl as a daughter, and the two of them set off immediately for Dublin from their separate locations.
"Do you think she'll die?" Maria asks.
"No, I don't think she will die," he says. "You won't let her."

The thing is, Maria herself is someone who is well-acquainted with protest, with activism. Sort of a flower-child of the `60's, she marched and demonstrated and ranted as did so many others of that generation, in the turbulent days of Vietnam, Kent State, and the assassination of JFK.
Now her own daughter is staging this protest... willing to lay down her life in a cause that Maria does not understand.
The bulk of the book explores why Pearl is doing what she is doing... and we learn along with Maria [actually, long before Maria, thanks to our narrator who is way ahead of the airplanes] the cause of Pearl's angst with life. She is sacrificing her life to "bear witness" to the death of a young boy, an event for which she feels partially responsible, as well as to make a political statement for the peace process in Ireland.
Martyrs, hunger-strikers, suicide bombers, terrorists. These deliberate self-orchestrations of death are something we are all familiar with. Like, if you own a TV, you are familiar with it. And so the novel raises [I think] a lot of important issues, and asks profound questions of its readers, and of its characters.
Is there anything truly worth dying for?
Is there anything worth living for?
Is it always desirable to live?
The strength of this novel [for me] is found in the portrayal of the changes wrought within Maria, Joseph and Pearl as they grapple with these universal questions. At one point, it is put this way: "Why is it that it's life we want?" [p.341].
I found it compelling. Rich in its philosophical musings. I will always choose this, if the option is the BANG-SMASH-POW of pointless plot. I guess it's my inner-Dostoyevsky, coming up for air!
Mary Gordon is successful at making me believe that for some people, the conclusion "Life is worth living" is not easily arrived at!

Recommended by Bookpuddle with a rating of 3 puddles out of a possible 5, and with the proviso that you remember that I am Dostoyevsky reincarnate!

Is Pearl under a bushel or is she allowed to shine?.......2006-08-04

The first word that comes to mind regarding this book is 'message.' Gordon's message is crystal clear and timeless; during certain events in an individual's life forgiveness becomes as necessary as food and water. And lack of forgiveness can kill.

Perhaps the bleak nature of the setting and the cold and colorless passages in which the characters find themselves best represent the world's tired spiritual reality and civilization's rampant hostility. I just wish these things were not quite so triumphant in all of the characters--including Pearl's mother, the rational presence at the heart of the storm. Regardless of this or maybe because of it, the book makes a fearless statement about our times.

It's just that one hungers for the occasional absence of cynicism to combat the darkness.

Incorrect Information.......2006-05-30

I'm only about 30 pages into the book and already I've found information that's incorrect. The author states that bobby Sands was 28 when he died....he was only 27. Not sure I want to finish ready a book that has information that is so easy to verify incorrect....

Mother Russia: The Feminine Myth in Russian Culture (Midland Book)

Average customer rating:

Interesting but error- filled
Good, but has some alarming errors... Not sure what to think
Excellent resource for Mother goddess/Russian myth studies
Class Required Text

Mother Russia: The Feminine Myth in Russian Culture (Midland Book)
Joanna Hubbs
Manufacturer: Indiana University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Russia | History | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

Civilization & Culture | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books

Fairy Tales | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Comparative Religion | Religious Studies | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0253208424

Customer Reviews:

Interesting but error- filled.......2006-11-30

I got this book to learn about the pagan cults of Russia prior to the Christian conversion. While the basic information is interesting-- who the gods were and what their associations were, the book is filled with opinions that are not substantiated with any footnotes to back them up. (She does have some footnotes, but a LOT of conjecture.) She has a clear feminist slant, which is not particularly a bad thing, but it seems ahistorical particularly in the context of the 10th century-- can we really say that at the time the chuch was seen as misogynistic when we consider how society was set up? That seems like a modern construct being written into history...
It is often unclear if she is referring to medieval or modern concepts or rituals with certain gods/ goddesses and her discussion of the Vladimir Icon is erronious: the Vladimir Icon is NOT the same as the Kazanskaja for starters.
This all being said, take it with a grain of salt and only read it for the absolute basics. Anything beyond that is probably unsubstantiated opinion or ahistorical re-writing of history.

