Book Description
1949 tells the story of Ireland's progress as seen through the eyes of one woman, from the bitter aftermath of civil war to the controversial dawn of a modern state. Ursula Halloran, the daughter of a famous revolutionary, comes of age in the turbulent 1920s. An education in Switzerland broadens her world view, but Ireland has become a repressive Catholic state where women are second-class citizens. Married women cannot hold jobs and divorce is illegal.Fighting against the stifling constraints of church and state, Ursula forges an exciting career in the fledgling Irish radio service. Her life is torn apart when she finds herself caught between two men who love her in very different ways. Refusing to surrender her hard-won independence to marriage, or her illegitimate infant to an orphanage, she flees to Europe to bear her child. There she takes a job with the League of Nations and is caught up in the terrifying outbreak of World War II. Hard decisions and desperate situations stand between her and any hope of returning to the land she loves.
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Irish history brought to thrilling life by a master, the sequel to 1916 and 1921.
Customer Reviews:
1949 - A Liberated Woman, A Liberated State........2005-01-19
Equal parts fiction and history, lines blur as award-winning author Morgan Llywelyn weaves fictional and real-life characters into her masterful novels. The third work in her Twentieth Century Irish State trilogy, 1949, is a fiction-based glimpse into the evolution of the Irish Republic as seen through the eyes of the indomitable, self assured Ursula Halloran. Equally captivating, the first two novels of the Irish State series, 1916 and 1921, don't necessarily exist as prerequisites to 1949, yet it wouldn't hurt to read them first.
Young Ursula is the adopted daughter of IRA foot soldier Ned Halloran, a man deeply involved in Irish Republican skullduggery. Living on the family farm, the Hallorans are a montage of typical Irish dysfunctionality. Requisites drunks exist, but 1949 avoids focusing on caricatured, woe-is-me Irish alcoholics. Living with an unforgiving and unbending father who wants her to inherit and manage the farm, Ursula is surrounded by a number of shiftless male relatives. Female Hallorans don't fare much better, as Ursula's sister marries into the dregs of Clarecastle's Irish society. 1949 boasts the gamut of vanished Irish colloquialism that one would expect to find in a post-famine rural Irish setting, including occasional stock-in-trade Irish wakes, imposing parish priests, stifling poverty and rampant melancholy.
Ursula occupies her time reading books and riding her horse Saoirse. In Saorise she witnesses a mirror image of her own shackles-Ursula runs free, but only to a point, for at night they both remain tethered, Saoirse in a stall, Ursula in an oppressive environment. Ursula rails against limits placed on her by male-dominated Irish society. She promises herself she will never marry, for married women in Ireland were banned from working outside the home during the period.
A distant and uncommunicative Pa, Ned Halloran frequently absents himself from the farm while performing the business of the IRA in the North. Like Ned, Ursula is headstrong and they frequently fall-out. But unlike her step-relatives, Ursula is at once smart as a whip, blossoming into an attractive, passionate young woman. Ursula finds a benefactor in her doting uncle, Henry Mooney, a protagonist of the novel 1921. Mooney sees smoldering in Ursula the portent of success he himself achieved in the literary world. Thus Henry is as determined as Ursula is to free her from rural, backward Ireland. Following a visit to Uncle Henry and Aunt Ella, the stage is set for the ultimate break with Ned. Henry convinces Ursula to accept Ella's offer to send her to finishing school in Switzerland. Ned's reaction is to disown his stepdaughter. With nary a glance backward, Ursula is off to the continent where she is taken under the wing of Constance Markevicz, a real-life heroine of Ireland's independence movement.
In Switzerland Ursula matures into a rough diamond of the young woman she is destined to be. Hobnobbing with the titled, the landed and the idle rich, she yet suffers under the prejudices bestowed on the Irish by the English. Nevertheless, she develops great friendships among Britons of both sexes, including the dashing pilot Lewis Baines, for whom physical desire courses through her loins.
Upon returning to Ireland Ursula takes a position with radio station 2RN writing news copy ticketed for the airwaves. No amount of talent will allow her to crack the male-only news reporting clique and Ursula's informed that she'll never read her own copy on air. Against a backdrop of Nazi fires burning on the continent, she meets an Irishman, Finbar Cassidy, a civil servant and man who represents much of what she rebels against. Lacking ambition, he further urges Ursula to accept status quo at 2RN. He pursues Ursula with uncommon determination, and exhibits kindness to a fault. After the suave Lewis Baines reappears on the scene, Ursula casts the Catholic Church's teachings regarding sexual forays outside marriage to the wind. Not surprisingly, Ursula finds herself pregnant with child.
In Dublin an unmarried pregnant woman stands about as much chance finding work as a statue honoring Cromwell appearing on O'Connell Street, so Ursula is again off to Switzerland where the doomed League of Nations seeks to stave off the Nazi horde threatening Europe. Much of Llywelyn's thoroughly researched World War II history comes to play here, as Ursula takes a job with the League. Real-life characters show up, along with their real-life frailties and failures. Chamberlain boasts that `we will have peace in our time.' Eamon De Valera's former employee, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, is on scene. Special dishonor is reserved for the lionized Winston Churchill. Profiling the Irish brand of World War II neutrality, Llywelyn offers a glimpse into what it really was, and what it meant to Anglo-Irish relations. It's terrific reading as marauding Germans roll over Europe.
With young son in tow, Ursula's back in Ireland in time to witness the post-war chartering of the Irish Republic, which occurs, understandably, in 1949. There's more of course: more farm, more Ned, more Lewis, more Finbar. Read it. You can't miss on this natural fit for the silver screen. If your cup of tea is history interspersed with titillating, finely woven fiction, 1949 is a must.
Laying claim to the unofficial title of Novelist Laureate of Ireland, Morgan Llywelyn boasts a body of fiction-based history, a dramatis personae, profiling the Irish condition.
