Customer Reviews

Map of Ireland: A Novel

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

 

 

i had read stephanie grant's previous novel "the passion of alice" and so expected "map of ireland" to be a good read. it IS a good read but so much more. the author has somehow managed to 'wrap' such weighty subjects as the hopelessness of racism in day-to-day american lives, homosexuality and irish-american culture in a compelling story - no small feat. ann ahern is the one of the most realistic fictional characters I have read and unable to put it down I read "map of ireland" in one sitting. I highly recommend this multi-faceted and thought-provoking book.

I really admired this novel. Stephanie Grant gives us a protagonist who is narrow-minded and ignorant, a product of her racist family and community, and at the same time smart, cynical, yearning for love, eager to transcend her circumstances. I found that quite brave, just as her irreverent portrayal of eating disorders was in The Passion of Alice. She is an honest and fearless writer who shakes you up and challenges you. I love that!

Complex story of a 16 year old Irish-American, working-class girl in South Boston. Very well written. Complex story about race and class ... and being a lesbian. The characters were finely defined. Highly recommended.

I wish that I could give this novel 3.5 stars because I would have done just that. It was thought provoking but incredibly disturbing. Not just for the main character's dark existence but for the depressing pall of the entire book. I rated it as I did because through it all, the story was engaging and I was curious to see what would happen next. At the end I wished for a prologue 20 years down the line letting us know what became of Ann and her family as well as of Jean. I rarely ever finish a novel wanting that but somehow, with this one, I felt I could use a little more finality, a little closure. Still a worthwhile read, I thought.

I really enjoyed this Boston based novel. It was a book club selection for me. We talked about this book over 2 hours. Would recommend it.

The story of Anne Ahern, a high school junior from South Boston in 1974, is told against the backdrop of the busing controversy that pitted Irish Catholics against blacks and resulted in a wave of violence and upheavel. Since Anne's face represents a map of Ireland she's obviously a Catholic, but she's not anti-black. At the beginning of the book she describes her attraction for her French teacher, a black woman from Africa who has come to Boston on an exchange program, but is forced to leave abruptly after her car is set on fire by a group of Catholic boys. Meanwhile, Anne also develops an attraction for a black girl, Rochelle, who plays on her basketball team and fires the ball at Anne's head once, which she doesn't understand at first. How feelings of antagonism can develop into love amidst a time of racial polarity is one of the great things about this book. The other is how the story is told from the perspective of a young girl whose lesbian feelings emerge in the midst of social upheaval.

Anne Ahern; Southie, budding lesbian, pyromaniac and outcast, makes an intriguing witness to the events of the 1974 forced integration of the Boston public schools. Her family's a mess, South Boston is economically depressed and her classmates are a bunch of ignorant racists who suddenly have to go to class with Blacks (to use the parlance of the time). The writing's pretty decent here, but there's a few too many plot twists and turns and there's hardly a like able character in the book except for a French teacher from Senegal by way of Paris who's just a bit too saintly. Certainly not a bad novel, but not one I'd especially recommend unless you're looking for a good quick commute read (it's only about 200 pages).