Good, but has some alarming errors... Not sure what to think.......2003-06-13

I am interested in world mythology, and Slavic is one of my favorites. It is a shame that there is so few good books in English on the subject, so when I saw this one I was very excited. However, I am on page 30 right now, and already I noticed some glaring mythological errors. Among them was a statement that Thor hung from Yggdrasil on p.19 (it was Odin, not Thor, that hung from Yggdrasil), that Dazhdbog is Svarog's father on p.17 (it is the other way around!), and that Adonis is Cybele's lover on p.29 (Cybele's lover was Attis, and though the story of Aphrodite & Adonis is similar to that of Cybele & Attis, they come from different cultures and feature different characters).

At first I wondered if she was writing about some obscure versions of these myths that I never encountered, then I thought perhaps the errors about Mediterranean and Norse mythology could be due to her specialty in Slavic myth, but when she got even Slavic myth wrong I could not come up with any excuses. Because of this I am not sure how reliable the rest of her information is. Nevertheless it is a valuable resource since there are few books on Slavic myth out there - just read with a grain of salt...

Excellent resource for Mother goddess/Russian myth studies.......2003-04-21

I found Joanna Hubb's text to be very informative and enlightening. Its contents are academic, prolific and detailed down to the definitions of Russian origins. The chapter on Baba Yaga has the greatest, most factual collection of resources available on the subject. Anyone interested in Russian mythology, the foundation of the Russian goddess religions, and the critical analysis of the female divinities, this is a must for your collection.

Class Required Text.......2002-02-12

This was a required text for my Russian Lit and Culture class. It's not bad, but I don't know that I would have purchased or sought it out by myself. I particularly enjoyed Chapter 4 as it addressed the issue of Byzantine Christianity attempting to overtake the role of mother in the home. It would be useful to feminist anthropological studies.

Average customer rating:

1949 - A Liberated Woman, A Liberated State.
Delightfully entertaining with an educational twist
Third in an Intriguing Series
WOW!!!! Morgan Llywelyn Does It Again!!!
Great Ending to the Trilogy

1949: A Novel of the Irish Free State
Morgan Llywelyn
Manufacturer: Forge Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Historical | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0312867530

Book Description

The struggle of the Irish people for independence is one of the epic tales of the twentieth century. Morgan Llywelyn has chosen it as the subject of her major work, a multi-novel chronicle that began with 1916, continued in 1921, and now comes up to the mid-century in 1949. In this compelling book Llywelyn tells the story of a charming young woman, Ursula Halloran, who comes of age in the 1920s, and experiences the passions and pains of the times in a way that brings them alive for every reader. The horror and tragedy of civil war give way to a repressive Catholic state, in which married women cannot hold jobs, divorce is illegal, and the IRA becomes a band of outlaws still devoted to and fighting for a Republic that never lived. Ursula, an idealist, believes in a fiercely independent Ireland. She falls in love, bears a child out of wedlock, and in the war years finds fulfillment running her family farm in neutral Ireland.

Download Description

Irish history brought to thrilling life by a master, the sequel to 1916 and 1921.

Customer Reviews:

1949 - A Liberated Woman, A Liberated State........2005-01-19

Equal parts fiction and history, lines blur as award-winning author Morgan Llywelyn weaves fictional and real-life characters into her masterful novels. The third work in her Twentieth Century Irish State trilogy, 1949, is a fiction-based glimpse into the evolution of the Irish Republic as seen through the eyes of the indomitable, self assured Ursula Halloran. Equally captivating, the first two novels of the Irish State series, 1916 and 1921, don't necessarily exist as prerequisites to 1949, yet it wouldn't hurt to read them first.

Young Ursula is the adopted daughter of IRA foot soldier Ned Halloran, a man deeply involved in Irish Republican skullduggery. Living on the family farm, the Hallorans are a montage of typical Irish dysfunctionality. Requisites drunks exist, but 1949 avoids focusing on caricatured, woe-is-me Irish alcoholics. Living with an unforgiving and unbending father who wants her to inherit and manage the farm, Ursula is surrounded by a number of shiftless male relatives. Female Hallorans don't fare much better, as Ursula's sister marries into the dregs of Clarecastle's Irish society. 1949 boasts the gamut of vanished Irish colloquialism that one would expect to find in a post-famine rural Irish setting, including occasional stock-in-trade Irish wakes, imposing parish priests, stifling poverty and rampant melancholy.

