Journal Entry 1 by Cassiopaeia from Cardiff, Wales United Kingdom on Saturday, December 24, 2011

Sent to me as a gift from my wonderful friend Aine-eireann. This is the first novel by the highly regarded John McGahern.

Description from Amazon
The first novel by John McGahern, originally published in 1963. Elizabeth Regan, after years of freedom - and loneliness - marries into the enclosed Irish village of her upbringing. The children are not her own; her husband is straining against his job in the police force; and her own life, threatened by illness, seems to be losing the last vestiges of its purpose. Moving between tragedy and savage comedy, desperation and joy, The Barracks is a novel of haunting power.  

Journal Entry 2 by Cassiopaeia at Cardiff, Wales United Kingdom on Sunday, April 22, 2012

This was John McGahern's first novel published when he was just 29 years old. Written with amazing insight and feeling for one so young. He manages to slip superbly inside Elizabeth's mind and narrate her thoughts and feeling about her life and life choices and her approaching demise. And yet he fits this all into the ordinary everyday situation with such ease and simplicity, it's easy to see the trail he led for the next generation of Irish writers. Emotionally not an easy book to read but if you want to appreciate excellent Irish writing I couldn't recommend a better starting point.