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Amazon.co.uk Review
These days, Frank McCourt would seem to have cornered the market on lyrical depictions of Celtic poverty. But never fear, Sebastian Barry--the brilliant Irish playwright, poet, and prose-wrangler--is here. His new novel, The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty recounts the odyssey of a small-town innocent, who grows up in circumstances more bucolic, but no less threadbare, than McCourt's. It's clear from the very first paragraph, however, that Barry means to take a wide-angle view of his Irish urchin: "In the middle of the lonesome town, at the back of John Street, in the third house from the end, there is a little room. For this small bracket in the long paragraph of the street's history, it belongs to Eneas McNulty. All about him the century has just begun, a century some of which he will endure, but none of which will belong to him."
Having handily survived his Sligo childhood, Eneas joins the British Army in time for World War I-- and upon his return home, finds himself shunned as a collaborator. Tarred with this very Britannic brush, he goes one better and enlists in the Royal Irish Constabulary. Alas, this move only cements his fate as a marked man and his father is soon issued a warning: "Let your son keep out of Sligo if he wants to keep his ability to walk." With a price on his head, Eneas commences a life of wandering, from Mexico to Africa to Nigeria (which the moonlight, he notices, "brings closer to Ireland.") From time to time he sneaks back to Sligo and is promptly expelled.
In another author's hands, this epic of dislocation could well be a bitter one. Yet the stoical and simple-minded Eneas is surprisingly free of anguish and even his constant fear "has become something else, could he dare call it strength, a privacy anyhow." And the reader, at least, has the delightful distraction of Barry's prose, in which the occasional Joycean notes are entirely subsumed by the author's own colloquial brilliance. In the end, The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty is less a novel than an exhibition of bardic fireworks--a latter-day Aeniad that's actually worthy of the name. --James Marcus, Amazon.com --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
'It's the language that seduces - you elegant, comical, tragical, musical. It's a symphony of a novel.' --Frank McCourt
'A novel that is tender, acerbic, necessary and potent.' --Colum McCann
'A powerful, unique book ... Sebastian Barry's language is utterly new and quite magnificent.' --Roddy Doyle
'A novel that is tender, acerbic, necessary and potent.' --Colum McCann
'A powerful, unique book ... Sebastian Barry's language is utterly new and quite magnificent.' --Roddy Doyle
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
55 of 55 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
What an utterly engrossing read. The tale of Eneas McNulty's early years in turn of the century Sligo establishes an ordinary background against which his extraordinary adulthood is both shocking and absorbing. His days as a soldier in both world wars, a seafarer, policeman and occasional unwelcome returnee to his hometown is captivating enough as a story, but it is Barry's unusual use of language that often had me reading sentences several times over, in awe. Do not mistake this with any sentimental clap-trap about poverty stricken Ireland you may have read before. Sebastian Barry is the real thing.
24 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Quite simply, a beautiful piece of writing. Barry exploits language and emotions to produce a novel which really forced me to examine all my beliefs and thoughts on life. The lonely character of Eneas could be any one of us!
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Set in familiar Sebastian Barry territory, this book explores the impact that the creation of an independent Ireland had on ordinary people who had the misfortune to find themselves on the "wrong" side.
Eneas McNulty is one of the many workless young men hanging around Sligo as peace returns to Europe following the First World War. It's a peace that doesn't extend to Ireland. In a decision that is little more than a whim, Eneas takes the only job he can find and joins the "peelers" (the Royal Irish Constabulary). Within a few months his name is on a death list and he is forced to leave his job, his family and his country.
The book tells Eneas' story from early childhood to old age. It's essentially about a man forced by fate to wander the Earth like some tragic Greek hero roaming the seas and battling with monsters. The wandering is real enough and there are plenty of man-made monsters to be confronted along the way: but Eneas' real tragedy is that he isn't a hero - he's just an ordinary bloke who wants to go home.
Barry's writing is, as always, of the highest order. The novel is, in many ways, a companion piece to A Long Long Way. Both novels changed my perception of Ireland and her people; both novels left me in tears (of anger, rather than sentiment). I've given this 4 stars, simply because A Long Long Way is the better novel and I wanted to make that distinction. Nevertheless, another first rate offering from Barry.
Eneas McNulty is one of the many workless young men hanging around Sligo as peace returns to Europe following the First World War. It's a peace that doesn't extend to Ireland. In a decision that is little more than a whim, Eneas takes the only job he can find and joins the "peelers" (the Royal Irish Constabulary). Within a few months his name is on a death list and he is forced to leave his job, his family and his country.
The book tells Eneas' story from early childhood to old age. It's essentially about a man forced by fate to wander the Earth like some tragic Greek hero roaming the seas and battling with monsters. The wandering is real enough and there are plenty of man-made monsters to be confronted along the way: but Eneas' real tragedy is that he isn't a hero - he's just an ordinary bloke who wants to go home.
Barry's writing is, as always, of the highest order. The novel is, in many ways, a companion piece to A Long Long Way. Both novels changed my perception of Ireland and her people; both novels left me in tears (of anger, rather than sentiment). I've given this 4 stars, simply because A Long Long Way is the better novel and I wanted to make that distinction. Nevertheless, another first rate offering from Barry.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Sebastian Barry
I first found Sebastian Barry when I read his "The Secret Scripture", which I loved. I have read quite a few of his books. Read more
Published 4 days ago by Mrs. J. Lindsey-Clark
A luscious read that generated many emotions
I loved this book and read it slowly so I could re-read passges that evoked wonder and emotion. I cried many times reading this but I never really pitied in a mawkish manner any... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Winos Mann
depressing re-churned version of the secret scriptures
I read the secret scriptures some while ago & found it somewhat flawed but a well told story, so when I started reading this book, although I had heard that Barry does carry some... Read more
Published 4 months ago by azza
"scraps of people ... blown off the road of life"...
Pick up any novel by Sebastian Barry and you are going to be dazzled by his prose; it might be termed epic, for its bold rich sonorous style. Read more
Published 5 months ago by LittleMoon
Wonderful - sublime.
This was my third Sebastian Barry novel - I read A Long Long Way and was instantly transfixed - so I am already a fan. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Lucifers Folly
Poignant and interesting
I actually preferred this one to 'The Secret Scriptures'. The style is more poetic and the dialogue much more interesting but it's worth reading both (though not necessary) as... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Josie
Sebastian Barry - Eneas McNulty
This is the second Sebastian Barry book I have read whcih was out of sinc with the first one. I enjoyed this book, I was able to link the two books together in my mind and I... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Ruby
The Whereabouts of Eneas MacNulty by Sebastian Barry
Sebastian Barry is one of the greatest living Irish Writers today. The reasons for this is both his sensitivity and insight but also his ability to write in spoken Irish so as to... Read more
Published 24 months ago by Ms. M. M. L. Packwood
Good reading
I had already read Barry's novel 'The Secret Scripture' and the references to the character Eneas McNulty intrigued me. Read more
Published 24 months ago by Mrs. K. V. Myall
Sebastian Barry
I purchaed this book for my wife and the impression that I got was that it was interesting. The book arrived by post in a fast time that Amazon are noted for and I would use the... Read more
Published on 9 May 2010 by Mr. Keith T. White
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