Customer Reviews

Mary and O'Neil

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the Cronin's debut, but it feels like a classic from the first page. Readers meet the title couple, Mary and O'Neil, in a series of stories which chronicle episodes from their lives, and can be read as a novel or as a collection of short pieces. The real satisfaction is Cronin's exquisite prose: his stories find their power in the subtle revelations of the characters' emotional lives. There are passages on almost every page that had me in awe of this man's talent, and I was most pleasantly surprised by the overwhelming sense of discovery I felt with this book--remember the first time you found an author who immediately became a favorite, whose writing you savored, and whom you couldn't wait to share with all your friends? As I read Mary and O'Neil, I was reminded of the feeling I had when I first found the works of J.D. Salinger, and later, Anne Tyler and John Updike...think back to discovering your own favorites and that excitement that you felt as you turned every page, knowing that you'd found something important, not just to you, but in the larger scheme of things. If Mary and O'Neil is any indication, Justin Cronin is destined for greatness. This first collection/novel is among the most promising debuts I've seen in years.

Ordinarily, I hate books of the "Novel in Stories" variety. I usually find them to be a confused jumble of pieces without any elastic to hold them together. I admit that I had low expectations of this work when I started it due to this prejudice. What a pleasant surprise!

Other reviewers have mentioned the beauty of the prose, so I will skip a description of it. Suffice to say that it is not only beautiful, but clever. If you happen to be a writer, you will find yourself WISHING that you could condense the essence of being into phrases like Cronin's. The weaving of the stories is extraordinary: how many times have you read about a character and wondered what his/her parents were like, or what his wife was like before she entered the plot at their first meeting? Here you get that depth of information, not only through the strength of the writing but also through the structure and selection of the moments Cronin chooses to reveal. I'm not sure when the last time a book moved me to tears was, but this was one that did.

Mary and O'Neil was certainly a surprise for me. I thought it would be a nice collection of connected short stories, but it is so much more than that. The stories work more like a novel than a collection and Cronin has done marvelous things with these stories. They follow two people, O'Neil, who is nineteen when we first meet him, and Mary, the woman he eventually marries. Each story us about an emotionally pivotal experience that has ramifications for the rest of their lives, ramifications which surface in each of the following stories. The stories are wonderfully written and affecting. Each story could have been the springboard for a fully developed novel. Cronin fits so much in these stories in a terrifically effortless and smooth manner. I highly recommend this one.

Cronin, on the LaSalle faculty page, describes himself as an "unrepentant Realist with a sentimental streak." I think Cronin knows himself very well, because that's Mary and O'Neil in a nutshell, and the book's high points and low points corollate highly with these two rather divergent characteristics.

There was much I admired and loved about this book. Cronin's language is exquisite, his descriptive powers incredible, and the strongest part of this book may be his intelligent choice of scenes. For example, there's the story about Mary's pregnancy, and it ends right before she tells her husband, and it couldn't have been more perfect. This was the exact place where the scene (and the story) should have ended, and Cronin nailed it. He does this again and again, and for this alone this book is worth a second reading.

What weakens M&O is Cronin's sentimental streak. When I read the end of "Orphans," the second story, I asked myself how I'd suddenly stepped into a Julia Roberts movie. This unfortunately happens on more than one occasion, but hey, I knew this going in, so you might brace yourself for some unmitigated sappiness if that isn't your cup of tea.

Although this book is labeled a "Novel in Stories," it reads more like a novel than an "arc" of short stories, like Denis Johnson's "Jesus's Son" or Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried." The plotting and the relationship between stories is way tighter than those two works.

I enjoyed the first one the most, "The Last of the Leaves." It is perfection.

I bought this book based Washington Post book review (something I've never done before) and it was worth every penny--even in hardback!

You will recognize the characters in this book--they are Every-people. The first three stories are especially good, especially if you like a writer who shows rather than tells. He has captured the fine details of living with such precision; I admire his skill. As a critique, the middle story and the last story seemed like a bit of missed opportunity but don't let that scare you away. If nothing else buy it to see how this man captures the essence of childbirth--WOW! I hope I made you curious now GO BUY THIS BOOK!

I was caught up into this book after the first few pages. Even when I sensed that things wouldn't happen as I had hoped, I couldn't stop, even briefly. These are people you will come to care for and wish you knew. After I finished the last page, I immediately went back and started reading the first chapter again. I think you could go around and around again in this book.

I bought this books months ago and it sat on a shelf for far too long. How could I have let a gem like this remain unread for such a long time?

The first story, "Last of the Leaves" grabbed my heart and did not let go. It was so exquisitely rendered -- powerful yet tender at the same time...a wonderful story of love.

The rest of the book follows Mary and O'Neil through the their separate and together lives and those of some family members. Each story/chapter both illuminates, and revolves around, a defining moment of their lives. Death, illness, birth are all explored and written of with such lovely prose, each word seemingly polished to perfection.

Without using a lot of description, Cronin somehow manages to thoroughly familiarize the reader with his characters and their lives.

A book to remember.

I heard J. Cronin speak at Univ of Iowa in the summer of 2001, when this book had just come out. How I wish I'd bought this book then to add to my signed first edition collection. I only recently purchased it and just finished it last night. It's a book to read in a quiet spot, to savor, to melt into as Cronin carries you very gently through three generations of O'Neil's family.
The book is written as a series of short stories; each can be read without benefit of the others, but together, they prove the statement that, sometimes, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Very beautifully constructed. Not a book I'm likely to forget anytime soon. Thanks to Justin Cronin for writing about the simple, everyday lives of rather ordinary people with such finely-crafted elegance.

After reading "The Summer Guest" by Justin Cronin I couldn't wait to read something else by this wonderful author. That's when I bought "Mary and O'Neill". His first novel, "Mary and O'Neill" is just as enjoyable as "The Summer Guest", if in a somewhat different way. Don't let the fact that this is a novel in short store put you off. Even if you don't usually enjoy this type of book (and I don't) you will be glad you read "Mary and O'Neill". I cannot wait to see what else Mr. Cronin has in store for us. Believe the excellent reader reviews and buy this book!

While I have known Justin personally for several years [disclaimer], this is actually the first time I have experienced his writing in depth. I also tend to gravitate more toward escapist writing and don't seek out "realistic" fiction dealing with contemporary characters and situations, so I wasn't sure how I'd react to this book. I have to say that I found myself thoroughly immersed in the book. The characters are drawn in such a way that they seem vivid and familiar throughout the stories. The stories are told with a graceful and casual ease--as though they were being related to us through conversations with the characters (though the book is all in third person). As important as the characters themselves are the webs of relationships--primarily familial--in which they are enmeshed. I think this aspect of the book is its greatest success, revealing that the title characters, while seeming adrift, are held up (and sometimes back) by these webs of relationships. This book is an excellent collection of stories about loss, love and family. The prose sparkles throughout. Read and enjoy!