The Chisellers [Paperback]

Brendan O'Carroll (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 28, 2000

The Mrs. Browne trilogy became an instant bestselling success in author Brendan O'Carroll's native Ireland. Similarly, when Plume introduced The Mammy (the first book in the series, May 1999) in the United States, it was greeted with overwhelming enthusiasm from American readers. Fans of Agnes Browne craving further hilarious and heartwarming adventures will be delighted with The Chisellers. Agnes, the lovable and determined heroine, returns with her seven children—whom she affectionately calls "the chisellers"—all struggling to make their way in the world with varying degrees of success. To make matters more difficult, as Agnes struggles along the bumpy road of parenting, she learns that the family is about to be forced out of their tenement home in the name of urban renewal. Pierre, Agnes' persistent suitor, is thankfully on hand to console her. Like all good Irish stories, The Chisellers includes a wedding and a funeral, much laughter and some tears—and it is sure to please newcomers as well as loyal fans of this terrific series.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In his introduction to this second episode in the rollicking trilogy that began with The Mammy (1994), Brendan O'Carroll explains that his greatest surprise and pleasure, in the wake of his newfound literary success, was meeting people who told him it was the first book they had ever read. And it's easy to imagine how new readers would be drawn in by engaging, larger-than-life characters, colorful dialogue, and high-spirited plot. The Chisellers opens in 1970, with the widow Agnes Browne still struggling to raise her brood (the chisellers of the title) alone, although the broad-shouldered Mark is now an apprentice carpenter and Rory, his gay brother, is an apprentice hair stylist. Agnes may be too caught up in her exciting bingo win of 310 pounds to notice that little Dermot is developing a dangerous taste for shoplifting, but she frequently wrings her hands over Frankie, a neo-Nazi thug who has been expelled from school.

Into this flurry of daily concerns and excitements comes a letter from the local housing authority, notifying her that all the indigent families in her neighborhood are being relocated from their shabby but familiar tenements in the center of Dublin to new houses in a distant suburb. At the sad but raucous farewell party at the pub, Agnes sits drinking cider "in her usual corner," remembering her best friend, Marion, who died three years before: "Ah Jaysus, Marion, listen to them!" she muses. "The music of The Jarro! Will we ever hear the likes of it again?"

The music to which Agnes referred could not be played on any instrument, but was the cackle of voices and rhythmic banter of the inner-city folk, the symphony of unanswered questions and impossible statements, that were so much of the colour of Dublin: "Hey, Mr. Foley. A vodka with ice--and fresh ice, none of that frozen stuff!" This would be followed by a howl of laughter.

As you read, it is impossible not to envision a feel-good film of The Chisellers (Anjelica Huston directed The Mammy) and to admire O'Carroll's comic skill, even if his sunny, too-tidy conclusion to the novel makes Frank McCourt read like Dostoyevsky. --Regina Marler

From Publishers Weekly

By turns funny, wise and heartbreaking, this Irish Tales of the City is O'Carroll's second book in his Mrs. Browne trilogy; the first, The Mammy, received high praise after publication in the U.S. last year. Featuring eccentric characters who are charming, irreverent and believable, the story continues in 1973 with Agnes Browne at center stage. A widow raising six sons and a daughter, whom she refers to collectively as the "chisellers," she lives in public housing in inner-city Dublin. Agnes is no angel, which makes her all the more human; she chain-smokes, likes a pint or two of an evening and has a sweet-dispositioned boyfriend, a French immigrant named Pierre, who works at a pizza joint and is endlessly patient with Agnes and her rambunctious brood. Mark Browne is the oldest; at 17, he is apprenticed to a furniture-maker whose business is failing. How Mark saves the business and wins the girl of his dreams inform the main storyline, but each of the siblings and Agnes get their fair share of attention. Frankie, the next in age, is involved with violent local skinheads. After he and his gang brutally beat his younger brother, Rory, a subsequent act further tarnishes Frankie's reputation and outrages his family. This lively novel features a wedding, a funeral and an ending that will melt the hardest heart. Readers will eagerly await the third book in this series. (Mar.) FYI: The film version of The Mammy, starring Anjelica Huston, is currently in release.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 190 pages
• Publisher: Plume (February 28, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0452281229
• ISBN-13: 978-0452281226
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #105,368 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another wonderful chapter, March 6, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Chisellers (Paperback)

I picked up "The Mammy" last summer and could not put it down. When I found out there were going to be three books giving us the wonderful heartfelt tales of Agnes Browne and her boys, I could hardly wait. After finishing "The Chisellers", I was not disapointed. Brendan O'Carroll sucks you into this working-class Irish family with a tender and loving hand. (It was a bit embarassing laughing AND crying on the subway, but there are weirder people than that on the trains.) It can stand alone, but one book would just not be enough of Agnes Browne and her clan. Now, if I can just hold out until "The Granny" is published...

