Customer Reviews

True Believers Pb

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This diverse collection of stories brings together a myriad of characters, ideas, and issues, which in essence bring alive contemporary Ireland despite wide spread stereotypes of this beautiful culture. The stories that stand out include: "Mothers are All the Same," a tale of a travellers uncertain future; "Volunteers," looks at the troubles through the eyes of a romantic relationship between a Brtitish soldier and an IRA volunteer, and finally "True Believers," a story that presents striking metaphors concerning Ireland's relationship with the Roman Catholic church. As an American living in Ireland at the time I read this book, "True Believers" was a part of my cultural education. O'Connor is an international and universal voice!

I came to this collection of thirteen short stories after devouring O'Connor's brilliant novel of revenge, The Salesman. Three of the stories here ("Last of the Mohicans", "Mothers Are All the Same", and" Ailsa") will ring familiar to those who read his first novel, Cowboys and Indians (a coming of age tale with a bit less depth, but still worth a read). In general, the stories range from 10 to 25 pages and as a whole, provide a brief glimpses of everyday modern Irish people- the one exception being "Glass Houses," a story about a taxi driver which appears to be set in America. A prevalent theme running throughout is the forming and/or aftermath of relationships, both marital and extramarital, straight and gay. And the final two stories ("The Greatest of These is Love" and "True Believers") effectively combine themes of spiritual faith and loss. My favorite, however, is "The Long Way Home," which stands out as a creepy, surreal, and ultimately poignant tale of a man leaving his wife, who then picks up a hitchhiker who may or may not be dangerous.

This Joseph O'Connor is an Irish novelist, NOT the NLP trainer and author of the same name.