Customer Reviews

To School Through The Fields

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

 

 

If Angela's Ashes and it's clones is your only taste of Ireland during the economic hard times, you're only getting half the story. This best seller speaks of the Ireland our grandparent's held dear to their hearts. It's short vignette structure makes it an excellant read for those using public transportation. Warning: people who feel good writing must be driven by inner turmoil will hate this book. To all others Taylor's work is breath of fresh air!

If you love the simple life (not to be confused with easy), nature, simple people and their idiosyncracies, then you will love this book. Alice Taylor takes us back to the communal farm life of Ireland. She "shows" us vividly how she grew up in County Cork Ireland in a rural farming community where the community came before the individual; unheard of in our current paradigm. Everything that nature had to offer was used in daily life, including the grease from cooked geese to oil leather boots. Life was about pulling your weight, helping your neighbor, integrity, and respecting God and His creations. This book sooths my soul and slows me down. If you live a busy "city" life, but long for nature and simplicity, I highly recommend this book. It will make you smile and comfort your spirit.

I'd rather read this book than have Irish bread w. freshly whipped butter, w. farm-fresh eggs, tomato, sausage and Irish breakfast tea! And that's a lot! This affectionate novel is a jewel. A very special woman wrote this book and shared with us her very special childhood. If you're Irish, of Irish descent, have been to Ireland, or enjoy a charming, well-written, enchanting true tale, you'll love this book and keep a copy and recommend it to loved ones. Did you enjoy the LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE books as a child? Or have you read, THE ROAD FROM COORAIN by Jill Ker Conway? Then you'll truly enjoy this book

I laughed, I cried, I remembered my own childhood in County Ireland as I ran barefoot through the daisies. I especially loved the bit about 'Old Dan'who loves to be near children. I knew a guy JUST like that when I was seven. Alice Taylor's book is a TRIUMPH. It is nothing less. We need more books about the poverty and ignorance of Ireland, written by an ordinary housewife like Alice, in her deceptively accessible style. In these weary times, her book is like three hundred milligrammes of morphine to a man with a headache. She deserves the pulitzer! Well done Alice!!

What a delight this little book is! Within the space of only 151 pages of standard typeface, Alice Taylor has told many a tale, charmed us with her warmhearted stories from her childhood.

Why oh why had I never heard of Alice Taylor til we visited Ireland? Surely her writing style is on a par with any of the great authors, even if her genre is more humble. I kept seeing these books in gift shops and museums, and I finally decided to buy one. "Delightful" and "charming" fall short of the event. Vignettes of growing up in a sweeter, gentler world, written with much love and happiness. Just a wonderful book, and Alice Taylor has such a wonderful way with words. I felt like I could see in great detail the places and people she described so lovingly. The poems interspersed throughout the book were lovely, too, if anything, better, even, than the prose. Sadly, all too quick a read, although, this is one I will look forward to visiting again and again. I am also buying everything else by this author I can lay my hands on, and begging anyone who will listen to check this author out. One of the few authors I would actually love to meet and thank for giving me such enjoyment.
BTW, Amazon tags this as short or serial fiction. It is not. It is autobiographical.

My mother-in-law grew up in the Tipperary countryside around the same time as the author was growing up and this book helped me to understand what my mother-in-law's childhood must have been like in many ways. Ms. Taylor tells this story beautifully and manages to give a child's eye view of her world at that time. Anyone who reads this lovely little book is in for the treat of a trip through time to an Ireland that no longer exists.