Ursula occupies her time reading books and riding her horse Saoirse. In Saorise she witnesses a mirror image of her own shackles-Ursula runs free, but only to a point, for at night they both remain tethered, Saoirse in a stall, Ursula in an oppressive environment. Ursula rails against limits placed on her by male-dominated Irish society. She promises herself she will never marry, for married women in Ireland were banned from working outside the home during the period.

A distant and uncommunicative Pa, Ned Halloran frequently absents himself from the farm while performing the business of the IRA in the North. Like Ned, Ursula is headstrong and they frequently fall-out. But unlike her step-relatives, Ursula is at once smart as a whip, blossoming into an attractive, passionate young woman. Ursula finds a benefactor in her doting uncle, Henry Mooney, a protagonist of the novel 1921. Mooney sees smoldering in Ursula the portent of success he himself achieved in the literary world. Thus Henry is as determined as Ursula is to free her from rural, backward Ireland. Following a visit to Uncle Henry and Aunt Ella, the stage is set for the ultimate break with Ned. Henry convinces Ursula to accept Ella's offer to send her to finishing school in Switzerland. Ned's reaction is to disown his stepdaughter. With nary a glance backward, Ursula is off to the continent where she is taken under the wing of Constance Markevicz, a real-life heroine of Ireland's independence movement.

In Switzerland Ursula matures into a rough diamond of the young woman she is destined to be. Hobnobbing with the titled, the landed and the idle rich, she yet suffers under the prejudices bestowed on the Irish by the English. Nevertheless, she develops great friendships among Britons of both sexes, including the dashing pilot Lewis Baines, for whom physical desire courses through her loins.

Upon returning to Ireland Ursula takes a position with radio station 2RN writing news copy ticketed for the airwaves. No amount of talent will allow her to crack the male-only news reporting clique and Ursula's informed that she'll never read her own copy on air. Against a backdrop of Nazi fires burning on the continent, she meets an Irishman, Finbar Cassidy, a civil servant and man who represents much of what she rebels against. Lacking ambition, he further urges Ursula to accept status quo at 2RN. He pursues Ursula with uncommon determination, and exhibits kindness to a fault. After the suave Lewis Baines reappears on the scene, Ursula casts the Catholic Church's teachings regarding sexual forays outside marriage to the wind. Not surprisingly, Ursula finds herself pregnant with child.

In Dublin an unmarried pregnant woman stands about as much chance finding work as a statue honoring Cromwell appearing on O'Connell Street, so Ursula is again off to Switzerland where the doomed League of Nations seeks to stave off the Nazi horde threatening Europe. Much of Llywelyn's thoroughly researched World War II history comes to play here, as Ursula takes a job with the League. Real-life characters show up, along with their real-life frailties and failures. Chamberlain boasts that `we will have peace in our time.' Eamon De Valera's former employee, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, is on scene. Special dishonor is reserved for the lionized Winston Churchill. Profiling the Irish brand of World War II neutrality, Llywelyn offers a glimpse into what it really was, and what it meant to Anglo-Irish relations. It's terrific reading as marauding Germans roll over Europe.

With young son in tow, Ursula's back in Ireland in time to witness the post-war chartering of the Irish Republic, which occurs, understandably, in 1949. There's more of course: more farm, more Ned, more Lewis, more Finbar. Read it. You can't miss on this natural fit for the silver screen. If your cup of tea is history interspersed with titillating, finely woven fiction, 1949 is a must.

Laying claim to the unofficial title of Novelist Laureate of Ireland, Morgan Llywelyn boasts a body of fiction-based history, a dramatis personae, profiling the Irish condition.

Delightfully entertaining with an educational twist.......2004-12-25

1949 is the third book in Morgan Llywelyn's Historical Fiction series around Ireland's struggle for independence. It is not necessary to read 1916 and 1921 to follow 1949, although it might help when reference is made to significant events from previous periods, especially if you have little knowledge of Irish history.

1949 picks up approximately two years after the Irish Civil War. Red haired, blued eyed Ursula Jervis Halloran is 16 years of age and riding her horse Saoirse (Irish for 'Freedom') in Clare, Ireland, where she grew up on a farm with her father Ned (lead character 1916) and his Aunt Norah. She has received a letter from her pseudo-uncle Henry Mooney (lead character 1921) beckoning her to visit him and his wife Ella in Dublin. Against her fathers wishes she disappears to Dublin without a word to anyone.

