Customer Reviews

Becoming Finola

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I just love discovering an author about whom I knew nothing, and finding a fresh new voice in the process! Suzanne Strempek Shea has written a wonderfully delightful quirky story that is so much fun, so fresh, so witty, that I am loathe to categorize it. It simply stands alone.

Sophie White, a nice, thirtysomething New Englander, agrees to accompany her newly widowed and terribly grieving best friend Gina to a remote village in Ireland, where Gina hopes she will regain her equilibrium and start to heal. The two women arrive at a charming cottage (prepaid by Gina) near the sea, prepare to unpack their myriad clothing and belongings (also bought by Gina) and stay until Gina feels better. But Gina takes off after less than 24 hours, and Sophie is left alone in this friendly, tiny village that is seemingly haunted.

Haunted, that is, by the very undead but very much revered and remembered Finola, who took off two years before with her German lover. Absolutely everybody in the village has a story about Finola, from her still lonely ex lover Liam, whom Sophie thinks looks like a young Eric Clapton, to the very "auld" Joe, whom Finola brought back to life and happiness by taking him for a long walk every day. Even the dog Pepsi owes his well-being to Finola, who rescued him from a wretched existence tied up in an uncaring yard.

Unwittingly, Sophie starts to model herself on this mythical woman, thinking, "What would Finola do?" And in this way, she gradually assumes Finola's life, from her jewelry-making in the craft store run by Liam, to taking Joe for walks, to living in the cottage that was apparently Finola's before she left--to wearing Finola's left-behind, perfect, clothes. Oh--and Sophie also takes over Liam, until like it or not, she feels she IS Finola.

The inevitable denoument is so tragicomic, but so full of wisdom, that it simply makes the book. I won't give away the ending, but in my mind, it was perfect.

I cannot wait to read everything Shea has written; where has she been all my life?

In this strikingly present novel, Shea dips you by the toe into the village life of Booley, Ireland. The reader easily finds herself becoming Sophie, the narrator. We are the outsider, suddenly immersed in this simplistic, artistic life into which Sophie metamorphosizes. From the first day, when she straightens the merchandise in Liam's shop out of impulsive need for order, Sophie finds a place where she belongs, a place she never knew she was looking for. Sophie becomes Finola: an artisan of beaded jewelry, onto which she endows virtues, assigned according to the charms strung onto them, assigned on a whim, on a wish. Hers is a world into which we all long to disapperar. Into another world, another country, another life. The magical bracelts, in a way, narrate the story, and leave you wishing that you, too, could BECOME FINOLA.

Suzanne Strempek Shea must have been gone to Ireland during the Spring of 2002, when Americans began to go back to Europe, once we felt flying was safe again. First we went to countries where English was the official language - Ireland being the closest to US soil. We liked to be able to get on one plane, either in Boston or Baltimore, and get off in Ireland 7 hours later. We were worried about the dollar to Euro exchange rate and preferred that it be one for one, so we wouldn't have to "do the math." Shea must have gone to some of the Irish villages I visited, as she describes them wonderfully.
Not that anyone needs an excuse to go to Ireland, but if you're looking for more reasons to go there, read this book first.

I read this book a few months ago and it's still fresh in my mind, which I consider the sign of a truly good read. Overall, the book was a good story, told in an utterly charming and fresh way. The characters and setting are so well/vividly written that you feel as if you could picture it and almost believe such a place and people exist (and wish that you could visit them). Enjoyable read and one I've been recommending to friends.

I love Susanne Strempek-Shea's books and this is one of my favorites. It's kind of like "Under the Tuscan Sun" but takes place in Ireland.

This was an amazing book. I was shocked as I read it how alike this town Booley was to a town I visited last time I was in Ireland called Doolin. Both towns had a row of about 5 or 6 shops, one of wich being a pub, both towns have cliffs with a holy well only about a mile or 3 fields away, and both are on the side of a hill next to the ocean on the west coast of Ireland not to far from Limerick. I swear Shea must have visited Doolin before writing the book because she captured the spirt of the little Irish town to a key.
Now a word about the book, wonderful, it's a classic love story that every woman wishes she could experience while on vacation, or as they say in Ireland "on holiday"

I first got into Shea when I read "Hoopi Shoopi Donna," to which I could relate because I, too, grew up second-generation Polish in New England. Although the characters and plots varied, Shea's first four or so books tended to focus upon Polish-American twenty-something heroines, usually living in Massachusetts, humorously dealing with their old-country relatives.

