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No Country
In the poverty of rural Ireland in 1843, Padraig Aherne and Brendan McCarthaigh grew up as brothers, inseparable, even when Padraig falls in love with their beautiful classmate, Brigid. But when Padraig makes a dangerous mistake that forces him onto a ship bound for India, and the deadly potato famine sweeps through their tiny village, Brendan is left alone to care for his best friend's child, an infant daughter Padraig never knew he had. Eventually, Brendan flees with her aboard one of the infamous "coffin ships" to begin a new life in America. As Brendan's and Padraig's two family trees take root on opposite sides of the world, their tendrils begin to intertwine, moving inexorably toward a disastrous convergence more than a century later.
Unfurling against the fickle backdrop of history that includes terrorism on the Indian subcontinent, an East European pogrom, the Triangle Shirtwaist fire in New York City, and the terrible intimacy of a murder in a sleepy New England town, the fallout from lives torn apart in No Country smolders for generations.
Unfurling against the fickle backdrop of history that includes terrorism on the Indian subcontinent, an East European pogrom, the Triangle Shirtwaist fire in New York City, and the terrible intimacy of a murder in a sleepy New England town, the fallout from lives torn apart in No Country smolders for generations.
560 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2014
22 people are currently reading
1462 people want to read
About the author
Kalyan Ray
5 books21 followersKalyan Ray has taught in Greece, Ecuador, Jamaica and the Philippines where he was a Visiting Professor of Comparative Theology. He has long been associated with Indian social-service organizations, and collaborated with Mother Teresa doing the translations and voice-over for the first documentary on her work.
He has lived in India, Ireland, the Philippines, and currently divides his time between the USA and India.
He has lived in India, Ireland, the Philippines, and currently divides his time between the USA and India.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews
July 1, 2014
A very enthusiastic five stars! This is an immensely readable, hugely satisfying novel which spans generations and countries. The author weaves characters and plots seamlessly. This is not only an epic book in terms of story telling and writing, it is impossible to put down. Fans of Maeve Binchy or generational sagas will enjoy this book but to put them in the same category does a disservice to Kalyan Ray whose writing adds historic depth and descriptive imagery to make No Country one of the best books I have read this year.
September 17, 2015
First of all, I would like to thank Mr. Ray for writing such a wonderfully, marvelous book. He is a great storyteller.
This story starts out in Ireland where two friends, Brendan McCarthaigh and Padrig Aherne, are watching the events of many difficulties in their homeland, Ireland.
They both leave their Irish roots and one goes off to India (Padrig) and the other to America, New York (Brendan). Once in their new homes they find many challenges for themselves and their families.
Each chapter is written in the first person, a voice changing in each section. Learning about their new lives, families and new beginnings each tries to keep their history from being lost. Each story is heartbreaking as they hold onto their beliefs and hopes.
I just loved this book and it is now a favorite of mine.
I won this book through the GoodReads First Reads Giveaway.
This story starts out in Ireland where two friends, Brendan McCarthaigh and Padrig Aherne, are watching the events of many difficulties in their homeland, Ireland.
They both leave their Irish roots and one goes off to India (Padrig) and the other to America, New York (Brendan). Once in their new homes they find many challenges for themselves and their families.
Each chapter is written in the first person, a voice changing in each section. Learning about their new lives, families and new beginnings each tries to keep their history from being lost. Each story is heartbreaking as they hold onto their beliefs and hopes.
I just loved this book and it is now a favorite of mine.
I won this book through the GoodReads First Reads Giveaway.
January 5, 2017
I wish there was a way to ascertain on Goodreads how alike the readers are to my own tastes. I bought this book after doing a quick check and noted that it had lots of five and four star ratings. Now that I've read 200 pages i realize that it's a bit of fluff and nonsense written in the style that would appeal to young adults perhaps 13 year olds. It's not at all a book I'd recommend to serious readers.
June 12, 2017
I LOVED this book! Beautifully written, encompassing three centuries, covering so much history of several countries, describing pithily and without fanfare the unspeakable things we humans inflict on each other, spanning love and loss and hurt and heartache, famine and festivities. An epic, a masterpiece. Beautiful! One to reread.
