September Song

O'Malley's (Family Saga) #5

by Andrew M. Greeley

Father Andrew M. Greeley, one of America's best-loved and most widely read novelists, has delighted readers with his ongoing chronicles of the crazy O'Malleys, a rambunctious but resourceful Irish-American family caught up in the sweep of modern American history. Now, in September Song, Charles "Chucky" O'Malley and his clan face the tumultuous upheavals of the Sixties.

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Romance, Catholic, Irish Literature

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Andrew Greeley was a Roman Catholic priest, sociologist, journalist, and author of 50 best-selling novels and more than 100 works of nonfiction. For decades, Greeley entertained readers with such popular characters as the mystery-solving priest Blackie Ryan and the fey, amateur sleuth Nuala Anne McGrail. His books typically center on Irish-American Roman Catholics living or working in Chicago.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/andrew...

Reviews

[Gerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Our hero Charles Cronin "Chucky Ducky" O'Malley is either the only "sane" one of the Crazy O'Malleys or the craziest of them all as he once again stars in this 4th of the 6-part series. His growing reputation and increasing influence with very powerful people earned him an appointment as the US Ambassador to Germany by President Kennedy shortly before the assassination. Against his better judgment, he initially remains there under President Johnson until he decides to resign in protest over Johnson's Vietnam War policy. Chucky's acclaim as a Pulitzer-prize winning photographer finds him in the midst of many hot spots, from his trip to Vietnam to many on the turbulent happenings of the 1960, such as the march at Selma, AL, the 1968 Democratic Presidential Convention in Chicago, and the assassination of Robert Kennedy. There is also turbulence within the family as Chucky & Rosemarie's oldest April Rosemary goes off to Harvard, becomes disillusioned with the world as it is, disowns her family, and heads out to "finds out whom she is" with the first stop being the Woodstock, NY Music Festival.

This was a wonderful continuation of e Crazy O'Malleys Family saga. Greeley weaves in many of the historic highlights of very turbulent 1960's. I enjoyed it a lot.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is sorta like the Forrest Gump movie - this family ends up being at several important places during the 1960s and 70s - MLK's march at Selma, Bobby Kennedy's assassination, the war, etc...... It was interesting, but not especially well written (hard to get into - I think I picked this up in the middle of a series of books....) and there was one glaring mistake - that 7 people died at Kent State - when it was really only 4. . . How dare he....

[Arminta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ellensburg must really like this guy because there is a large section of his books. It was pretty good, you can tell it was written by a man, there was more politics than love story, and the woman is a sex fiend.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seeing as this was my first introduction to the O'Malley family, It took me a while to piece the outer family together. I found it to be a good read. I was interested (since I'm a Catholic) as to just what the heck the Pope would do (knowing the Catholics, his reaction really wasn't a surprise) The most touching point I thought was the march in Selma. I breaks my heart to know that all these horrible events, and all that hate didn't happen very long ago. It breaks it even more to know that that hate still runs strong in our Nation. Anyway, on to the book, some facts were wrong, some events put out of place but hey, it is just a story.

[Pat Baratta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fourth book in the series, covers Chuck O'Malley's time as Ambassador and the Johnson Administration.