Whoredom In Kimmage: The Private Lives of Irish Women [Paperback]

Rosemary Mahoney (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1994

Written with the art of a skilled fiction writer whose ear for Irish bluster is pitch-perfect, Whoredom in Kimmage tells the tale of contemporary Irish women through a series of brilliantly animated scences that take the reader from Dillon's tiny pub in rural Corofin to the heart of Dublin. This beguiling account of Irish life transcends that nation's small shores through the power of Mahoney's great storytelling gifts.

Before the phenomena of Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes, and Thomas Cahill's How the Irish Saved Civilization, Rosemary Mahoney traveled to Ireland in response to the growing feeling that changes were taking place, and that those changes directly involved women. Her ideas are animated in brilliantly crafted scenes, taking the reader from Dillon's tiny pub in Corofin to a lesbian pub in Dublin, from a Legion of Mary meeting to a classroom full of boisterous schoolgirls determined to drive their teacher, S'ta Keatin', over the edge. Here, too, are scenes with Ireland's first woman president, Mary Robinson, and the country's preeminent woman poet, Eavan Boland. But most memorable, and perhaps most prescient of the recent enchantment with literature about the Emerald Isle, are Mahoney's pitch-perfect ear for Irish bluster and warmth, her eye for detail, and people so real and unforgettable you'd think they were having a cup of tea with you.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"There's only one sin in Ireland. Sex." So says Jean O'Brien, one of the progressive Irish women portrayed in this marvelously insightful, funny, disturbing, yet ultimately hopeful book. Mahoney ( The Early Arrival of Dreams ) looks at Irish women and their efforts to bring Ireland--in terms of personal choice and freedom--into the late 20th century. The author, who is an American of Irish descent, dissects the Irish--men and women alike--through their words and actions. Unremarkably, most of the book's focus is spent in pubs in Dublin and Corofin, County Clare. We listen to Francis, the wise publican at Dillon's pub: " . . . if the Dutch were in Ireland, they'd own half of Europe, and if the Irish were in Holland, they'd drown," and we encounter the extraordinary women of J. J. Smythe's lesbian bar in Dublin on their Saturday night adventures. Outside the pub, we meet with a diverse group of characters: Ruth Riddick, the activist most responsible for bringing information about birth control to Ireland; the conservative and saturnine members of the Legion of Mary; Eavan Boland, who tells us about the problems of being an Irish woman poet; and Mary Robinson, who with her election as president, has turned what in essence used to be a patronage job for aged political hacks into an office of respect, prestige and voice. The author portrays the sexual tension (much of it fueled by alcohol) that permeates the society. We also see the fruits of that sexual tension--a notably high illegitimacy rate and its social and political fallout. Mahoney, who has a wonderful ear for the expletive-filled Irish use of English, has the ability to chill the bones and make one feel loneliness as a theme of Irish life. Ultimately, this struggle for Irish sexual freedom may yet be fought in the streets of Dublin, like the political revolution of 1916. For as President Robinson says, "In a society where the rights and potential of women are constrained, no man can be truly free. He may have power, but he will not have freedom." First serial to Mirabella; BOMC alternate and QPB selection; author tour.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

In 1991, Mahoney ( The Early Arrival of Dreams , Fawcett, 1992) returned to Ireland to observe what she believed to be a change in the way Irish women functioned in their society, evinced in part by Mary Robinson's election as president and the challenges being mounted against the country's rigid divorce and abortion laws. Alternating between stories of her time spent in Dublin and in the tiny West Clare town of Corofin, Mahoney contrasts her encounters with urban women, who protest, teach, counsel, and strain to enact change, with the near-suffocation of rural women, trapped within traditional mores, the Church, and their own insecurity. Library collections both in women's studies and contemporary Ireland will benefit from Mahoney's insight and skillful writing. She is instructive and entertaining, with a wonderful ear for the language. The book might be better titled, but Mahoney's observations capture the tensions and complexity of Ireland today.
- Susan Clifford, Hughes Aircraft Co. Lib., Los Angeles
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Anchor (August 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385474504
• ISBN-13: 978-0385474504
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #149,279 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #34 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Women's Studies > History

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I was blown away by this book!, May 12, 2003

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Whoredom In Kimmage: The Private Lives of Irish Women (Paperback)

