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Troubles (Paperback)

by J.G. Farrell (Author)
4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
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Product details

  • Paperback: 446 pages
  • Publisher: Phoenix; New Ed edition (5 Aug 1993)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1857990188
  • ISBN-13: 978-1857990188
  • Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.9 x 3.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 10,449 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #2 in  Books > Fiction > 20th Century Classics > Farrell, J.G.
    #80 in  Books > Fiction > Historical

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Product Description

Product Description

Major Brendan Archer travels to Ireland - to the Majestic Hotel and to the fiancee he acquired on a rash afternoon's leave three years ago. Despite her many letters, the lady herself proves elusive, and the Major's engagement is short-lived. But he is unable to detach himself from the alluring discomforts of the crumbling hotel. Ensconced in the dim and shabby splendour of the Palm Court, surrounded by gently decaying old ladies and proliferating cats, the Major passes the summer. So hypnotic are the faded charms of the Majestic, the Major is almost unaware of the gathering storm. But this is Ireland in 1919 - and the struggle for independence is about to explode with brutal force.


About the Author

J.G. Farrell was born in Liverpool in 1935 and spent a good deal of his life abroad, including periods in France and North America, and then settled in London where he wrote most of his novels. In April 1979 he went to live in County Cork where only four months later he was drowned in a fishing accident.
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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A masterpiece, 13 Jun 2000
By A Customer
'Troubles' is JG Farrell's masterpiece. Set in the months leading up to the Irish Civil War, in a remote hotel by the sea, it concerns the fortunes of a First World War veteran, the Major, on a visit to Ireland, gradually drawn into the declining fortunes of the Anglo-Irish. The Major's inner conflicts mirror the increasingly precarious political situation which steadily impinges on the lives of the characters, with a vivid conclusion. Farrell's control of the narrative is first-class, moving from the bizarre to the sinister in a matter of sentences, and the book is full of memorable images that linger on the retina long after you've finished reading: the sheep's head in the hotel bedroom, the burning hotel, the overgrown palm court. It's haunting, melancholic, very funny, political, intimate, and beautifully written. There is no-one quite like Farrell writing in Britain today; such a pity his untimely death cut him off in his prime. Treat yourselves.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Splendid and moving metaphor for the collapse of Empire, 8 Feb 2002
By L. C. Jones (Oxford, UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
Troubles is the second part of what is a loosely-linked trilogy about the decline of the British Empire. Running through them all to provide some continuity is Major Brendan Archer, a rather weak but quite lovable man who arrives in Ireland in 1921 having retired from the Army in which he served in WW1. He is engaged to a woman he barely knows, Angela, who soon dies. However, rather like the British in Ireland, despite the disappearance of the original reason for his presence, he does not leave. Rather he lingers at Angela's father's Majestic Hotel. The country is being swept by the Home Rule movement, and even the rural area which is the backdrop for Troubles is not immune; Republican freedom fighters are seen on the grounds and the aristocratic residents are in mortal fear at times. The characters are very strongly portrayed in Troubles and the splendid descriptive narrative - particularly of the hotel and its grounds - provide a tangible sense of decay one can almost smell. Of course, since the Hotel is a grand metaphor for the British Empire itself, this is wonderfully appropriate. When Archer arrives, the place is already crumbling and the exotic plants in the conservatory are overgrown and jungular, threatening to block out all the light - perhaps representing the Imperial decline in Asia - by the time he leaves, it is no more. There is a wonderful, glittering hiatus when there seems, for a time, a chance to salvage what is left and turn the clock back, and the reader is swept up in this hopeful optimism, only to have those hopes dashed along with the characters' own - a perfect representation of the interwar years. Troubles can be read on a number of different levels. Even if you are not interested in history, this is still a good read; if you're not interested in the trilogy, it is a freestanding novel in its own right and can simply be read alone. However, if you are familiar with British imperial history, you will find this an erudite and moving story of metaphor. It is a worthy text and I'd highly recommend the other parts of the trilogy, The Siege of Krishnapur and The Singapore Grip.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars "Deep in the grounds of a burnt-out hotel, 22 May 2007
By Leonard Fleisig "Len" (Washington, D.C.) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
This review is from: Troubles: (New York Review Books Classics) (Paperback)
Among the bathtubs and the washbasins
A thousand mushrooms crowd to a keyhole."