Delightfully entertaining with an educational twist.......2004-12-25
1949 is the third book in Morgan Llywelyn's Historical Fiction series around Ireland's struggle for independence. It is not necessary to read 1916 and 1921 to follow 1949, although it might help when reference is made to significant events from previous periods, especially if you have little knowledge of Irish history.
1949 picks up approximately two years after the Irish Civil War. Red haired, blued eyed Ursula Jervis Halloran is 16 years of age and riding her horse Saoirse (Irish for 'Freedom') in Clare, Ireland, where she grew up on a farm with her father Ned (lead character 1916) and his Aunt Norah. She has received a letter from her pseudo-uncle Henry Mooney (lead character 1921) beckoning her to visit him and his wife Ella in Dublin. Against her fathers wishes she disappears to Dublin without a word to anyone.
When Ursula returns to the farm she informs her family she is going away to school in Switzerland, thanks to Ella's kind gift. Ned forbids it but she reminds him she is only his foster child and that she will do as she pleases, a path she follows throughout her life. Despite being adopted she has a strong bond with Ned and is deeply hurt by his anger. She leaves with business left unfinished between them.
On arrival in Switzerland, she learns it is finishing school, much to her chagrin. Being of beauty and great personality she nevertheless quickly befriends the upper crust whom she continues to correspond with after she leaves at age 18. She returns to an impoverished Ireland with its strong views on religion and politics.
Llywelyn is successful in painting the life of Ursula, a working class woman in a country trying to free itself from "foreign domination." With each chapter Llywelyn brings the reader into the fold to watch a girl blossom into a woman. She is strong willed from the beginning. In a society where women are to be seen and not heard Ursula stands on her own two feet in full sun, determined to make it on her own. She does not let anyone push her into the shadows of male servitude. Llywelyn has created a memorable role model for women.
Ursula was not without her own role models. Constance Markievicz' who encouraged her to be independent, choose her own path and only trust in herself for courage and honesty. This is true to Ursula's code to life.
Ursula is reminded that she is just a woman at every opportunity but she doesn't allow it to sway her own views and desires. While other women's interests revolve around hair and beauty products, Ursula cultivates her strong feminine and political views. Her contacts, interest in politics and occurrences abroad land her a job at the 2RN Radio Station. She is not permitted to broadcast as "Only the male voice is really suitable." Her schooling, meticulous letter writing to Henry, and to her acquaintances abroad, contribute to her success at 2RN and later with the League of Nations in Geneva. To work women had to be single or widowed, otherwise they were told to stay home with their children. Ursula vowed never to marry but that didn't stop the love triangle formation between traditional Irishman Finbar Cassidy and extravagant Englishman Lewis Baines.
1949 contains plenty of Irish politics as well as British propaganda, and covers the emergence of Hitler and the Second World War from an Irish perspective that is just as horrifying as all others. Llywelyn doesn't focus on the Catholic Church's impact on Irish society like other authors have in the past but its presence is clear. Politics and freedom from state are crucial. Llywelyn's characters are not idle bodies but great thinkers.
Tension mounts as the war hits closer to Ursula, affecting her and the people she holds dear. 1949 is not all doom and gloom. Morgan's wit is seen throughout in subtle glimpses as are tenderness, sexual fire and intense anger. One of my favourites is her mention of the "traditional Irish savings bank: under the mattress."
You can expect to learn a few Irish words like goster (chat; small talk) and seisiun (traditional music session) or learn of Irish traditions like keening (an "eerie singsong cadence, and unearthly wail" by women for the dead.)
Passages of Ursula's life are entwined with passages of Ireland's history. There are large patches without dialogue and I often felt I was getting a history lesson rather than reading a novel but this was fleeting.
There is a "Dramatis Personae" of fictional and historical characters in the first few pages. Another nice feature is the historical date markers. You are never without a doubt as to the timeline. Research and sources appear in the back. Not having grown up in the confines of Ireland's history I found it hard to keep the different groups and parties straight. It would have been nice to have a break down of each party, what they represented, length of existence etc... to refer to. The chapters are short, making it a great book for people on the move with limited time.
Llywelyn finishes this story with the inauguration of the Republic of Ireland on April 18th 1949. There are no loose ends but possibilities exist to gently tug the reader into the next book. I look forward to reading about the period leading up to 1972.
[...]
Third in an Intriguing Series.......2004-06-03
Just completed the third volume of Morgan Llywelyn's series on "the Irish Century", and it enlightened me greatly on a little-known period of Irish history. The Easter Rising and the Troubles have been extensively chronicled, but the 1923-1949 period has had little written about it. Her dramatic story, while a bit overblown at times, continues the saga of the Hallorans and the Mooneys over a quarter century, while the world outside hurtles into WWII. I would assume that if the series does indeed have a fourth volume yet to come, it would probably be set around 1972 and the beginning of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, and would likely have Michael and Bella Kavanaugh from the US return to Ireland and get involved in the Republican struggle against the Unionist tyranny in the North. At any rate, I have learned numerous things about modern Irish history that I did not know before, and enjoyed most of the author's dramatic characters. I would look forward to a final volume chronicling the 30-year conflict in the North leading up to the Good Friday Agreement, paralleled by the growth of the "Celtic Tiger" giant economy of the Republic to the South. While the author's sympathies are definitely Republican, she can portray the feelings of all sides in the century-long conflict and the common humanity of the characters makes the background struggle all the more poignant. My only criticism is her constant sniping at the Catholic Church as the major force in keeping Ireland "repressed and backward". Her anti-clericalism gets a bit much at times, but overall the story is very enjoyable.
WOW!!!! Morgan Llywelyn Does It Again!!!.......2003-03-23
1949, the third book in Morgan Llywelyn's series about 20th Century Ireland ( I am told there will be two more) is a compelling story of Ireland's continued struggle for complete independence from British rule, and for those who have been anxiously awaiting for this story, I can assure you, you will not be disappointed.
