The Back Of Beyond: A Search For The Soul Of Ireland [Hardcover]

James Charles Roy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 19, 2002

James Charles Roy, a noted authority on Irish history and travel, escorts a disparate group of Americans through the lonely backwaters of ancient Ireland. Visions of a glorious enterprise evaporate as he sees a dejected and weary handful of aged American tourists disembark at Shannon Airport. Fortified by Guinness, Roy hurls himself into sharing with them the joys and wonders of Ireland’s twisted byways.Determined to avoid cliché, Roy leads his group to obscure Celtic coronation sites, monasteries, and remote abbeys as he spins a narrative that pulls Ireland’s chaotic story into coherence. His unsuspecting charges begin to shed their hesitancies, relishing their guide’s idiosyncratic approach to Ireland. Black comedy aside, Roy touches an emotional chord: how the economic phenomenon known as the Celtic Tiger has transformed Old Ireland into a high-tech power. At the tour’s end, Roy embarks alone for the inaccessible Ardoilean, a seventh-century Celtic hermitage in County Galway. His vision of an Ireland lost forever is an emotional tour de force.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Roy, a noted authority on Irish history and travel, divides his time between a home in Newburyport, MA, and Moyode Castle in County Galway, Ireland. Using his experience leading a tour of elderly Americans around Ireland as the basis for this travel essay, Roy paints a rather grim even dreary picture of Ireland and its past. Perhaps because he has long studied Ireland (he has written some historical studies of Ireland, most recently The Fields of Athenry: A Journey Through Irish History), his views have become jaded, for he avoids showing his readers or potential travelers anything of the romantic and beautiful Emerald Isle of public opinion. While it is true that Roy takes his charges to the parts of Ireland that are off the beaten path, his purpose seems to be to show that Ireland is somehow overrated and not at all what the Travel Board tries to communicate. Still, this book is admittedly an interesting read, since Roy shares an abundance of historical knowledge about Ireland. Recommended for large travel collections, but readers should not expect this book to entice them overseas. Sandy Knowles, Henderson Cty. P.L., NC
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Rather than into the arms of tourist luxury, Roy leads some mostly elderly, jaded Americans on a historical tour of Ireland, taking them to monasteries, abbeys, and sacred sites far, as he says, from the Ireland of "donkey carts" and "faerie forts." An atypical guide, he can be impatient and curmudgeonly. Reporting on the expedition, he is refreshingly honest, revealing embarrassing incidents other authors wouldn't. The adventures his motley crew experienced were often humorous, beginning with slowly getting to know one another and learn of their host's idiosyncratic tastes and continuing as Roy opened their eyes to an Ireland few of them knew existed. Roy compares the complex and troubled Irish past with contemporary Ireland, the so-called Celtic Tiger that has transformed an ancient culture into a highly sophisticated, technological society. Beyond recounting an offbeat Irish excursion, Roy weighs in on Ireland today, on what he sees as its cultural deterioration, and on the effects on it of massive tourism. June Sawyers
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 232 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; 1St Edition edition (February 19, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 081333909X
• ISBN-13: 978-0813339092
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #658,590 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Back of Beypnd, October 19, 2002

By 

Jo Murphy (Raynham, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Back Of Beyond: A Search For The Soul Of Ireland (Hardcover)

A most hauntingly, beautiful history of old, old Ireland. My people came from area of Moyode Castle. Made me one with them. Perfectly researched. Truly knows Ireland and its people. Am on my second read of it. Would love to have him as a tour guide.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Last of Old Ireland, July 31, 2002

By 

David M. Dillon (Westford, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Back Of Beyond: A Search For The Soul Of Ireland (Hardcover)

Just when you thought the Irish travel memoir had all but run its course, along comes James Charles Roy's The Back of Beyond, a thoughtful and thoroughly informative investigation of the Ireland of yesterday and today.

Subtitled "A Search for the Soul of Ireland," Roy provides an astute and unvarnished take on the Celtic Tiger that is today's Ireland, warts and all. What distinguishes this book from others in this chock-a-block genre, is Roy's commitment to getting off the Board Failte tourist trail, to seek-out and offer insights to some of Ireland's relatively obscure yet fascinating historic sites. The list includes Scattery Island, Athassel Priory, Knockgraffon Motte, and perhaps most noteworthy, Bully's Acre which, in the author's words, is one of "Dublin's oldest (and seediest) graveyards." Within the site, Roy locates the final resting place of British soldiers who fell victim to the Easter Rising of 1916. Were he a relative of one of these fallen soldiers, Roy writes, "I would be quite unhappy with this unkempt, miserable, overgrown lot of weeds that cover these bones of men who died so violently, it would appear, for nothing."

Unlike other noted travelers, like Rick Steves or Michael Palin, Roy doesn't exhibit the enthusiasm or generosity of spirit toward his fellow travelers. This is evidenced in the bulk of The Back of Beyond as Roy leads a small tour group from Cashel to the Aran Islands, Yeats Country to Dublin City. Roy often carps about his charges ("...my group is incapable of making any independent choices..."), those around him (labeling as "pompous" a tour guide at Dublin's Saint Patrick's Cathedral for working herself up into "a fever pitch" about Jonathan Swift), or simply the state of affairs at such popular tourist sites as Bunratty Castle. And yet, Roy's cantankerous style can at times seem refreshingly candid and not at all in sync with Board Failte. "Up with People goes to Ireland" this is not.

In the end, the author, now separated from his tour group and the throngs of tea towel purchasers that frequent Ireland's tourist trail, visits Ardoilean, a little known island off the Connemara coast. It is here that he finds an Ireland that is all but gone. Considering the island's isolation and the "blind faith" of the monks who once inhabited the place, Roy writes, "I may certainly claim an interest in the place, may congratulate myself on having the resolution to come, as many fainthearted people would not...but that doesn't mean I belong." It is here that an often crotchety Roy looks inward, turns self-critical, and makes The Back of Beyond all the more memorable.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best preparatory guides to Ireland, July 10, 2002

By 

P. Sullivan - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Back Of Beyond: A Search For The Soul Of Ireland (Hardcover)

Prior to taking my second trip to Ireland this summer I crammed a lot of reading in on Irish History, short stories, mythology and current events. The Back of Beyond is one of the best. It is one of two books that I have read over the years (out of maybe 300) where I have actually laughed out loud because of the author's curmudgeonly yet clever wit. He takes readers and his tour customers on a backstage tour of this wonderful land. This not only grants the reader a colorful view of Ireland and it's people; it also adds plenty of drama, humor and sadness when recalling a tumultuous and tragic history. Another couple of great preparatory books for this country include Cahill's "How the Irish Saved Civilization" and the Travellers Guide, edited by James O'Reilly.