Banking, Beer & Robert the Bruce

The Book of Tolan #1

by T.I. Wade, Stacey Bigliardi (Editor)

Book The Tolan family is a 'typical' family...probably a little like yours. Volume I of The Book of Tolan begins in Ireland in 1779; Patrick Murphy Tolan needs to get out of the country. A potato famine is squeezing the livelihood of the Irish islanders into a vast hunger. The rich are leaving on the Great Ships bound for Boston and the poor are taking the less-costly route to the shores of Scotland. Through a series of entertaining events, the the story of the Tolan Generations unfold around the globe. Always in trouble and with the free spirit that the Irish have, the characters live, multiply, travel to the four corners of the Earth (then flat), make money and then as with most people, lose it in uncanny ways. Readers who enjoy becoming absorbed in an entertaining tale, that will transport you through time, around the globe and beyond, should not miss this opportunity to embark on an odyssey of light-hearted humor and adventure in the company of the quirky Tolan family.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction

600 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

T I Wade was born in Bromley, Kent, England in 1954. His father, a banker was promoted with his International Bank to Africa and the young family moved to Africa in 1956. The author grew up in Southern Rhodesia.
Once he had completed his mandatory military commitments, at 21 he left Africa to mature in Europe. He enjoyed Europe and lived in three countries; England, Germany and Portugal for 15 years before returning to Africa; Cape Town in 1989. Here the author owned and ran a restaurant, a coffee manufacturing and retail business, flew a Cessna 210 around desolate southern Africa and finally got married in 1992. Due to the upheavals of the political turmoil in South Africa, the Wade family of three moved to the United States in 1996. Park City, Utah was where his writing career began.
To date T I Wade has written sixteen novels.

Reviews

[Sherri Huntley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very unique book, different from anything I have read in a while. It follows a family tree through multiple generations in a witty and humerous way. The family meets all types of outlandish adventures (sometimes venturing into a kind of juvinile fantasy) but I really liked it's light hearted attitude. It's a long book, over 600 pages, but it held my interest throughout.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Received through Goodreads First Reads program.

About 1/3 thru it at this point and I have to say it is a first rate historical fiction/ ancestral trace. Mixed with the right amount of absurd adventure and mundane details, one can read this and almost think it really was all written down by each member of the family. The only thing that may be a negative, and I am not sure how to fix this really, is the two family interweaving with respect to chronology. Sometimes the dates are a bit confusing and i find myself having to flip back a chapter or so to see that timeline, especially when both families had dealings with Mr Barcley and his banking institutions. But like I said, I have no idea how to make it any better and still achieve the everyother chapter format, especially when Robbie Tolan's story is being told over 5 chapters.

And the reading continues...


***UPDATED at completion***
A very interesting read. A different style altogether. It reads exactly how it is meant to be written, as a manuscript that has been updated thru its times. Now, given this style there are times when the story is rather slow, and by this i mean with respect to time. The book itself never had me bogged down and i eagerly flipped thru the 600 pages.

With everyone's history blending amongst the family, at times it was quite confusing to get thru certain chapters, but as i resolved to just continue on, i was rewarded in that i was never really lost on the overall story. But i should mention it was difficult to keep placing characters as they aged thru the years: Fred Barcley seemed to be ageless as he always knew everyone and showed up thru so many stories. Same with Dirk and Claude, who appeared to live well into their twilight years.

All in all however, i must say i was very pleased with my reading and i look forward to getting around to book number two and continuing the story after WWI.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Book of Tolan begins with Murphy Patrick Tolan in 1779 with the potato famine. The stories go between the Irish/Scottish family and the English family. This delightful tale gives you such stories as transporting money in coffins, while the dead decay on top, to keep from being robbed, to brewing the strongest beer in Britain that could kill you and many many more that will keep you reading and laughing out loud. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a good read and loves to laugh. I won this book from Goodreads and I am proud to say that I also won book 2 Easy Come Easy Go and I can't wait for it to come in so I can start reading. Would be awesome if I can win book 3 also.

