Journal Entry 1 by crimson-tide from Balingup, Western Australia Australia on Sunday, October 04, 2009

Description:
Colm Toibin is a master storyteller, renowned for his keen, spare style and the understated emotional charge of his novels. Eamon Redmond, a High Court judge in his sixties, is now nearing retirement. But where you would expect him to look back contentedly over a lifetime of achievement, Redmond is forced, unwillingly, into an examination of his past. Land and sea, past and present, country and city, youth and age: Toibin employs the juxtapositions of life with effortless power, conjuring an authentic and deeply moving story out of the shadows of a man's memory.


On the 2006 list of '1001 books you must read before you die'. 

Journal Entry 2 by crimson-tide from Balingup, Western Australia Australia on Sunday, October 04, 2009

A very 'Irish' book (as one would of course expect from Colm Toibin) with themes and elements of family, memories, the sea, religion, politics and death. There's not much action or plot here as such, but who cares? I found the start a bit slow, but the final result is a poignant character study of an intelligent and 'successful' man whose need to be self reliant from a very early age leads him into his own little island of emotional isolation.

The writing is deceptively simple, having a controlled quality reflecting the emotional tone of the book, and the narrative flows effortlessly to and fro between past and present.

While reading, I was reminded of similarities between this book and Old Filth by Jane Gardam . . . another piece of brilliant writing with the main protagonist also a Judge, and the present being juxtaposed with memories of his past. Very different settings and stories, but remarkably similar emotionally stunted characters.

A very melancholy book, but not wholly depressing. The ending has a redemptive quality, but it's just such a shame that it took his gut wrenching grief and sense of loss on the death of his wife, Carmel, to force Eamon to leave his little island.
 

Journal Entry 3 by crimson-tide at Balingup, Western Australia Australia on Monday, October 05, 2009

Released 2 yrs ago (10/5/2009 UTC) at Balingup, Western Australia Australia

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Sending to the October recipient in the Southern Cross Exchange on BookObsessed.com
Hope you enjoy it. 

Journal Entry 4 by livrecache from Hobart, Tasmania Australia on Sunday, October 11, 2009

Thanks very much, crimson-tide. I shall look forward to reading this.