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Modern Ireland Trilogy #3
Wild Decembers
Edna O'Brien's masterly new novel, WILD DECEMBERS, charts the quick and critical demise of relations between Joseph Brennan and Mick Bugler - "the warring sons of warring sons" - in the countryside of Western Ireland. With her inimitable gift for describing the occasions of heartbreak, O'Brien brings Joseph's love for his land to the level of his sister Breege's love for both him and his rival, Bugler. Breege sees "the wrong of years and the recent wrongs" fuel each other as Bugler comes to claim recently inherited acreage on what her brother calls " my mountain." A classic drama ensues, involving the full range of bonds and betrayals and leavened by the human comedy of which Edna O'Brien rarely loses sight. A dinner dance in the village of Cloontha and the seduction of Mick Bugler by an eager pair of uninhibited sisters rival Joyce in their hectic exuberance. But as the narrative unfolds, the reader is drawn into the sense of foreboding in a place where "fields mean more than fields, more than life and more than death too."
257 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
51 people are currently reading
876 people want to read
About the author
Edna O'Brien
112 books1,376 followersEdna O’Brien was an award-winning Irish author of novels, plays, and short stories. She has been hailed as one of the greatest chroniclers of the female experience in the twentieth century. She was the 2011 recipient of the Frank O’Connor Prize, awarded for her short story collection Saints and Sinners. She also received, among other honors, the Irish PEN Award for Literature, the Ulysses Medal from University College Dublin, and a lifetime achievement award from the Irish Literary Academy. Her 1960 debut novel, The Country Girls, was banned in her native Ireland for its groundbreaking depictions of female sexuality. Notable works also include August Is a Wicked Month (1965), A Pagan Place (1970), Lantern Slides (1990), and The Light of Evening (2006). O’Brien lived in London until her death.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 121 reviews
February 7, 2017
The central focus of this book is a longstanding feud that plays out in the small (fictional) village of Cloontha in the Republic of Ireland. We are given a classical Romeo and Juliet love story in Irish guise. The telling is dramatically drawn, set in a desolate landscape and an atmosphere heavy with foreboding and doom.
There are three central characters. Joseph Brennan is a farmer. His upbringing, hard work and sacrifice of all else in his life has turned his devotion to ancestral land into outright worship. For generations back the land had been in his family, and so it was to continue. The neighbor with whom his family has feuded for generations had emigrated to Australia, but now a son, Mick Bugler, has returned to reclaim his inheritance. The feud recommences; boundaries, grazing rights and right-of-way agreements are disputed. With Joseph lives his younger sister, Breege. Isolated from the world around them they nevertheless live in harmony until all is brought into turmoil by the arrival of Mick. Who does Breege fall in love with? Of course, Mick. A Romeo and Juliet retelling cannot for me be as exciting as a new, original story.
Furthermore, there are jarring elements that weaken the story. The time frame is the 1970s, but village life feels much more old-fashioned. Is Edna O’Brien drawing on memories of Ireland from her youth? She left Ireland in the 1950s. There is a strange sort of “humor”, often with a sexual nuance and farcical in tone. This too jars with the overall sense of doom that pervades the story. There are two lewd sisters that entice men into their house and then accuse them of rape. There are girls in a crazy asylum spreading their legs, women pressing their “bush” against men. Is this humor? Why the exaggerated fixation on sex? These farcical, bizarre episodes intermingled with the pervading sense of doom and then lyrical lines, left me feeling confused. I simply felt nothing fit. I was thrown form one kind of writing to another. I could for example scarcely appreciate the lyrical beauty of Breege’s line herewith quoted:
“It was a beautiful winter day that I left home, the trees bare, their trunks so sleek and damp, the sky all pageant, clouds of every denomination, their pink-frilled edges overlapping, like the waves of the sea. Sunset like a monstrance, spokes of light forking out from it, white white gold.”
The story builds to a crescendo. The beginning is extremely slow and you have to have read at least half to be anything but bored. I read to the end simply to discover how the feud would play out.
Another problem I had was with the character portrayals. O’Brien failed to convince me that these characters would behave as they did. Just one example is when Breege . The transformation was too rapid.
I also disliked the audiobook narration by Suzanne Bertish. She drones on and on and on. Her tone was utterly dismal. Exclamations of excitement or surprise were always off. A man yelled out and it sounded as a woman. I always rate separately the written text and the narration. Here I have given the narration one star, the book itself two.
