The Past

by Neil Jordan

In this brilliant novel, a man searches for the truth about his parentage. His grandmother was a flamboyantly bad actress at the Abbey Theatre, married to a Free State hero. Slowly he uncovers more of his history. The pieces of the past begin to fit together, and the truth of his family is revealed...

Genres: Fiction, Irish Literature

275 pages, Paperback

First published December 28, 1980

About the author

Neil Jordan is an Irish novelist and film director.

Reviews

[A. Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some wonderful reviews of this book, and I did enjoy the early pages very much, but as the narrative rolled on, I began to feel as though I had missed some pivotal sentence or two early on that would have anchored me. Unfortunately, while I persevered and got to the end, I don't know how the story got there.

[Rose · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm sorry, but I just couldn't get into this book. After 70 pages I just had to put it down in frustration, not understanding much of what the writer was trying to convey.

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you like impressionistic writing with rhetorical flourish and great style, then this may be a book for you. If however you are like me and like a plot with a good bit of action and movement, then you will probably find this novel frustrating and ultimately disappointing. I think Jordan wanted the family drama at the center of this book and the dramatic troupe's importance (symbolically at least) in the early days of the Irish Free State to reflect one another in a more epic vein, but I didn't find those two strands well woven and so the resolution (such as it was) of the central mystery of paternity ended up being rather anticlimactic. The importance of the stage to the Irish national sensibility is more hinted at or implied than displayed.

[T P Kennedy · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's an ambitious undertaking to link the history of a family with the history of an emerging state. Unfortunately, I wasn't convinced by this. The writing is good though overly poetic and florid. The novel jumps from character to character and era to era and ultimately confuses. The tone is overly detached. This one bored me a little.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of all the Neil Jordan books I've read, this was my least favorite. That being said, I still enjoyed it and a couple of the early scenes will remain with me for a very long time.