Ursula, aka Precious, was found wandering the streets of Dublin as a toddler by Ned Halloran, who readers of 1916 and 1921 will remember. Her parentage a question, Ned was taken in by Ned and his wife, Sile, and raised as their own.
1949 is Ursula's story. It opens in the early days of the Irish Free State and ends with the forming of the Republic in 1949. We follow Ursula as she leaves Neds family farm in County Clare at the urging of Henry and Ella Mooney (who readers will also remember from 1916 and 1921). Henry wouldn't let Ella use any of her family's money to help support their family but does agree for her to pay for Ursula's education at an exclusive private school in Switzerland.
When Ursula returns to Ireland she secures a job at the new radio station, helping write copy (but never allowed to be on the air herself). Through her eyes we see the continued political struggle in Ireland and her view of world events in the days before the second world war.
Ursula has vowed never to marry, in large part due to new laws in Ireland against married women working outside the home. Nevertheless, she is very attractive to the opposite sex and to two men in particular - Finbar Cassidy, an Irish government official whose political views frequently clash with her own, and Lewis Baines, a dashing young English pilot whose conquests of beautiful women have become legendary.
Morgan Llywelyn, whose knowledge of Irish politics and history is really unequalled in historical fiction written today, liberally adds historical facts and events to add depth and interest but never detracting from the overall story.
I can't remember when I have looked forward to a book more. Readers of 1916 and 1921 will enjoy visits with characters important in those books including Henry and Ella Mooney, Ned Halloran, and Ned's family in County Clare. Llywelyn's stories appeal to a wide variety of readers and my husband and daughter, both of whom have read 1916 and 1921, were fighting over who was going to get to read 1949 when I finished.
Great Ending to the Trilogy.......2003-03-14
Assuming this was the last in the series the author started with 1916, it was truly a great finish. The main character in this book was the best of all her characters, and the way she interweaves the fictional plot with real events is just amazing. Through reading this series, the reader learns a tremendous amount of interesting history, and also will meet unforgettable fictional characters. To anyone interested in Irish history, and/or just a series of good books, I would recommend reading 1916, 1921 and most definitely 1949, preferably one after the other, because there are so many recurring characters that they may become hard to remember if one of the arlier books was read too long ago.
Book Description
On September 17, 1862, the Union and Confederate armies clashed in Sharpsburg, Maryland.
Twelve hours later, more than 23,000 soldiers were dead or wounded -- marking the end of the bloodiest day in American history.
It was the battle the Confederacy hoped would break the back of the enemy for good. It was a bold incursion into northern territory the Union dared not let stand. For Robert E. Lee, it was a moment in time when he would be called upon to offer up the supreme sacrifice. For General A. P. Hill, it was a chance to avenge a betrayal by his former West Point roommate, Union commander George McClellan. For a young adjutant of Stonewall Jackson, it was a lesson in the true savagery of war; for an ambitious newspaper reporter it was the scoop of the century. And for President Abraham Lincoln, haunted by war's carnage and intense personal tragedy, it was the victory he needed to make the dream of freedom a reality.
Customer Reviews:
Over-detailed but gripping account of our bloodiest day.......2006-03-25
As a newly minted Civil War buff I didn't know much about CW battles, except for Gettysburg. But this account of Antietam got my attention and has spurred me to become an even more avid civil war fan. I found many of the personalities and their machinations in this book fascinting, especially the portraits of McClelland, Lincoln, his cabinet, and Stonewall Jackson. I must confess that the battle scenes were so detailed, with so many names and accounts of troop movements fired at me that I became overwhelmed and just skipped over a number of pages. I just couldn't keep remembering who was where and couldn't visualize the battlefield, due to the inadequacy of the few maps in the book. But all in all, it was a good read, it taught me a lot about a major battle in a savage war, and I now intend to wade further into the vast and bloody river of Civil War books, fiction or non.
Entertaining and Accurate.......2006-03-09
I have just finished "No Greater Courage" and would just like to say that it and "To Make Men Free" are some of my most favorite examples of historical fiction. I have always been fascinated by the Battle of Antietam, and appreciated a book finally being written solely about it that was a fast-paced, enjoyable read. "No Greater Courage" was equally as well done. I'd recommend them to anyone.
WOW!.......2006-01-12
I am a bit of a CW enthusiast...I dont normally read fiction, but this one is absolutely the best I've read in years! A park ranger turned me onto it. He said it was as good as Michael's and better than Jeffrey's. He may be over the top on "as good as Michael's"...Killer Angels is hard to best.
Can't wait for Croker's next!
Not a novel, a screenplay and not a very good one at that.......2005-10-04
The problems with To Make Men Free are huge. This is a novel that tells, not shows. A scene takes place at the Pry House, McClellan's headquarters and no adjectives are used to describe the house.
The characters are so interchangeable that the color of the uniform is the only difference between them. Paper dolls have more personality than any character in this book.
I've read screenplays and this reads like a screenplay that didn't sell. It appeares as if it was re-formatted into paragraphs and called a novel.
I've read novels by Michael Shaara, Shelby Foote, Stephen Crane, Jeff Shaara, Howard Bahr, McKinley Kantor, Thomas Kennally, Owen Parry and the list goes on. To Make Men Free is not even in the stadium with the works of these authors.
Accurate Yet Highly Readable.......2005-05-13
"To Make Men Free" is the title of a new book by a new (to me) author named Richard Croker. I attended his speech at a local Rotary luncheon last week, and was impressed right there. Bought the book (Perennial, a Harper-Collins sub, ISBN 0-06-055909-8) and am halfway through it. It's an Antietam book, but it carefully sets up the plot by starting at Second Manassas and pays due attention to Harper's Ferry.
I'm not yet finished with it, so I don't know yet if it's going to end with the passage "And then A. P. Hill came up." Hope not. But then, I'm the person who invented the website http://www.redshirt.aphill.forgood.gov. (Don't click on it, it doesn't really exist. I just invented it to tick off a Hill fan who is truly a clump in the litterbox of life.)
