An Irish Christmas Feast: The Best of John B. Keane (Keane, John B.) [Hardcover]

John B. Keane (Author)

Book Description

Series: Keane, John B. | Publication Date: October 15, 2002

This bountiful, first-time-ever omnibus collection of more than fifty tales by one of Ireland's liveliest and most popular story writers offers holiday charm, human idiosyncrasy, and Gaelic humor by the Christmas stockingful. Drawing on the rich folk culture of County Kerry, John B. Keane brings new life to old custom in his portrayals of the special holiday dreams and everyday shortcomings of not-so-ordinary country people during the Christmas season. At the same time that he revels in the charms and eccentricities of the Irish, Keane also exposes the fallible souls that lie behind them. With enough good cheer to warm the heart throughout the holiday season and the long nights of winter, Keane's congenial volume revisits the Christmases celebrated by characters like Dotie Tupper and Johnny Naile, the doughty Canon Doyle and deaf Canon Cornelius Coodle, the amiable spendthrift Aenias Mackson and Hiccups O'Reilly, who disappears one Christmas Eve for seven years. Whether recounting "The Miracle of Ballybradawn," "The Great Christmas Raid at Balleybooley," or "The Order of MacMoolamawn," whether telling the tales of "The Magic Stoolin," "A Tasmanian Backhander," "The Fourth Wise Man," or the "Last Christmas Eve of the Twentieth Century," Keane bears delightful witness to the strengths and failings, the trials and triumphs, of the inhabitants in his eccentric corner of County Kerry, Ireland.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

John B. Keane, the beloved playwright and author of such novels as The Contractors, Durango, and An Irish Christmas Feast, as well as collections of poetry, songs, letters, and short stories, lived in Listowel, County Kerry. There he presided over one of the liveliest, most literary pubs in Ireland until his death in May 2002. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Running Press; 1st Carroll & Graf Ed edition (October 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786710543
• ISBN-13: 978-0786710546
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #646,702 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant Irish Literature at its very best, January 6, 2005

By 

Ben Rotholtz "Ben R." (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: An Irish Christmas Feast: The Best of John B. Keane (Keane, John B.) (Hardcover)

Over the last year I've considered myself truly fortunate to have discovered the work of John Keane. In September of 2004 I stopped by the Dublin Writer's Museum and saw his books prominently featured. Much harder to spot in America and not fiction that I had previously run across. On a whim I took a chance and bought one of his books: it was one of the best gambles I've made.

This magnificent and long book of short stories absolutely sparkles with carefully drawn, always engaging and focused tales of characters that command the page with energy and wit that is wholly and mysteriously their own. John Keane rolls out the welcome mat for the reader - he is absolutely honest and at the same time conspiratorial as he pulls you into the world of his characters. Ireland telegraphs through very strongly in these tales, however, the characters, the intrigue and the resounding integrity of these stories is absolutely universal and timeless. It would be misleading to simply categorize Keane as an Irish author. I've read many of these stories multiple times and they only get better with each reading. An Irish Christmas Feast is one of the very few books I've bought and given as a gift. Not a book to borrow, An Irish Christmas Feast is a book to own.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great addition to the Christmas Literary Canon, December 15, 2009

By 

Rich Rogers "Rich" (Utah) - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Irish Christmas Feast: The Best of John B. Keane (Keane, John B.) (Hardcover)

This is a compilation of Keane's previous three Christmas short story collections, along with four or five other pieces that weren't in those collections. It was published shortly after his death, and a fitting tribute to Keane's literary genius and talent.

Keane presents Ireland as it is, none of the "top o' the mornin'" "faith and begorah" for him. The Ireland he presents is real, vibrant, amazing. If you have ever seen the movie Waking Ned Devine, that is the best comparison I can make to Keane. The same type of people, simple farmers, day-laborers, drunks, pig farmers. But full of life in equal parts of humor and good nature and tragedy.

The people here are fully human, full of humor, nastiness, kindness, intrigues, wants, desires, hopes and dreams. Keane shows you this world in suprisingly simplicity. But never confuse simplicity with lack of depth. In fact it's that simplicity of his story telling that gives this collection it's amazing depth. There are just too many stories to name that I love--but I'll mention a few of them. Voice of an Angel, Raid of the Black and Tans, Groodles, High Fielding and those aren't even scratching the surface.

Put this collection on your must read Christmas bookshelf, right next to A Christmas Carol.