- Paperback: 400 pages
- Publisher: Blackstaff Press Ltd (Sep 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0856407283
- ISBN-13: 978-0856407284
- Product Dimensions: 21.7 x 14.1 x 2.5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,438,807 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Sheer survival is difficult enough for the people of a small island off the west of Ireland - what chance do they have of love or even of dignity? In the 1950s their battle is with the savage forces of poverty, disease and religious constraint. Terrible things happen - rape, incest, bestiality - and yet somehow compassion, love and generosity of spirit manage to continue. Brooding over it all is the elemental figure of Big Bucko, symbolic of all that is brutal and disruptive. Four decades later, the island is facing other dangers: the Spanish fishing boats which threaten the livelihood of the trawlermen, the encroachment of tourism and the gradual disintegration of community. But still the people strive to transcend their common legacy of suffering, to reach for love and a new connectedness. Mythic, lyrical and moving, this extraordinary novel sounds the depths of our relationship with nature and with each other, and bears witness to love's endurance in spite of all.
About the Author
JOHN E DEANE was born on Achill Island in 1943 and now lives in Dublin where he runs the Dedalus Press. In 1979 he founded Poetry Ireland, the national poetry society, and its journal Poetry Ireland Review. His first collection of short stories was published in 1994 and his fiction has since been published both by Wolfhound Press (One Man's Place, Flightlines) and Blackstaff Press (In the Name of the Wolf, The Coffin Master).
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
It's not all in the synopsis,
By Chris Williams (Bridgend, Wales) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Undertow (Paperback)
Please don't be put off this book by the above synopsis. The publishers, who otherwise did a fine job, did the book a dis-service with this synopsis, which appears on the back of the book. There is no bestiality and religion doesn't play much of a part either and while there is much that is distressing about this novel and two, in particular, of its characters, there is much beauty to be found.The book is an episodic novel set in two different time periods simultaneously, 1951 and 1997. The book concerns the inter-related lives of a diverse group of characters from the monsters Big Bucko and Aenghus to the tragic beauty of Marty and Ruth. From the finally realised power of Alice 'n' Grace, Grace'n' Alice to the central, gradually revealed story of Alison, Angelica and Angie. This is a novel of mystery and power where the setting, a small island off the West of Ireland, and an even smaller island off this island, proves as strong a character as the people themselves. It is by no means an easy book and I urge the reader to continue with it once started for there are many rewards to be found in this novel and by the end the mystery is clear and the truth is seen. The scene with the Mahons, Big Bucko and Aenghus will stay with me for a long time. "Mythic, lyrical and moving" indeed.
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