I am sorry, I have complained an awful lot, but the point of a person’s review is to explain precisely why the book has failed them. The somber tone did not put me off, but the lewd farcical humor and the at times exaggerated and jarring elements did. The only thing I liked was the occasional beautifully poetic lines.
There are three central characters. Joseph Brennan is a farmer. His upbringing, hard work and sacrifice of all else in his life has turned his devotion to ancestral land into outright worship. For generations back the land had been in his family, and so it was to continue. The neighbor with whom his family has feuded for generations had emigrated to Australia, but now a son, Mick Bugler, has returned to reclaim his inheritance. The feud recommences; boundaries, grazing rights and right-of-way agreements are disputed. With Joseph lives his younger sister, Breege. Isolated from the world around them they nevertheless live in harmony until all is brought into turmoil by the arrival of Mick. Who does Breege fall in love with? Of course, Mick. A Romeo and Juliet retelling cannot for me be as exciting as a new, original story.
Furthermore, there are jarring elements that weaken the story. The time frame is the 1970s, but village life feels much more old-fashioned. Is Edna O’Brien drawing on memories of Ireland from her youth? She left Ireland in the 1950s. There is a strange sort of “humor”, often with a sexual nuance and farcical in tone. This too jars with the overall sense of doom that pervades the story. There are two lewd sisters that entice men into their house and then accuse them of rape. There are girls in a crazy asylum spreading their legs, women pressing their “bush” against men. Is this humor? Why the exaggerated fixation on sex? These farcical, bizarre episodes intermingled with the pervading sense of doom and then lyrical lines, left me feeling confused. I simply felt nothing fit. I was thrown form one kind of writing to another. I could for example scarcely appreciate the lyrical beauty of Breege’s line herewith quoted:
“It was a beautiful winter day that I left home, the trees bare, their trunks so sleek and damp, the sky all pageant, clouds of every denomination, their pink-frilled edges overlapping, like the waves of the sea. Sunset like a monstrance, spokes of light forking out from it, white white gold.”
The story builds to a crescendo. The beginning is extremely slow and you have to have read at least half to be anything but bored. I read to the end simply to discover how the feud would play out.
Another problem I had was with the character portrayals. O’Brien failed to convince me that these characters would behave as they did. Just one example is when Breege . The transformation was too rapid.
I also disliked the audiobook narration by Suzanne Bertish. She drones on and on and on. Her tone was utterly dismal. Exclamations of excitement or surprise were always off. A man yelled out and it sounded as a woman. I always rate separately the written text and the narration. Here I have given the narration one star, the book itself two.
I am sorry, I have complained an awful lot, but the point of a person’s review is to explain precisely why the book has failed them. The somber tone did not put me off, but the lewd farcical humor and the at times exaggerated and jarring elements did. The only thing I liked was the occasional beautifully poetic lines.
January 1, 2026
Wild Decembers is a timeless novel in its rural Irish setting. Despite the ominous presence of the contemporary tractor, which has a role as much as do any other of the other minor characters, this Shakespearean tragicomedy could have very well taken place a hundred years ago.
Edna O’Brien’s characters are well fleshed out, her prose is absolutely beautiful, and the narrative is of epic proportions: a land feud dating back several generations, a Romeo and Juliet-type love story between members of the feuding families, domestic violence, a character with all the attributes of a wise Shakespearean fool, comic relief with a sinister twist through two bizarre sisters, and what seems an inevitable downward spiraling of the head of one of the families and of his sister who is in love with his arch enemy.
Edna O’Brien has a unique voice. Other than this novel I have only read The Red Chairs which I found more engaging than this one, both in its subject and in its level of sophistication. I will definitely be reading at least one other novel of hers in order to be able to formulate an opinion of this author.
Edna O’Brien’s characters are well fleshed out, her prose is absolutely beautiful, and the narrative is of epic proportions: a land feud dating back several generations, a Romeo and Juliet-type love story between members of the feuding families, domestic violence, a character with all the attributes of a wise Shakespearean fool, comic relief with a sinister twist through two bizarre sisters, and what seems an inevitable downward spiraling of the head of one of the families and of his sister who is in love with his arch enemy.
