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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
lyrical, gripping and raw,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Deposition of Father McGreevy (Hardcover)
This is an original and fascinating story of an isolated Irish village which suffers a series of tragedies during the early forties that leads to its demise. A caring priest tells the tale of a terrible winter during which the five young women of the village die. This tragedy casts suspicions on the occupants of the village from the larger community at the bottom of the mountain, suspicions which continue to be fed by the primitive behavior of a damaged young man. The destruction and cruelties that result from innuendo and rumor build and begin to impact the good men of the village. An absorbing, wonderfully written story set in a bleak but fascinating time and place.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
a hauntingly beautiful mystery,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Deposition of Father McGreevy (Hardcover)
A hauntingly beautiful mystery, with page-turning suspense, detailing the death of an Irish village and the unfolding of scandalous secrets. O'Doherty is a master, who has written a book of unsurpassed eloquence, laced with wisdom and wit. Wonderful characters, etched with extraordinary psychological insight and sympathy. An homage to the beauty of language, as well as an extremely important slice of history. While specific to a particularly fascinating time and place, O'Doherty reveals the human condition in all of its complexity, with a tenderness so often lacking in contemporary literature--the sensibility at work in this book is one of its most attractive features. The book is a work of art--a cliche O'Doherty would never employ.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Unholy living, half dying,
By
This review is from: The Deposition of Father McGreevy (Hardcover)
This book puts a dagger close to the heart of old Ireland. It's as sure in that as the roads and by-passes that now saw through the towns and villages of the Republic: Dev is truly dead. O'Doherty's book is riveting as a story and a piece of poetic prose writing. Whoever imagined describing a face as "like vinegar"? Its real coup, however, is in the way it neatly captures the past and slays it before our very eyes. Sure, there's a certain amount of wish-fulfilment in the events described in the book. The doomed village is an uneasy metaphor for old Ireland and the portraits of the distant clergy are made to look wise by the more recent shenanigans we have read about ad nauseum and much to our mirth. But there is a lot to enjoy not least the often comic, sometimes heroic and ultimately flawed Fr McGreevy. He is supported by three or four very credible and strong support acts not the least of whom is his surreal housekeeper Biddy McGurk. Occasionally, O'Doherty strains to capture the essence of his thoughts which do centre around the passing of time and place. I was reminded of "The Butcher Boy" and, going back, some of the short stories from my youth. So, three cheers for the book and a couple of Hail Marys wouldn't go amiss either.
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