What do you think?
Rate this book
Sunrise with Sea Monster
In the blinding morning sunlight, Donal Gore stands in a monastery courtyard. He had travelled to Spain to fight in the Civil War. Captured and awaiting execution, time now slows for him. And he is haunted by memories of his childhood. His was a life of piano lessons, of an unexpected love affair, and of betrayal. And soon he will realise that this story has yet to find its end . . .
SUNRISE WITH SEA MONSTER is a wonderfully moving story of a father and son, and their attempts to understand each other. Written in spare, rich prose, it will be loved by all those who devour his new novel, SHADE.
- GenresFiction
154 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1994
4 people are currently reading
131 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
January 9, 2020
Amanhecer com Monstros Marinhos, de William Turner
(pintura inacabada; segundo a Galeria Tate "a obscura forma rosada no centro inferior da tela representa provavelmente peixes; uma bóia vermelha e branca e parte de uma rede podem ser vistas nas imediações")
Sunrise with Sea Monsters, by William Turner
(unfinished painting; according to The Tate Gallery the obscure pink shape at the lower centre of the canvas probably depicts fish and a red and white float and part of a net can be seen nearby)
(review in English below)
Não sei muito bem o que pensar - ou dizer - sobre este livro...
Tal como o quadro de Turner, tem uma beleza estranha e uma atmosfera enevoada.
Tudo nos chega através da mente confusa de Donal. A política irlandesa, a guerra civil espanhola e a espionagem, bem como outros elementos referidos na sinopse, acabam por ser apenas um pano de fundo para o relacionamento, difícil, do protagonista com o pai. A relação com a pintura está no facto de a pesca constituir a ligação principal entre os dois.
A escrita pareceu-me bastante boa, com alguns momentos brilhantes, mas a tradução não lhe fez jus, nunca me deixando esquecer que estava a ler uma "versão" e não a obra original. É pena...
O final é bastante filosófico e por vezes eu própria fiquei um pouco confusa, não percebendo muito bem o significado de algumas frases. Mas tendo em conta que se trata de , talvez me possam dar um desconto...
Recomendo apenas a quem possa ler no original (já que não posso recomendar a tradução).
I'm not sure what to think - or say - about this book...
Just like the painting by Turner, it has a strange beauty and a foggy atmosphere.
We take everything through Donal's confused mind. The Irish politics, the Spanish Civil War and the espionage, as well as other aspects mentioned in the description, end up being nothing more than a background to the difficult relationship between the protagonist and his father. The connection with the painting relies on the fact that fishing represents the most significant bond between them.
The writing seemed very good, with some brilliant moments, but the translation didn't live up to it, always reminding me that I was reading a version and not the original work. What a shame...
The ending is quite philosophical and sometimes even I got a bit confused, not fully understanding what some sentences meant. But considering this is , maybe you can cut me some slack...
I would recommend it, if you can read it in the original language.
August 25, 2014
Estranho romance sobre o triângulo amoroso que envolve pai e filho, espionagem na 2ª Guerra Mundial e pesca. Algo nebuloso inicialmente, tornando-se mais claro com o desenrolar da narrativa, até ao assombroso e fantástico final. Sam Gore é o pai, um ex-combatente da guerra da independência irlandesa convertido em republicano; Donal, o filho sem mãe que se torna revolucionário na guerra civil espanhola para contrariar o pai; e Rose, professora de piano, amante e madrasta de Donal (esposa de Sam). A relação turbulenta destas personagens evolui pela traição e se liga através do mar (ou tudo a que está no elemento água).
Sunrise With Sea Monsters (em baixo) é um quadro do pintor romântico inglês Joseph Mallord William Turner - Uma das interpretações mais recorrentes vai no sentido de que os “monstros marinhos” são peixes, enquanto outras, defendem tratar-se de uma representação abstracta sem qualquer elemento corpóreo, fundindo-se os elementos espaciais, como veículo para luz em atmosfera pura. Parece-me que o autor evoca essas sensações com a sua escrita mais dispersa ao início e fim, sendo mais objectivo e tradicional no meio. Jordan trata este livro com bastante arrojo, sem receio de incluir aqui elementos fabulares para superar as suas limitações dramáticas, ou melhor, para não deixar cair a história no sentimentalismo barato e no exagero melo-dramático.
