Customer Reviews

Irish Tweed: A Nuala Anne McGrail Novel (Nuala Anne McGrail Novels)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Imagine the career barriers a woman faced in 1885. Imagine the reluctance of males to allow her to be schooled in medicine and to become a doctor. Such a struggle is one of the themes in Irish Tweed.

Andrew Greeley alters his formula slightly in Irish Tweed. Usually, novels in the Nuala Anne series involve two mysteries, one current and one legendary. In Irish Tweed, Greeley presents current and ancestral stories that are not really mysteries in the classic sense. The two stories are delightful plot lines of family oriented tales where Greeley weaves an ancestral and current story together in a seamless narrative.

The modern story involves a battle within the post Vatican II Roman Catholic Church. Many people are confused. The laity knows about new church teachings, social action programs such as care for poor citizens, and lay leadership. But the clerics are not leading and the "faithful" are acting independently.

In the contemporary story, Nuala, Dermot and their four impressive children become involved in a battle over the parish school. They challenge a school principal and pastor who have misinterpreted Vatican Council teachings in ways harmful to the children. Much of the fighting is humourous, but this theme surfaces a serious parish crisis in the modern church. As usual, the interactions among the members of Nuala's family and friends are amusing and often funny.

I especially liked the "legendary" story of Angela. Angela Agnes Tierney is orphaned in Ireland and is sent to live with American cousins. Angela is a bright child and flourishes in Chicago. This theme has very likable characters, people who actually love without condition, in the manner they see God's love for them. I enjoyed seeing the development of a woman destined to be ahead of her times. Angela is a girl, in the 1880s, wanting to learn, to be schooled, and to be a physician. The manner in which she overcomes her obstacles is fascinating.

In Irish Tweed, Greeley displays his talent for verbalizing normal human feelings. He shows the anxiety couples feel through courtship; the curiosity, the reluctance, the fear of making a mistake. In the case of Angela, could the man she loves find her attractive? How could he love her since she feels inadequate. These scenes are so typical of many lovers and so well phrased that we remember how we felt. Greeley pictures the grand feelings of being in love, of having your beloved accept you and want to be with you. Greeley helps us feel the awe, the feeling of unworthiness, the fear of potential loss of the one of your dreams.

Irish Tweed is one of the better Nuala Anne stories, I recommend it.

For all who love Greeley, this is a great series. Every book keeps you riveted to the end.

As in all of Father Andrew Greeley's Nuala Ann McGrail novels, this one is funny, heartwarming, insightful, and romantic. He's in top form with this one, while Nuala Ann is trying to solve some evil going on in the 21st century she's also uncovering an memoir of a late 19th and early 20th century immigrant from Ireland, a young lady adopted by a Chicago family who becomes a Doctor.
There is no better storyteller than Father Greeley, his accounts of this rare Chicago family who's characters are so warm and loving and devoted to one another are top notch. And it doesn't hurt that this Chicago Irishman adds just a touch of fey to this wonderful piece of fiction. His dialogue along with his tale is what really sets this book apart from others in it's genre, he adds just enough of the West of Ireland dialect to keep it off the beaten path. His outlook on married physical love and the roles in the family must make him an excellent marriage/family counselor in his every day vocation as a parish priest.
I think any lover of great fiction would love this novel.

Nuala Anne McGrail is of course the perfect woman. I have enjoyed her adventures since her initial chance meeting with Dermot many books ago. Their chemistry is wonderful to read about, knowing full well that it is fiction. Their adventures are believable although a little contrived. Their historical allegories are fascinating. I will continue to follow them until Father Greeley tires of them. I will withstand my wife's laughter everytime I receive a new copy in the mail. As Yeats said, "Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy which sustained him through temporary periods of joy".

An excellent and entertaining novel, with the usual story within the story. It's fun following the family through the Nuala Anne McGrail novels as the children grow older, while the love between Nuala Anne and Dermot Michael never ages.

There's a feel-good quality to every novel written by Chicago priest Father Andrew Greeley. In Irish Tweed, Greeley presents a modern story of bullies going after the good guys, alternated with a historical tale of a woman overcoming opponents. The strong characters are drawn in ways that highlight the best and worst of human nature, and Greeley always shows how it is the best of our humanity that rises to the occasion and overcomes both evil and those who try to bully or smother goodness. Readers who like the satisfaction of reading a novel in which goodness triumphs over evil will find pleasure on these pages.

Rating: Three-star (Recommended)

While the story was good, it seemed as though Father Greeley rushed through it in order to get to the end. It wasn't as good as his other "Irish" books, but anything featuring Nuala and her family is a winner.

I love this series but this one seemed a bit off to me. Fr. Greeley repeated a little to often who the characters were and I thought the story line was a little week and odd and the "old story" had no connection really to the current one.

Nuala Anne is at her best again. A book you can not put down. Love the story with in a story. Also wonderful theology.

Another wonderful, thoroughly enjoyable Nuala Anne McGrail story. This is a delightful character as well as her whole family. Was looking for a light, fun read and once again Greeley came through.