West Belfast [Paperback]

Danny Morrison (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 249 pages
• Publisher: Roberts Rinehart Publishers (September 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570980438
• ISBN-13: 978-1570980435
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,423,866 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Honest Portrayal of Life Under Fire, January 18, 2000

By 

David Fanning - See all my reviews

This review is from: West Belfast (Paperback)

Danny Morrison's first novel, West Belfast, is significant for its honest portrayal of a conflict which has been written on extensively by outsiders but rarely by the people involved. A Republican of some standing, his writings have been criticized by many who feel that the Irish Republican voice should not be heard. This is perhaps the first time that a modern Irish Republican has attempted to show in novel form what his community has gone through under British oppression. The writing is at times slightly awkward--it is a first novel as I said--but it is refreshing honest and sincere. A good examination of politics and general human concerns.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Putting aside all personal views on the troubles..., January 24, 2004

By 

Kaitlen (Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: West Belfast (Paperback)

...as apparently many others are not able to do. I would like to offer my opinion of Danny Morrison's first effort at writing a novel. Mr. Morrison makes a good effort with this, his first novel. It is a very honest portrayal, which stems from his own biased foundation. No attempt is made to hide his personal, political leanings or to disguise his emotional involvement in this book.

I found this biased foundation quite refreshing. I appreciated the honest opinion, of a man who lived one side of, "The Troubles." This is a book field that is flooded with outsiders writing what they refer to as their "unbiased view," when actually they are simply well disguised yet still highly biased in their foundation.

The writing is not the greatest I've ever seen, but it is far from the worst. You have to take this book at its face value, a personal account - in novel form - of a life in Belfast. I give it 3 stars because it was a compelling read but the writing trips you up on many occasions, breaking up the flow and almost forcing you to re-read sentences with a "what was that??" effect.

6 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Republican History of Northern Irish Troubles in a novel, October 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: West Belfast (Paperback)

West Belfast is a book of the rise of a young man from street-fighting to full-scale terrorism. If you are interested in a very, very biased Republican (i.e. Sinn Fein) view of the beginning of the troubles, buy this book from a well-known, once convicted Sinn Fein spokesperson. For a much better novel with a similar scope (but less republican, more catholic) buy Maddens One by One in the Darkness. If you want to read the ultimate novel on Northern Ireland, read McLiam Wilsons Eureka Street.