Edna O’Brien has a unique voice. Other than this novel I have only read The Red Chairs which I found more engaging than this one, both in its subject and in its level of sophistication. I will definitely be reading at least one other novel of hers in order to be able to formulate an opinion of this author.
December 31, 2010
Edna O'Brien's prose reads like poetry. She conjures images from the mists of Irish mountains and the thick skin of peat bogs, her characters appearing wraith-like in a land of ancient legends and living superstitions. Her style lends a sense of timelessness to her stories and their settings and characters. With a few tweaks of detail, Wild Decembers could be set in late 19th century or pre-World War II Ireland as easily as the end of the 20th century.
O'Brien's affinity for lyricism can distance the reader from the flesh and blood reality of her plot, but her skill with dialogue and the gut-wrenching dilemmas into which she plunges her characters ensure that the reader's heart will be caught firmly in her drama.
Wild Decembers is a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions: star-crossed lovers separated by an ancient land dispute. At the heart of the conflict are two men who could be as close as brothers, yet who cling stubbornly to blurred maps and barbed wire, destroying with madness and violence all that they most love. O'Brien shows the lunacy of lust and the dark tunnels of depression with spare and sharp detail- there are disturbing scenes that will be long to leave my mind, all the more devastating because of their subtlety.
This is a writer who continues to astonish me because of her adoration of beautiful language and her skill at stripping prose to its most primitive and, therefore, most powerful effect.
O'Brien's affinity for lyricism can distance the reader from the flesh and blood reality of her plot, but her skill with dialogue and the gut-wrenching dilemmas into which she plunges her characters ensure that the reader's heart will be caught firmly in her drama.
Wild Decembers is a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions: star-crossed lovers separated by an ancient land dispute. At the heart of the conflict are two men who could be as close as brothers, yet who cling stubbornly to blurred maps and barbed wire, destroying with madness and violence all that they most love. O'Brien shows the lunacy of lust and the dark tunnels of depression with spare and sharp detail- there are disturbing scenes that will be long to leave my mind, all the more devastating because of their subtlety.
This is a writer who continues to astonish me because of her adoration of beautiful language and her skill at stripping prose to its most primitive and, therefore, most powerful effect.
August 31, 2018
Con le sue opere ha contribuito “ad abbattere le barriere sociali e sessuali delle donne in Irlanda e non soltanto”, con questa motivazione la scrittrice irlandese Edna O’Brien ha vinto il PEN/Nabokov Award 2018.
Einaudi ha dunque deciso di regalare la prima traduzione italiana, a cura di Giovanna Granato, di uno dei suoi romanzi più celebri e amati, questo appunto, “Un feroce dicembre”.
Uno scritto che restituisce una prosa dura, tagliente, incisiva, maschile direi. Un realismo spietato che coglie il cuore, l’essenza di un popolo e di una Terra, l’Irlanda.
È la storia di una forte inimicizia nata sulle ceneri di una timida amicizia, impossibile fra il nativo e lo straniero. Due uomini, uno che ha vissuto in Australia e che tornando nella contea dei suoi avi, anch’essi piombati lì senza esserne originari, lede il diritto alla terra dell’altro che da quel suolo non si è mai spostato. Un conflitto spietato fra i due con al centro la sorella dell’irlandese doc.
Bugler porta innovazioni e sconquasso, e da quando lui è arrivato niente è più come prima.
Pochi eventi, quadri giustapposti, veloci apparizioni, concorrono a fornire prima del tragico epilogo una visione di insieme che sa di torba, di duro lavoro, di solitudine, di relazioni difficili e schive: un’Irlanda dura e spietata.
Einaudi ha dunque deciso di regalare la prima traduzione italiana, a cura di Giovanna Granato, di uno dei suoi romanzi più celebri e amati, questo appunto, “Un feroce dicembre”.
Uno scritto che restituisce una prosa dura, tagliente, incisiva, maschile direi. Un realismo spietato che coglie il cuore, l’essenza di un popolo e di una Terra, l’Irlanda.
È la storia di una forte inimicizia nata sulle ceneri di una timida amicizia, impossibile fra il nativo e lo straniero. Due uomini, uno che ha vissuto in Australia e che tornando nella contea dei suoi avi, anch’essi piombati lì senza esserne originari, lede il diritto alla terra dell’altro che da quel suolo non si è mai spostato. Un conflitto spietato fra i due con al centro la sorella dell’irlandese doc.
