( 7 reviews )
-
Posted: Dec 22 2008
This is a wonderful book rich in imagery, a marvelous tapestry of words leaving one wanting to board Aer Lingus and fly. Mr O'Reilly included me in his book and with words of "loose lips and a mess of a life" I am Annie Murphy and years earlier I did board Aer Lingus. My story was a simple one; human love and folly. Please do not forget this story was co-authored and in the restraints of time everyone did the best they could. I feel a simple pantone color chart with all the varying degrees of shades would have helped those trying to spin this story into the "fantastic" would have seen the wiseness of keeping it "simple" . I was merely planning a vacation before I went back to pursue finishing my education in psychology, (that in itself is ironic). Many years later my son Peter wanted to know his father and his father said "NO,NO, NO". I went about the ways I did inorder not to let my son fly heedlessly into the wicked winds that would await if he dared try . I am glad it was I that went and not Peter. My son has gotten to know his father well over the years with no interviews at all. Bishop Casey's son has given no one any material to write about. He is smart for I warned him. Ireland did fare well, the tale of the Bishop and the Pawn was the lead for many far worse stories and the tight restraints of the Catholic Church were cut. Ireland has divorce and birth control!!!If my story helped with that then some good came out of it. There is a saying which has allowed me to look beyond the book, "the greatest good for the greatest number" I find great solace in those words.I don't face Ireland anymore. My view has changed, within a half hour my eyes can feast upon shimmering breezy palm trees, lush flowers, beautiful Spanish Missions, warm beaches and tropical blue waters. I now look over the Pacific, the grey stormy Atlantic which surrounds Ireland's Emerald Island, once known as the "Celtic Tiger" now losing it's stripes in this worldwide economic "messy meltdown of unregulated excesses" is worlds away The Pawn
-
Posted: Dec 22 2008
This is a wonderful book rich in imagery, a marvelous tapestry of words leaving one wanting to board Aer Lingus and fly. Mr O'Reilly included me in his book with words of "loose lips and a mess of a life" I am Annie Murphy and years earlier I did board Aer Lingus. My story was a simple one; human love and folly. Please do not forget this story was co-authored and in the restraints of time everyone did the best they could. I feel a simple pantone color chart with all the varying degrees of shades would have helped those trying to spin this story into the "fantastic" would have seen the wiseness of keeping it "simple" . I was merely planning a vacation before I went back to pursue finishing my education in psychology, (that in itself is ironic). Many years later my son Peter wanted to know his father and his father said "NO,NO, NO". I went about the ways I did inorder not to let my son fly heedlessly into the wicked winds that would await if he dared try . I am glad it was I that went and not Peter. My son has gotten to know his father well over the years with no interviews at all. Bishop Casey's son has given no one any material to write about. He is smart for I warned him. Ireland did fare well, the tale of the Bishop and the Pawn was the lead for many far worse stories and the tight restraints of the Catholic Church were cut. Ireland has divorce and birth control!!!If my story helped with that then some good came out of it. There is a saying which has allowed me to look beyond the book, "the greatest good for the greatest number" I find great solace in those words.I don't face Ireland anymore. My view has changed, my eyes feast upon shimmering breezy palm trees, lush flowers, beautiful Spanish Missions, warm beaches and tropical blue waters. I now look over the Pacific. The grey stormy Atlantic which surrounds Ireland's Emerald Island, once known as the "Celtic Tiger" and is now losing it's stripes in this worldwide economic "messy meltdown of unregulated excesses" is worlds away.... The Pawn
-
( 3 of 3 found this review helpful ) Posted: Dec 18 2005
I am giving one less star than the other commentators here not out of contrariness but simply to let readers know of the very uneven quality of the 44 entries, most of which are excerpts from longer works by established writers, although a minority appear to be written for this anthology. Not to say that the latter suffer necessarily; the best essay in here, and the only one that examines the other side of the tourist's encounter, is Janine Jones' "Tea With Mr. Curtain." Jones ponders what to do when the more unsavory side of a revered local man is revealed to apparently only her "privileged" view as a visitor. She opts for reticence rather than revealing his secret side to the rest of the village that she will soon leave but he never will. The familiar authors mingle with the unknown, and to the editors' credit, they offset their knowingly but fulsomely lavish encomium of the oul' sod's charm prefacing this collection with a final section highlighting the shadowy scandals of an Ireland beyond the postcard views too often limiting many of the writers here included. The best sections are this last portion, for its frankness, and the beginning that in its "Essence of Ireland" does set out neatly such observant scenes as that of a kayaker, Brian Wilson, who finds his moored craft suddenly whisked away under the local Conamara customs of flotsam and jetsam belonging to those who live by the sea's bounty; Rosemary Mahoney's look (from her excellent "Whoredom in Kimmage: Irish Women Coming of Age") at how the Legion of Mary's volunteers work in inner-city Dublin; David Blaker's decision to call himself a Jew when hitching rides in the North to avoid uneasy conversations; and David W. McFadden's meeting with an amateur archeologist in the Tipperary town of Cahir. The second section is most disappointing: the contributors are either too blase or mundane about their activities, or what they report matters little to engage the imagination of the reader. Valuable essays in part three about destinations are those of Katharine Scherman on Skellig Micheal; poitin-making by John McLaughlin; Thomas Flanagan on the real Mayo that inspired his "Year of the French" novel; and Jonathan Harrington's brief but moving tale of finding and meeting distant relatives one uncomfortable night. In the last section, Scott Anderson exposes the racketeering and an even more dangerous climate of intimidation that because of its underground impact on both sides of the sectarian divide has followed the decline in paramilitary violence; Martin Dillon gives a literally awful anecdote from his "God and the Gun" about a priest forced to hear the confession of a man the IRA is about to execute; Fintan O'Toole offers a typically nuanced examination of the Bishop Casey-Annie Murphy scandal. The listings at the back, with succinct advice for tourists, are helpful and cogent, if by now of course dated a bit. The bibliography is well-chosen. Finally, sidebars in the text give additional observations from other texts, and these snippets are placed often to play off the longer essays in nimble fashion.
