More Bread or I'll Appear

by Emer Martin

In a young, brash, hip new voice that combines irony and nervous tenderness with a bold and provocative appeal, Emer Martin introduces us to an Irish family unlike any other.

With her father institutionalized, and her brother's uncanny string of near-death misses, it's left to 28-year-old Keelin to find her oldest sister, Aisling, who has been missing from her family for fifteen years. Keelin travels to the bars of New York's East Village and the neon forest of Tokyo's underbelly, falling into and out of the lives of her colorful, troubled expatriate siblings. All the while, Aisling, out ahead, dares Keelin to find her and bring her back home.

Moving at high speed and wickedly funny, More Bread or I'll Appear takes us deep into a world where the boundaries between family members can be greater than the borders between countries.

Genres: Fiction, Modern, Irish Literature

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 22, 1999

About the author

Emer Martin is a Dubliner who has lived in Paris, London, the Middle East, and various places in the U.S. Her first novel Breakfast in Babylon won Book of the Year 1996 in her native Ireland at the prestigious Listowel Writers’ Week. Houghton Mifflin released Breakfast in Babylon in the U.S. in 1997. More Bread Or I’ll Appear, her second novel was published internationally in 1999. Emer studied painting in New York and has had two sell-out solo shows of her paintings at the Origin Gallery in Harcourt St, Dublin. Her third novel Baby Zero, was published in the UK and Ireland March 07, and released in the U.S. 2014. She released her first children's book Why is the Moon Following Me? in 2013. Pooka is her latest book for Children released in 2016 She completed her third short film Unaccompanied. She produced Irvine Welsh’s directorial debut NUTS in 2007. Emer was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship in 2000. She now lives between the two clashing worlds of the depths of Silicon Valley, CA and the jungles of Co. Meath, Ireland. Her latest novel is The Cruelty Men

Emer is an experienced public speaker and enjoys talking to book clubs, schools, libraries etc. To book her for an event please contact her at martin_emer@hotmail.com

Reviews

[Philip Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like her first, Emer Martin's extraordinary second novel, More Bread or I’ll Appear, was also published in both London and New York, and also to great acclaim. Yes, it has its dysfunctional Irish family. Yes, it has the closet gay US-based uncle, an Irish priest who loves a buck more than he does his faith. But Keelin’s quest to find her missing sister, her siblings trailing after her across three continents, defies category. It is on occasion unutterably sad – Patrick’s murder in the Nevada desert, for example – and often funny and startling, as in the transformed character Keelin’s sister turns out to be when she eventually finds her. Going by the reviews here, you'll either love it or hate it. I loved it.

[Magdalena Zuljevic · Rating 5 out of 5]

More Bread Or I’ll Appear is a book that spans continents as if they were stepping-stones. The distance that this story takes place over belies the meaning in any of our lives - Life is ultimately about family. This book reveals that slowly. It is a moving, witty testament to the power we have over each other. Everyone who has a family and grows up with a set of siblings will understand how that sets a pattern that’s impossible to escape. The characters are ordinary people who live through extraordinary times, not because of history but because they are seeking each other all though the book. Lovely. It is hard to not be moved by this wonderful work.

[Suanne Laqueur · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. It just didn't strike a chord with me and I gave up a few chapters in. Too grey and dreary and I just wasn't in the mood...

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sort of prequel and sequel to Breakfast in Babylon. The narrative strategies remind me a bit of what Alan Warner did with Morvern Callar and These Demented Lands: In the first book (Babylon) it is essentially Aisling's narrative and told from her point of view; in the second book (Bread) Aisling is the focus of the narrative but it is not told from her point of view. Like Warner's two books, Martin's are also apocalyptic novels written in advance of the millennium. Martin's novella "Teeth Shall Be Provided" in Rover's Return (ed. Kevin Williamson) tells the part of the Aisling story that we do not get in Bread. Aisling is a fascinating character creation, here held up as modern day Shiva. I expect there'll be another book about Aisling: this one ends with Aisling pregnant and her sister asking if she isn't worried about what she'll beget given the family genetics. The pregnant Aisling is also consuming large quantities of drugs and alcohol. So I sniff the setting of the stage. The writing is quite energetic. My only complaint is that there are a lot of characters to keep track of and not all of them add anything to narrative.

[Ally · Rating 2 out of 5]

Spoilers ahoy!

I'm honestly not sure what to think about this book. It's very deep and meaningful and literary, but to be honest, there's a whole bunch of stuff in it that makes zero sense. I'm usually a fan of the stream-of-conscious style, I loved it in "Girl, Interrupted" for example. But here, I could have done with some more clarification. The characters seemed interesting, and I loved all the dialogue, but stuff would just randomly stop making sense in the chapters. I mean, I knew that Oscar was a pedophile as soon as the first time they said "uncle who is a priest and all the kids love him." and it still came out of nowhere. It just went to, "...and the girl was raped by her uncle, moving on..." I don't know. There were some things I liked, and there were some things I didn't get and then there was a whole lot of stuff that made ZERO sense... It wasn't terrible, it just wasn't very good.

[AmberBug com* · Rating 3 out of 5]

A story about a dysfunctional Irish family. The main character searches the entire book for her sister but instead finds out how meaningless life is. She also starts to realize there is nothing, nothing but what is there. At times I found it hard to keep reading but the Irish dialect it's written in is interesting and a bit infectious. Although the story is similar to themes I have read in the past (books that have succeeded in certain ways, ways which this one failed). Think another book about a dysfunctional family written in a dark humorous way... but failing in keeping you interested in the storyline. The characters are interesting enough and I think that along with the writing style kept me reading until the end. Overall, not a bad read but also I wouldn't be giving a recommendation to anyone. I will suggest a pass on this one.

[Cherry Ooglepop · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a touching story of a family in Ireland. There's something up with each and every one of them. An anorexic sister, a brother with OCD, a sister who over eats, the eldest disappears one day and the youngest one, who is the most normal is sent out to look for her. The book takes her on a quest all over the globe. It changes her life. This was a fun and sad and interesting and very unusual book. Loved it.

[Suzanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fantastic until about half-way through. Did she hand it over to a friend to finish? The plot collapsed, somehow they ended up in Hawaii but no one knew how; the priest uncle morphed into an incestuous paedo... How very, very disappointing.

[Foreign]

Dutch editor: Lolies van Grunsven

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

God, I wish Emer Martin would write some more books...she's a genius.

[Annette · Rating 2 out of 5]

weird

[Mandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book of traveling and self discovery in a bizarre turn of events.

[Rita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Title put me off for a long time but ultimately a great read.

[Courtney Moss · Rating 2 out of 5]

What is this? A book about a dysfunctional family and how life is meaningless. Meh. I live it, I don’t want to read about it.

[Celeste · Rating 4 out of 5]

not quite as good as the cruelty men or thirsty ghosts but still enjoyed..i especially love how emer martin writes characters and dialogue like they all feel very real and different and i can practically hear the dialogue. and just in general it takes a lot of writing talent to be able to make me enjoy one literary fiction book about a family not to mention THREE

[Simon newson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really struggled to stay engaged, particularly in second half.