Bugler porta innovazioni e sconquasso, e da quando lui è arrivato niente è più come prima.
Pochi eventi, quadri giustapposti, veloci apparizioni, concorrono a fornire prima del tragico epilogo una visione di insieme che sa di torba, di duro lavoro, di solitudine, di relazioni difficili e schive: un’Irlanda dura e spietata.
December 17, 2023
Χειμωνιάτικο σκηνικό στην ιρλανδική επαρχεία, το ξέρω πολλά υποσχόμενο. Όμως η ιστορία μου φάνηκε τελείως φλατ και παρόλο που στο τέλος κάτι πήγε να γίνει δε σώζεται.
January 8, 2020
Un feroce dicembre è ambientato nella piccola comunità rurale irlandese di Cloontha, dove Mick Bugler, un colono australiano soprannominato "il Pastore", rivendica una sua presunta eredità sulla montagna chiamata Slieve Clochan.
Arrivato a bordo di un trattore, rompe la quiete di quella terra e conosce subito i fratelli Brennan: Joseph, uno scapolo che ha preferito più le sue terre alle donne, dedito alle storie di vecchie faide familiari e sua sorella Breege, giovane e pura come una sorgente di montagna.
I due uomini, sono lontanamente imparentati, ma nella mentalità dei Brennan che coltivano la terra da generazioni, Mick Bugler è solo un intruso oltretutto non è nemmeno irlandese, comunque non propriamente tale , essendo figlio di emigrati in Australia e con un passato di allevatore di pecore.
“Noi sappiamo chi siamo. A uno come lui, le lontane colline sembrano verdi. Non ha veri ricordi d’infanzia.”
Presto l’antagonismo fra Mick e Joseph prende il sopravvento, troppo diversi e distanti tra loro: Joseph attaccato in modo ossessivo e viscerale alle sue terre, l’altro più pratico che pensa “solo” a come farle fruttare.
L’iniziale spettacolo di amicizia forzata si interrompe quando le intenzioni di Bugler di invadere la terra di Brennan diventano esplicite.
È allora che la miccia è pronta ad esplodere e gli inevitabili conflitti di vicinato scatenano la paranoia di Joseph verso il ladro usurpatore Mick, che dal suo canto vede gli irlandesi come pigri ed arretrati.
“Campi che contano piú dei campi, campi che si traducono in sposalizi che si traducono in sangue; campi persi, riconquistati e persi nell’altalenante, frammentario ordine delle cose”
L’astio che le due famiglie provano da generazioni e le difficoltà nello stabilire i confini delle proprietà degenerano in una spirale di odio claustrofobico, che cresce quando Breege, che ha sacrificato la sua vita per prendersi cura del fratello, comincia a provare dei sentimenti per Mick.
“Le donne gli succhiavano la volontà. L’amore di una donna o la paura di una donna e adesso l’impensabile, due donne, costretto a rifiutarne una, o tutt’e due. Comunque sia, un traditore.”
L’antagonismo è ulteriormente inasprito dalle singole vendette di altri vicini e da Rosemary, fidanzata di Mick, che arriva dall’Australia per reclamare il suo uomo.
La piccola comunità rurale di Cloontha assume le sembianze di un terzo protagonista del romanzo, aiutando e favorendo la faida, ma regalando, con alcuni personaggi, momenti di comicità che temporaneamente stemperano e sfumano la drammaticità della storia. Chi ha letto il libro, ricorderà la figura delle bizzarre sorelle Reena e Rita che adescano gli uomini con i loro sabba.
Fino a che punto può arrivare l’amore per la terra? Quante vittime e quanto sangue può scorrere in nome del possesso?
Sullo sfondo della maestosa Irlanda rurale, Un feroce dicembre è un dramma che coniuga il conflitto individuale e quello sociale, un affresco di vita crudo audace e complesso di antichi torti, nuovi errori, fallimenti e ritorni.
Nella forza ruvida delle sue parole, la scrittura di Edna O’Brien è per me qualcosa di molto vicino alla poesia , il suo lirismo e lo stile potente e primitivo regalano ai suoi romanzi un’aura di atemporalità.