July 3, 2014
WOW.
Read this. So freaking fantastically fabulous. Have you started reading this yet? Go - now - do it. I absolutely LOVED it. I just finished and I want to go back and start it all over again.
Read this. So freaking fantastically fabulous. Have you started reading this yet? Go - now - do it. I absolutely LOVED it. I just finished and I want to go back and start it all over again.
September 3, 2016
I received No Country as part of a Goodreads giveaway.
In the 1840s, Padraig Aherne mistakenly leaves his native Ireland for British India, unknowingly leaving a pregnant girlfriend and his friend Brendan behind. Padraig establishes himself in the exotic world of British India, while Brendan is forced to flee famine, settling in the northeastern United States (along with Padraig's now-motherless daughter). As the storyline jumps around to different locales and characters throughout the decades, we see the stories intertwine, separating but ultimately coming back together in a poignant finale.
A beautiful story. The way Ray separates then brings the narratives back together is truly masterful. Certain elements miss the mark (Billy Swint, for instance, is a Dickensian-like character that seems out of place in late 20th century New York), but on the whole it's a beautiful story, but epic and intimate.
In the 1840s, Padraig Aherne mistakenly leaves his native Ireland for British India, unknowingly leaving a pregnant girlfriend and his friend Brendan behind. Padraig establishes himself in the exotic world of British India, while Brendan is forced to flee famine, settling in the northeastern United States (along with Padraig's now-motherless daughter). As the storyline jumps around to different locales and characters throughout the decades, we see the stories intertwine, separating but ultimately coming back together in a poignant finale.
A beautiful story. The way Ray separates then brings the narratives back together is truly masterful. Certain elements miss the mark (Billy Swint, for instance, is a Dickensian-like character that seems out of place in late 20th century New York), but on the whole it's a beautiful story, but epic and intimate.
June 8, 2014
I received a copy of this book as a Goodreads giveaway.
Growing up, raiding my parent's bookshelves, I discovered the novels of John Jakes. His series: The Kent Family Chronicles particularly grabbed my attention. These were big, long books with various historical figures interacting with the Kent family; lots of violence and lots of sex. I fell into their convoluted stories as easily as slipping over the guardrails and falling into the Grand Canyon. They were great.
When I grabbed No Country by Kalyan Ray, I hoped I could rediscover that magic. I mean this book is a multi-generational story spanning many decades. And hey, it's very long. (And I do love a long book that I can slowly devour).
And on many levels No Country works as a fun historical novel similar to the Jakes series I remembered. The reader is taken from Ireland to India to America. We are witness to the lives and actions of families throughout the years and see the results their actions take on the later descendants up until the late 1980's.
In other ways, though, it misses the boat.
The poetic language can come across as loquacious rigmarole in many instances.
The book also takes itself real seriously. This is a literary story. It would not want to be compared to John Jakes, I am sure.
Also, if the sum of a person's life can be counted as the many different moments they experience; then Mr. Ray sees the sum as only the horrors, death and hardship they experience. Almost every character ends up experiencing some murder or death of family members. These are told well and bring a sense of mortality and realism to the story...but there is also a sense of numbness that descends upon the reader. It is like a summer blockbuster that is all amazing special effects. Without the little moments these effects end up not being so special after all. I needed the other half of the equation--where is the joy and love and happiness these families experienced?
Which is a shame because the few times Mr. Ray slows down the story and lets us witness the characters are genuinely charming and special. One such act happens between Robert and his father after his secret mission.
That being said, this is a really well written book that sticks to you. I found myself thinking about what I just read on my runs, at work, and during many other times throughout the day. I would speak to my wife about the pages I just read. Heck, I also learned a great deal about Ireland and India--subjects I had before only had a smattering knowledge of.
And Kalyan Ray does a masterful job of making you feel the experiences these characters go through. When one small girl grabs a handful of rocks from the Irish shore before boarding a boat to take her from her homeland, I could feel the loss of home echo in my chest.
This is a very strong and entertaining (if sometimes heavy-handed) read. I would recommend it to anyone wanting to get lost in a big, well-researched historical drama that on occasion takes itself a little too seriously perhaps. The characters are human and real and the author evokes a sense of real caring about them.
