The Falling Angels: An Irish Romance

by John Walsh

An exuberant Angela's Ashes meets When Did You Last See Your Father?; an intoxicating memoir of Ireland and being Irish (and Anglo-Irish as well) from one of literature's most flamboyant characters. John Walsh is one of literature's party animals and ever-present commentators, and he writes with terrific wit and panache. The Falling Angels is a book about being Irish and about the way the Irish see the English and vice versa; and how it feels to fall in between. It opens with the death of Walsh's mother, 'the Widow of Oranmore', as he learns the Irish Way of Death: 'the rosaries and mass cards and lilies and amaryllises, the curious mixture of innocence and guile with which distant in-laws from Kerry and Dublin would coo and sigh and claim close friendship and act at being saints, the increasingly direct conversations that the neighbours (and I) had with Mother about death and what she could expect in Heaven. Above all, there was my mother's own struggle with her growing doubts about God and the afterlife -- she who had once been the Pope's representative in Battersea.' Every sentence Walsh writes is witty, outrageous, illuminating and compelling; he explores the Irish identity in a warm, personal and confessional book that takes in issues of race, of place, of language, of song, of love, of religion and, crucially, the changing nature of Ireland as it wriggles out of the dwindling influence of the church towards a new sense of itself; and in England, Irish culture has a fashionable ascendency (Angela's Ashes, Father Ted) as indeed it always has had. Stuffed like a barmbrack (fruitcake to you English) with quotations from Heaney, MacNeice, the Pogues and Paul Muldoon, it will be intensely personal, lively rather than gloomy, full of literary and historical relish, and a completely glorious read.

Genres: Biography, History

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

John Walsh is a writer and commentator who contributes columns, features, interviews and restaurant reviews. He has been editor of The Independent Magazine, literary editor of the Sunday Times and features editor of the London Evening Standard.

Librarian’s note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Jimbo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an affectionate and affecting account of what it was like to grow up with Irish heritage in England in the 60s & 70s. As one of the reviews says, it rings more bells than the Angelus.

[Stephen McNamara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this a really engaging read.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

another book that had been on the shelf far too long so I'm glad I took time out to give it a go....I think the tagline a Irish romance put me off as I was thinking maybe this was a love story...it sort of is but instead the object of romance is Ireland from an Anglo Irish perspective.
I enjoyed this it explored irishness the connection and also the alienation from someone who has one foot in the camp..the memoir was well written and had enough recent pop culture moments to drag me in when I was maybe at the risk of losing interest.

[Pippa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written. A sensitive and intelligent story, that will keep you reading, and will provide insight into the history of the time.

[Darla Ebert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, well written, drew me in on every page. This is a memoir with a difference. As the second part of the title mentions, this is an Irish romance and so though written as a unique style of memoir, the author highlights his parents and their distinctive "Irishness". Having some Irish roots, I was intrigued with the solid connection to the American South, in accent and in idioms, West VA and Virginia specifically.
This book is worth a thorough read for anyone but particularly those who are interested in the "larger than life" culture of the Irish.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so wonderful to read. I want to tell everyone with Irish connections living away from Ireland to read this book. I'm Scottish with an Irish mum, brought up in Scotland but spent every holiday in Ireland. I always felt like an outsider and wanted to be in the real Irish club. I would try and be like them, but I was always so Scottish it was an impossible goal. I accept I'm Scottish and Irish. This is now one of my all time favourite books.

[Clare McNamara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely worth reading if you have any connection to Ireland

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

There were moments of sheer beauty, laughter and brilliance. There were others that felt like wading through an Irish bog. Fortunately much more of the former.

[Kate Rae · Rating 4 out of 5]

Irish author references too contrite