Customer Reviews

TIPPERARY

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Tipperary" it is safe to say, is one of the most enjoyable works of historical fiction I have read.
At first I had a bit of a struggle with Delaney's style. Delaney told his tale from alternating points of view. He often switched points of view in the middle of a page and without any distiction other than the "voice" of the narrator. I have participated in enough reading groups to know that there are readers who would have issues with this. To them I would advise that they "hang in there" because the story is well worth the effort. It doesn't take long for Delaney's voices to become distinct.
The author's format allows for a very large perspective on the lives of his characters. I loved this about the book.
Delaney also has a very low key sense of humor which I really enjoy,very subtle but very funny when he uses it.
I didn't know very much about Ireland when I started this novel. I tend to shy away from sob stories or "poor me" type books. It was a wonderful surprise to hear about Ireland and the Irish people from Delaney's perspective. The story was heartfelt and not at all sappy or over dramatized.
After completing this book, I will no doubt read Delaney's first novel titled "Ireland". The author tells a good story in a captivating style.

Played out against the backdrop of one of the most turbulent periods of Irish history, Tipperary doesn't read like a history lesson, yet it paints a vivid picture of those brutal days. If it is a love story, then it is a tale of the Irish and their great love of the land, revealed through journal entries, some penned more than half a century apart. This device works well, if a bit awkwardly in a few places. The overall effect is one of a chorus of voices weaving a complex tale of turmoil, with the predominant theme being the people's great passion for Ireland itself. The romances between people mostly take a back seat here, thankfully.

We see predominantly through the eyes of Charles O'Brien, who has an almost Forest Gump-like ability to meet and interact with nearly every important player who graced that period of Irish history. His encounters include that tragic genius Oscar Wilde, the legendary Charles Parnell, those brilliant writers William Butler Yeats and James Joyce, and culminate with his interactions with many crucial participants in the battle for Irish Home Rule, including Michael Collins himself. While I initially felt these meeting to be too contrived, I came to the realization that a member of the Irish upper class in that period could indeed have interacted with many of the history makers of those days.

I could barely put the book down while finishing off the final third of it, and having finished, I am left not only with a longing to fill those woefully large gaps in my knowledge of Irish History, but also with a desire to seek out more works by Frank Delaney.

I enjoyed Frank Delaney's first novel Ireland : A Novel so much that I went on record as favoring it over Edward Rutherfurd's sweeping epic of Irish historical fiction. After reading 'Tipperary' I wonder if that earlier judgment was wrong or whether Delaney's second book has really fallen that far short.

'Tipperary' centers around an Irish itinerant folk doctor named Charles O'Brien who falls in love at the age of 40 with a young English woman named April Burke in Paris, but the love is decidedly unrequited. The telling of his story is choppy with multiple narrative voices each in a different time period. Delaney has O'Brien meet numerous lights of Irish literature and politics of the late 19th century - among others he meets Wilde, Yeats, Joyce, Shaw, Parnell, de Valera, and Collins. Annoyingly most of these people make only brief cameo appearances and add nothing to the story. What is the point of the name-dropping?

At nearly the half way mark, the book finally gets a purpose, albeit a rather unlikely one as O'Brien and April Burke join forces after a fashion to bring Tipperary Castle, an Anglo Irish Great House in O'Brien's neighborhood back to its former glory. With the Irish Civil War in the background, Delaney also finally delivers a little sustained history.

`Tipperary' disappoints and only in part due to high expectations based on Delaney's `Ireland'. Having waded through 200 pages of tedium as Delaney struggled to pull the story together, this reader found it hard to work up much of an interest in what happened to Charles O'Brien and April Burke and the bloody stupid `castle'.

Once I find an author whose work I enjoy I tend to go back to them again and again - like Edward Rutherfurd, for example: The Princes of Ireland: The Dublin Saga, Sarum: The Novel of England, London: The Novel. `Tipperary' has put readers on notice to exercise caution in picking up a Delaney novel not called 'Ireland'.

Delaney's, "Ireland," was a hard act to follow. I loved it. It was absolutely the best read I have had in years. "Tipperary," on the other hand, was difficult to read and extremely hard to follow.

