- Paperback: 212 pages
- Publisher: Saint Martin's Press; 1st Picador USA Ed edition (Nov 1996)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0312147414
- ISBN-13: 978-0312147419
- Product Dimensions: 21 x 14 x 1.7 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 4,483,422 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Set in the years before the Spanish Civil War, this novel follows the adventures of a peripatetic Irish photographer from the war-strewn shores of Europe to the exotic plains of Mexico. The story is told in the words of his only son, a wanderer himself.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
Colum McCann was born in Dublin in 1965. His fiction has won numerous international awards including the Rooney Prize, the Ireland Fund of Monaco Princess Grace Memorial Award, a Pushcart Prize, and Esquire magazine's Writer of the Year award in 2003. In 2005 he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Short Film. He was recently inducted into the Hennessy Hall of Fame in Dublin. His work has been published in twenty-six languages. He has travelled widely and is based in New York, where he lives with his wife and children.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Mr McCann portrays a young man, Conor Lyons, visiting his ageing father Michael during six days in Mayo, Ireland. During these six days - they seem like the days of the Creation indeed - Conor retraces his father's epic life from his early childhood after the first World War when he was just a bundle of abandoned skin and rescued by two Protestant ladies who raised him. Later, when the ladies died, Michael sold their property and developed a strong passion for photography. He sold his prints to various newspapers. In 1939 he went to Madrid and subsequently to Mexico where he married Juanita. Obsessed with the beauty of her body, Michael took hundreds of pictures of her in various stages of nudity. These photos became a strong point of discord between them in later years and they're the probable cause for Juanita's vanishing 11 years before Conor's account. After that they moved to California, Wyoming and New York before finally returning back to Ireland.
It is the impressive tale of a son retracing his parents' long journey in order to try to find his mother again. It is also the story of a son witnessing the physical decay of his old father rotting in his own dirt and whose sole preoccupation in old age is fishing. A formidable novel by the best contemporary Irish novelist.
It is the impressive tale of a son retracing his parents' long journey in order to try to find his mother again. It is also the story of a son witnessing the physical decay of his old father rotting in his own dirt and whose sole preoccupation in old age is fishing. A formidable novel by the best contemporary Irish novelist.
6 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I loved this book. It really caught me unawares. The language is almost poetic, the story is haunting and the characters are real and devoid of cliche or sentiment. One of my favourite books
Michael Bird (Michael@bird19.fsnet.co.uk
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
9 reviews
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Excellent
27 May 1999
Format:Paperback
One of the best I've read in years. Hums with a dreamy atmosphere--glimpses of reality in a fog of rememberance. Writing is wonderful, story absorbing, characters real and more. A great companion to "So Long, See You Tommorrow," by Wm.Maxwell. Similar to "All the Pretty Horses," but better, I think. Few books make me want to push them onto friends--this one did.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
A remarkable achievement
16 Aug 2005
Format:Paperback
Mr McCann portrays a young man, Conor Lyons, visiting his ageing father Michael during six days in Mayo, Ireland. During these six days - they seem like the days of the Creation indeed - Conor retraces his father's epic life from his early childhood after the first World War when he was just a bundle of abandoned skin and rescued by two Protestant ladies who raised him. Later, when the ladies died, Michael sold their property and developed a strong passion for photography. He sold his prints to various newspapers. In 1939 he went to Madrid and subsequently to Mexico where he married Juanita. Obsessed with the beauty of her body, Michael took hundreds of pictures of her in various stages of nudity. These photos became a strong point of discord between them in later years and they're the probable cause for Juanita's vanishing 11 years before Conor's account. After that they moved to California, Wyoming and New York before finally returning back to Ireland.
It is the impressive tale of a son retracing his parents' long journey in order to try to find his mother again. It is also the story of a son witnessing the physical decay of his old father rotting in his own dirt and whose sole preoccupation in old age is fishing. A formidable novel by the best contemporary Irish novelist.
It is the impressive tale of a son retracing his parents' long journey in order to try to find his mother again. It is also the story of a son witnessing the physical decay of his old father rotting in his own dirt and whose sole preoccupation in old age is fishing. A formidable novel by the best contemporary Irish novelist.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
An interesting journey
5 Oct 2000
Format:Paperback
I enjoyed this book. It is not your typical book with conflict and tension leading to a climax and then resolution. If you go in expecting that of Songdogs, you'll be sorely disappointed. Instead, go into this book looking for a journey and then sit back and enjoy the journey Songdogs takes you through. The characters and images are very well put together. The writing is so evocative at times, that I could smell the dust and feel the sun on my back as they built the wall. The writing is excellent. Colum has a wonderful gift for transporting you into the lives of his characters. This book will give you a nice introduction to Colum and his writing.
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