This book is a narrative, not an historical account. As it was portrayed by the author, one might expect a Jeff Shaara-esque stream of consciousness, but that's not really what it is. It's an excellent narrative, a good, well-structured time-line within which all sorts of vignettes are used to move the story forward.
William F. Buckley once wrote (possibly quoting someone else, I don't recall) that the author who seeks to slay his audience with each passage he writes runs the risk of succeeding. I have thought of that maxim many times while reading this book, for Croker's one-liners--really, one-para-liners--come close to being like that...there are so many keepers. Keepers in terms of imagery, mostly. My prediction is that you will do to your beloved what I have already done twice to mine: Make her stop what she's doing and listen patiently while I read an irresistible passage.
When you get to the passage(s) about what it means to be buried face down with bullet holes in your back, and when you get to the one about Clara Barton comforting a wounded soldier just north of the cornfield, you'll remember what I just said.
Don't buy this book for historical enlightenment, although that's there for me, a rank amateur. And don't buy it for "X's and O's", for they're not really there. Keep your copy of Sears alongside your bed if that's needed. And maybe, just maybe, don't even buy it for the educational value of reading the work of another wordsmith who uses the Queen's language with efficiency and precision. Instead, do what I've done and am going to do again twice more: Buy it for the fun of it, and buy it for a friend.
Croker has not written a Civil War book. He's written a work of literature which simply exploits one of the most fertile historical subjects for a work of literature which has ever been. Too tactical ever to be another War and Peace, it nonetheless has its share of Prince Andreis and Count Buzuhoffs.
I kinda like this book.
Herb Edwards
Average customer rating:
- The tedium of the long distance driver
- Very well written, somewhat slow.
- "One out of Many"
- "My life spoil"
- A Minor Masterpiece from V. S. Naipaul
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In a Free State: A Novel
V.S. Naipaul
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ASIN: 1400030552
Release Date: 2002-02-12 |
Book Description
No writer has rendered our boundariless, post-colonial world more acutely or prophetically than V. S. Naipaul, or given its upheavals such a hauntingly human face. A perfect case in point is this riveting novel, a masterful and stylishly rendered narrative of emigration, dislocation, and dread, accompanied by four supporting narratives.
In the beginning it is just a car trip through Africa. Two English people--Bobby, a civil servant with a guilty appetite for African boys, and Linda, a supercilious “compound wife” [117]-- are driving back to their enclave after a stay in the capital [111]. But in between lies the landscape of an unnamed country whose squalor and ethnic bloodletting suggest Idi Amin’s Uganda. [111-12, 120, 130-1, 150, 178, 220-40] And the farther Naipaul’s protagonists travel into it, the more they find themselves crossing the line that separates privileged outsiders from horrified victims. Alongside this Conradian tour de force are four incisive portraits of men seeking liberation far from home. By turns funny and terrifying, sorrowful and unsparing,
In A Free State is Naipaul at his best.
Customer Reviews:
The tedium of the long distance driver.......2007-01-12
The novella recounts every boring second of a two day drive across Africa. Nothing much happens. The driver and the passenger don't much like each other, which might have made their conversations interesting, but no. They tediously repeated the same ideas over and over. Reading the book felt as monotonous and boring as taking a long car trip. Toward the end I just skimmed in the hope of speeding things along. Dreadfully dull.
Very well written, somewhat slow........2003-09-05
This book is made up of a short Prologue and Epilogue, and three short stories, the last of which, called "In A Free State," taking more than half of the pages.
This first story is the best. It is a fictionalization of a Uganda-like state whose Idi Amin-like despot president takes over the country, seen through the eyes of two white English folk who are driving across the country in an afternoon. This story builds suspense well and the "reward" of a little bit of action toward the end.
The first story is interesting as well, about an Indian man trying to make it in the US. However, the second, "Tell Me Who To Kill" is the weakest, despite the intriguing title. It seems to have very little point aside from what Naipaul has done in the past, and his great writing skills are ripped to shreds because the story is written in a simple dialect. I would recommend reading this book, skipping or quickly skimming the second story. If it had been taken out I would have probably given the book an extra star.
"One out of Many".......2003-03-08
The journey of an immigrant landing in the United States for the first time begins long before he sees the statue of liberty and ends long after he qualifies for his first passport. The decision to leave home, leave culture and comfort, the excited transition to a brave new world, and then the acclimatization, the realization that the rest of your life will occur in this new, lonely culture.
V.S. Naipaul's short story "One out of Many", from his collection In a Free State, eloquently chronicles one man's journey to a new life in the United States. We meet Santosh, a poorly-educated servant to a diplomat, and Naipaul beautifully relates his home, his culture, and his community. However, Santosh leaves India with his master to go to Washington D.C., in search, as we all are, of opportunities and of the land of plenty. However, Santosh's journey not only destroys his painful idealism but also raises important questions about identity, both cultural and personal.
The character of Santosh, ill-educated, painfully naïve to American ways, learns much about the United States, befriending a black woman, experiencing the Washington race riots, and sadly, becoming more and more alienated from this world he thought he would embrace so perfectly. The contrast of Indian society with the American way of life leaves Santosh alienated, but also presents to the reader the dilemma of cross-culture assimilation. Should one assimilate into a different culture? Is it possible to truly accept yourself when your identity depends on a community thousands of miles away?
"One out of Many" never tries to represent an entire immigrant population, nor does it make a political statement in that explicit sense. It's simply the story of Santosh, his journey , what he finds, and does not find, in the land of riches, in America. Excellent, relevant reading.
"My life spoil".......2002-03-21
So said the disillusioned and dejected West Indian when confronted with the reality of his ruined life in London. His brother had taken advantage of him, and having denied himself for his brother's sake, the betrayal was all the more bitter. Hate and revenge are now his primary emotions and he shows this with his words "tell me who to kill", the title of one of this book's five stories. The stories are principally about the emotional weight carried by strangers in foreign lands (West Indians in England, Indians in the U.S, English in Africa), and the cultural anomie that comes with it.
