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Title: An Old Woman's Reflections by Peig Sayers, Seamus Ennis, W. R. Rodgers ISBN: 0-19-281239-4 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: July, 1993 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (2 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Back to the Essentials
Comment: In spite of other reviewers making light of this wonderful woman's story, I see it in a different light altogether. I think we all have a lot to learn from Peig's life and experiences. We are spoiled on material goods and suffer from spiritual deprivation. Peig may have had the "poor mouth" but she never whined about it. We whine about a red light that doesn't turn green fast enough or the fax machine when it seems to take forever. Does anyone really think we are better for that? I think not. I am now in my third reading of Peig Sayer's autobiography and, over the years, I keep getting more out of her vision. Do I want to live like her? Not entirely. Who wants to lose their children and be separated from those we love? Do I envy her close ties to nature and her personal relationship with God? Yes, I do. It's not that I want to be Peig Sayers, its just that I think she has a lot to say to those of us who have become so far removed from the essentials of God's world. I love her story and I wish I had known her.
Marion Brown
Rating: 4
Summary: A classic of "poor mouth" literature !
Comment: This is the story...of a lovely lady! This book was the bane of every school child in Ireland for decades. It used to be on the curriculum so that, despite the fact that you would have to grit your teeth to read it, it was a bestseller in Ireland. It tells the story of Peig Sayers, a woman who lived in the poor and rural south-west of Ireland in the early 20th century. In this book, everyone was poor, no-one had anything, people were evicted from their hovels, life was hard, people died young, children were barefoot, the livestock slept in the house, it was always raining....well, you get the idea.
Peig was born on the mainland of Ireland, but married a fisherman who lived on the Blasket islands, a small collection of islands a few miles off the coast of Kerry. Tough as things were on the mainland, things were tougher still here! You were lashed by the Atlantic, the wind could blow you off the cliffs, and you could be drowned while you were fishing, and that was on a good day! The book tells of her struggle to be accepted by the islanders, how she brought up her large family, how she coped with the death of some of her sons fishing, and the folklore, stories, and culture all around her.
This book, and others like it from other authors on other islands ("The Islander" being another good example) formed a literary style which became known as "the poor mouth". They all share similar characteristics as they described the oppresive hardships suffered stoically by the people. Even now in Ireland, anyone whinging about their bad situation would be dismissed as "putting on the poor mouth" and everyone would know what was meant. There is even a spoof "poor mouth" book by Flann O'Brien, which is well worth reading as an antidote to all the hardship and depression!
Now that Peig is no longer force fed down poor school children's throats, it has been re-appraised as a valuable historical record of western Irish culture, and no longer as an instrument of torture. Now that you don't HAVE to read it, more people now seem to WANT to read it! The book was originally written in the Irish language since that was the only language Peig spoke, but this translation in English is available.
If you want a glimpse of an Ireland now long gone (and it really is long gone, despite what anyone might tell you), you can't go wrong with Peig. Just make sure you have a good supply of prozac close to hand.
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Title: Peig: The Autobiography of Peig Sayers of the Great Blasket Island by Peig Sayers, Bryan MacMahon ISBN: 0815602588 Publisher: Syracuse Univ Pr (Trade) Pub. Date: May, 1991 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Twenty Years A-Growing by Maurice O'Sullivan, Moya L. Davies, George Thomson ISBN: 1879941392 Publisher: J S Sanders & Co List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: Hungry for Home: Leaving the Blaskets: A Journey from the Edge of Ireland by Cole Moreton ISBN: 0141001941 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 03 July, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Aran Islands (Penguin Twentieth Century Classics) by J. M. Synge, Tim Robinson ISBN: 0140184325 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: November, 1992 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
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Title: Islandman (Oxford Paperbacks) by Tomas O Crohan, Thomas Ocrohan, Tomas O'Crohan, Thomas O'Crohan, Robin Flower ISBN: 0192812335 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: July, 1993 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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