Good book!
Growing up, raiding my parent's bookshelves, I discovered the novels of John Jakes. His series: The Kent Family Chronicles particularly grabbed my attention. These were big, long books with various historical figures interacting with the Kent family; lots of violence and lots of sex. I fell into their convoluted stories as easily as slipping over the guardrails and falling into the Grand Canyon. They were great.
When I grabbed No Country by Kalyan Ray, I hoped I could rediscover that magic. I mean this book is a multi-generational story spanning many decades. And hey, it's very long. (And I do love a long book that I can slowly devour).
And on many levels No Country works as a fun historical novel similar to the Jakes series I remembered. The reader is taken from Ireland to India to America. We are witness to the lives and actions of families throughout the years and see the results their actions take on the later descendants up until the late 1980's.
In other ways, though, it misses the boat.
The poetic language can come across as loquacious rigmarole in many instances.
The book also takes itself real seriously. This is a literary story. It would not want to be compared to John Jakes, I am sure.
Also, if the sum of a person's life can be counted as the many different moments they experience; then Mr. Ray sees the sum as only the horrors, death and hardship they experience. Almost every character ends up experiencing some murder or death of family members. These are told well and bring a sense of mortality and realism to the story...but there is also a sense of numbness that descends upon the reader. It is like a summer blockbuster that is all amazing special effects. Without the little moments these effects end up not being so special after all. I needed the other half of the equation--where is the joy and love and happiness these families experienced?
Which is a shame because the few times Mr. Ray slows down the story and lets us witness the characters are genuinely charming and special. One such act happens between Robert and his father after his secret mission.
That being said, this is a really well written book that sticks to you. I found myself thinking about what I just read on my runs, at work, and during many other times throughout the day. I would speak to my wife about the pages I just read. Heck, I also learned a great deal about Ireland and India--subjects I had before only had a smattering knowledge of.
And Kalyan Ray does a masterful job of making you feel the experiences these characters go through. When one small girl grabs a handful of rocks from the Irish shore before boarding a boat to take her from her homeland, I could feel the loss of home echo in my chest.
This is a very strong and entertaining (if sometimes heavy-handed) read. I would recommend it to anyone wanting to get lost in a big, well-researched historical drama that on occasion takes itself a little too seriously perhaps. The characters are human and real and the author evokes a sense of real caring about them.
Good book!
June 12, 2017
I LOVED this book! Beautifully written, encompassing three centuries, covering so much history of several countries, describing pithily and without fanfare the unspeakable things we humans inflict on each other, spanning love and loss and hurt and heartache, famine and festivities. An epic, a masterpiece. Beautiful! One to reread.
February 8, 2015
Bello, intrigante ed avvincente sono alla fine. Un intreccio di storie, di generazioni, di eventi che ti catturano e ti conquistano. Un bel romanzo!!
March 3, 2014
I received an electronic advanced reading copy of this from the publisher via NetGalley.
I quickly became enraptured by "No Country" and continued to enjoy its lush backdrops and interwoven stories of humanity until the bittersweet ends. The novel is aptly named because at its center the novel is about the human condition of being born, growing up, living, and dying, in various nation states of this Earth that are each indistinguishable in their basic challenges and joys.
Starting in Ireland, the novel follows two young friends that are forced to leave their village and country due to different social and political circumstances, ending up on opposite sides of the world. They struggle to make their journeys, whether alone, or with dear friends. Once at their 'destination', immigrants in a new home, they find new challenges including the basic challenge of belonging, but not belonging, as a foreigner in a new homeland. The two Irish founders live in their new homes and give birth to new lines that go through their own struggles as the waves of history carry them to their own procreation and death. As time passes, more and more of the stories of their ancestors, and their traditions, begin to vanish into an amalgam of something new, but always full of hope and desire and dreams. And sometimes ugly tragedy.
