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Title: Star of the Sea by Joseph O'Connor, Carole Blake ISBN: 0-15-602966-9 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: 08 March, 2004 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (10 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Creaks a bit, but still afloat
Comment: The start of the novel was splendid, but his obsession with Lord Kingscourt's sex life definitely detracts from the book. At the center of the story are also love stories, loves which are thwarted, perverted, destroyed by the Kingscourt men. Unfortunately, they all therefore lack depth in a novel of this scope. The famine aspect is covered in blistering detail, then forgotten.
Kingscourt's character is by far the most compelling yet we learn little about him apart from the surface material until very near the end, buy which time it is nearly too late. Mary is a cipher for the most part, as is Laura, his wife. Pius Mulvey becomes increasingly monstrous as the book goes on, to the point of him not even being human any more. His willingness to do anything to survive which is commented upon by the author in the context of Kingscourt and the doctor Mangan's conversation in the latter half of the book does not excuse what he's done. He blights the woman he claims to love's whole life and still expects her to come back to him. The book becomes so Dickensian it loses its humanity and appeal.
Still, for its descriptions of Connemara, and the Famine, almost all accurae and very well researched, it is well worth reading. (even if it has been done better elsewhere)
Rating: 5
Summary: Star of the Sea - Joseph O'Connor
Comment: The strength and the force in O'Connor's style sweep the reader along in a riveting tale of a tragic era. Refreshing and exciting, this book deserves all the accolades it can get!
Rating: 5
Summary: Extraordinary!
Comment: A stunning work of art. The author uses the intertwined lives of several characters to convey the tragedy of the Irish famine and the human cost of migration, and does so in glorious prose.
I've never read a more moving evocation of the Irish famine, which is the book's central focus. But this is also a tale about the Irish diaspora. O'Connor strips that event of romance of hindsight and conveys the pain and suffering that accompanied the emigrants on their journey.
As a writer, I'm impressed by the book's complex structure; it's not easy to pull off these shifting points-of-view, but O'Connor does so with ease and grace. This is a beautifully written novel and a marvelous accomplishment.
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Title: The Great Fire: A Novel by Shirley Hazzard ISBN: 0374166447 Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux Pub. Date: 14 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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Title: What I Loved: A Novel by Siri Hustvedt ISBN: 0805071709 Publisher: Henry Holt & Company, Inc. Pub. Date: 06 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: The Winter Queen : A Novel by Boris Akunin, Andrew Bromfield ISBN: 1400060494 Publisher: Random House Pub. Date: 06 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: An Unpardonable Crime : A Novel by Andrew Taylor ISBN: 1401301029 Publisher: Hyperion Pub. Date: 03 March, 2004 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: The Fox's Walk by Annabel Davis-Goff ISBN: 015101020X Publisher: Harcourt Pub. Date: 08 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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