"A Disused Shed in Co. Wexford". Derek Mahon.

Irish poet Derek Mahon dedicated the haunting poem quoted above to J.G. Farrell, author of "Troubles". It is a marvelous poem that pays tribute to an absolutely marvelous book; one of the finest books I have read in recent memory.

Farrell, born in Liverpool in 1935 is best-remembered for three books. "Troubles", "The Siege of Krishnapur" (which won Farrell the U.K.'s 1973 Booker Prize), and "The Singapore Grip". Shortly after publication of "The Singapore Grip" Farrell moved to Ireland. He died a few months later when, apparently while fishing, he was swept out to sea and drowned, at age 44. Each of these three books, known collectively as the "Empire Trilogy, is set during a time of crisis in what was once the British Empire. "The Siege of Krishnapur" is set in India during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and "The Singapore Grip" is set in Singapore at the beginning of World War II at the time of the Japanese attack and occupation of Singapore.

"Troubles" takes place in the Irish countryside in 1920, at the height of the turbulence that resulted in the creation of the Irish Republic and the eventual partition of Ireland. The protagonist, the English Major Brendan Archer, is a survivor of the Great War. Upon his demobilization Archer decides to travel from his home in London to Ireland in order to finalize his relationship with Angela Spencer, a young lady he met and perhaps became engaged to, while on leave during the war. Angela's father runs what was once a grand hotel, The Majestic, and Archer finds himself immediately swept up in the collapse of what was once a thriving Anglo-Irish community in Ireland. The Majestic is a mess; it is rotting from within in much the same way that English dominion in Ireland is rotting from without. "Troubles" looks both at the isolated, and fairly bizarre world of the inhabitants of the Majestic while the Irish rebellion creeps closer and closer to intruding on their world.

"Troubles" is an admirable and sometimes uncomfortable mixture of drama and comedy. Some have compared the comedic elements of "Troubles" to the best of Evelyn Waugh and the comparison is certainly apt. I'd only add that Farrell's dark humor is tinted with an element of semi-tragic slapstick such that, given its hotel setting, I could not help but be reminded of John Cleese's "Fawlty Towers". Yet, at the same time, there is an ineffable sadness that permeates the story. Major Archer, whose wartime experiences are only hinted at, is portrayed as a well-intentioned but singularly ineffectual protagonist. He sees the physical rot that surrounds him but is powerless to stop it. He falls in love but his pining and puppy dog-like attempts at courting are rebuffed with so much condescension that I could only wonder why he continued to bother.

I echo the two previous reviewers who have warned readers to save John Banville's brief, but powerful, Introduction to "Troubles" until after they have read the book. Banville reveals a critical spoiler that once read is impossible to forget. By the time I was halfway through the book I was sure that my advance knowledge of a critical event at the conclusion would detract from the pleasure I would have had if I hadn't seen it coming. I urge readers to save the Introduction until after they have actually read the book.

J.G. Farrell's "Troubles" is a wonderful book and I can say nothing more but urge anyone interested in `discovering' a wonderful writer to start with this book. I also suggest that once you've read the book you look up Mahon's poem (cited above) that was dedicated to Farrell. In many respects that poem serves as both a great tribute and a wonderfully crafted review of a book and the meaning one can glean from it. Highly recommended. L. Fleisig
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars A Novel of Genteel Alienation
The sheltered lives of those who inhabit the crumbling Majestic Hotel are about to be blown apart emotionally and physically. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Mrs. K. A. Wheatley

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic
Just back from the trenches of World War I, the retired Major Brendan Archer travels out to the Irish village of Kilnalough to meet his fiancée Angela Spencer, whose family runs... Read more
Published 19 months ago by Didier

5.0 out of 5 stars "A war without battles or trenches."
Originally published in 1970 and newly reprinted, Troubles, the story of Ireland's fight for independence, from the close of World War I through 1922, illuminates the attitudes... Read more
Published on 26 Jan 2003 by Mary Whipple

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