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I read the description, I wasn't sure I would enjoy the book. I'm not typically a fan of these kinds of stories, and history isn't my favorite subject. But this book proves that it can be very worthwhile to step out of your comfort zone and give new books a chance. I was hooked from the first page. I look forward to reading the next book in this series. I won this book from goodreads, thank you!

[Karen French · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good writing. The many characters are not perfect but real. I enjoyed the journey of reading this book. The author put alot of work into this book. Although the author talked about wine a bit much, other aspects of the story were excellent. I look forward to reading the second and third book in the series! I give it five stars.

I got this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

[Kerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book for free in a Goodreads First Reads giveaway.

A family history with humor....ALOT of humor. Beware: some is raunchy.
This book is definitely different than anything I've read. I'll more than likely pick up the next volume.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book! Offensive, yes at times, but soooo funny. I rarely laugh reading a book, but was laughing quite frequently. Can't wait for volumes 2 and 3.

[Jesse Kimmel-Freeman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funky and kooky and a good read! Can't wait to read the second.

[Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is outside my normal reading material genres, but it feels well-written. Chapters switch perspectives off different characters throughout the years, so you see quite a bit of the world. There are a lot of characters who are Characters with a capital "C". There are hijinks and mayhem, some death and destruction, a fair bit of procreation and related recreational activities. The word "rollicking" comes to mind. I suspect "rollicking" isn't my cup of tea.

I don't think I'd want to be in any of the characters' shoes, so to speak, but they mostly seem like the kind of person you'd want around to tell stories at a party.

The novel follows several descendants through various mishaps, windfalls, and crises. Sometimes everything turns out basically fine; sometimes it really doesn't.
I'd recommend this to people who like movies like the Hangover.

I received a copy of this book through the Goodreads Giveaway program.

[Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is humor, slice of life (more or less), of a pretty strange and strangely lucky and strangely unlucky family (or two). I can see it being the favorite book of someone, but it just didn't hit the right spot for me. I suspect it's just not my kind of humor.

I did enjoy Robert the Bruce.

[Lacey · Rating 3 out of 5]

How to describe this book. I liked it, I didn't love it. It started out slow for me probably because we have the narratives of two families going at the same time but not occuring at the same time. Did that make sense? There is the English family tree and the Irish/Scottish family tree, and while the book alternates between the families the storyline isn't occuring at the same time. Only near the end of the book does the chronology synch up so we know what is happening to both families at the same time. The other confusing part for me was the similiar inherited names: Robert, Robbie, Little Robbie, Johnnie, Little Johnnie, William, Little Bill. Some of them are accounted for in the family tree provided at the begining of the book but the ones that aren't in the direct line of providing their story to the manuscript are not included and this was where keeping track of everyone became a task. What I did find entertaining was how the two families kept randomly interacting over time. A member from the English side cuts the hand off of a member from the Scottish side, a member from the English side inadvertantly kills a member from the Scottish side and somewhere in America someone saves someone else after being shot (really confused at this point). And somewhere in the story is a time traveling woman. The story does read like a narrative mainly because we are looking at 6 generations of two different families. I'm curious to see if the stories become more developed as time passes. I'm also still interested in where this is leading. If the third book ends in 2779 then there are still tons of stories to cover and I'll bite. I might not run right out and get books 2 & 3 but I am still interested in reading them and finding out how this all ends.

[P · Rating 2 out of 5]

I won this on Goodreads. This is really my kind of book--a multigenerational family saga infused with historical tidbits. While this rather lengthy novel introduces some interesting characters who get themselves into some interesting situations, I found it to be poorly, almost amateurishly written. Repetitive, both vocabulary and plot-wise, the story goes on a bit too long for me. Parts of it were amusing, but parts were annoying too. The male characters were all, conveniently, astute businessmen who followed similar paths in acquiring their fortunes. The women, apparently, were all sex-starved virgins who couldn't wait to jump (literally) on the men. I thought the sex scenes were gratuitous, to say the least. I did enjoy the bits of history that were woven into the tale, but the chronology, for me, was confusing and the large number of characters was difficult to keep track of.