The most impressive element of Ray's novel is its language and tone. Written in the first person throughout (obviously from various viewpoints), the voice changes from section to section based on the characters, as one would like. The early portions of rural Ireland are filled with a vocabulary and syntax that evokes the setting truly. Portions in India or the New World are suitably distinct and true themselves. Whether shifting in space, or in time, the writing shifts as well. I almost didn't even notice this fact as I read the novel, as the story swept from place and time. But the biggest shifts at the end of the novel really made it clear as the reader is introduced to characters that are far from the heart and mind of the ancestors we'd been getting to know, reminding us that for all we may strive to make this world a greater place for our offspring, we have no control over what offspring will end up inheriting our legacies, nor of what future history can shatter all we build and value.
Rather than being depressing as I may make it all sound, the novel still manages to resonate with measures of love and hope, and beyond anything, the sense that all we humans that are on this planet are a bunch of intermingled mongrels, with shared backgrounds and ancestors. It is a reminder that though we may have our nationalities, we are each of us born of immigrants who in turn came from other immigrants, unfamiliar to our current land, stuck in their 'ethnic ways', destitution and dreams not unlike the newest batches of immigrants we see around us today. A beautiful novel.
I quickly became enraptured by "No Country" and continued to enjoy its lush backdrops and interwoven stories of humanity until the bittersweet ends. The novel is aptly named because at its center the novel is about the human condition of being born, growing up, living, and dying, in various nation states of this Earth that are each indistinguishable in their basic challenges and joys.
Starting in Ireland, the novel follows two young friends that are forced to leave their village and country due to different social and political circumstances, ending up on opposite sides of the world. They struggle to make their journeys, whether alone, or with dear friends. Once at their 'destination', immigrants in a new home, they find new challenges including the basic challenge of belonging, but not belonging, as a foreigner in a new homeland. The two Irish founders live in their new homes and give birth to new lines that go through their own struggles as the waves of history carry them to their own procreation and death. As time passes, more and more of the stories of their ancestors, and their traditions, begin to vanish into an amalgam of something new, but always full of hope and desire and dreams. And sometimes ugly tragedy.
The most impressive element of Ray's novel is its language and tone. Written in the first person throughout (obviously from various viewpoints), the voice changes from section to section based on the characters, as one would like. The early portions of rural Ireland are filled with a vocabulary and syntax that evokes the setting truly. Portions in India or the New World are suitably distinct and true themselves. Whether shifting in space, or in time, the writing shifts as well. I almost didn't even notice this fact as I read the novel, as the story swept from place and time. But the biggest shifts at the end of the novel really made it clear as the reader is introduced to characters that are far from the heart and mind of the ancestors we'd been getting to know, reminding us that for all we may strive to make this world a greater place for our offspring, we have no control over what offspring will end up inheriting our legacies, nor of what future history can shatter all we build and value.
Rather than being depressing as I may make it all sound, the novel still manages to resonate with measures of love and hope, and beyond anything, the sense that all we humans that are on this planet are a bunch of intermingled mongrels, with shared backgrounds and ancestors. It is a reminder that though we may have our nationalities, we are each of us born of immigrants who in turn came from other immigrants, unfamiliar to our current land, stuck in their 'ethnic ways', destitution and dreams not unlike the newest batches of immigrants we see around us today. A beautiful novel.
August 16, 2014
This is the book that happens when you mix a talented writer with an ineffectual editor. The book traces two branches of one family, down 5 generations, plus another 4 or so generations of another family that intertwines with it. Then there are chapters with the life stories of supporting characters (one gives the entire life story of a character who is deathly ill at the end of the previous chapter and who dies at the beginning of the following chapter; another gives the life story of a character just as he arrives on the scene). Some chapters span a few weeks or months, others span many decades, with everything in-between. Though the chapters build from older to newer, they aren't chronological. One chapter might start in 1909 and finish a few decades later while the next starts in the late 1880's.
Then there is the storyline. It makes sense for the two families to have some contact since their initial meeting. But the latter chapters have all 3 family lines crossing paths in ways that can only be explained by divine intervention (and it's not that kind of book).
That being said, the individual stories, even the one-off chapters, are fascinating and the characters are very well done. The ending is satisfying, despite being ridiculously coincidental. That's what saved it from 3 stars. The overall writing is what saved it from 2 stars.