In "Becoming Finola," however, Shea tackles an unfamiliar country, Ireland, and does it wonderfully. Massachusetts native (she couldn't totally abandon the old and familiar, could she?) Sophie accompanies her friend Gina on a three-month trip to Ireland for a change of pace after Gina's husband's death. However, Gina lasts all of one night, heading back to America and insisting Sophie stay. She does, and finds it surprisingly easy to fall into small-town Irish life -- as well as the spot left by Finola, a local legend who broke hearts when she abruptly fled the village three years earlier. Sophie all but takes over Finola's old life as she works Finola's old job, and falls in love with her old boyfriend. And then Finola comes back...

This delightful, beguiling book is very hard to put down, even though at its core it deals with some important issues - and it does so with such lightness of wit and perfectly poised sense of tone that we never feel dragged down by the weight of the things it asks us to consider. Sophie white loses her job and travels to Ireland where she finds herself living in the home of the town's legendary inhabitant Finola, and, to some extent, taking on the life Finola had before she left. There are fascinating topics, here, such as who are we when we're away from home, and not employed in our regular work? Beyond that lie the deeper questions for Sophie - is this the 'real' person she is, or is it just a role she's trying out? Has she discovered a vital part of herself, and can she live from that knowledge? Suzanne Strempek Shea raises these questions for her character (and for us) while delighting us with her shrewd observations of the people in the village, and how they live and interact. There is never a dull sentence or a flat passage in this book.
Lawrence Durrell famously observed that we think we go to places and do things, whereas what is actually true is we go to places and they do things with us. That could almost be a micro-description of this book. It will charm you. Shea's prose will wrap itself around your heart. When you reach the last page you'll still want more. Best of all, though, you'll reach the last page with an enhanced sense of the mysteries of the human heart.

Sophie White is a good friend. Gina Stebbins is going through a tough time, and Sophie is on hand to be her cheerleader, coach and companion. When Gina gets the almost-crazy notion that a trip from Massachusetts to Booley, Ireland, will give her all the answers, Sophie goes along to lend her support. Quite unexpectedly, Booley casts its magic on Sophie instead. Gina quickly goes back home, and Sophie remains to take over the identity left behind by craftswoman Finola O'Flynn.

Finola was everyone's friend and confidant when she lived in Booley. Her influence seems to be everywhere. Her name graces the shop where Sophie finds work, where the boss was once Finola's lover. Sophie eases into Finola's shoes -- reluctantly, at first; and then with more confidence as she often ponders what an independent woman like Finola would do in any situation. As is often the case, the myth is grander than the reality. Sophie turns out to be a better Finola than Finola really is/was.

Shea's first-person characters are always observant. Sophie compares everything she sees to her personal knowledge base of brand-name products, popular music, and classic television shows. She thinks the way we Baby Boomers think, which makes for fun reading. The culture and conversational style of the Irish are also well presented here, as are the idiosyncracies of American tourists. If the stereotype fits...

"Becoming Finola" is good entertainment that may entice readers to think about international travel themselves; or at the very least, to search high and low for inspirational bead-and-charm bracelets with magic powers. Perhaps there's a Booley waiting out there for each one of us.

Sophie White is unemployed -but, her good friend Gina was also fired, and caught her husband cheating! So, Gina pays Sophie to be her companion and then plans a whole summer for them in a small village in Ireland called Booley. When they get there, Gina decides she needs to be home, on her own and tells Sophie to stay. Next thing you know, Sophie is working at a crafts shop and slowly taking on the life of its namesake, Finola O'Flynn - who left very suddenly, some time before. Just as she is finally happy, Finola returns and wants her life back - including her man. Sophie has to leave without knowing what will happen.

I never had a real picture of Sophie in my mind. Was she old, young, pretty, plain - none of it was clear from the text. And, did she fall for Liam out of anything more than convenience? The hocus pocus about the bracelets and the well was CHEESY. I liked that Finola came back, but it didn't make sense that she would give up on Liam so quickly and immediately marry Noel. And, why did Sophie give up so quickly, only to take him back when Finola tossed him aside?