[Elliott · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a decent book, quite long but there's a lot of interesting and silly things that happen throughout.

It held my interest for the most part but some of the family members who "wrote" in the book tended to be too monotonous and go on and on about details that don't really seem to matter - though luckily these family members in the book are few; but I still have to dock a few stars for it.

There's a LOT of beer and some banking in this book - the beer stories are generally a lot funnier than the other parts; it's got a good mix of stories in it for each chapter - some humor, some tragic, some romance - it's kind of all over the place so for some people it might be hard to keep up with the pacing and constant change that goes on from character to character.

Otherwise it's a pretty good book and the stories are interesting to say the least.

[Dar B · Rating 2 out of 5]

I finally gave up on reading this book, despite winning it from first reads.

I like the concept that the story is a family manuscript but the sex scenes ruined it for me. I am no prude but this is definitely written from a man's perspective, who seems to be obsessed with two women at a time. I would like it sooo much more with those scenes either left out or skimmed over without all of the detail. Most of the time, they had little or nothing to do with the story, other than adding absurdity.

I found the entertwining of the Scottish and English sides of the family terrific. The main story is interesting but the author kept ruining it with horny virgins. I made it through nearly 300 pages but became disenchanted and quite bored, moving on to books that I enjoy much more. Sorry!

[Brad Theado · Rating 4 out of 5]

Others have captured the overall subject of the book, so i am only going to comment on what I liked about it. I really enjoyed the feel of the book in that it reminded me a lot of a James Michener books like Chesapeake or Texas. with the long storyline following a single family through time. I laughed out loud in parts and felt lustful in others. I can't wait to read the second book in the series.

[Becca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just won this on First Reads!

I found this book to be very interesting, however I think it was about 200 pages too long. Around page 400 I got bored and moved on to a few other books then came back to this one. It was funny at times but other times it almost felt like I was reading pornography. I thought the portrayal of the women as sex driven maniacs was a little over the top. And every single man was either an amazing businessman or extremely lucky with money. It was different than anything I have ever read before though!

[Des · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full disclosure: review copy received via goodreads.

A wonderfully fun and entertaining read. It is historical fiction, one of my favorite genres. This story follows a family and its ancestry over a period of 150 or so years, from England, Scotland and France to America and Burma. It intertwines these family members and their stories with actual events in history. The authors embelishments of fictional events based on factual history are wonderfully brilliant and ironic.

Highly recommended.

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Banking, Beer & Robert the Bruce
by: T.I. Wade

I won this book from a Goodreads/First reads giveaway

This book is a Historical Fiction novel and follows the geneology of two families. It follows about 150 years. It is written with lots of humor mixed in. It is a long book but it keeps you interested and laughing throughout. (I love a book that can make me laugh out loud, and this one did)

I highly recommend this book. It does have some parts that may not be for younger readers, so beware. I am looking forward to reading more of these. Great Book!

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book took me longer to finish than I thought since I was in the middle of packing and unpacking between 2 places. It was slow at first to learn names and who they were but once you get the idea whos who - the story went smoothly. I really like the author's style of writing. It was very interesting to see how bank, cars, and other stuff were started during the time - their thinkings, their phrases and more. I'll definately read more books from this author.

[Drew Becker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great frolic through the past with a taste of Fielding, Benny Hill and storytelling that follows a family through Ireland, France, England and other countries. A sprawling panorama with unforgettable characters.

[Deb Cushman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good historical stories told in an interesting manner. At times witty, at times bawdy, at times long-winded. Unlike anything I’ve read before. It was worth the adventure.

I received this book in a giveaway from the Goodread’s First Reads program.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this on good reads. A funny, interesting and at times a bit immature. But totally enjoyable read.

[Marianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed the book but know it would not be for every reader.

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Won a copy through Goodreads' First Reads program.

Fun and entertaining historical fiction. Loved the characters, and hated putting the book down.

[Debbie]

This book has been received and I will be reading it soon.