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Without Qualification, Flawless The Sequel, December 31, 2000

By 

taking a rest - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Chisellers (Paperback)

A sequel to a wonderful book is inherently at risk. For when it is to be read by a person familiar with the initial experience, part two is almost predestined to be disappointment. Book one has the advantage of introducing all that is new. The final of the three can tie all the experiences together, can bring closure. But the middle event must maintain the reader's enthusiasm. When the story and its execution are excellent, the reader is enthusiastic for the final event. The last book is not read just to complete the cycle. Happily there are no absolutes, exceptions ensure that there will be pleasant surprises, not all repeated experience need be as expected.

With, "The Chisellers", Mr. Brendan O'Carroll has repeated the brilliance of, "The Mammy", without resorting to repeating himself as a writer, or forcing his characters to remain unchanged. This writer brings all of the people you love in part one and he allows them to evolve as a person would in their own life. The mood of this book is different, but is also a natural progression. The Browne Clan is getting older; adulthood envelops some, while it still awaits the younger children. Agnes too is aging, adapting to the dramatic changes she was forced to cope with in the first book. However as I mentioned when commenting upon, "The Mammy", Mr. O'Carroll tells a wonderful story, which happens to take place with an Irish Family. While it is true this brings with it some detail that may be familiar, the fact that this is an Irish Family is never what drives this book. He never allows his work to cheat and use the easy cliché.

The Author also brings to this wonderful trilogy people that are not Catholic, that are not Irish, and they are not by default the evil players. His story is inclusive; the world he writes about is not a fantasyland where the pains and trials of life are absent. But neither is it a world that when suffering appears, it appears as a certain brand, a certain nationality, a certain group of worn clichés.

And in this second book there is great pain, there is senseless destruction and loss. And while it would be very easy of accusing the Author of being a bit too neat with finding the lining of silver in one cloud too many, it is no more than most tales of Ireland when every cloud contains a granite mountain.

This amazing writer is two for two, and now it remains to be seen if he has the final third of the hat trick within him. For this middle installment is as good as number one, so he has nothing to improve upon, as the first two were uniformly tremendous.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful Novel, May 11, 2001

By 

Michael Hellyer "Weather Fan" (Aurora, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Chisellers (Paperback)

This is book two of a trilogy, but it was the first one I read because I came across it 60% off at a Crown Bookstore closing. After reading it, I rushed out to read book one, The Mammy, and then went right to book three, The Granny. I actually think that starting with book two was the best way to read this series, as I enjoyed flashing back in book 1 to the past then moving to book 3 for the future.

This book is a total wonder. It's comic scenes and dialogue are hilarious. But, it's far from a comic novel as there is human drama woven throughout.

The construction of the novel is perfect: it starts in mystery, becomes a brilliantly funny and touching family chronicle, and ends with resolution to its mystery and to all it's plot threads. It will touch your funny bone and your heart: in terms of the joys and love within a family unit; a mother who may not seem to set the best example, but when the chips are down, follows her heart and makes the right decisions; of the diversity of personalities within one family; and, the tragedies that surround us and sometimes destroy our dreams.

One scene had me laughing out loud, then the author describes it again, the second time through other charcaters observing the scene, so you get to enjoy the scene twice.

This book, along with the other two in the series, reminds us that love is our bond, drama and conflict our shadows, and humor the human soul's struggle to prevail.

This is one of the few books that the moment I finished, I started re-reading it -- at least until I could buy the other two books in the series.

I keep a shelf at home with my "Hall of Fame" of favorite books. This book went onto that shelf the moment I turned the last page. And, I can't wait to start over turning its pages once again.