Valparaiso Voyage [Paperback]

Dermot Bolger (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 7, 2002

A literary thriller with a heart. 'The Valparaiso Voyage' blows the lid off the Celtic Tiger and looks at the corruption that spawned today's Ireland. Dermot Bolger is one of the leading figures on the Irish literary scene: very influential, amazingly energetic and prolific, popular and well respected. This is his eighth novel (and his third for Flamingo). Bolger's previous novel, 'Temptation', was a departure for this author. It was a story of family life, told from a woman's perspective. 'The Valparaiso Voyage' is, as you might say, Bolger returning to familiar territory -- back to chronicling the darker side of contemporary Dublin life. It is the story of Brendan Brogan, who grew up in the small town of Navan on the outskirts of Dublin. An unhappy childhood, spent searching for love and affection, leads to an unhappy adulthood spent gambling and trying to hold a difficult marriage together. When circumstances offer Brogan a chance to fake his own death, he seizes the chance and runs -- far away to Portugal where a new life beckons. But no one can escape the past entirely, and when his father is found murdered, Brogan returns to Dublin. Here he finds a new Ireland, wracked with corruption, everyone -- politicians, bankers, businessmen, councillors -- caught up in it, including his own father. Tormented by memories and old resentments, Brogan nevertheless feels he must solve the riddle of his father's death. And he finds himself not in the least surprised to discover that the rot set in many years ago, back in the Navan of his childhood. A cracking, fast-paced literary thriller.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'No Irish novelist since McGahern has been so obsessed with the poetics of love, death and sex. No Irish novelist has so brilliantly captured the suburban underbelly of the city, the crazy unofficial lives.' Colm Toibin 'Joyce, O'Flaherty, Brian Moore, a fistful of O'Briens, this is a succulent Who's Who of Irish writing, and Dermot Bolger is of the same ilk. An exceptional literary gift.' Independent 'Bolger's writing is so strong, so exact, so much the right colour for each moment. Bare and passionate.' Financial Times

About the Author

Dermot Bolger was born in Dublin in 1959. His novels and plays have won many awards, in Ireland and internationally. He has also published several volumes of poetry. Bolger has been a notable and energetic champion of new Irish writers in his capacity as founder-publisher of Raven Arts Press, which he ran until 1992, whereafter he went on to start New Island Books. He is also the editor of the Picador Book of Contemporary Irish Writing, and editor of Finbar's Hotel and Ladies' Night at Finbar's Hotel.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins Pb (October 7, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0006552374
• ISBN-13: 978-0006552376
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,177,806 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Coddle is a Revolting Mess of an Irish Dish. Chowder's Nice., February 28, 2005

By 

M. Halpin (Dublin Ireland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Valparaiso Voyage (Paperback)

Dublin has been portrayed dirty old times. But Navan, County Meath? The Valparaiso Voyage is the only novel that I know of which explores that gateway town. It also explores the realities of political corruption- a topic, sadly, only too Irish and too true. The news in recent years has been filled with tribunals, while homes have been planted and promptly flooded on unsuitable lands that dodgy officials enriched themselves rezoning.

This examination of power in towns small and large was the novel's most interesting feature. Rather than the satisfying wish-fulfilment of revenge that most writers would offer, The Valparaiso Voyage explores what goes on within these men. What's their side of the story?

That theme is only one within The Valparaiso Voyage's breadth. It is a human story, aimed at the heart- family, love, immigration and racism, gambling, homosexuality, marriage. Like Bolger's earlier novel, Father's Music, a mystery keeps the pages turning.

I don't believe the pieces fuse so well, though. A boy living in a back-garden chicken coop? Like Augustus juggling skulls for relaxation in Carl Hiaasen's magnificent Stormy Weather, that's a great place for a character to start. But this Brendan Brogan did not convince me. His many issues, conflicts and passions felt like a coddle of random odds and ends. Irish pieces? Yes. I don't care how Dublin it is, though. I don't like coddle. Give me that perfect, natural blend seafood chowder from The Anglers' Rest, any day.

Two and a half stars.