Customer Reviews

Patrick: Son of Ireland

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I have enjoyed Lawhead's works, but I find PATRICK troubling. Though the first quarter of the book is a nicely fleshed-out version of the Patrick story, most what remains story is fabricated out of whole cloth.
Where did Patrick study Christianity? Lawhead never has him even peeking at the Bible, but hints that he learned from Pelagius (the proponent of a heresy which the historic Patrick combatted) and from, of all people, the Druids! The real Patrick, after escaping from slavery, reunited with his family in northern Britain or perhaps Scotland and very soon wanted to go back to Ireland as a missionary. Realizing that he had a lot to learn first, he hooked up with Germanus for several years before accompanying the bishop to Ireland. Lawhead mentions nothing of this! There were fewer and fewer pages left in the novel when I started to realize that, not only were we not back to Ireland yet to read about Patrick's great mission in life, but he still was the same cynical, lapsed Christian we met boozing it up in the first chapters, who hadn't read any scriptures since he was 10 y/o. Glossing over Patrick's mission work in Ireland is unforgivable.
I heard a few echoes from his Taliesen/Merlin/Arthus series: Londinium being a weedy,gaudy merchant town, sympathy towards Pelagius, and Druids ("The Learned Brotherhood") coming across as gentle, sweet, wise Christians. I must admit that I bought it while reading the Arthur series, but seeing these ideas in the brighter light of St. Patrick I realize that Lawhead has an axe to grind over early Christianity & Druids.
Besides my theological & historical concerns, I have to warn you that Patrick gets beaten several times. Beaten harshly. Brutally. Bloodily. Bone-crunchingly. It frankly got a little old after the third beating - give the poor guy a break, eh?
The real Patrick had neither wife nor child, much less two of each!
Lawhead gets two stars for the vivid characters and scenery, but he loses me with the WILD departure from the story of the main character's life as well as from the theology of St. Patrick's life's work

I have been a huge fan of Stephen Lawhead for years. I loved his Byzantium, and his stories of Arthur and Merlin are absolutely superb. So it was with some excitement that I bought this book.

It is indeed a well written, interesting story, but it does not satisfy me all that much at the end.

Patrick, the book, focuses on the time during Patrick's own slavery in Ireland, his later escape, and his life which eventually brought him back as a missionary. It does not seem to at all reflect the Patrick as found in his own writings (his Confession and his Letter to Coroticus), with there seeming to be only the barest indication that these actual primary sources had any bearing on the writing of this book. I also was disappointed by the lack of really dealing with matters of faith and prayer. Patrick seems here more motivated by his own selfishness rather than driven by faith, with little if any discussion of his internal battles with God. There is a surprising romance storyline which not only did not seem appropriate, or at least well developed, but really took away from the depths of which could have been found in the story of Patrick.

Lawhead has always been excellent at dealing with matters of quests of faith and spiritual journeys. Here though it seems he lost some of that focus, became less spiritual and more commercial. I could not really care about the characters, with even Patrick being someone who is more scheming throughout and not very likable. It seems to me, as one who has enjoyed Lawhead's other books, that the great elements of his other books were thrown into this one in a haphazard manner -- with this book reflecting nothing new, no real insight into early Ireland or Britain, and frankly making me think not much effort was put into making this book. Patrick, the book, left me as I think about it, feeling much the same as a 'flashback' episode of a sitcom -- apparently new, but really old stuff repackaged.

I really wanted to like this book, but I'm left feeling disappointed. It is well written, and mildly interesting, but simply does not give a good picture of the man who changed Ireland, and through Ireland influenced Europe. The vague details of the primary sources have the makings of a superb, interesting, exciting story. Lawhead apparently thought this framework was not worth following and created his own, lesser version resulting in a story that neither explains the man or the effects his real journey of faith has had on the world.

The one thing I didn't mind was the treatment on Pelagius. This was Britain of the mid 1st millenium. Pelagianism was a major force of thought among the people there, and not because they were terrible folks. The difficulty most people have, of course, is that they haven't read Eastern Orthodoxy, so get rather feisty in their Augustinian uproar. Lawhead may have hit on something here. Patrick was a monk during a time when the monastic movement hit its peak, under the tutelage of such luminaries as John Cassian. John Cassian was a philosophical opponent of Augustine, and was later charged with so-called Semi-Pelagianism. It's why he's not as big as Augustine today. Lawhead's perception of the looseness of the theological climate, with orthodoxy still being defined, was insightful - though honestly an insight that came more in his other books.

If you don't care about the real person, this is a fine read, though Patrick's own writings are surprisingly much more interesting and compelling -- which indicates a failure of the historical fiction writer. It is, by far, the least satisfying of Lawhead's books, and to me a great disappointment.