This book which won England's Booker prize in 1971 is comprised of two novellas, the short-story that is the book's title and a prologue and epilogue which are in the narrator's voice and describe impressions from his travel journal. Besides exploring the theme of alienation, the common thread that connects these stories is the search for what it is that causes the destructive impulses that lie deep within us to rise to the surface.
In a more recent book, READING AND WRITING, Naipaul in talking about his art said "one day, in my almost fixed depression, I began to see what my material might be" In homage to his brooding inspiration this book then is an excellent exploration of Naipaul's well known darker themes. What makes us cruel to one another? Why do we fear, hate, and oppress others? The stories are harsh and imaginatively cruel: The irrational beating of a hapless tramp and the whipping of some poor Egyptian children who were scrounging for sandwiches tossed by Italian tourists.
Naipaul is genre-bending with his fiction and where others may feel compelled to offer hope and a romantic denouement to their story, this author does not subscribe to such illusions about the human heart. At least not in any obvious way. The positive message is there in the title story, it's just hidden. Bobby and Linda are seeking refuge in the last redoubt of Englishness left in Africa. Like all the other characters in the book they are seperated from their familiar traditions and society. Far from being alienated however they have something within - a sense of self. It gives them wholeness. Here we see the true potential of the human heart to be IN A FREE STATE even when all around us is chaos. As pessimistic a view as this book generally is, I still found it entertaining and because Naipaul offers such a small token of hope, it makes it all the more precious.
"I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us" (Franz Kafka)
A Minor Masterpiece from V. S. Naipaul.......2002-03-19
In a Free State won the Booker Prize in 1971 as the best novel by a Commonwealth author. The books consists of two short stories, two travel pieces and the title novella.
The 120 odd page novella, "In a Free State," describes a visit to a remote hotel deep in the African bush. Two Europeans travel overland over rutted roads to a run down deserted hotel. Bobby and Linda travel as a couple but Bobby prefers men. He tries to seduce the African servant boy but is rebuffed. This book marks Naipaul complete departure from the folksy half-joking style of his earliest works. There's no warmth or humor just a cold depiction early post-colonial Africa.
"One Out of Many," a thirty page short story, is more in the style of his earliest works: "A House for Mr. Biswas," "The Mystic Masseur, " and "Miguel Street." It tells the story of Santosh, a poor Hindu who accompanies his employer from Bombay to Washington, where the employer has taken up a diplomatic posting. Santosh had slept on the sidewalk in Bombay, that being impermissible in Washington, his boss generously gives him use of a walk closet as his sleeping quarters. He misses the companionship of sleeping on the Bombay sidewalks under the stars with his friends. He runs away from his boss, to whom he owes his plane fare from India and takes a job at a newly opened Indian restaurant. Santosh is terrified by the race riots that erupt in Washington. He meets a hubshi (black) woman and is disgusted at himself for having sex with her. He has some money because he sells some of the weed he has brought with him from India. This weed, which grows wild and free for the gathering in India, is marijuana. He is so socially inept that he buys a bright green suit. He becomes wise to the ways of the world and demands a raise from his restaurateur boss who has been paying him miserably. All the while he is afraid his old employer will come to take him back or have him deported. On the advice of his new boss he marries the hubshi woman and becomes a U.S. citizen, thereby solving all his problems. The fact that Santosh has a wife and children back in his home village in India doesn't matter.
A very funny touching story that would have made a great novel, maybe titled: "A Green Card for Mr. Santosh." I liked this better than the title novella which is dark, gloomy and has no real action: Bobby and Linda drive through the African bush country, they stay at a run down hotel, they walk through the town one night. That's it!
The other short story is unmemorable. The two travel narratives dealing with sightseeing trips to Egypt are very good and are much like Naipaul's two Islamic travel books for their insightful and critical look at a strange culture.
Book Description
With the tragedy of Easter 1916 behind them and spurred on by the euphoria born of England's willingness to confer after months of bitter warfare, Irish republicans sense they are finally on the verge of triumph over their centuries-old foe. Ireland's freedom is just around the corner, or so it seems. But almost overnight the green hills of Ireland turn red again--blood red--as the bitter residue of Anglo-Irish politics unexpectedly erupts into unholy civil war, the repercussions of which are destined to sully the dream of Irish unity for years to come.
This work of historical fiction continues the chronicle of Aran Roe O'Neill, a fictional Irishman, and his tenacious comrades, both real and imagined. Together they reluctantly renew their struggle for Ireland's long-denied independence from England. Their action is triggered by the divisive treaty Dublin's fledging government negotiates with members of London's parliamentary leadership.