December 7, 2018
Edna O'Brien has become one of my literary heroes. There are a group of authors that I just consider to be a cut above (Francine Prose, Jane Smiley, Philip Roth, John Updike, amongst many others). I found this book in a local lending library kiosk and knew nothing about it before I began reading it. It did take me a little while to become absorbed by the story (lots of Irish idiomatic writing that I didn't really get), but once I became involved, I was totally hooked until the end.
This novel takes place in a small Irish village, and involves a young woman and her brother (Breege and Joseph Brennan) who own a bit of land. Coming upon the scene is Michael Bugler who arrives in town from Australia and encroaches on their land. Apparently the two families have a feud that goes back decades, and as the novel proceeds the tensions mount and cause major friction between the two men. And of course, Breege becomes romantically attracted to Michael, which adds to the brewing tension. There are some very dynamic peripheral characters, and the Irish spirit comes through loud and clear. It is all pretty grim, yet the author imbues it with a witty lightness that keeps the story from becoming a complete downer.
The prose is exceptional, as poetic as it gets. There are some passages that could probably qualify as poetry. She really knows this culture and is apparently very comfortable writing about it. She captures the emotions very effectively with absolutely no melodrama (this novel could have easily slipped into a melodramatic morass). For me, it was a sheer pleasure to read.
This novel takes place in a small Irish village, and involves a young woman and her brother (Breege and Joseph Brennan) who own a bit of land. Coming upon the scene is Michael Bugler who arrives in town from Australia and encroaches on their land. Apparently the two families have a feud that goes back decades, and as the novel proceeds the tensions mount and cause major friction between the two men. And of course, Breege becomes romantically attracted to Michael, which adds to the brewing tension. There are some very dynamic peripheral characters, and the Irish spirit comes through loud and clear. It is all pretty grim, yet the author imbues it with a witty lightness that keeps the story from becoming a complete downer.
The prose is exceptional, as poetic as it gets. There are some passages that could probably qualify as poetry. She really knows this culture and is apparently very comfortable writing about it. She captures the emotions very effectively with absolutely no melodrama (this novel could have easily slipped into a melodramatic morass). For me, it was a sheer pleasure to read.
December 6, 2017
Onvan : Wild Decembers - Nevisande : Edna O'Brien - ISBN : 618126910 - ISBN13 : 9780618126910 - Dar 272 Safhe - Saal e Chap : 1999
August 26, 2023
Wonderful portrait of rural Irish life full of great characters and dialogue and landscape description that is beyond words!!!!!As you know i adore O`Briens books and go back and read them over as i approach my 70th year. She is poetical about Ireland but shows the rough sides as well . another great book of hers.
March 6, 2009
Wow. What a book. This is a lyrical, poetic, utterly engaging book. The theme is as old as books - star crosses would be lovers. But she just nails it. A story of the warring sons of warring sons in rural Ireland.
June 21, 2024
A cleverly comical book about a land feud in Ireland. Brilliant characters and humour. A lovely story fits in beautifully and makes this a very enjoyable book.
August 30, 2013
Couldn't stick with it. Wonderful prose but too many characters that repeat the same stupid behaviors.
June 25, 2017
I'd have enjoyed this book more if the writing style had been a touch more fluid.
October 6, 2018
3.5/5
Mi è piaciuto un sacco tutto. Appena resuscito dal mondo dei morti scriverò qualcosa di più esplicativo.
Mi è piaciuto un sacco tutto. Appena resuscito dal mondo dei morti scriverò qualcosa di più esplicativo.
December 11, 2018
The characters in this novel are passionate, rough, sensible, solitary people, hunters and farmers and shepherds who live in a small, closed community where everybody knows everybody’s business and live in strong communion with the land, its soil, the rhythm of seasons, the environment, their roots and ancestors and habits, and history.
When Bugler arrives – a strange to the community and yet not really a foreigner – people feel somehow threatened, their identity in danger, particularly his neighbor, Joseph. Old grudges between the families of the two men re-emerge, old matters regarding property and land borders, hostility which dates back to distant past, not directly connected with them, but still a rivalry they take for granted. When Bugler starts making changes to the mountain – by taking the turf and building a road on Joseph’s land- Joseph freaks out and becomes obsessed. Poor Breege, Joseph’s sister, gets caught in the middle, torn between her loyalty to her brother and her love for Bugler. And in such cruel scenario things cannot end up well.