Honestly, this should be a trilogy. Storylines of even central characters moved so fast in parts that the reader can barely keep track. I cared about the characters and wanted to see them develop over time. Not fast forward and skip through time. The right editor could have turned this good book into a masterpiece. Think The Century Trilogy or The Cairo Trilogy. The writing was good enough but the structure was lacking.
Then there is the storyline. It makes sense for the two families to have some contact since their initial meeting. But the latter chapters have all 3 family lines crossing paths in ways that can only be explained by divine intervention (and it's not that kind of book).
That being said, the individual stories, even the one-off chapters, are fascinating and the characters are very well done. The ending is satisfying, despite being ridiculously coincidental. That's what saved it from 3 stars. The overall writing is what saved it from 2 stars.
Honestly, this should be a trilogy. Storylines of even central characters moved so fast in parts that the reader can barely keep track. I cared about the characters and wanted to see them develop over time. Not fast forward and skip through time. The right editor could have turned this good book into a masterpiece. Think The Century Trilogy or The Cairo Trilogy. The writing was good enough but the structure was lacking.
August 5, 2015
Breathtaking. A well crafted epic that spans the globe; Ireland, India, America. It begins in 1843, with two Irish best friends who live in Mullaghmore, County Sligo in Western Ireland. Having spent two weeks in County Sligo last year, I fell in love with this area even more while reading this book. Elegant writing. A small sample:
"Our fireplaces kept us warm, and in their embers we cooked our sod-grown potatoes, delicious as no other, cool and earthy to the touch, cooked to perfection in our very own sod-fed embers, and a lick of sea-salt dried off our Sligo Bay. That was how home tasted: warm praties with but just a whiff of the peat and Irish mothersoil. I know it in my heart, my mouth, and nostrils."
No Country is a powerful story that follows these two young men, Padraig Aherne and Brendan McCarthaigh, and their descendants that are blown away from Ireland due to misfortune and the potato famine. One heads to India and the other ends up in upstate New York. Fascinating and tragic history lessons of the British Empire and the stranglehold they had on Ireland and India.
This is a book that is a classic and is in my top ten of books I have ever read.
"What does it mean to belong to a nation? Is it the accident of birth? Is it a memory, a yearning for some obscure stamp on the soul, some tune that plays in the blood? Or is it what others insist you are---painting your corner of the room around you?"
I won this book in a Giveaway on Goodreads. Thank you Simon and Schuster. My review is an honest opinion of this book.
"Our fireplaces kept us warm, and in their embers we cooked our sod-grown potatoes, delicious as no other, cool and earthy to the touch, cooked to perfection in our very own sod-fed embers, and a lick of sea-salt dried off our Sligo Bay. That was how home tasted: warm praties with but just a whiff of the peat and Irish mothersoil. I know it in my heart, my mouth, and nostrils."
No Country is a powerful story that follows these two young men, Padraig Aherne and Brendan McCarthaigh, and their descendants that are blown away from Ireland due to misfortune and the potato famine. One heads to India and the other ends up in upstate New York. Fascinating and tragic history lessons of the British Empire and the stranglehold they had on Ireland and India.
This is a book that is a classic and is in my top ten of books I have ever read.
"What does it mean to belong to a nation? Is it the accident of birth? Is it a memory, a yearning for some obscure stamp on the soul, some tune that plays in the blood? Or is it what others insist you are---painting your corner of the room around you?"
I won this book in a Giveaway on Goodreads. Thank you Simon and Schuster. My review is an honest opinion of this book.
August 12, 2014
This book weaves together the lives of characters across time and countries into an intricate web. Little by little, the book reveals how one central character, an Irishman named Padraig Aherne, impacts the lives of future generations in India and the United States. I like the different voices for each of the characters, even though it does get difficult to keep track of how each one is related to the next. The details of each life in its own time and place are fascinating. Each individual story is heartbreaking, but they all feel true and most of them hold onto hope for the future.
I will admit that I wasn't sure I was going to like this book when I first started reading it, but I quickly changed my mind. This is a long book, but worth the effort. My only disappointment was that the author didn't reveal what happened to one of the characters, Frankie.