Tem uma lógica diferente e premia quem aceita a forte carga simbólica do livro. O seu enquadramento político visa também demonstrar o impacto que as mudanças culturais tiveram na família - que só consegue funcionar através de rituais passados de pai para filho, mais fortes do que qualquer ideologia política. Não é para todos, nem pretende ser. Gostei de aprender com esta leitura.
Sunrise With Sea Monsters (em baixo) é um quadro do pintor romântico inglês Joseph Mallord William Turner - Uma das interpretações mais recorrentes vai no sentido de que os “monstros marinhos” são peixes, enquanto outras, defendem tratar-se de uma representação abstracta sem qualquer elemento corpóreo, fundindo-se os elementos espaciais, como veículo para luz em atmosfera pura. Parece-me que o autor evoca essas sensações com a sua escrita mais dispersa ao início e fim, sendo mais objectivo e tradicional no meio. Jordan trata este livro com bastante arrojo, sem receio de incluir aqui elementos fabulares para superar as suas limitações dramáticas, ou melhor, para não deixar cair a história no sentimentalismo barato e no exagero melo-dramático.
Tem uma lógica diferente e premia quem aceita a forte carga simbólica do livro. O seu enquadramento político visa também demonstrar o impacto que as mudanças culturais tiveram na família - que só consegue funcionar através de rituais passados de pai para filho, mais fortes do que qualquer ideologia política. Não é para todos, nem pretende ser. Gostei de aprender com esta leitura.
January 7, 2020
2,5*
Lido em 2013
Lido em 2013
September 20, 2015
Was particularly drawn in by the author's ability to express emotional relationships between characters.
THe story concerns a young man living in the aftermath of Ireland's Treaty with England which made southern Ireland a free state and kept the north under the British.. The story also introduces a young woman who will eventually form the key of romantic aspirations of the young man and also his father.
AFter a tour with the revolutionaires in the Spanish Civil War, the political groups in Ireland trap the young man, Donal,into an espionage plot that keeps readers trying to sort out the affiliations.
A sad reconciliation is finally achieved beween the familial characters.But Donal is faced to also confront the effects of his betrayal of a German officer who has saved his life. The modus operandi of all this is worthy of the director of "THe Crying GAme." .
My particular reading delight was Jordan's exquisite insight and writing of love and life.
A final chapter and a few other parts of the book are written in a mystical frame-work which, especially as this is Irish fiction, works very well.
THIs book is perhaps not for everyone but definitely of interest for readers of Irish fiction
THe story concerns a young man living in the aftermath of Ireland's Treaty with England which made southern Ireland a free state and kept the north under the British.. The story also introduces a young woman who will eventually form the key of romantic aspirations of the young man and also his father.
AFter a tour with the revolutionaires in the Spanish Civil War, the political groups in Ireland trap the young man, Donal,into an espionage plot that keeps readers trying to sort out the affiliations.
A sad reconciliation is finally achieved beween the familial characters.But Donal is faced to also confront the effects of his betrayal of a German officer who has saved his life. The modus operandi of all this is worthy of the director of "THe Crying GAme." .
My particular reading delight was Jordan's exquisite insight and writing of love and life.
A final chapter and a few other parts of the book are written in a mystical frame-work which, especially as this is Irish fiction, works very well.
THIs book is perhaps not for everyone but definitely of interest for readers of Irish fiction
March 17, 2020
Absolutely beautiful prose with passages I still recall at random times years later. It was nothing like what I expected it to be but I couldn't put it down.
