The Engine of Owl-light (Paladin Books) [Paperback]

Sebastian Barry (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Barry's first full-length work (he has previously published short stories) weaves six threads in time and space to create a mystical and poetic tapestry. In each chapter, six incarnations of what may be the same, eternal Irishman recall their history: a petty Irish chieftain recounts his struggle for power in bawdy Middle English; a young boy tells a lyrical tale of a sad and scary childhood; a neurotic young man describes his reunion with a Swiss girlfriend. More accessible and amusing are Oliver's Kerouac-ish travels across the U.S. and Moran's contemporary adventures in Key West. While some will find the episodic nature of this narrative difficult and sometimes impenetrable (the dialogue is often Joycean and opaque), patient readers will delight in the subtle and inventive language that echoes and pays homage to the author's literary Irish forebears and yet displays Barry's own certain talent.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Paladin (March 24, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0586085939
• ISBN-13: 978-0586085936
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,134,478 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Technically admirable, practically inert, November 7, 2005

By 

John L Murphy "Fionnchú" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Engine of Owl-light (Paladin Books) (Paperback)

A colleague of mine is writing a novel with three distinct narrative voices. This is difficult enough; Barry's first novel, from 1987, published when he was only 33, takes on six. The result is exactly what you'd expect of an Irish author in debt to Joyce, Beckett, and all the other poetic and prose voices in the head of any new writer entering into the competition to join such earlier champions. It also may explain why, detouring into the creation of well-received plays such as "The Steward of Christendom," Barry subsequently waited a decade and more before his considerably more accomplished and disciplined second novel, "The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty," appeared.

The problem with "Engine" is that it's not worth the trouble to get through. Barry's full of intriguing ideas and parts of the multi-layered narrative work in fits and starts, but the momentum fails to be gained, as each of the six voices sputters on a few pages before being supplanted by another, and so on for over 350 closely printed pages. The plots, also, are not engaging enough to sustain interest. Calling the key figure Moran, and expending great effort in writing Oxen-of-the-Sun types of half-antiquated, half-Joycean narrative interspersed with more than passing nods to Beckett makes Barry look all the smaller in the shadows of such giants. While Barry's ambition is to be duly noted, the novel that emerges, half-digested, is far from a satisfying repast for any reader who has enjoyed Barry's influences and inspirations. It's a novel overstuffed and undercooked.

Try "Whereabouts," his recent Booker Prize finalist "A Long Long Way"--both reviewed by me on Amazon--or his shorter "Annie Dunne" for better examples of what the mature Barry can produce as nourishing, substantial fiction.