Review
"'Ireland's greatest living novelist.' Observer"
Book Description
An intense and haunted memoir of childhood love and loss.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
64 of 64 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
If you are already familiar with the novels and short stories of John McGahern then not much of this will come as a surprise: the overbearing father; the mother’s death; the recurrent allure of Oakport.
But this compelling autobiography is far more than a journey over old ground: in ordering and expanding those elements he has used in his fiction, McGahern has finally given us a vivid, comprehensive map of his unique terrain. It can be read and enjoyed in its own right but there is an additional pleasure in seeing the scattered pieces of his fiction assembling themselves into a single coherent shape.
McGahern’s relationship with his brutal father dominates the book but this is no howl of rage or score-settling: the son examines his father as far as he is able (and there is a pleasure for the reader in the precision of that examination) but by the end seems to accept there is only so much he can understand. And despite the strong shadow his father casts, joy is interwoven throughout the account, in his relationship with his mother, in his capacity for delight in the familiar landscape (even when carrying out the many tasks imposed on him by his father) and in the moments of stolen solitariness in the boat at Oakport which prefigure his becoming a writer.
Shorn of sentimentality or pseudo-poeticism, John McGahern’s Memoir feels like the culmination of his writing life. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
26 of 26 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
The master has passed and we must learn to go on without him.
He once wrote the writer's task was "to look after his sentences, nothing more". And so it is. But his sentences were always lost in the reality he touched - often painful, sometimes beautiful. He was unfailingly brave.
Memoir maybe confirms things we already knew, or things we once glimpsed, in his life and in ours, for sure in mine. It's an account of his childhood, the non-fictional version of his fiction - as if these terms made any sense with regard to his work.
As it turns out, he was tidying up before he would pass. And now he's gone.
Thank you, John McGahern, for everything.
21 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I have read that, sadly, John McGahern has recently died. I spent most of Boxing Day 05 reading this book, in virtually one shot as I could hardly bear to put it down, it was such a delight to read. It is beautifully written and tells the story of the author's Irish childhood and of how it placed him intellectually and emotionally as an adult in the larger world. It reads honestly, his love for his mother is intensely moving, the writing is rhythmical and measured. It made me cry, but my tears were unusual, because they were not drawn from easy sentimentality or from pity. I felt grateful to the author for sharing an emotionally lucid and truthful recollection of his early life which drew me into his family in his world, so far from my own.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A beautiful book
whether you were brought up in Ireland in the 50's or the 70's, this book reflects the culture and atmosphere of the country over this period. Read more
Published 5 months ago by DJ Powwow
lightly paced
This book was chosen by a member of our bookclub. We had just finished reading Russell Brand's My Booky Wook, and you couldn't have 2 books so different from eacy other. Read more
Published 10 months ago by aimoir
Awakenings
First book I've read of his. Takes a while to get into but rewards are reaped. You will be awakened.
Published 12 months ago by susan ann crawford
The beauty is in the truth
John McGahern's Memoir (like his life) is dominated by the figure of his father - a tyrant, unpredictably violent and charming by turn. Read more
Published on 10 May 2008 by stevieby
Wonderful writing
Ireland has been blessed with many brilliant writers over the years and John McGahern is up there with the very best. Read more
Published on 23 Feb 2007 by MrChance
A living masterpiece
A great book. It's rich in detail about that part of Ireland (Co. Leitrim) in the 40s and 50s and McGahern's prose transports the reader to the characters, fields, noises and... Read more
Published on 16 April 2006 by K. P. Quinn
A life-changing book
Love's lifelong branding of itself into the psyche of some human beings can seem almost cruel in the way it forces them to expose themselves to us. Read more
Published on 16 April 2006 by Joe Mcnally
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