When Ursula returns to the farm she informs her family she is going away to school in Switzerland, thanks to Ella's kind gift. Ned forbids it but she reminds him she is only his foster child and that she will do as she pleases, a path she follows throughout her life. Despite being adopted she has a strong bond with Ned and is deeply hurt by his anger. She leaves with business left unfinished between them.

On arrival in Switzerland, she learns it is finishing school, much to her chagrin. Being of beauty and great personality she nevertheless quickly befriends the upper crust whom she continues to correspond with after she leaves at age 18. She returns to an impoverished Ireland with its strong views on religion and politics.

Llywelyn is successful in painting the life of Ursula, a working class woman in a country trying to free itself from "foreign domination." With each chapter Llywelyn brings the reader into the fold to watch a girl blossom into a woman. She is strong willed from the beginning. In a society where women are to be seen and not heard Ursula stands on her own two feet in full sun, determined to make it on her own. She does not let anyone push her into the shadows of male servitude. Llywelyn has created a memorable role model for women.

Ursula was not without her own role models. Constance Markievicz' who encouraged her to be independent, choose her own path and only trust in herself for courage and honesty. This is true to Ursula's code to life.

Ursula is reminded that she is just a woman at every opportunity but she doesn't allow it to sway her own views and desires. While other women's interests revolve around hair and beauty products, Ursula cultivates her strong feminine and political views. Her contacts, interest in politics and occurrences abroad land her a job at the 2RN Radio Station. She is not permitted to broadcast as "Only the male voice is really suitable." Her schooling, meticulous letter writing to Henry, and to her acquaintances abroad, contribute to her success at 2RN and later with the League of Nations in Geneva. To work women had to be single or widowed, otherwise they were told to stay home with their children. Ursula vowed never to marry but that didn't stop the love triangle formation between traditional Irishman Finbar Cassidy and extravagant Englishman Lewis Baines.

1949 contains plenty of Irish politics as well as British propaganda, and covers the emergence of Hitler and the Second World War from an Irish perspective that is just as horrifying as all others. Llywelyn doesn't focus on the Catholic Church's impact on Irish society like other authors have in the past but its presence is clear. Politics and freedom from state are crucial. Llywelyn's characters are not idle bodies but great thinkers.

Tension mounts as the war hits closer to Ursula, affecting her and the people she holds dear. 1949 is not all doom and gloom. Morgan's wit is seen throughout in subtle glimpses as are tenderness, sexual fire and intense anger. One of my favourites is her mention of the "traditional Irish savings bank: under the mattress."

You can expect to learn a few Irish words like goster (chat; small talk) and seisiun (traditional music session) or learn of Irish traditions like keening (an "eerie singsong cadence, and unearthly wail" by women for the dead.)

Passages of Ursula's life are entwined with passages of Ireland's history. There are large patches without dialogue and I often felt I was getting a history lesson rather than reading a novel but this was fleeting.

There is a "Dramatis Personae" of fictional and historical characters in the first few pages. Another nice feature is the historical date markers. You are never without a doubt as to the timeline. Research and sources appear in the back. Not having grown up in the confines of Ireland's history I found it hard to keep the different groups and parties straight. It would have been nice to have a break down of each party, what they represented, length of existence etc... to refer to. The chapters are short, making it a great book for people on the move with limited time.

Llywelyn finishes this story with the inauguration of the Republic of Ireland on April 18th 1949. There are no loose ends but possibilities exist to gently tug the reader into the next book. I look forward to reading about the period leading up to 1972.

[...]

Third in an Intriguing Series.......2004-06-03

Just completed the third volume of Morgan Llywelyn's series on "the Irish Century", and it enlightened me greatly on a little-known period of Irish history. The Easter Rising and the Troubles have been extensively chronicled, but the 1923-1949 period has had little written about it. Her dramatic story, while a bit overblown at times, continues the saga of the Hallorans and the Mooneys over a quarter century, while the world outside hurtles into WWII. I would assume that if the series does indeed have a fourth volume yet to come, it would probably be set around 1972 and the beginning of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, and would likely have Michael and Bella Kavanaugh from the US return to Ireland and get involved in the Republican struggle against the Unionist tyranny in the North. At any rate, I have learned numerous things about modern Irish history that I did not know before, and enjoyed most of the author's dramatic characters. I would look forward to a final volume chronicling the 30-year conflict in the North leading up to the Good Friday Agreement, paralleled by the growth of the "Celtic Tiger" giant economy of the Republic to the South. While the author's sympathies are definitely Republican, she can portray the feelings of all sides in the century-long conflict and the common humanity of the characters makes the background struggle all the more poignant. My only criticism is her constant sniping at the Catholic Church as the major force in keeping Ireland "repressed and backward". Her anti-clericalism gets a bit much at times, but overall the story is very enjoyable.