Customer Reviews:
Blood On The Shamrock by Cathal Liam.......2006-10-05
"The follow-up to his critically acclaimed novel, Consumed In Freedom's Flame, protagonist and factional Irishman, Aran Roe O'Neill returns in this historically accurate factional tale of Ireland's Civil War. The book opens with a military entourage carrying Irish rebel leader Michael Collins to a mysterious meeting aimed at putting an end to the savage conflict gripping the country. As a passenger in the car with Collins, O'Neill is caught in the midst of the ambush that would eventually leave his beloved leader - and perhaps even the hopes of a generation - dying on a country road. The novel then shifts back to the end of the Irish War of Independence as the British government awaits the arrival of an Irish delegation charged with attaining their country's sovereignty after hundreds of years of supplication. As [Eamon] de Valera jostles for an outcome that appears motivated by personal rather than stately reasons, Collins is reluctantly press-ganged into joining the Irish deputation. With the threat of total war imminent, the Irish delegation are forced to return to the country with a less than desirable treaty for those who sought a full 32-county republic, a position that the author pointedly claims: 'once a means to achieving a broad ends, had become a narrow end in itself.' With the factions split, the country becomes embroiled in a bitter, insidious conflict that turns comrade and households upon themselves. There are possibly those that would charge the author with being too far in the Collins camp, but with the dispassionate eye of history now finally beginning to fall on Ireland's most depressing dispute, it is hard to escape Liam's presentation of Ireland's most dominant political figure as an egotistical, arrogant man armed only with his own selfish, myopic vision. As one of Collin's inner circle, the newly married protagonist sees his own life unravel along with those around him as Liam's superbly researched book brings alive one of Ireland's darkest hours. Armed with murderous subplots, along with romance, heroism and betrayal galore, this is certainly one of the most dynamic and enjoyable retellings of the Irish Civil War that I have ever read." Joe Kavanagh, Irish Connections magazine, (New York, NY), Autumn, 2006
A historical novel about Ireland's Civil War in the 1920's.......2006-09-14
"Blood on the Shamrock" is the sequel to "Consumed in Freedom's Flame," Cathal Liam's historical novel about Ireland's Civil War in the 1920's. Fictional hero Aran Roe O'Neill continues in the struggle for Irish self-governance and independence. In this complex network of loyalties and treachery, he faces foes both from within and outside the ranks of Irish patriots. For those who may have missed the first novel, "Blood on the Shamrock" stands very nicely on its own as a great historical novel. It is greatly enhanced by an introductory list of cast of characters, in order of appearance by chapter, the prologue, which quotes the Declaration of Arbroath and the Proclamation of POBLACHT NA H EIREANN, and the glossary. Frequent quotations from poems and songs also help to place the novel's tone and action core. The reader will quickly become caught up in the life and cause of Aran, which is 'at one with the cause of Pearse, Connolly and Collins.' Twentieth century Irish political reality evolves through the pages, with many references to its cultural and historical heritage. "Blood on the Shamrock" is immediate and personal; it will serve to enlighten many readers about the latter days of the Irish Civil War. Ending in the 1960's, "Blood on the Shamrock" is a complete read in and of itself. But one wonders (and hopes!) if there will be another novel to the present day?
Customer Reviews:
Must read.......2007-05-02
Reviewed by Debra Gaynor for Reader Views (4/07)
Dred Scott's history is not recorded, yet he was at the center of one of the most important legal cases in the history of the United States. The case helped to ignite the flames of the Civil War. Dred wanted freedom for his family. He had no wish to be a political focus.
Negroes were not allowed an education. They were not allowed to read or many times to even touch a book except to dust it. "My kin never trucked in no books."
A book doesn't change; it's the same story over and over. But a story that's told out loud has changes each time. Each person that performs the story would tell it a little different. Gran told stories each evening, she taught through her stories. She always knew which story to tell and when to tell it. "That's the knowing of the griot, and Gran passed it down to me." Dred passed on the stories to his daughter so that they would not be lost.
Dred's story was never recorded in a book. This is considered a fictional account of a real person. Dred Scott was a slave. He saw men beat and women raped. He witnessed his first love chained to the bed of a wagon as she was taken away to be sold. He wanted freedom and attempted escape once. He particularly wanted freedom for his daughters.
"Speak Right On" by Mary E. Neighbour is one of the finest books ever written. I must admit that I knew little about Dred Scott. The name was vaguely familiar. Neighbour's does an excellent job of depicting the life of the slave. I was brought to tears as I turned the pages. Dred and his family come to life on the pages of this book and I desperately wanted to know what happened. The slang makes it more authentic but was easy to read. Mary Neighbour's plot flows smoothly; this would make an excellent movie. I would never have guessed that this was her first novel. I believe we will hear a lot more from Neighbour. This is a must read and I'm glad I did.
Mary E. Neighbour---write right on!.......2007-03-26
Neighbour weaves a compelling tale around the facts of Dred Scott's noteworthy life. Her talent to tell his story in his imagined dialect adds to the charm of this poignant novel. Her writing drew me into Dred's life so that I felt I was experiencing the horrors of slavery and the struggle to win his freedom through our courts. My family,friends and I were captivated by Neighbour's recent speech at the Library of Congress to mark the 150th anniversary of his Supreme Court decision.
Reviewed by Sabrina Williams.......2007-02-15
When I was initially offered the opportunity to read a novel about Dred Scott, I was eager to expand my limited knowledge of such an important figure in our nation's history. I felt I owed my ignorance to either a failed public school system or my own inattention in American History class. As it turns out, the reason behind my lack of knowledge is most likely due to our lack of information as a country. Because of Scott's slave status (or lack of status) and because most slaves, Scott included, were illiterate, there are few recorded documents regarding his life despite the incredible influence he had on the destiny of the United States of America.
From the court documents and other various resources that are available, we know that Dred Scott was a slave who sought freedom through legal means. With the assistance of the sons of his former master, Scott took his case to the Supreme Court to sue for freedom for himself and his family. In this monumental court ruling, it was decided that because blacks were not considered American citizens, they did not have the right to sue. Though Dred Scott remained a slave, the sons purchased the family from their owner and set them free. While in Scott's situation, he seemed to have fought a losing battle, in actuality, the ruling regarding his own freedom enraged abolitionists and set the acts into motion that led to the election of Abraham Lincoln to the Presidency and consequentially, the Civil War.
Mary E. Neighbour has picked up where history leaves off with her 2006 novel SPEAK RIGHT ON: DRED SCOTT A NOVEL. Neighbour takes the pieces of Scott's story and fills in the gaps to present a picture of the person Dred Scott might have been. Though a work of fiction, Neighbour has such a skill for breathing life into characters, the reader sees through the eyes of Dred Scott as if reading from Scott's own journal. Had he been literate, Scott himself could have written the book as an autobiography. It is both a celebration of tradition and family, and an outlet of mourning of lost love and freedom.
Through his grandmother, Scott became a griot, or African storyteller. To ensure the heritage of his family was preserved after his death, he related his tales to his daughter, Eliza, to be recorded. After both have passed, younger daughter Lizzie finds herself sharing the stories with her own son, Harry.