I think we can see a parallel between this story of passion, hatred and possession and the history of Ireland, its difficult relationship with neighboring England - the foreign/not-foreign intruder - and its violent reaction as a proud, hot-blooded country.
Edna o’Brien’s language has the power and strength to perfectly describe it all – harsh and poetical at the same time, crude and yet sympathetic with her characters, reflecting the violence of the events in her wonderful descriptions of the desolate landscape.
When Bugler arrives – a strange to the community and yet not really a foreigner – people feel somehow threatened, their identity in danger, particularly his neighbor, Joseph. Old grudges between the families of the two men re-emerge, old matters regarding property and land borders, hostility which dates back to distant past, not directly connected with them, but still a rivalry they take for granted. When Bugler starts making changes to the mountain – by taking the turf and building a road on Joseph’s land- Joseph freaks out and becomes obsessed. Poor Breege, Joseph’s sister, gets caught in the middle, torn between her loyalty to her brother and her love for Bugler. And in such cruel scenario things cannot end up well.
I think we can see a parallel between this story of passion, hatred and possession and the history of Ireland, its difficult relationship with neighboring England - the foreign/not-foreign intruder - and its violent reaction as a proud, hot-blooded country.
Edna o’Brien’s language has the power and strength to perfectly describe it all – harsh and poetical at the same time, crude and yet sympathetic with her characters, reflecting the violence of the events in her wonderful descriptions of the desolate landscape.
July 7, 2017
The story line of this novel is a familiar Romeo and Juliet situation, but even though the outcome is pretty much as expected, the writing and atmosphere keep you engaged. The Irish setting is lyrically depicted and the characters encompass the most human aspects of goodness and irrational hate. Throw in a good dose of self destructive behavior, and you have a tale that is a pleasure to read, just to savor the language that conveys it all.
December 29, 2022
Che. Noia. Totale.
December 11, 2025
wowow wondrous and upsetting and beautiful
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June 2, 2024has a sort of legendary out-of-time quality... lovely
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December 24, 2014Well, I tried to read this book twice but quit both times before I got too far into the book. I'm now starting the Gathering by Anne Enright, another book I had trouble reading. Another Goodreads members asked me what it was about The Gathering I didn't like. I couldn't remember what it was exactly that prompted me to put the books down. In order to be able to answer her question, I decided to give both books another shot. I persevered this time and though I'm still not a fan of Edna O'Brien, I'm glad I stuck with it. Ms O'Brien is almost poetic in her descriptions of the Irish country side. You can see the eeriness, the emptiness, and the harsh beauty as if you were there. As to the story, the feud between two farmers over a meadow adjoining both their properties is an ancient one recognizable in many cultures. I found it difficult to understand the escalating violence between the two families which has tragic consequences. Ms. O'Brien is a very esteemed writer in Ireland so I suspect she speaks to the soul of an Irishman n a way an outsider can't really understand. She deftly explores the ancient forces at work that the characters are unable to escape. The author does not specify the time in which the story takes place so although it seems fairly modern, it has an out of time quality and could easily have happened a century ago. This story is depressing, bleak, and I did not get a sense of hope at the end. Still, because Ms. O'Brien does write beautifully, I would be open to reading more of her books
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April 1, 2018 A few years ago I was fortunate enough to tour parts of Western Ireland. I fell in love with a brief story I read on a momument to Grace O'Malley in Westport. In that town, there were also a few pubs named after her in some way. What a gal. She defeated the balance of the Spanish Armada after the British Navy had warded them off. She was offered titles and rewards by Queen Elizabeth I, but declined them stating she was an Irish Queen and didn't require anything further.
This book is a great account of Irish history and the world of Grace in one. It details the oppression indiginous people felt at the hands of their invaders. Horrible twists of history. It is posted as an elongated conversation with Queen Elizabeth I which is rumored to have taken place, but never really proven. It seems a little contrived that QE would sit still long enough to listen to this lengthy yarn. But, hey, who am I to let reality distort a wonderful tale.
Again, enjoy. Check out her island, Clare Island, on GoogleEarth. It is just off the shore of the Westport area shore.
This book is a great account of Irish history and the world of Grace in one. It details the oppression indiginous people felt at the hands of their invaders. Horrible twists of history. It is posted as an elongated conversation with Queen Elizabeth I which is rumored to have taken place, but never really proven. It seems a little contrived that QE would sit still long enough to listen to this lengthy yarn. But, hey, who am I to let reality distort a wonderful tale.
