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Beatlebone Hardcover – November 17, 2015

by Kevin Barry (Author)
3.7 out of 5 stars 43 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Doubleday; First Printing edition (November 17, 2015)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0385540299
  • ISBN-13: 978-0385540292
  • Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 1.2 x 7.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #147,927 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 starsBRILLIANTLY WRITTEN AND AFFECTING
By David Keymer TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on October 26, 2015
Format: Hardcover Vine Customer Review of Free Product ( What's this? )
In 1967, Lennon had bought the small island of Dorinish, in Clew Bay, county Mayo. It was his off-again on-again retreat when the attention of media and fans got to him. In California in 1970, John and Yoko went through an extended session of primal Scream therapy with the controversial Arthur Janov. In 1970-72, John allowed “king of the hippies” Sid Rawle to establish a commune on Dorinish. And then in 1977, John Lennon announced that he was retiring from performing to spend time with his family and write. He did write–two books of whimsical, half-formed prose- but by 1980, John was back in the recording studio. It’s from these slim facts, and the sound perception that John was going through a prolonged drought music-wise, that the clever, word-rich Irish writer Kevin Barry has fashioned this whimsical fiction.

Beatlebone is a very odd book. It’s like the mythical hippogriff, one kind of animal in the front and another behind, and of uncertain purpose, less a novel than a good-humored ramble through language and mood refracted through the word-rich and exuberant prose of a very talented writer with a gift for the blarney. The incident it chronicles may have occurred or may not: John’s decision to return to the island for a long, solitary session of Screaming. Some of the people in it are real people –John, a mention of Rawles—but more are not, including John’s driver, pub mate and talking foil, Cornelius O’Grady, than whom no character could be more Irish. There’s a lot of talking –a lot!, a lot of drifting around, of gorgeous (or striking) descriptions of the bleak and windy terrain of western Ireland and the ocean islands that adjoin it. A couple of times Barry breaks into Q and A format, other time he injects himself directly into the narrative.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 stars"Deathhauntedness, the seal says."
By "switterbug" Betsey Van Horn TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on October 15, 2015
Format: Hardcover Vine Customer Review of Free Product ( What's this? )
Author Kevin Barry crossbreeds the myth/legend of John Lennon with the man he was, in this fable-like, surreal story of one Beatle’s odyssey. Lennon bought an island in Western Ireland almost a decade before, also known as Beatle Island. He’d only been once. Now, it’s 1978, and he’s in the midst of his dry years. He hasn’t produced new material since the 1974 Walls and Bridges; he’s busy baking bread and being a househusband, giving all his attention to Yoko and their toddler son, Sean. He’s even gone macrobiotic.

Now, John wants a pilgrimage to his island, to spend three days in solitude and see if the artist juice flows, to find his mojo again. His experience in Primal Scream therapy has given him something to work with while out there. His driver, Cornelius O’Grady, is quite the eccentric character. He helps to ward off the press and navigate to the tiny island in Clew Bay, called Dorinish (pronounced Dornish), but the circumnavigation leads to surprising detours in this (no surprise) 9 chapter masterpiece. A magical mystery tour.

If you’re expecting a Beatle-mania bio or story, then you may be disappointed. Barry’s prose has more than a touch of magical realism, and in 8 of the 9 chapters he comes at the story from a slanted angle. Yes, we are inside Lennon’s head, but the lexicon and dialect, as well as the astonishing prose, play with ambiguity, and create a hypnagogic atmosphere. I had to pay attention, and eventually, the dialogue and exposition construct a moving, painterly portrait of John Lennon, the man, as it captures the myth.

Chapter six is kind of an alternate chapter, wherein Barry writes an essay-like account of his own personal odyssey to Dorinish.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsDream #9: The Cost of Creativity
By Jill I. Shtulman TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on October 14, 2015
Format: Hardcover Vine Customer Review of Free Product ( What's this? )
The year 1978 was not a creatively rewarding one for John Lennon – yes, THAT John Lennon. He spent most of his time in America, playing househusband and nursemaid to his young son Sean. After undergoing primal scream therapy with Arthur Janov, he viewed himself as unburdened…yet he was also creatively blocked.

This is the John Lennon we meet in Kevin Barry’s audacious and often brilliant new novel, Beatlebone. At the start of the novel, he has escaped from the heart of New York City to the west coast of Ireland, where he owns (yes, really!) a tiny island that the locals have dubbed “Beatle Island.”

But anyone who expects a straight narrative about a complex and troubled musician has another thing in store. The true theme of Beatlebone is the heavy costs and rewards of creativity. This fictional John says, “What it’s about? It’s about what you’ve got to put yourself through to make anything worthwhile. It’s about going to the dark places and using what you find there.”

Kevin Barry is like a magician channeling John Lennon, displaying him as a searching, profane, and lost soul who must get to his own island, literally and figuratively. He must virtually enclose himself in a cave of dead bones, where “he has all the words and all of its noise and all of its squall.” He must look closely to see the tiny details in order to capture the larger scope. Throughout this book there are wisps – echoes really – of words that Beatles fans will associate with some of John’s (and other musicians) songs, but they are so beautifully intertwined with the narrative that lose attention for one second and you’ll miss them.

The book was a solid 5 star but here is where it rose to 6 stars: Kevin Barry interjects his own search for creativity in the narrative.Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 starsShoyld Have Been Called Beatlebonehead!

Not as great as reviews made it sound, and that's what made me buy it. Made me feel like I was missing something. I did not get the ending at all. Read more

Published 11 days ago by JOHN P BLAIR
5.0 out of 5 starsBrilliant writing

I bought everything Kevin Barry has written after reading this book. Cannot recommend his short stories more highly. Brilliant writing.

Published 1 month ago by Barbara Jungr
2.0 out of 5 starsTwo Stars

So far its been a difficult read. Traveling next week and we will see how it go's.

Published 1 month ago by Sara
1.0 out of 5 starsNot recommended.

Read about 1/4 of this and had to stop. I'm no prude by any stretch but the language in this book was appalling. Is there no other word except for FBomb that the author could use? Read more

Published 1 month ago by A. Davis
5.0 out of 5 starsA REFRESHING TALE of TWO CULTURES

Gay life in Santa Fe? Well, I’m straight and I don’t live there. But I laughed and at the same time admired Walter Cooper’s engaging story of a world apart from my own. Read more

Published 1 month ago by jill sawyer
2.0 out of 5 starsNot for me

Not my kind of book. In the end I just didn't care about the character (John Lennon) or whether he made it to his island or what kind of visions he had. Read more

Published 1 month ago by RA 1969
1.0 out of 5 starsOne Star

I'm glad I borrowed this and didn't buy this. What a waste of time.

Published 1 month ago by Howard S Greenberg
5.0 out of 5 stars"This is going to make Scott Walker sound like the Mamas and the...

Great book!

Published 1 month ago by T Sanders
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Fantastic! Kevin Barry's ear is pitch perfect!

Published 2 months ago by David Reynolds
5.0 out of 5 starsOn Creativity

People in most all of life’s endeavors find the subject of creativity—what it is, how to get it, how to keep it, how to revive it when it fades—fascinating, even vital to achieving... Read more

Published 2 months ago by David Valentino

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