The author begins the stories from Scott's perspective, as if the reader were looking over the journal he and his daughter created. As the book progresses, the author moves back and forth between Scott's words and the elaboration of a narrator. The two flow so smoothly together the reader really doesn't notice the transition between the two. The reader has no trouble at all deciphering the slang and vernacular that would have been used during the time period. It is difficult to distinguish between fact and fiction, which shows that Neighbor has proficiently fused them together to create the image of one man's experiences.
The story progresses chronologically through Dred Scott's life, from his birth through adolescence and finally to the troubled man he becomes. Experiences that might have shaped Scott's character, from the horrific to the inspirational, are punctuated by his own thoughts and reactions. The reader is not spared from the injustices slaves endured. Brutal beatings, rapes, and torture are woven in to the chapters as they would have been in Scott's daily life. Neighbour provides some relief in the form of Gran, Scott's grounding force and mentor. Gran provides Scott with steady words of wisdom and sometimes harsh awakenings to reality. "Big and strong makes the white folk nervous. Big and black be half of what got your papa sold away. I give thanks every day that some white man ain't likely to look at you and feel threatened by the sheer might of you."
The reader will be surprised to find this is Neighbour's debut novel, as the writing style is that of an accomplished author with years of experience and published works. Not surprisingly, her short fiction has won numerous awards. In SPEAK RIGHT ON, she has given voice to an inanimate name in the pages of history. Through her words, the reader becomes privy to the thoughts and emotions of an historical icon. History truly comes alive, thanks to Mary E. Neighbour.
Thoughtful telling of a fascinating man's life..........2006-07-18
I loved how the book itself flowed, sort of like Dred's stories. Neighbor did a great job of creating a rhythm and cadence not only to Dred's voice, but to the book itself. The book is a refreshing change from the typical (dry) historical novel, where everything is a bit at arm's length. With this book, you really felt like you were there. Best of all, you could actually relate to these mythic historical figures. It's so easy to forget that they're people. Neighbor does a good job of reminding us that they were real people with loves and sorrows beyond the historical records.
For my money, there is no better way to learn history than to read a book like this - a book that puts flesh and blood to the bare bones of your average history book.
Speak Right On.......2006-06-14
Living in a basically white state, North Dakota, I have not had much exposure to ethnic diversity. This book was given to me and I accepted it as a novel to pass time. The book was engaging and I was unable to put it down. I longed to know what would happen as I did not know how Dred Scott fit into American history. I was compelled by the notion that Scott's desires are not different from mine even though we lived in a different era with differing histories. Easy to read, I would recommend it to all readers and especially if you are white. I plan to pass it on to my 13 year old son.
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Desperate Ransom: Setting Her Family Free
Minton Sparks
Manufacturer: Thomas Nelson
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Contemporary
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| Literature & Fiction
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| Books
United States
| Short Stories
| Literature & Fiction
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General
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
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ASIN: 1595542620 |
Book Description
"Time changes nothing, girl, but the size of your underwear...and hopefully your hairdo."
Minton Sparks unique brand of performance art has brought the rural South to life for the many fans who flock to her shows and relive them through her audio releases. Now, the Grammy-nominated artist has committed some of her most popular poems and stories to print. The thirty pieces collected here veer from heartbreak to hilarity and back again, as Sparks shares her memories of growing up in small-town Tennessee. This unusual family may not walk the straight and narrow, but they're guaranteed to walk straight into your heart and mind, and linger. Like an old-time preacher, Sparks draws her audience in with compelling storytelling while leaving them with something essential to ponder.
Desperate Ransom takes readers on a journey into the heart of an extraordinary family, demonstrating once again that Sparks is a ground-breaking artist--and a true American treasure.
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Upstate: A Novel
Sallie Bingham
Manufacturer: Permanent Press (NY)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 1877946508 |
Book Description
The most entertaining take yet on America's #1 obsession.
An outrageous graphic autobiography with illustrations by Mary Wilshire-a top Marvel Comics artist-Fat Free is the story of the (formerly) supersized Jude Milner's harrowing and hilarious adventures: freaking out in candy stores, following quack cures and diets, becoming a "Fat Is Beautiful" activist, working as a phone-sex fantasy girl with multiple personas, and finally undergoing gastric bypass surgery. Milner's true story of struggle and triumph is nuanced rather than pat. She never becomes waif-slender, but does become thinner and happier- a physically strong, self-confident, and healthy woman who has replaced self-loathing with self-confidence. She takes the grit, the grime, the taunts-"I don't want her/You can have her/She's too fat for me"-and transforms herself into a crusader: Milner creates a unique program in which women struggling with their weight can come for psychological counseling and personal fitness training. Never predictable, never self-pitying, Fat Free is sustained by a sense of humor and stunning visuals throughout.
Customer Reviews:
Don't Agree Entirely With Message.......2007-01-22
For some reason people seem to think that fatness always equals unfitness. This has never been proven one way or the other; only opinions on both sides have been propped up with arguments and manipulated data. And once again, a book like Fat Free comes along with a one-sided message to give: fatness is ultimately "bad".
This book contains much that is demeaning towards the entire size acceptance community. Somehow it assumes that everyone in it is pro-fat to the extent of trying to keep others from losing weight. Not true again. The SA movement is all about acceptance of people at ANY size, and that includes the formerly-fat who decide to lose weight.
As I type this, there are pending lawsuits against the authors. Most notably, the heroine on the cover bears more than a little resemblance to Ned Sonntag's character "Etta Quantum", and Ned is thinly caricatured within.
In any case, the book is a pleasant read for anyone wishing further motivation to lose weight, or for those who are surprised that there even is an SA movement at all. Even I was surprised that size acceptance was even mentioned, as the fatphobic media (under the pay of the diet-exercise complex) has kept silent about it.