I understand that Delaney was trying to tie in an incredible amount of Irish history into the life of one man. He should have tried focusing on one event or a shorter time period instead. His characters did not come alive and that is sad considering he was writing about an extremely vital people during a crucial part of their history.

Having said that, optimist that I am, I will buy another Delaney novel. "Ireland" was so good, it left me begging for more. Hopefully, the next book will be an improvement over "Tipperary".

"Tipperary" is the entrancing tale of Charles O'Brien, the son of an Anglo-Irish family who devotes his adult life to the healing of the sick, the restoration and preservation of Tipperary Castle and the romantic pursuit of its possible owner, April Burke. Set early in the 20th Century, Charles meets with a collection of figures of Irish history including Oscar Wilde, William Butler Yeats and Michael Colllins. Although Charles' series of encounters seems to be incredible, it is entertaining. In the course of his exploits, Charles becomes involved in the Irish War of Independence and the following Civil War.

This book is an absolute delight. The dialogue reflects what one would expect to hear in Ireland, at least it reminded me of my cousins from there. Charles' experiences teach the reader much about Irish history. We are introduced to key personalities, the relationship between the Anglo-Irish and the Irish, the importance of Irish Manor Houses in the story of Ireland and a taste of the life lived by the revolutionaries. I found nothing offensive in this book. I enjoyed this book from start to finish and trust that anyone who loves things Irish will as well.

I am listening to this book, read by the author. For those who have had problems with the narrative changing, the Audio Version is very easy to follow, as the inflection and manner of the author's voice is apparent.
I am halfway through and enjoying it very much. I am going to get his Ireland novel when I am through with this.

This is another wonderful book authored by Frank Delaney. I sat down and read it over the course of a weekend and was taken to another world in Tipperary, Ireland learning more about the history of Ireland and the lives of the characters Charles O'Brien, April Burke, and Joe Harney. For me, the book had a bit of an Irish Forrest Gump and Gone With The Wind flavor. The subject matter in the book changes often as well as the narrator in the passages. Yet, I was still able to follow the train of thought. While I didn't enjoy this book quite as much as Delaney's previous novel, Ireland, I still found it a wonderful novel. If you love Irish novels, this is certainly one to add to your collection.

Many of the reviews posted on "Tipperary" too often cite comparisons to Delany's great "Ireland" book. the at was a true epic while both "Tipperary" and the later published "Shannon" are more focused on individual perspectives on Ireland's culture as well as its history. All are romances, but this book illustrates the extreme, often obsessive, loyalty traits of the Irish, their individual devotion and the passion for the land that transcends adversities beyond the control of any individual. To be sure, the plot takes discussion twists which challenge an easy comprehension of their differing perspectives and complexities, but that is the beauty of a true, traditional Irish story teller. It may challenge the intellect at times, but it adds a poetic element to Delany's writing that is uniquely ethnic. He may be less historically depictive in detail than an Edward Rutherford but he more resembles Morgan LLywelyn in his emphasis on the focused bellefs and feelings and the romance of a typically Irish persona. That may be a dimension that some less perceptive readers tend to miss. Delaney
show his greatness in being able to write in several different ways that all depict the Gaelic character, customs, and ethnic makeup, a panorama that illustrates a beauty that in response to offset the long, and often sad and tragic Irish history.

Frank Delaney "Tipperary"

The beginning of the book, in fact, the first two chapters were slow reading, but after that the story develops and embraces the reader.

The narrative is told by two individuals and switches back and forth between them throughout the book. The first voice is Charles O'Brien who was born in the Victorian Irish era during a time of the famine. O'Brien keeps a personal record of everything that happens to him in his travels...the good and the bad. The second voice is another historian, Michael Nugent, who finds Charles O'Brien's chronicle and investigates and verifies facts and events with a surprise at the end.

Charles O'Brien falls in love with April Burke and she rejects him. But he never gives up and continues to pursue her.

Ireland enfolds before your eyes with Frank Delaney's descriptions of the land, the people and the love the people have for the land. After reading the book, I wanted to visit Ireland.

This wonderful book tells the tale of a romantic love story and strives to explain how much the Irish love their homeland.

I love novels about Ireland. I took a chance on this author - liked him and then read all of his books. They really are a good read.