That They May Face the Rising Sun
by John McGahern | Literature & Fiction | This book has not been rated.
ISBN: 0571212212 Global Overview for this book
ISBN: 0571212212 Global Overview for this book
Registered by jazz-ee2 of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire United Kingdom on 11/5/2005
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
2 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by jazz-ee2 from Mansfield, Nottinghamshire United Kingdom on Saturday, November 5, 2005
Picked up at the Notts Readers Day Book Swap.
Irish writer John McGahern's first new novel in 12 years, That They May Face the Rising Sun, is a work of delicately forged beauty, the nearest he has yet come to writing of happiness. The plot remains defiantly not the thing for McGahern, with little of consequence happening beyond life's natural syncopations, yet the nuances of language and relationship soar as gracefully as the abundant wildfowl that crowd the book's pages. News is the old currency, carried in the dialogue which remains McGahern's most discernible talent. Set in rural County Leitrim, the inhabitants of the houses around the lake and the local town, heady on the whiskey elixir that loosens tongues or seals deals, watch as their insular community is gently pummelled by the creeping advance of modern life. While they share the year's natural cycle, the unfolding months reveal their personal differences: Joe and Kate Ruttledge, returned after a long spell in London; Mary and Jamesie, their whole life lived there; John Quinn, the charming, brutal womaniser, who marries and loses as quickly the bride he finds at the Knock Marriage Bureau; The Shah, Kate's uncle, who wordlessly sells his business to his cripplingly honest assistant, Frank; and Jimmy Joe Kiernan, auctioneer and undertaker, a veteran IRA man still on the lookout for stray souls. And then there is Jamesie's brother Joseph, the best shot in the district, who went to England after a woman, and stayed there, his soul sold for the "alphabetical" order of English life.
Happy Reading!
Irish writer John McGahern's first new novel in 12 years, That They May Face the Rising Sun, is a work of delicately forged beauty, the nearest he has yet come to writing of happiness. The plot remains defiantly not the thing for McGahern, with little of consequence happening beyond life's natural syncopations, yet the nuances of language and relationship soar as gracefully as the abundant wildfowl that crowd the book's pages. News is the old currency, carried in the dialogue which remains McGahern's most discernible talent. Set in rural County Leitrim, the inhabitants of the houses around the lake and the local town, heady on the whiskey elixir that loosens tongues or seals deals, watch as their insular community is gently pummelled by the creeping advance of modern life. While they share the year's natural cycle, the unfolding months reveal their personal differences: Joe and Kate Ruttledge, returned after a long spell in London; Mary and Jamesie, their whole life lived there; John Quinn, the charming, brutal womaniser, who marries and loses as quickly the bride he finds at the Knock Marriage Bureau; The Shah, Kate's uncle, who wordlessly sells his business to his cripplingly honest assistant, Frank; and Jimmy Joe Kiernan, auctioneer and undertaker, a veteran IRA man still on the lookout for stray souls. And then there is Jamesie's brother Joseph, the best shot in the district, who went to England after a woman, and stayed there, his soul sold for the "alphabetical" order of English life.
Happy Reading!
Released 18 yrs ago (12/17/2005 UTC) at
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
RELEASE NOTES:
To release at the Nottingham meetup, Costa Coffee on The Poultry, around 12-1pm.
To release at the Nottingham meetup, Costa Coffee on The Poultry, around 12-1pm.
Picked this up at the Nottingham Meet-up
Journal Entry 4 by Morseman at Holiday Inn behind Dayton Mall in Miamisburg, Ohio USA on Monday, May 17, 2010
Released 13 yrs ago (5/17/2010 UTC) at Holiday Inn behind Dayton Mall in Miamisburg, Ohio USA
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
I couldn't get on with this book at all. I tried several times, even trying on a long haul flight from the UK with nothing else to read!
I couldn't find much of a plot, the narrative jumps backwards and forward in time and some of the sub-stories are strange to say the least.
I'm not sure if the author likes, or hates the Irish, he certainly has a strange view on the subject.
So, I'm releasing it in case someone else can read it all the way through.
This is my 1st trip to the USA and 1st bookcrossing release in the country.
--... ...--
Morseman
I couldn't get on with this book at all. I tried several times, even trying on a long haul flight from the UK with nothing else to read!
I couldn't find much of a plot, the narrative jumps backwards and forward in time and some of the sub-stories are strange to say the least.
I'm not sure if the author likes, or hates the Irish, he certainly has a strange view on the subject.
So, I'm releasing it in case someone else can read it all the way through.
This is my 1st trip to the USA and 1st bookcrossing release in the country.
--... ...--
Morseman