I received this book as a Goodreads First-Read. Yay!
I will admit that I wasn't sure I was going to like this book when I first started reading it, but I quickly changed my mind. This is a long book, but worth the effort. My only disappointment was that the author didn't reveal what happened to one of the characters, Frankie.
I received this book as a Goodreads First-Read. Yay!
July 14, 2020
DNF at 295 pages...
The first 150 pages read well and it’s a story well-told although heavily cliched in places and I’ve read better books on the same subject (eg Joseph O’ Connor).
For me the enjoyment changed when we get introduced to the main protagonists descendants: the timeline then jumps rapidly onwards and new characters are introduced without any build up or cohesion so the story just fell apart.
It’s also very obvious from the start of this novel how the crime element of it ends which would have kept me reading still if I was emotionally invested in the characters but sadly I wasn’t.
So a book of two halves really...
The first 150 pages read well and it’s a story well-told although heavily cliched in places and I’ve read better books on the same subject (eg Joseph O’ Connor).
For me the enjoyment changed when we get introduced to the main protagonists descendants: the timeline then jumps rapidly onwards and new characters are introduced without any build up or cohesion so the story just fell apart.
It’s also very obvious from the start of this novel how the crime element of it ends which would have kept me reading still if I was emotionally invested in the characters but sadly I wasn’t.
So a book of two halves really...
November 10, 2015
Read this book, if for nothing other than the history lesson, starting in Ireland and continuing in India and America. The story crosses over several generations with the central characters influencing the generations after them. Some of the stories are uplifting, but often they are downright tragic; the incredible bad luck that befalls some of them is just awful! The coincidence at the end of the novel, when it is revealed, is breath-taking, especially as the reader knows of the connections that the characters do not. A very well written mix of history and family saga.
August 4, 2016
I haven't enjoyed a book as much as I've enjoyed this in a long long time. It is both heartbreaking and brimming with hope. As I've spent most of my adult life being a wanderer, the central theme of what makes a home, whether house, family, people or country, really resonates with me. It is about losing roots and connections, yet forging new ones. It is gritty, gory and tragic at times yet it is also full of possibility. I would recommend this book to anyone that struggles with the concept of home, for anyone that has trouble setting roots down. That was what made it for me.
November 18, 2014
I loved this book. Mr. Kalyan Ray is a master storyteller. I would recommend this book to all my Irish and Indian friends and I would like to know what they think of this novel. It was harrowing at times and I did have to put the book down and take a break.
January 13, 2020
no hesitation in giving this book a five star rating. It is such a good book to read. I felt as if i was on the journeys with Brendan, Padraig, especially, and the way the stories of their lives unfolded and went on, and then onto the next generations and the next after that, culminating in the end of the story , which is where the book starts. The book is also a good history lessson about Ireland and India and the issues facing the peoples who see themselves as not of one but of two cultures.
July 11, 2019
This book had great potential. Unfortunately the many characters were not discussed well. The author switched characters often, and would call the same character by many names. The story also jumped years, decades, and days very frequently. It took focus to follow along. I enjoyed how the ending did finally connect all the characters. It was great to read when I had time to truly concentrate on the story line.
November 20, 2022
This was a very good book. It covered multiple generations of two families as they moved to different countries, married, had families, etc. At times it got confusing, but was definitely worth the effort to keep track. Much sadness, loss and love throughout the book. I would highly recommend it!
January 25, 2019
A fabulous story spanned over several generations. It’s one of the best generational stories I’ve ever read. So much depth and character development and tragic but wonderful stories. I sometimes had to refer back to remember who was who. Can’t help but love this story. Highly recommend
May 20, 2020
Historical....Ireland, India, Canada, New York 1840s-1980s....lives of descendants of Irish boy, segmented yet connected, historical context along the way.
August 24, 2022
I just can’t finish this book. I keep pushing to the finish line but I’m done. Book is too long and has become boring. The plot just continues and it doesn’t get to the point.
June 26, 2023
Reads like a mystery thriller but ponders big questions of identity, nationhood, and loss. Loved it most of the way. Poignant ending
December 29, 2024
Fantastic and fascinating sweep of world history combined with solid research and literary brilliance. I just couldn't leave it!