Patrick is a fine book by Lawhead. It is not his best: I believe that to be Byzantium. Further, as with many of his works, it takes a while to build into the story. Specifically, the second quarter of the book is somewhat laborious.

Nonetheless, the onset-- set in Britain, for pre-enslaved Succat-- and the closing (scenes again set in Britain and in Rome) are very strong.

Obviously, the work is set as historical fiction. Moreover, doing so with the patron saint of Ireland is risky business. However, the portrayed humanization of St. Patrick is pulled off, with one exception, in excellent form. His sojourn from rakehell to 'hero' to broken man is a chronicle worth reading. With that said, the final contrivance that leads Patrick to return Ireland borders (but does not quite crest) on being 'over the top'.

Given the quality of the rest of the book, that's a shame.

Bottom line: BUY THE BOOK. READ THE BOOK. ENJOY THE STORY.

As a longtime Lawhead fan, I've read everything he's put out for the last decade or so. This book, while not utterly engaging, sets the groundwork for the sequel to come. The book starts out slow, with Lawhead writing like the groundwork is always the most painful part for him. After the initial first third of the book, he starts to write as though he's genuinely interested and we, as readers, are swept away as well. There is violence and some sex in the book, but I believe it is justified in light of what will come next. Often it's hard to see why a transformation takes place in someone's life unless you've seen and experienced everything. Here the world shows Patrick what it has to provide: wealth, slavery, sex, religious standing, military fame, and social standing. Ultimately, for Patrick, it is worthless if a life is not led by God. He follows God's leading and begins to find his place once again. I can't wait for the sequel!

First things first: this review focuses on the novel's religious perspective (the review itself is written from the perspective of a practicing Catholic). While there are other points addressed, if the religious take doesn't interest you than you can skip my review. Also, please be aware that minor spoilers follow.

Stephen Lawhead is probably most well-known for his Pendragon Cycle. I read the entire thing and for the most part, it was quality reading, at least in terms of fantasy fiction. As a Catholic and an historian, I was especially impressed by how well the church was treated, a rarity in fiction these days -- it was a while ago that I last read them, but I remember nothing but respectful approaches to monks and other religious figures.

Prior to Patrick, the only other Lawhead book I'd read was Byzantium, which likewise started off well regarding religious figures (the main character is an Irish monk who leaves his monastery on a journey with his superiors), although part of the way through I got a vague sense that Lawhead was perhaps not a fan of "the Church" so much as he was of Christianity. Still, there was nothing pervasively offensive, and it was a decent read (Lawhead is also the author of a trilogy on the Crusades, but I haven't read them so I can't comment on his religious sensibilities regarding those books or the historical events they are based on).

Apart from any religious aspect, Lawhead is really very good at his early social history, painting what seems like an accurate picture of what life may have been like, and also seemed to have his historical trappings well-researched. In short, it felt very much like you were where the story was taking place.

The only thing I've ever discovered to be anachronistic about Lawhead's work in general is the attitudes he gives to his main characters -- quite a few are either very modern in their sensibilities (although their ideas are still couched in a generic kind of archaic "history-speak"), or speak as if their dialogue was written by modern-day New Agers (this is mostly the case for Druid or wizard characters). It was easy to excuse these departures as done for the sake of a modern readership, though, so it really wasn't a problem.

I was interested to see, then, how Lawhead would handle the story of St. Patrick. Unfortunately everything that didn't go wrong before was glaringly problematic this time, and everything that wasn't quite right before got worse.

To start with, Lawhead demonstrates almost a hatred for the traditional church. I'm not sure whether this attitude was adopted since his previous writings or whether he held them but they never came out in his writing. It seems more like the former, because he had ample opportunity in those earlier writings to vilify the church and didn't really take them.

This time, though, he goes overboard, which seems especially inappropriate in a book about a saint.

There's very little of what we know about the historical St. Patrick in here at all, other than that Patrick was captured by the Irish, enslaved, and forced to be a shepherd for years. But instead of saying hundreds of prayers a day, as Patrick himself tells us happened in real life, this fictional Patrick spends the time alternately learning Irish, laying around bored, or fornicating.

What an inspiration.

The last half of the book contains a large subplot (that eventually intersects in a big way with the main plot) that is nothing more than an attempt at historically rehabilitating the heretic Pelagius, making him the good guy against those stodgy, self-absorbed priests of modern legend. It's all the more shameful because the first half of the book is at least a readable story. This second half feels tacked on and almost geared toward proselytizing rather than storytelling.

