Helpful Score: 8
My favorite read of this past year. Rich in history with colorful, vivid detailing. Could absolutely not put this one down. Can't wait to read something else by this author.
Helpful Score: 6
What a beautiful novel!! It is not an easy read and it took time for me to get into the feel of the story, but it was certainly well worth the effort. This novel weaves together the story of a naïve boy growing into manhood and the heritage of Ireland as told by a charismatic professional storyteller. It is an unusual romance/love story as well as a story of maturing and growing into ones place and purpose in the world. This book is worth reading more than once.
Helpful Score: 5
I've never read a better book than this one. I laughed, I cried, I couldn't put it down. The author knows Ireland, he knows history, and he is an amazing writer who can describe his setting, write interesting characters, and spin an incredible yarn or two. I recommend this to everyone I know who can read.
Helpful Score: 3
I listened to the CD--it was long! This was one of my favorite books in the past year! A nice mix of history, storytelling and a boy's relationship with a storyteller.
Helpful Score: 2
Although I read the entire book, I was sorely disappointed about it. It was extremely predictable and boring in some places. I really enjoyed the storyline between Ronan's family, specifically with Kate and Alison in the first half of the novel, however I grew quickly bored with Ronan's journeys during the second half of the book. I had expected this novel to have an historical fiction style and although its setup was unique to an extent, it didn't have enough panache to really make it a worthwhile epic. I enjoyed half of the Irish tales and legends in this book, while I could have gone without the rest. Best of luck to the next reader!
Helpful Score: 1
A very good (although a little long) story written very well.
Helpful Score: 1
The book is rich in language and stories. Although it is long, it seemed to me that each story built on the previous one. I appreciated that there were subplots in the story just as interesting. The suspense of knowing how the plots tied together at times caused me to have a strong desire to skip to the final chapter. I thoroughly enjoyed the book.
Helpful Score: 1
A fantastic novel that mixes Irish history and myth as it tells the story of what could be Ireland's last Seanchai(oral storyteller) and the young boy enthralled with him and his tales.
It was hard to post this book because I enjoyed it so much that I may want to re-read again some day. But, my TBR Pile is growing in leaps & bounds.
It was hard to post this book because I enjoyed it so much that I may want to re-read again some day. But, my TBR Pile is growing in leaps & bounds.
Helpful Score: 1
the history and myths of Ireland all pulled together through the centuries-old tradition of the storyteller, an imaginative retelling of the history of Ireland.
I didn't make it all the way through this one...it just couldn't hold my attention for some reason. :(
I really enjoyed this book. Frank Delaney knows how to tell a story.
I liked this book, but found it to be a bit long.
Frank Delaney is an outstanding storyteller.
This was a great story about Ireland and gives you a lot of history along with it. I will definetely be reading more of this author's books about Ireland!
Ireland is a beautifully written book and I love that it is told through the "storyteller". It really makes you feel like you are there, being told stories of the history of Ireland through a traveler's tales. It is a bit slow for my taste though so that's the only reason I give it 3 stars instead of 4.
Well-handled treatment of several eras of Irish history through the eyes of one of the last itinerant Irish story-tellers while tying general historical themes to the experiences of one particular family.
This is a great book. It was very visual for me. The method by which he presented the history worked really well for me. The fact that there was a little mysterious back story hinted at throughout really kept me wondering. I'd definitely recommend this book.
It's kind of weird I own 3 copies of this book all hard back and when ever, where ever I travel it is there I truly love this book and the stories with in stories. The way that Frank Delaney draws you in like a kid to candy. Brilliant!!! I have read it so many times and I always get the same awww affect...
An excellent novel about Ireland's history, legends and myths. The story is based upon "old time Irish storyteller's" and is written by Frank DeLaney a storyteller himself.
A very well-written book about the history of Ireland for all you lovers of Irish history!
This is a wonderful book. I listened on CD, and it was LONG!! It tells the history of Ireland thru the stories told by a very old storyteller to a young boy. I loved it!
Not my kind of book but it was well written. Stories of old Ireland and a storyteller and a small boy.
This was a wonderful book! A feel for Irish history presented in a warm and very human way. Good story line weaved throughout.
I loved this book. Great read!
What a wonderful epic tale! Once I got involved in the story I couldn't put it down!
Ireland in 1951 and the story of a young boy whose life is changed by a "mystical" story teller.
This book is a fictionalized history of Ireland as told by a storyteller or Seanchai.
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
BBC reporter Delaney's fictionalized history of his native country, an Irish bestseller, is a sprawling, riveting read, a book of stories melding into a novel wrapped up in an Irish history text. In 1951, when Ronan O'Mara is nine, he meets the aging itinerant Storyteller, who emerges out a "silver veil" of Irish mist, hoping to trade a yarn for a hot meal. Welcomed inside, the Storyteller lights his pipe and begins, telling of the architect of Newgrange, who built "a marvelous, immortal structure... before Stonehenge in England, before the pyramids of Egypt," and the dentally challenged King Conor of Ulster, who tried, and failed, to outsmart his wife. The stories utterly captivate the young Ronan ("This is the best thing that ever, ever happened"), and they'll draw readers in, too, with their warriors and kings, drinkers and devils, all rendered cleanly and without undue sentimentality. When Ronan's mother banishes the Storyteller for telling a blasphemous tale, Ronan vows to find him. He also becomes fascinated by Irish myth and legend, and, as the years pass, he discovers his own gift for storytelling. Eventually, he sets off, traversing Ireland on foot to find his mentor. Past and present weave together as Delaney entwines the lives of the Storyteller and Ronan in this rich and satisfying book.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Publishers Weekly
BBC reporter Delaney's fictionalized history of his native country, an Irish bestseller, is a sprawling, riveting read, a book of stories melding into a novel wrapped up in an Irish history text. In 1951, when Ronan O'Mara is nine, he meets the aging itinerant Storyteller, who emerges out a "silver veil" of Irish mist, hoping to trade a yarn for a hot meal. Welcomed inside, the Storyteller lights his pipe and begins, telling of the architect of Newgrange, who built "a marvelous, immortal structure... before Stonehenge in England, before the pyramids of Egypt," and the dentally challenged King Conor of Ulster, who tried, and failed, to outsmart his wife. The stories utterly captivate the young Ronan ("This is the best thing that ever, ever happened"), and they'll draw readers in, too, with their warriors and kings, drinkers and devils, all rendered cleanly and without undue sentimentality. When Ronan's mother banishes the Storyteller for telling a blasphemous tale, Ronan vows to find him. He also becomes fascinated by Irish myth and legend, and, as the years pass, he discovers his own gift for storytelling. Eventually, he sets off, traversing Ireland on foot to find his mentor. Past and present weave together as Delaney entwines the lives of the Storyteller and Ronan in this rich and satisfying book.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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