However, there are many and better ways of obtaining a positive outlook than paying money to read a book that once again espouses trying to be something one is not. Although I might add that the lead character has every right to her opinions and choice, and I even wish her well (maybe not regarding the lawsuits). I just wish the cookie-cutter syndrome would stop descending upon the masses, lumping people into categories and saying "what you people are doing is wrong".
Emotional Aha Moments.......2006-11-17
Jude Milner was a guest on our Let's Talk Coaching radio show today (11/16/06). When I first looked at the book, I thought it was a comic book. After a few pages I found it to be compassionate and inspirational story. On the show, Ms. Milner explained the book falls into the genre of "graphic memoir." This is an up and coming genre. If you are thinking of producing a book in this genre, this is a must have book.
Ms. Miler shares her emotions/feelings from many angles. Being overweight myself, I thoroughly connected with her stories. Her story is everyone's story who has been battling weight loss.
She even discuss gastrobypass surgery, the mental challenges, and is open about the triggers that caused the weight gain.
This is a must have book. It is also a great gift book.
Fat Free:Amazing All-True Adventures of Supersize Woman!.......2006-11-01
I loved it! The author has a lot of heart and humor in telling her sometimes dark and sad story of being super fat and how she grew up. The artwork is spectacular. I really think every person who has dealt with or knows someone who deals with overweight would relate and enjoy this easy read.
A Life Summed Up.......2006-10-25
The authors experience seems to be the norm of any overweight girl. With a few personal exceptions, I could relate to the story very well. The book reads like a graphic novel, or a comic. All in black and white, it's easy to follow. I read cover to cover in 30 minutes.
Book Description
The wife of South Carolina secessionist governor Francis W. Pickens and known as the "Queen of the Confederacy," Lucy Holcombe Pickens (1832-1899) was during her lifetime one of the most famous women in the South. Rumor was that in her youth she published a novel under a pseudonym. Recently discovered as The Free Flag of Cuba; or, The Martyrdom of Lopez: A Tale of the Liberating Expedition of 1851, her 1854 book is a romanticized account of the 1851 filibustering expedition to Cuba by Narciso Lopez. With this new edition, Orville Vernon Burton and Georganne B. Burton resurrect Holcombe's lost work and prove it to be a window on many pressing nineteenth-century issues. A not-so-subtle plea for U.S. support for Cuban independence from Spain, Holcombe's novel vindicates Lopez and his men--who were officially regarded as mercenaries--and declares them to be martyred heroes. The tale clearly reflects the values southern aristocratic women expected in men, even if preserving those values meant death and defeat--a harbinger of ardent support for the Confederacy by women like Lucy. With an illuminating introduction detailing the life of Lucy Petway Holcombe Pickens and the historical context of her novel, this new edition of The Free Flag of Cuba is a welcome glimpse into the mind and value system of the southern belle who would become a southern icon.
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A Free Life: A Novel
Ha Jin
Manufacturer: Pantheon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Asian American
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
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| Books
Asian American
| Poetry
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Contemporary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Literary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
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Poetry
| Writing
| Reference
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Similar Items:
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Bridge of Sighs
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Away: A Novel
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The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
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Tree of Smoke: A Novel
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Exit Ghost
ASIN: 0375424652
Release Date: 2007-10-30 |
Book Description
From Ha Jin, the widely-acclaimed, award-winning author of Waiting and War Trash, comes a novel that takes his fiction to a new setting: 1990s America. We follow the Wu family--father Nan, mother Pingping, and son Taotao--as they fully sever their ties with China in the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre and begin a new, free life in the United States.
At first, their future seems well-assured--Nan’s graduate work in political science at Brandeis University would guarantee him a teaching position in China--but after the fallout from Tiananmen, Nan’s disillusionment turns him towards his first love, poetry. Leaving his studies, he takes on a variety of menial jobs while Pingping works for a wealthy widow as a cook and housekeeper. As Nan struggles to adapt to a new language and culture, his love of poetry and literature sustains him through difficult, lean years.
Ha Jin creates a moving, realistic, but always hopeful narrative as Nan moves from Boston to New York to Atlanta, ever in search of financial stability and success, even in a culture that sometimes feels oppressive and hostile. As Pingping and Taotao slowly adjust to American life, Nan still feels a strange, paradoxical attachment to his homeland, though he violently disagrees with Communist policy. And severing all ties--including his love for a woman who rejected him in his youth--proves to be more difficult than he could have ever imagined.
Ha Jin’s prodigious talents are evident in this powerful new book, which brilliantly brings to life the struggles and successes that characterize the contemporary immigrant experience. With its lyrical prose and confident grace, A Free Life is a luminous addition to the works of one of the preeminent writers in America today.
Books:
- A Crazy Little Thing Called Death: A Blackbird Sisters Mystery
- A Day with a Perfect Stranger
- A Lady At Last (de Warenne Dynasty)
- A Restless Knight (The Dragons of Challon, Book 1)
- A Treasury of Deception: Liars, Misleaders, Hoodwinkers, and the Extraordinary True Stories of History's Greatest Hoaxes, Fakes and Frauds
- America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It
- American Corrections (with InfoTrac )
- Back on Blossom Street (The Knitting Books #3)
- Bad Boy: A Memoir
- Blind Spots: Achieve Success by Seeing What You Can't See
Books Index
Books Home
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- History: Fiction or Science
- Brain Tumors: Leaving the Garden of Eden--A Survival Guide to Diagnosis, Learning the Basics, Gettin
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- History: Fiction or Science
- Fateful Rendezvous: The Life of Butch O'Hare
- Laser Logos, Inc.
- Competition and Convergence in Financial Markets
- The Death of Picasso: New and Selected Writing
1921: The Great Novel of the Irish Civil War (Irish Century)
1972 : A Novel of Ireland's Unfinished Revolution (Irish Century)
1916: A Novel of the Irish Rebellion (Irish Century)
The Last Prince of Ireland (Celtic World of Morgan Llywelyn)
Bard: The Odyssey of the Irish (Celtic World of Morgan Llywelyn)