Lawhead also has a soft spot for druidism that runs to the extreme here. It wasn't a problem in the Pendragon cycle, as pretty much every time he has a subplot about the druids they are innocuous and interesting. Regarding Christianity, they uniformly recognize its truth and value, and more or less incorporate it to varying degrees in their own mystic practices. As Lawhead presents the druids, this isn't a problem for a Christian reader to accept -- Lawhead's druids are basically scientists, naturalists, and doctors. These are, after all, fantasy stories tinged with history.

This time around, though, we have an historical novel that inexplicably has bits of weird fantasy tied to it, for no good reason. For example the druids here make use of Power Words. This would be fine alongside Christianity if this were presented as a fantasy, where we are to suspend disbelief about things like native magic. In Patrick, though, which is presented as "mostly" history with very little mysticism, the druidical powers, no matter how muted in use, stick out like a sore thumb and ultimately detract from the historical sense of the rest of the novel. Lawhead didn't see the need to include things like this in Byzantium, so I don't know why he did it here.

A particular weakness of all Lawhead's writing is that after a time he becomes predictable within his own works. He has some original ideas, but he reuses the same ideas for each story. By this time they were easy to spot, and besides were particularly unsatisfying. In fact there is one Deus Ex Machina scene, involving the climax of all things, that destroys any virtue the read had up until that point.

Finally, Lawhead drops the ball in plot choice. This reads less like historical fantasy and more like a Harlequin novel from a man's perspective. And in fact, all Lawhead's male main characters are so sympathetic and wise as to verge on overly sensitive. At least characters in previous novels were still manly; here Patrick, while not effeminate in any way, nonetheless doesn't demonstrate much in the way of manly virtue, at least not until the very end. To some degree that seems to be the point, but it contrasts poorly with all the romance novel conventions Lawhead applies to other parts of the plot.

The story also ends when Patrick returns to Ireland to convert the Irish over to his brand of druidic quasi-Christianity, which Lawhead has him spout. In that light all that Patrick says about Christ comes off as mere relgious platitudes, afterthoughts that have no real power or meaning to the story or the character.

Prior to this novel I assumed Lawhead was a serviceable writer and a historically knowledgeable well-meaning Christian. But whatever his motivations, Patrick starts with promise but soon devolves into a poorly-crafted mess. Even if you're the sort of person who thinks Christianity is about as believable as crystal gazing and Elvis sightings, this is one of Lawhead's weakest novels: a disorganized, disjointed, even boring waste of time.

I didn't have much of any opinion about St. Patrick before I read this book. Truthfully, I wasn't too interested. But this book has changed forever the way I will look at this saint - and possibly a lot of other things as well. Lawhead presents such a beguiling world, I was immediately drawn in and wanted to live there.

Heck, I did live there while I was reading. I shivered with cold on the mountain with the mad shepherd Madog, and ached with pain when the king's champion beat me ... I mean, Succat. (Hint: he wasn't always called Patrick. In fact, he had four names. I'm not giving anything away, it says so right in the front of the book.)

Not being a historian, I don't know how much of what happened in the book really happened in real life. But it is Lawhead's special talent to make you believe it could have happened just this way, and probably did. At least, he convinced me. I'm going back for more - I think Byzantium will be next on my list.

This story about the early years of St. Patrick's life is reminiscent of Lawhead's Byzantium. The writing is fairly crisp and the story moves along well. It is easy to picture yourself in 4th-5th century Europe.

However, the greatest fault of the book is the awkward attempt to continue to reform Pelagius. I first noted some inkling of this in Byzantium and it become a fairly key element of the Celtic Crusades trilogy. History has held Patrick to be an anti-Pelagian, rejecting the heresey that one can convert him(her)self, a philosophy that has reared its head in American Evangelicalism (where it appears Lawhead has deep roots). In fact, history holds that Patrick's religious instruction occurs off the British Isles to shield him from the Pelagian heresey.

However, Lawhead creates a pre-Patrick Christian movement in Ireland led through the druid community by the Cele De (or Ceile De) spoken about prominently in the Celtic Crusade trilogy. The Cele De are seen through sympathetic eyes in the first half of the book as followers of Pelagius and the opponents of Pelagius are seen as narrow minded and power hungry. Later, Lawhead creates a fictional meeting between Patrick and Pelagius where Pelagius is seen as an instrument for Patrick's conversion (or re-conversion) and Patrick is just about seen as blessing Pelagius as orthodox in his teachings. This latest attempt at propping up Pelagius to support a current day belief is a lamentable portion of the book.