WOW!!!! Morgan Llywelyn Does It Again!!!.......2003-03-23

1949, the third book in Morgan Llywelyn's series about 20th Century Ireland ( I am told there will be two more) is a compelling story of Ireland's continued struggle for complete independence from British rule, and for those who have been anxiously awaiting for this story, I can assure you, you will not be disappointed.

Ursula, aka Precious, was found wandering the streets of Dublin as a toddler by Ned Halloran, who readers of 1916 and 1921 will remember. Her parentage a question, Ned was taken in by Ned and his wife, Sile, and raised as their own.

1949 is Ursula's story. It opens in the early days of the Irish Free State and ends with the forming of the Republic in 1949. We follow Ursula as she leaves Neds family farm in County Clare at the urging of Henry and Ella Mooney (who readers will also remember from 1916 and 1921). Henry wouldn't let Ella use any of her family's money to help support their family but does agree for her to pay for Ursula's education at an exclusive private school in Switzerland.

When Ursula returns to Ireland she secures a job at the new radio station, helping write copy (but never allowed to be on the air herself). Through her eyes we see the continued political struggle in Ireland and her view of world events in the days before the second world war.

Ursula has vowed never to marry, in large part due to new laws in Ireland against married women working outside the home. Nevertheless, she is very attractive to the opposite sex and to two men in particular - Finbar Cassidy, an Irish government official whose political views frequently clash with her own, and Lewis Baines, a dashing young English pilot whose conquests of beautiful women have become legendary.

Morgan Llywelyn, whose knowledge of Irish politics and history is really unequalled in historical fiction written today, liberally adds historical facts and events to add depth and interest but never detracting from the overall story.

I can't remember when I have looked forward to a book more. Readers of 1916 and 1921 will enjoy visits with characters important in those books including Henry and Ella Mooney, Ned Halloran, and Ned's family in County Clare. Llywelyn's stories appeal to a wide variety of readers and my husband and daughter, both of whom have read 1916 and 1921, were fighting over who was going to get to read 1949 when I finished.

Great Ending to the Trilogy.......2003-03-14

Assuming this was the last in the series the author started with 1916, it was truly a great finish. The main character in this book was the best of all her characters, and the way she interweaves the fictional plot with real events is just amazing. Through reading this series, the reader learns a tremendous amount of interesting history, and also will meet unforgettable fictional characters. To anyone interested in Irish history, and/or just a series of good books, I would recommend reading 1916, 1921 and most definitely 1949, preferably one after the other, because there are so many recurring characters that they may become hard to remember if one of the arlier books was read too long ago.

The History Of Hortense: Daughter Of Josephine, Queen Of Holland, Mother Of Napoleon Iii

Average customer rating:

The History Of Hortense: Daughter Of Josephine, Queen Of Holland, Mother Of Napoleon Iii
John S. C. Abbott
Manufacturer: Kessinger Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Irish | Ethnic & National | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Historical | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Women | Specific Groups | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

Netherlands | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

Book Description

1870. With Engravings. An historical account of Hortense, one of the world's noblest women. Hortense's father fell beneath the slide of the guillotine; her mother was imprisoned and doomed to die; and she and her brother were turned penniless into the streets. By the marriage of her mother with Napoleon, she became the daughter of the Emperor, and one of the most brilliant and illustrious ladies of the imperial court. The triumph of the Allies sent her into exile, where her influence and her instruction prepared her son to contribute powerfully to the restoration of the Empire, and to reign with ability which is admired by his friends and acknowledged by his foes. The mother of Napoleon III never allowed her royally-endowed son to forget, even in the gloomiest days of exile and sorrow, that it might yet be his privilege to reestablish the Republican Empire, and to restore the dynasty of the people from its overthrow by the despotic Allies.

Average customer rating:

The Beauty Queen of Leenane
Martin McDonagh
Manufacturer: Dramatists Play Service
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

jp-unknown2 | Specialty Stores | Books

General | Drama | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0822216647

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books