January 15, 2021
Uma prosa lírica, ambiente de fábula mas interrompida com o período da guerra de Espanha. É aliás nessa parte do livro que encontrei um diálogo e uma relação verdadeiramente única, mística e envolvente - a relação Donald e o oficial alemão. Uma parte maravilhosa do livro.
March 31, 2016
Beautifully written but I couldn't suspend disbelief and enter the fantasy element of the book.
November 22, 2020
Lyrical, intense and emotional. I am officially in love with Irish literature in all its subtle glorious misery. Slow-paced, yes, but my heart ached reading every page.
.
The story is about Donal, a young man entangled by his own feelings and conflict. His mother died when he was little and his relationship with his father was cold and distant. Nonetheless, they loved each other in their own way. Then, Rose appeared. Donal fell in love with her but was heartbroken to discover that she got engaged with his father. He went to war, some army thing happened and came back to his father being severely ill and ridden with stroke. Rose, of course, was still around. The only thing that kept the father and son together was their hobby of fishing - they lived near the beach and loveddd the sea, which represented to them everything they had ever known.
.
I loved reading this. Neil Jordan, who is apparently a famous filmmaker, writes in such a poetic manner. So many little vivid details that accumulate into impactful scenes. Gah!
.
The story is about Donal, a young man entangled by his own feelings and conflict. His mother died when he was little and his relationship with his father was cold and distant. Nonetheless, they loved each other in their own way. Then, Rose appeared. Donal fell in love with her but was heartbroken to discover that she got engaged with his father. He went to war, some army thing happened and came back to his father being severely ill and ridden with stroke. Rose, of course, was still around. The only thing that kept the father and son together was their hobby of fishing - they lived near the beach and loveddd the sea, which represented to them everything they had ever known.
.
I loved reading this. Neil Jordan, who is apparently a famous filmmaker, writes in such a poetic manner. So many little vivid details that accumulate into impactful scenes. Gah!
April 6, 2022
Set during the aftermath of the Irish Civil War and during the Spanish Civil War, during the early years of World War II when the fledgling Irish Free State attempted to maintain neutrality so as not to be sucked back into the vortex of British rule, this is a novel about fathers and sons and the civil war that often obtains between them. The war between the pro-and anti-treaty Irish becomes a metaphor for the war between father and son, and vice versa. The center around which the smaller civil war rotates is Rose, music teacher and love object of both father and son. Doubtless Jordan chose the character's name in acknowledgment of the Roisin Dubh, the black rose of Ireland, with all the legendary weight that drags in its train. The novel proceeds along fairly conventional lines until the concluding scenes, somewhat redolent of the opening scenes of Hamlet, albeit with a much more optimistic tone. This is a short novel that it is easy to wish were longer.
September 23, 2020
A quite extraordinary book and very difficult to "review" but I do know that I enjoyed it immensely.
A melancholy expression of what people fail to put into words and the assumptions we make about what they meant to say. Here there are complex relationships between fathers, sons, lovers, bereaved and dead.
The final section drifts into fantasy and the afterlife but somehow feels substantial and believable.
A melancholy expression of what people fail to put into words and the assumptions we make about what they meant to say. Here there are complex relationships between fathers, sons, lovers, bereaved and dead.
The final section drifts into fantasy and the afterlife but somehow feels substantial and believable.
June 13, 2023
Exquisitely moody and evocative of Ireland in all its complexity. My life-long relationship with that land of many conflicts is explained to me (perhaps not to you) in this gorgeous stunner. It's best not to take the story literally although doing so is valid; remember it's Ireland we're talking about, so it's relationships including those with time and with the land and sea that matter.
May 31, 2023
A haunting small novel, so beautifully written. The contrasting elements of the story - the political climate of wartime Ireland and the Spanish Civil War, and the tender father-son relationship are linked so effectively. Add half a star .....this was such an enjoyable reading experience.
May 27, 2020
Beautiful.
