In `A Glassful of Letters' Conlon tackles emigration, working mothers, non-working mothers, Republican prisoners, the inhumanity of big business, adultery, and a lot more. Employing a dramatic narrative structure in which much of the story takes place in a series of letters, and set partly in Ireland, partly in New York, this is a very modern Irish novel, one which takes on the recent (and on-going) unprecedented self re-examination which has been going on in Ireland since the late 80's. Conlon skillfully interlinks the characters' stories to reflect the pressures-and pleasures-generated by rapidly changing social values. And at the heart of it all is the quiet bravery of one woman. ""[Conlon's] account of contemporary Ireland and the continuing Irish diaspora is sympathetic, well-measured and insightful.""-Publishers Weekly ""Quietly passionate, t e novel is romantic but no stock romance. Rather, Conlon unfolds the seemingly simple psyche of an ordinary married woman to display a rich and complex intellectual and emotional life.""-Booklist
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
The contented life of an independent-minded Aer Lingus hostess?who stays in flight to avoid both exile and entrapment?contrasts with the bitter existences of men and women who live on the same street in Dublin. This meticulously observant second novel from Conlon (Stars in the Daytime) alternates between epistolary chapters and narratives in the first or third person. Conlon begins by introducing us to air hostess Helena, happy with her unromantic marriage and her one child, and her oppressed neighbor Connie, who groans under the weight of caring for three children and a boorish husband. When her life becomes overwhelmingly dismal, Connie begins writing to an Irish political prisoner, Senan. Her best friend, Fergal, footloose in America, at first disapproves, but the correspondence turns out to be a blessing in disguise. Conlon writes with sane, sober wit; her lucid prose is pithy without falling into epigrams. Although the alternation between present-tense letters and past-tense storytelling jars (and perhaps never quite pays for its showiness), her account of contemporary Ireland and the continuing Irish diaspora is sympathetic, well-measured and insightful.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Conlon's first novel is funny and hopeful, sometimes despairing, in the manner of Kate Chopin's The Awakening. It is the story of Dubliner Connie's struggle to find happiness among the demands of motherhood and the emptiness of an indifferent marriage. She loves her children but resents that marriage and motherhood have overwhelmed the other areas of her life. She finds she can only truly express herself to her best friend, Fergal, and when Fergal becomes unemployed and decides to move to New York, Connie is lost in loneliness--until she decides to correspond with a man imprisoned for his unwitting complicity in a bank robbery. Told by means of letters interwoven with the perceptive comments of Connie's next-door neighbor, the novel proceeds to describe Connie's slowly blossoming romance with imprisoned Sean and the consequences of this affair. Quietly passionate, the novel is romantic but no stock romance. Rather, Conlon unfolds the seemingly simple psyche of an ordinary married woman to display a rich and complex intellectual and emotional life. Bonnie Johnston
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus...,
By
This review is from: A Glassful of Letters (Paperback)
What a wonderful book this is! Conlon's voice is real...her character are people, living, loving, despairing, and making the best of it all.Every single one of them rings a bell and the honesty is refreshing and true. They are a group of real friends who know when to tell the truth and when to think over telling the truth. Everyone takes responsibility for who they are and they accept, support, and make allowances. This is what it's all about.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A GLASSFUL OF LETTERS,
This review is from: A Glassful of Letters (Paperback)
Best novel I read since Charming Billy. Had trouble putting it down, it gripped me immediately and does s fine job of increasing conflict up to the very last chapter. Story told with letters and an occasional chapter devoted to a single character providing his/her background from childhood on. Well written, characters developed in full. Read the book from our library - it was published in Ireland - and purchased a copy to send to a daughter who will loan it to others. Wonderful story - or stories really.
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