I am a steady fan of Stephen Lawhead; his writing is compelling. interesting, yet often contains several consistent themes (particularly cultural and spiritual) that make him predictable in a GOOD way.
Most of the Lawhead books I have read are of the Pengragon persuasion - several parts, and require an investment of significant time, again, a GOOD thing. So, I was questioning reading this book about St. Patrick - significant saint -who Lawhead thinks he can write about in only ONE tome!
Well, Lawhead can do it. He ably and remarkably covers the major part of this man's life, engrossing the reader and telling a fascinating and mystical tale. Is it historically accurate? I highly doubt it - but this is why it is under the FICTION section! Is it theologically orthodox? Not really....but Lawhead never makes claims to be a theologian.
This is a fun story that is involving and interesting.

While there is much of Patrick's life we don't know, there is much we do. He himself wrote his "Confessions" which tells us quite a bit about things covered "Patrick: Son of Ireland". Too bad Lawhead didn't consult it.

Throughout this book Patrick is a druid. He is never seen worshipping in a church. He is never seen having a Christian education, consulting a Bible, being ordained a priest or bishop. In fact, his return to Ireland is portraited in the book as a return to become a leading druid in the country (albeit one who worships Jesus).

Things we know from historical documents: Patrick came to Christ during his captivity as a slave in Ireland. Here are Patrick's actual words from his Confessions: "But after I reached Ireland I used to pasture the flock each day and I used to pray many times a day. More and more did the love of God, and my fear of him and faith increase, and my spirit was moved so that in a day [I said] from one up to a hundred prayers, and in the night a like number."

Yet Lawhead has Patrick deny Jesus throughout the book until years later, and then it is only a tepid acceptance of Christ, as a subset of druid worship.

We also know from history that Patrick was a priest and a bishop of the church. Patricks quotes a friend speaking of Patrick, "Besides, he told me himself: `See, the rank of bishop goes to you'-of which I was not worthy." Patrick identifies himself as a Bishop of the Church.

Lawhead has him as a druid only.

We also know Patrick was sent to return to Ireland as the Bishop of Ireland and authorized by the Pope. Patrick himself writes, "I testify in truthfulness and gladness of heart before God and his holy angels that I never had any reason, except the Gospel and his promises, ever to have returned to that nation from which I had previously escaped with difficulty."

Lawhead has him returning to Ireland to find his old girlfriend and re-establish himself as a leading druid.

Throughout the book Lawhead portraits Christian priests, monks, and bishops as power-hungry, self-serving, gluttonous, shrewd, and wily men, all with dishonest and ulterior motives. The only compassionate Christian leader in the whole book is the heretic Pelagius. At the same time druids are, with one exception, portraited as kind, helpful, compassionate, sincere, honest, and faithful to God. No doubt in those days there existed power-hungry priests and kind druids, but this book is a caricature.

And in Patrick's own writings he endorses the Christian clergy when he writes, "[God] granted me so much grace, that through me many people would be reborn in God, and soon a after confirmed, and that clergy would be ordained everywhere for them."

And, "As well as to the heathen among whom I live, I have shown them trust and always show them trust. God knows I did not cheat any one of them, nor consider it, for the sake of God and his Church." Patrick obviously felt great love and respect for clergy and the Christian church. This, in contrast to Lawhead.

I could go on.

It was an interesting story as far as it goes, but not at all based on Patrick's life. I was surprized the jacket cover claimed the book was based on "exhaustive research." From what I could tell, this was entirely a work of fiction.

I'm a big fan of Lawhead's "The Iron Lance" and his "Song of Albion" series. With high hopes, I purchased this historical novel. My knowledge of St. Patrick is limited, and I looked forward to discovering more of his life and his spiritual influence in Ireland.

"Patrick: Son of Ireland" does many things well. The settings are believable and well-researched, the language fluid, and the dry details turned into fascinating tidbits. I particularly enjoyed the Roman battle scenes and descriptions of the Plague. Sobering stuff. Succat, later known as Patrick, is a character with flaws and foibles, a man who grows slowly into the understanding of his calling. And when Succat comes to a final point of humility and turning, Lawhead paints a succint and touching scene. He employs Pelagius, who plays a minimal part in only the final thirty pages of the book, to address Succat: "You have learned what a man can do in his own strength...Perhaps now it is time to learn what God can do with a man who knows the limits of his strength."

Unfortunately, the book never allows us to see the result of this turning. We witness years of futility in Succat's life, and, in fact, we ourselves grow weary of his attempts to escape slavery and of the deceits he thrusts upon even those he claims to love. I appreciate that all this brings Succat to a medieval mid-life crisis, but I would've enjoyed seeing the working out of his newfound knowledge. I even started to suspect that Lawhead would be throwing a sequel our way. Instead, he throws us a bone--a prologue and epilogue that tidily skim over Patrick's years of hard spiritual work.

I trod my way along the arduous trails of Succat's life, found some wisdom to be gained and some eventual rewards, but felt cheated by the blithe conclusion. Am I missing a sequel, or is this all we get?