I had no idea what to expect of this book when I picked it up, but a friend of mine recommended it, and after about ten pages I was hooked. Written from a first-person perspective by an American writer living in Ireland, it offers a most engaging voice and a vivid view of modern Ireland. The writer spent half a year living in Dublin and another half year living in rural Ireland in a Norman castle in the small village of Corofin. Having lived in Ireland for nearly ten years I was awestruck by the accuracy and intimacy of her portrayal of Irish life, her very engaging sense of humor, and her great talent as a writer. Line for line this book is absolutely beautiful. Her affectionate characterizations and stories of the people she met in Ireland fairly lift off the page. Her ear for dialogue is superb. There is a great deal of information here about Irish society, including interviews with the President of Ireland, and with other prominent Irish people, but the real draw of this wonderful book is the manner in which the writer has chosen to tell the story of this small country entering into the modern world. I laughed out loud at so many descriptions and scenes, conversations in a the pub, mishaps, local oddballs, lifestyle and beliefs of the Irish people. I didn't want the book to end. It's the kind of book you read and wish you knew the person who wrote it. There's a vividness to Mahoney's writing that I have not seen matched in many works of non-fiction. Above all, what distinguishes this work most is the clear respect and love the writer has for the people she has chosen to study and portray in it. There's a deep humaneness and sympathy to her approach to Ireland and its people, even though she offers criticisms and skepticism. I was entertained, moved, and enchanted by the stories she tells and don't know why I hadn't heard of it before now. The truths put forth in this book are sometimes a but upsetting, but they are exactly that: truths. And they are truths that needed to be told. I loved it.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Some of the reviews seem to be missing the point, November 24, 2005

By 

M. Elizabeth Pietrzak "driftingcloud" (Claremont, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Whoredom In Kimmage: The Private Lives of Irish Women (Paperback)

How can anyone spend a couple of years abroad, anywhere, and expect to portray an accurate historical account of the status of women in that country, let alone the entire people? She can't. So why are the reviewers expecting this book to be that impossible thing and to be unequivocally historically complete?

This is an autobiography of the author's experience in Ireland, not a history of Ireland. This is Ms. Mahoney's journey, not Ireland's. Take it for what you will beyond that, because it is a compelling read with wonderfully imagined and experienced events. She is honest with her material while drawing out the poetic charm of her travels. She tracks several key political movements, such as the attempts to legalize a woman's right to seek counseling on abortion, through their late-80s specific events and leaders and in relation to the deeper built-in oppressions of Irish-Christian dogma. She does not come out and condemn anyone or anything, but leaves those opinions to the reader. She paints a picture of a country that is quite progressive in many ways, even electing their first woman president, but silently the culture continues to oppress women in ways that are not befitting a 20th (now 21st) century world.

Too bad so many individuals misinterpret her work: If the people of Corofin and Dublin truly were "having their fun" with Ms. Mahoney by avoiding being honest with her in the hopes of making a fool out of her, frankly, they deserve to be caricatured. What a wonderful lesson in humility - a detail that speaks more about the state of a handful of men and women than any idealized cultural representation could have. When you have a guest to your house, do you mock them and make them out to be fools or do you welcome them and their cultural differences? I guess in some places, the tradition is to scare the outsider away rather than include them in the larger world picture.

Maith go leor, a Rosemary! Is iontach ?

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A personal, rather than academic inquiry--wildly readable., September 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Whoredom In Kimmage: The Private Lives of Irish Women (Paperback)

I read this in preparation for a trip to Ireland--in fact, ended up reading it instead of the dry-as-dust "traveler's history" I had first purchased. The author doesn't presume to make an academic study of women in Ireland, instead she chronicles, in minute but far from boring detail, her ten-months' sojourn to the Republic, split between Dublin and a small town in western Clare. Each chapter focuses on a particular experience: interviewing a famous/notorious pro-choice advocate in Dublin, taking visitors home after an evening at the pub in Corofin, and the like. The account of her brief volunteer work with Sister Keating and the Dublin slum girls is a perfect unmade bed-- equal parts poignant, barbaric, and startlingly funny. Whenever there is a choice between giving you the broad sweep of events on the one hand and the weird, unpredictable, and telling detail on the other, she chooses the detail. And, within the confines of that, she is brilliant.