June 16, 2021
Es una lectura muy bella, que cuenta recuerdos y tristezas de su protagonista y todos los problemas internos que ha tenido a lo largo de su vida con su padre, y su madre fallecida. Fácil lectura
March 31, 2022
I can't say I hated it. The prose has moments of exquisite beauty, the characters move in and out of scenes with grace and a certain cinematic element that perhaps betrays what Jordan is better known for.
But I also didn't really get on with it. I found the plot dry and bland, and the ending was a bit too nonsensical, even for me.
But I also didn't really get on with it. I found the plot dry and bland, and the ending was a bit too nonsensical, even for me.
July 24, 2024
Unusual approach to storytelling. A bucketful of fascinating innards thrown into the pot to brew up some intensely personal magic.
February 6, 2022
Somos seres complexos e temos fios imaginários que nos ligam uns aos outros… Não gosto de ter uma visão racional e pragmática sobre tudo e por isso faço por sentir que o que liga os pais aos filhos e os filhos aos pais são fios imaginários… Porque por vezes são pessoas tão diferentes, com sensibilidades, prioridades e visões tão distintas que só alguns fios imaginários as manteriam por perto.
Neste livro são linhas nocturnas, fios delgados de tripas estendidos entre duas canas metálicas intermitentemente pontilhadas de anzóis, que se enterram vazias na maré vazia e se recolhem, talvez cheias, na maré vazia seguinte, que ligam um pai e um filho. O pai e o filho encontram-se e desencontram-se ao longo da sua história, deixando cada um deles no outro, marcas fortes e infelizmente neste caso irreversíveis.
A presença de uma bonita professora de piano e também de várias guerras (a segunda mundial, as civis de Irlanda e de Espanha) são pretextos para sermos envolvidos numa sensação de humanidade na traição. Mas é uma Irlanda cheia de água que preenche o cenário. É uma Irlanda fustigada pelo mar e pelas tempestades que nos faz mergulhar numa sensação de normalidade na roupa molhada colada ao corpo. No fim, é o mar que com o seu silêncio preenche todos os silêncios e com a sua força traz a paz.
http://os-livros-que-li.blogspot.com/...
Neste livro são linhas nocturnas, fios delgados de tripas estendidos entre duas canas metálicas intermitentemente pontilhadas de anzóis, que se enterram vazias na maré vazia e se recolhem, talvez cheias, na maré vazia seguinte, que ligam um pai e um filho. O pai e o filho encontram-se e desencontram-se ao longo da sua história, deixando cada um deles no outro, marcas fortes e infelizmente neste caso irreversíveis.
A presença de uma bonita professora de piano e também de várias guerras (a segunda mundial, as civis de Irlanda e de Espanha) são pretextos para sermos envolvidos numa sensação de humanidade na traição. Mas é uma Irlanda cheia de água que preenche o cenário. É uma Irlanda fustigada pelo mar e pelas tempestades que nos faz mergulhar numa sensação de normalidade na roupa molhada colada ao corpo. No fim, é o mar que com o seu silêncio preenche todos os silêncios e com a sua força traz a paz.
http://os-livros-que-li.blogspot.com/...
December 8, 2015
Preparing for mediocrity, I was startled by skilled craftsmanship. Despite its children's cliché of a publisher's title, Sunrise with Sea Monster twines together strong fishing strands of intimately related and desperately uncanny themes: the unreadable archive of the sea, the ghost of someone who's been lost to strange circumstances, betrayal and identity, and -- perhaps most importantly -- love and desire. Several memorable characters make for an easily cinematic vision of the novel's narrative which, of course, should be chalked up to Jordan's other professional duties. What makes all its disparate parts work is that Jordan never loses sight of the beating heart of this book: it is a story about a relationship between a father, his son, and their home.
March 27, 2017
Neil Jordan's slim novel is about a young Irishman who flees a difficult home situation to fight in the Spanish Civil War. The book is beautifully written, but it's steeped in minutiae of Irish politics, which made it hard for me to follow (of course, that's on me). The quiet moments - the narrator's memories of fishing with his father, in particular - were quite lovely.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews