Customer Reviews

Ireland

5 star:		(110)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Some call it the gift of gab. Some call it blarney. Others, the art of storytelling. However you label it, the Irish have a way with words, and spinning --- and living --- an epic tale always has been at the heart of their culture and history.

Frank Delaney's IRELAND is true to this tradition: in both form and content, IRELAND is a tale spun robust and ranging. History and fable merge in this grand story narrated in part by a Seanchai, a traveling storyteller who finds a willing ear in Ronan O'Mara, a nine-year-old boy living in the Irish countryside. Ronan has heard from his father of such people, who entrance folk with larger-than-life yarns in exchange for a seat by a fire and a home-cooked meal. And entrance Ronan he does. The storyteller so influences and inspires young Ronan that he devotes his life to finding him and to seeking out the truths behind the stories.

Sainted characters, rogues on thrones, and lyric poets populate the teller's romances; the pages are full of political and religious unrest and upheaval. Irish history takes on a life all its own, a life rife with fiction and fact, interchangeable and often indiscernible as one from the other.

In the great tradition of Michener and Rutherford, Delaney writes a voluminous and impressive novel, one that captures the magic of Ireland and captivates the reader with its nod at history and wink at myth. Or is it the other way around? Maybe in the end, IRELAND is the epitome of storytelling, with the obligatory generous dash of blarney.

--- Reviewed by Roberta O'Hara

This is an interesting form of novel. The main character, nine years old in 1951, hears the tales of an itinerant storyteller and in later years wanders across Ireland learning and telling stories that add up to the history and mythology of Ireland. Some of the stories are Irish folklore, some are created for this book, some are actual Irish history.

As I read the above description, it makes the book sound rather dull. It's not. These are delightful stories intermixed the take of a young man growing up as he seeks the story teller who visited his community many years before.

Already a best seller in Ireland (surprise, surprise) this book is likely to go down as one of the best novels of the year. I wouldn't be surprised to see it receive several of the bigger prizes.

My mother was given this book by a friend who bought it in Ireland and who is now giving copies to everyone. I didn't want to read a book about 'Ireland' but this is about so much more than that, this is a book about wonder and delight and enchantment and love and marvelous humanity and now I am going to tell everyone about it. I read all the time but I had given up reading novels because many of them were so badly written. Then I read this book and was captivated from start to finish and I even read it walking along the street because I didn't know that people were writing books like this again. I think this may be the best book I ever read, with the most wonderful, positive, life-enhancing ending.

I was toying with the idea of writing my first on-line review, but Juan of Columbia has pushed me to do it today. Anyone who couldn't find a plot in this novel, couldn't find a pit in an apricot!

This glorious book -- which seems so accessible, and indeed, is accessible - uses language and style with elegance and depth and tells a story of such importance, that I can't imagine anyone not being moved and even changed by the reading.

There are so few novels about men, their place in their families and in the family of man. This is just, simply, one of a kind. It may be the most satisfying book I've ever read.

I've now shared "Ireland" with a number of friends and we all feel the same way. Just bowled over.

So - Juan, thank you for the inspiration to write and share my views - in hopes that I can inspire more folks to pick this up and find, in it's pages, their own ideas about family and history, secrets and stories, what it is we were meant to be and what it is we leave behind.

Whatever you do, don't miss this book!

Ireland, A Novel, by Frank Delaney is a great read.

I got so caught up in the story that I was a third of

the way through the book before I realized how much

Irish history & mythology I was learning.

I have always appreciated a good story & Ireland

contains some of the best of them. Beginning in

the depths of geologic time, journeying through

prehistory, mythology, and history I've come to

feel an almost intimate relationship with the place

and it's people.

Although I grew up in a neighborhood with many families

of Irish descent I must confess that almost none of it rubbed

off on me. I knew very little of Ireland and the Irish aside

from the green of Saint Patrick's day.

That has changed with my reading of Ireland. If your

background is Irish, this is a must read, you'll understand

your own story so much better. If you've not a drop of

Irish blood in you, you'll feel that you do with this book -

and you will be glad of it.

There's a point in Frank Delaney's novel, Ireland, when the main character, Ronan, is being grilled by his history professor about his first essay. The professor is appalled that Ronan has used no dates, no footnotes, none of the academic trappings that give history a "scientific" quality. Ronan defends his style by saying simply that he wanted his readers to understand how it felt to live at that time; that that understanding was more important than the knowledge of dates and "facts".

This is the wonderful premise of "Ireland". The rich history of the Irish people is ripe for storytelling, and Delaney mines it for all it's worth. If you've ever been to Ireland, you've heard the land hum with the voices of its long gone residents. Delaney puts the focus on the Irish people here as well, and the yarns that he spins are as lively and vibrant as their subjects.

The through-line of the book follows Ronan on his quest to find a storyteller who passed through when he was a child. Ronan's mother banished the old wanderer after a story she found to be blasphemous, but Ronan has already been changed by the meeting. He makes storytelling his life's obsession, eventually taking up the study of history at University. Along the way, he collects stories from those he meets, whether they pass along the tales they've heard from the storyteller or their own. His father and aunt join him on this quest, and the relationships are full and very real, particularly between Ronan and his father.

The meat of the novel is the stories, however. Delaney has cobbled together a fantastic, mythical history of Ireland, told by a chorus of voices. The legendary events and people of Irish lore are at once bigger than life and very human. Delaney's storyteller is quite skilled at the balancing act between plausible "fact" and blatant blarney. There is even some wonderful discussion of the art of storytelling itself: how to choose your topic depending on your location; how to draw the audience in using a pipe as a prop.

It's enough to make me dream of walking the Irish countryside, stopping in here and there and telling a tale or two of my own.

This 500+ page tome is not a chore, but a pleasure to read. On the surface, it is a tale of the Storyteller, and his admirer, the boy Ronan's long quest to find him again. But it is really the Emerald Isle itself that is the subject of the novel. From the geologic forces which shaped and molded the island; from its earliest inhabitants; through the early Middle Ages when Ireland was a beacon of learning for a darkened Europe; through its very turbulent history, up to the modern era, this is the story of Ireland and the people who lived in her landscapes and through her history. The stories are wonderful, always fascinating, never boring. A comparison with Michener might be inevitable, but Delaney is an original artist with words, and Ireland is his prose song to the land he loves. A sheer delight. Read it soon.

My Irish heritage and love of the country sometimes make me bristle at the inanity often found in "Irish" novels. Delaney gets it right. Ireland is extraordinarily rich in history and culture. "Ireland" is a perfect mixture of the two.

Delaney successfully conveys the flavor of the land and its people, even describing the subtle differences among the counties. Amazingly, he accomplishes this without cluttering the tale with politics.

This is more than a story. It is a fabulous - literally - journey with perfect travel companions. Enjoy the ride.

Delaney is a magnificent storyteller, as can be seen from his fabulous tale of -- a magnificent storyteller. In this book, he captures both the whole grand sweep of Ireland's magical history and, at the same time, the nuanced details of a young boy's growth and search for family and ultimately for himself. Its a marvelous job and a great great read.

A great introduction to Irish history and geography. I would recommend the purchase of the audio cd which is narrated by the author, Frank Delaney. He is a gifted performer of the highest order. I have been listening to recorded books for nearly twenty years. Delaney is one of the finest narrators I have ever heard. Just heearing the different regional Irish accents added another level of pleasure. Don't miss this opportunity.