Home With Alice: A Journey in Gaelic Ireland

by Steve Fallon

Steve Fallon's Boston upbringing was as Irish as the come: portraits of the President, the Pope and the Sacred Heart hanging on the wall, a patina of song and booze, and even being taught by his Aunt Alice to bless himself in Gaelic. When, as an adult, he finds his life is generating more questions than answers, he embarks on a journey to the land of his ancestors determined to conquer Gaelic - and to find some personal peace. What starts out as a private odyssey beings to resemble a family road trip when, much to his surprise, Steve is joined by the spirit of his long-departed Aunt Alice. Together they journey to the heart of Irish-speaking Ireland - the Gaeltacht - through pubs and language classes, brushes with the 'little people' and run-ins with other classmates, through Galway, Kerry, Donegal and beyond.

Despite all he learns along the way, Steve's quest raises two fundamental questions. Can Gaelic continue to survive? And just how long is Alice planning to hang around?

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction

216 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2002

Reviews

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Guess you had to be there!"

Unfortunately, that's how I'd sum up the book as a whole. Content was well-written, but rather than touring Ireland vicariously with the author, largely came off as the ancient cliche of watching his slide show. Reports on the state of the language at the end were interesting, but far too little too late.

[Padraic]

If the point of language is communication, and no one speaks the language, then why...?

I don't know. But like Fallon, I was driven to experience the tongue of the ancestors, and felt the theory of racial memory fall flat on its face. And yet, years after my last course, I find my thinking, my world view, even my Bearla (English) feels, I don't know, different. Not so much racial memory as racial revenge?