March 19, 2025
Molto bello....
Un po troppi lutti che lascia tristezza per le sorti dei vari protagonisti.,ma la storia é appassionante.
Un po troppi lutti che lascia tristezza per le sorti dei vari protagonisti.,ma la storia é appassionante.
September 10, 2014
Kalyan Ray’s No Country is a special book, full of surprises at every turn of the page and bursting with emotion. An intricate tapestry of the human condition, No Country first tells the story of Brendan McCarthaigh and Padraig Aherne, boyhood friends growing up together in 19th century Ireland. Brendan is a bookish introvert while Padraig positively explodes with energy, finding fervor in the blossoming rebellion of Irishmen against the domineering English. When Padraig follows his passion to Dublin, intent on being part of an uprising of Irish independence, a tragic accident will force him onto a ship bound for India, leaving behind his beloved mother and his dear friend Brendan, as well as the woman he loves and a child he didn’t know existed. As Padraig is swept off into the world of the East India Trading Company, Brendan is facing his own life-shattering struggles at home in Ireland: the Great Hunger has struck his homeland, and all around him is falling away. Desperate, and determined to make a good life for the child he’s promised to care for, Brendan sets sail for America, wondering every day what became of the dear friend to whom he’s now inextricable connected. In an alternating narrative, No Country takes the reader through the stories of not only Padraig and Brendan’s lives, but of their ancestors, gliding seamlessly through the Potato Famine of Ireland in the 1840s, through the rise and fall of the British Empire in India, to the base of Mount Vesuvius in turn-of-the-century Italy, and across the Atlantic to America during the majority of the twentieth-century; every thread weaves together a story that ultimately leads to a harrowing crime scene in 1980s New York.
In an impressive rendering of history and humanity, author Kalyan Ray’s quietly exhilarating novel traces the unfathomable roots of a family tree that belongs to no country and no single ancestry. As the novel glides between varying sections, each in a different time and place, and with a different first-person narrator, it maintains a closeness of connection with the reader, an intimacy usually unprecedented in expansive novels. With a list of character narrators that borders on a dozen, Ray manages never to overwhelm the reader, drawing each character with such definitive clarity that they become instantly recognizable. Each shift of narrative has a way of feeling natural as the days turn into decades and we leave one century, one country, behind for another. With every turn in the winding intricacy of the story new realities are introduced, some heartwarming, many heartbreaking, and all bursting with their commonality of being distinctly, unerringly human. With one short sentence, Ray sums up the meaning at the heart of the novel:
“We are all related: Our mortality is our one common nation.”
No Country is a beautifully crafted novel, brought to life with prose that shifts from luminous to disturbing on the whim of its narrator. With relentlessly researched detail, the vastly different settings each swallow the reader’s reality – from pre-famine Ireland to the partition of the Bengal province in the 1940s and the Hudson-Fulton Celebration in 1909 New York. Much of No Country’s beauty stimulates the reader’s mind and heart alike, drawing from the magnanimity of the roots of nature – neither claimed nor bordered – and the same nomadic essence of human nature. In its wake, No Country will leave its reader awoken to the wildness of the world, enchanted with the unknown intricacies of history, and deeply touched by the naturalness of human vulnerability and love.
(Review © Casee Marie, originally published on September 5, 2014 at LiteraryInklings.com. A copy of the book was provided for the purpose of review.)
In an impressive rendering of history and humanity, author Kalyan Ray’s quietly exhilarating novel traces the unfathomable roots of a family tree that belongs to no country and no single ancestry. As the novel glides between varying sections, each in a different time and place, and with a different first-person narrator, it maintains a closeness of connection with the reader, an intimacy usually unprecedented in expansive novels. With a list of character narrators that borders on a dozen, Ray manages never to overwhelm the reader, drawing each character with such definitive clarity that they become instantly recognizable. Each shift of narrative has a way of feeling natural as the days turn into decades and we leave one century, one country, behind for another. With every turn in the winding intricacy of the story new realities are introduced, some heartwarming, many heartbreaking, and all bursting with their commonality of being distinctly, unerringly human. With one short sentence, Ray sums up the meaning at the heart of the novel:
“We are all related: Our mortality is our one common nation.”
