Who Is Jesse Flood CD Library Edition [Audiobook] [Audio CD]

Malachy Doyle (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2004

Jesse Flood is 14 and coming to terms with lots of things. But coming to terms with himself and how he fits in with the world is not going to be too easy for Jesse. He thinks he is doubtful, timid and too gentle - but he is also courageous and brave and when faced with difficult choices he is good at making them. For example he knows he likes a girl with lovely long yellow hair - and he is going to let her know! In Jesse Flood, Malachy Doyle has created an enchanting and utterly believable young man who we watch with concern and admiration growing up over the course of one summer. Who is Jesse Flood? By the end of the book both Jesse and the reader have a much clearer picture than they do at the start and he is not at all bad! "A really good novel. It brings Jesse Flood to life, and allows us to see into his mind and heart." David Almond 'Another story of a teenager suffering the anguish of growing up in a dysfunctional family, coping with his mother leaving and a feeling that he is different and doesn't belong, desperately searching for his own identity Well, yes it is in many ways! But there is something extra here, something which lifts the tale from the ordinary.Certainly the opening is gripping Then there is the feeling that you are right inside the mind of the lad. There are just enough chilling incidents to hold your interest, and lastly, the well written ending is satisfying, even hopeful, without giving the false hope of a completely happy conclusion.' Carousel

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Although the titular question may imply a degree of mystery, Doyle's (Georgie) low-energy novel offers neither puzzles nor suspense. Jesse Flood, the 14-year-old narrator, grows up in aptly named Greywater, a small drab town in Northern Ireland, where he feels lonely and alienated ("You pass Miss boring Green and Mrs even more boring Fleming, boring the socks off each other on the corner, rabbiting on about last night's blockbuster episode of EastEnders or whinging on about all their little aches and pains"). Unfortunately, the author's attempts to set a distinctive or personal mark on this familiar terrain fall short. Jesse tells himself (and readers) stories cobbled together from Irish folktales, mulls over his parents' troubled marriage (his mother leaves midway through the novel), recalls embarrassing moments from childhood, and even faces peril in a sudden blizzard. An older friend turns out to be dealing drugs, and an ex-friend uses drugs and winds up dead. Even with so many plot elements, the stakes remain low. Lackluster pacing and broad-brush storytelling create a numbing distance, and Jesse's boredom with Greywater may well be passed along to readers. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-8-Fourteen-year-old Jesse Flood explores his life and thoughts in brief chapters of nearly stand-alone vignettes. The metaphor of adolescence as a tunnel from which one enters as a child and emerges as an adult runs throughout the book, beginning in the exciting opening in which Jesse enters a long train tunnel and plasters himself against the wall as a train races by, thus challenging death and staving off personal painful emotions. "And you're thinking maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. You're thinking maybe there are better ways to get the constant sound of parental argument out of your head. Slightly more clever ways to get yourself a cheap thrill, to break the unremitting tedium of small town life." Indeed, Jesse himself seems almost a metaphor for the common adolescent experience. He adores his mother and is devastated when she chooses to leave him and his father. He wonders if she were not loved or respected enough in their home in a small Irish community. Jesse's voice comes through with poignant tellings of embarrassing situations and with a wonderful sense of humor, as well as with an honest exploration of painful emotions.
Crystal Faris, Nassau Library System, Uniondale, NY
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: TBS The Book Service Ltd; Library edition edition (October 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1740933877
• ISBN-13: 978-1740933872
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

More About the Author

Malachy was born in Ireland, went to college in England, brought up his children in Wales and has now returned to Ireland, where he lives on a tiny island off the coast of County Donegal.
After spells in advertising and as a special needs teacher, Malachy turned to writing children's books. He has now had over 70 published and has won many prizes, including the Parent's Choice Gold Award and the Anne Izard Storytellers' Choice Award (for 'Tales from Old Ireland'), the Nestle Children's Book Silver Award (for 'The Dancing Tiger'), the Tir na nOg Award (for 'Georgie') and the English Association Award (for 'Cow').

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars I know who Jesse Flood is . . . and I'm certainly glad I do!, April 27, 2011

By 

Aletheia Knights - See all my reviews

This review is from: Who Is Jesse Flood? (Hardcover)

Fourteen-year-old Jesse Flood lives with his constantly-fighting parents in a small town in Northern Ireland. A sensitive boy with a head full of strange and poignant stories, he doesn't feel that he fits in with other people his age, although he desperately wishes he did. He doesn't quite know what to make of the opposite sex. He's starting to have feelings for girls - just a little - but he doesn't actually know how to talk to one without making a fool of himself, and anyways he suspects they're more trouble than they're worth. He worries about the devastation of the environment, and wonders how he can best make his life meaningful. In other words, Jesse is coping with the usual struggles and challenges of early adolescence. Perhaps most importantly, he's trying to figure out who he really is, who he wants to be, who he's supposed to be. Is he shy, courageous, foolish, clumsy, persistent, naive, sinister, unique, lovable, difficult, caring, wise? Perhaps all of the above?

The novel unfolds in a series of vignettes, most of which could easily stand alone as short stories. Malachy Doyle's powerful, richly evocative writing packs more thought and emotion into a few pages than some writers manage in an entire novel this length. Doyle somehow manages to write poetic prose without ever losing Jesse's distinctively adolescent voice, and it never feels stilted or artificial. Jesse's narrative of the present is interspersed with flashbacks, but the structure of the story is never hard to follow. In fact, this book is deceptively easy to read, for a novel of such subtlety and profundity. Nothing is really resolved in the end (is it ever, in the real world?), and yet I came to the last page with a satisfying feeling of resolution.

From the very first chapter, in which Jesse sneaks into a train tunnel and presses himself into a niche in the wall while a train rushes past just inches away - seeking out the noise, discomfort, and fear as a way of escaping his emotional turmoil as he watches his family fall apart - I felt this book wash over me like a dream, like a memory of my own dark years between childhood simplicity and adult clarity. The particulars of Jesse's life may bear no resemblance to mine, but his thoughts and emotions ring true. His innocent wisdom, combined with a tender vulnerability, makes Jesse Flood an especially endearing character. Over the course of the novel - not even two hundred pages - Jesse became so real to me, I'm almost a little sad I can't pick up the phone and call him and ask him what's he's done with himself these past ten years.

I can't believe I'm the first person on Amazon to write a review for this wonderful novel! There's something wrong when tawdry teenybopper trash is flying off the shelves while a splendid little gem like this remains underappreciated.