Stealing Sunlight: Growing Up in Irishtown [Paperback]

Angeline Kearns Blain (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2000

Growing up in south Dublin slum she observe with intense vision of a child how the lives of men and women diverged..... She and her three brothers roamed the streets, now playing, now scavenging fuel for the fire, now wheedling small change.

Product Details

• Paperback: 248 pages
• Publisher: A. & A. Farmar (January 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1899047719
• ISBN-13: 978-1899047710
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,031,992 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better than a female Frank McCourt, October 28, 2005

By 

Molly O'Donnell "Gaillimhcailin" (Boise, Idaho) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stealing Sunlight: Growing Up in Irishtown (Paperback)

Stealing Sunlight is a clear-eyed reflection on the author's poverty-stricken childhood and adolescence in Dublin. The book is a series of gritty vignettes dispasionately relating her life's story. She pays homage to the people that helped her to survive the grinding poverty that seemed to be her inescapable lot in life. Blain speaks for herself but also for the other Irish working class girls who were never able to tell their own stories. A scathing indictment against the Catholic Church, and a glowing affirmation for the strong community that existed in working class Dublin. A great read!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I loved this book!, November 18, 2008

By 

S. Collins "Fan of reading!" (Pullman, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stealing Sunlight: Growing Up in Irishtown (Paperback)

This book is a beautiful piece of work. The writing and the story is both haunting and hopeful. I can't wait to read what happens after she comes to America.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Triumph over miserable conditions, March 17, 2006

By 

Léitheoir (Arlington VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stealing Sunlight: Growing Up in Irishtown (Paperback)

After an uncertain and slightly off-putting start from over-writing in the first few pages, the book settles down into an excellent account of growing up in Dublin. It is another take on the miserable Irish Catholic childhood -- but, even with all the grinding poverty (including the same barely existent toilet facilities), is less miserable than the McCourt version and the better (and more believable) for that. The mother is another sainted figure while the Da is a more complex strain of the breed -- a flawed character with redeeming qualities. The plentiful humor is unforced, coming mainly from the salty idiom of the Dublin streets.