No Country is a beautifully crafted novel, brought to life with prose that shifts from luminous to disturbing on the whim of its narrator. With relentlessly researched detail, the vastly different settings each swallow the reader’s reality – from pre-famine Ireland to the partition of the Bengal province in the 1940s and the Hudson-Fulton Celebration in 1909 New York. Much of No Country’s beauty stimulates the reader’s mind and heart alike, drawing from the magnanimity of the roots of nature – neither claimed nor bordered – and the same nomadic essence of human nature. In its wake, No Country will leave its reader awoken to the wildness of the world, enchanted with the unknown intricacies of history, and deeply touched by the naturalness of human vulnerability and love.
(Review © Casee Marie, originally published on September 5, 2014 at LiteraryInklings.com. A copy of the book was provided for the purpose of review.)
March 9, 2017
Uno dei libri più belli di sempre! Mi ha rubato un pezzo di cuore e di anima.
Scritto con maestria ti catapulta nella vita dei personaggi e dei loro luoghi
Scritto con maestria ti catapulta nella vita dei personaggi e dei loro luoghi
May 19, 2015
There is quite a bit to commend No Country. Ray has a wonderful style--when he writes about the characters in Ireland, I hear an Irish accent; in India they have and Indian accent, and so forth. For the first half of the book, I was completely drawn in. The characters were so compelling that I just could not put the book down.
Unfortunately, something happened halfway through the book. Honestly, I can't put my finger on. The best guess I have is that Ray's long vision for the book--which I think was a family saga--just didn't hold up. As the two branches of Padraig's descendents--those from his daughter Maeve and those from his Anglo-Indian son Brendan--developed, I think they just grew too far apart within the plot for me.
I will say that finishing this book was a real chore for me. However, I will concede that it might have been that I was reading this book at the wrong time. Perhaps if I had been reading it when my life was a little less hectic I wouldn't have felt so worn out reading this. This book may require energy and focus I just wasn't able to give.
So, bottom line....this is probably a better book than I thought it was. I probably would recommend it to some more ambitious readers, but this is not something that should be read in a "busy season."
I received an electronic copy of this book in return for an honest review. I received no other compensation for this post.
Unfortunately, something happened halfway through the book. Honestly, I can't put my finger on. The best guess I have is that Ray's long vision for the book--which I think was a family saga--just didn't hold up. As the two branches of Padraig's descendents--those from his daughter Maeve and those from his Anglo-Indian son Brendan--developed, I think they just grew too far apart within the plot for me.
I will say that finishing this book was a real chore for me. However, I will concede that it might have been that I was reading this book at the wrong time. Perhaps if I had been reading it when my life was a little less hectic I wouldn't have felt so worn out reading this. This book may require energy and focus I just wasn't able to give.
So, bottom line....this is probably a better book than I thought it was. I probably would recommend it to some more ambitious readers, but this is not something that should be read in a "busy season."
I received an electronic copy of this book in return for an honest review. I received no other compensation for this post.
October 21, 2014
Ray's book was a good read. It had topics and places that provided many evenings of absorbed reading. It's a generational saga novel that begins in Ireland during the famine years of An Gorta Mor, the Great Hunger, in the mid nineteenth century. The two principal characters, Padraig and Brendan are young men who are best friends. Their lives are disrupted by the events in Ireland and Padraig is forced to flee Ireland, winding up in India, during the time of the British Raj, when India was run by the British East India Company. He doesn't realize he's left an infant daughter, Maeve, behind, and as the famine worsens Brendan takes Maeve, now a young girl, on a 'coffin ship,' as they called the boatloads of people fleeing Ireland. The turbulence in pre-independence India is seen through the eyes of Padraig, and his Anglo-Indian heirs, and the New World lives of Padraig's heirs in Canada and the U.S. are seen through the eyes of Maeve's children and grandchildren. It makes for interesting dichotomies, and the paths of the two branches of family cross with later immigration of the Indian heirs to the New World. Fascinating stuff, intricately plotted. A family tree diagram might have been useful.
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