Again, enjoy. Check out her island, Clare Island, on GoogleEarth. It is just off the shore of the Westport area shore.
November 21, 2013
When Mick Bugler inherits a farm in Ireland on his uncle's death, he leaves his fiancée in Australia. His hope is that he can restore and build up the farm before she joins him. He brings investment, energy and the first tractor, to a neighbourhood struggling to survive the cold harsh conditions on the mountain.
Family feuds dating back hundreds of years set the tone of Mick's relationship with his neighbour Joseph and Joseph's sister Breege. When disagreements about rights to land arise, old family arguments come to the surface and both relationships and people start to unravel.
This is a poetically written book, painting a stark picture of farm life on the unforgiving mountain. It took me a while to understand this book, as the style is quite different to other books that I have been reading recently. I think I would need to read this book again to get a better feeling for the language and the stark landscape it describes.
Family feuds dating back hundreds of years set the tone of Mick's relationship with his neighbour Joseph and Joseph's sister Breege. When disagreements about rights to land arise, old family arguments come to the surface and both relationships and people start to unravel.
This is a poetically written book, painting a stark picture of farm life on the unforgiving mountain. It took me a while to understand this book, as the style is quite different to other books that I have been reading recently. I think I would need to read this book again to get a better feeling for the language and the stark landscape it describes.
March 2, 2021
Joseph and Breege, brother and sister, live in harmony on their farm. Joseph attempts to enrich his life by reading Greek myths, Roman history and agricultural information he can put into practise on while Breege is happy to keep house. This domesticity changes once a young heir, Bugler, takes over the neighbouring farm. He starts by buying a large, loud tractor and then showing it off to Joseph. Joseph starts to get irked, but it's when Bugler sends solicitor letters to Joseph concerning grazing rights and property lines that the feud erupts. Captured between these two men is Breege - trying to keep the peace while being wildly attracted to her brother's nemesis. Like the Hatfields and McCoys, the battle rages on until death hits. I found O'Brien's writing sharp and terse in parts; however, perhaps she wanted to mirror the action taking place in the novel. I was happy to have finished this novel in a few days because I was losing interest.
June 11, 2018
I have to say this book did not grab me the way I thought it would. It felt very bland and I wasn't sure as to why I should care about any of these people. What sums it up for me: Breege wasn't exactly a heroine so much as a girl that happened to be there; Joseph annoyed me, but his character actually had something going on mentally and emotionally; Bugler was the scapegoat that the book needed. It took me quite a few days to get through this book even though it is fairly short, and I am worried about moving on to the next Edna O'Brien I picked up to go along with this one.
By the way, what the fuck happened to Crock? Why was that needless story shoe-horned in there? What about Rita and Reena? I find that much of this book was pointless, but such is life, right?
By the way, what the fuck happened to Crock? Why was that needless story shoe-horned in there? What about Rita and Reena? I find that much of this book was pointless, but such is life, right?
April 7, 2024
This book is beautifully written, and this was my favorite aspect of it. I found the plot hard to get into, despite its emotional nature. When Breege falls for the man who desires to rightfully claim a portion of her brother's land, a feud ensues, and Breege finds herself torn between love for her brother and her growing feelings for "Bugler" the man who seeks to seize his section of their land. The writing is strong, but I found it difficult to care for the characters; many fell flat, but at large, the story is an important one, and there is much heart to be found here for those who care to seek it out:)
April 17, 2023
Wild Decembers may not be O’Brien’s best book. However, her skill with language remains breathtaking (surely, she is the literary descendent of Joyce). Her similes blossom off the page with a poetic genius that stuns me. Read this for the poetry, if for nothing else. Otherwise, I have to say it’s pretty predictable O’Brien. The novel is set in her very recognizable wild west country Ireland, where madness and lust seem to drive most of her characters. It’s a tale as old as The Tain with struggles over land and love, and of course, it all ends tragically.
February 8, 2010
*sigh* Ay mi gente....
August 9, 2015
Reminds me of some Flemish novels featuring unwelcome stranger in tightly connected rural community.
August 22, 2016
Beautifully written novel of characters in a small village in Ireland. Highly recommend
July 24, 2010
I loved this book. I could have done with a happier ending, but it was a great read nonetheless.
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