What do you think?
Rate this book
Easter Rising: An Irish American Coming Up from Under
Michael Patrick MacDonald's All A Family Story from Southie told of the loss of four of his siblings to the violence, poverty, and gangsterism of Boston's Irish-American ghetto. The question "How did you get out?" has haunted MacDonald ever since. In response he has written this new book, an honest story of reinvention that begins with young MacDonald's breakaway from the soul-crushing walls of Southie's Old Colony housing project and ends with two healing journeys to Ireland that are unlike anything in Irish American literature.
The story begins with MacDonald's first urgent forays outside Southie, into Boston and eventually to New York's East Village, where he becomes part of the club scene swirling around Johnny Rotten, Mission of Burma, the Clash, and other groups. MacDonald's one-of-a-kind 1980s social history gives us a powerful glimpse of what punk music is for a lifesaving form of subversion and self-education. But family tragedies draw him home again, where trauma and guilt lead to an emotional collapse. In a harrowing yet hilarious scene of self-discovery, MacDonald meets his father for the first time - much too late. After this failed attempt to connect, MacDonald travels to Ireland, first as an alienated young man who has learned to hate shamrocks with a passion, and then on a second trip with his extraordinary "Ma," a roots journey laced with both rebellion and profound redemption.
The story begins with MacDonald's first urgent forays outside Southie, into Boston and eventually to New York's East Village, where he becomes part of the club scene swirling around Johnny Rotten, Mission of Burma, the Clash, and other groups. MacDonald's one-of-a-kind 1980s social history gives us a powerful glimpse of what punk music is for a lifesaving form of subversion and self-education. But family tragedies draw him home again, where trauma and guilt lead to an emotional collapse. In a harrowing yet hilarious scene of self-discovery, MacDonald meets his father for the first time - much too late. After this failed attempt to connect, MacDonald travels to Ireland, first as an alienated young man who has learned to hate shamrocks with a passion, and then on a second trip with his extraordinary "Ma," a roots journey laced with both rebellion and profound redemption.
248 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2006
44 people are currently reading
856 people want to read
About the author
Michael Patrick MacDonald
7 books170 followersMichael Patrick MacDonald was born in Boston in 1966 and grew up in South Boston’s Old Colony housing project. He helped launch many of Boston’s anti violence initiatives, including gun-buyback programs and the South Boston Vigil Group which served to give voice to the survivors of violence and the drug trade in that neighborhood. He continues to work nationally with survivor families and young people in the anti-violence movement.
His first book, All Souls won the American Book Award. He is also the recipient of a New England Literary Lights Award, and the Myers Center Outstanding Book Award administered by the Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights in North America. His second book, the highly acclaimed memoir Easter Rising, was published in 2006. He has written guest columns for the Boston Globe and is currently writing the screenplay of All Souls for director Ron Shelton.
Michael has been awarded an Anne Cox Chambers Fellowship at the MacDowell Colony, a Bellagio Center Fellowship through the Rockefeller Foundation, and residencies at Blue Mountain Center and Djerassi Artist Residency Program.
He currently lives in Brooklyn, New York, and devotes all of his time to writing and public speaking on topics ranging from “Race and Class in America” to “Trauma, Healing, and Social Change.”
His first book, All Souls won the American Book Award. He is also the recipient of a New England Literary Lights Award, and the Myers Center Outstanding Book Award administered by the Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights in North America. His second book, the highly acclaimed memoir Easter Rising, was published in 2006. He has written guest columns for the Boston Globe and is currently writing the screenplay of All Souls for director Ron Shelton.
Michael has been awarded an Anne Cox Chambers Fellowship at the MacDowell Colony, a Bellagio Center Fellowship through the Rockefeller Foundation, and residencies at Blue Mountain Center and Djerassi Artist Residency Program.
He currently lives in Brooklyn, New York, and devotes all of his time to writing and public speaking on topics ranging from “Race and Class in America” to “Trauma, Healing, and Social Change.”
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 107 reviews
October 22, 2019
An interesting memoir, particularly when it deals with the Boston punk music scene and the MacDonald family trip to Ireland. Nevertheless, this book is quite a disappointment after MacDonald's All Souls--an unforgettable account of his South Boston boyhood, filled with poetry and rage.
February 19, 2022
I read this author’s first book and really enjoyed it but couldn’t get into this one. Too much of the punk rock scene, goth, whatever, it was interesting at first just understanding a little about where it came from but then it started dragging. Some funny scenes for sure, but I got tired of the descriptions of the concerts.
February 25, 2021
It's a funny thing when you go to a book signing, and the author says "you look familiar". You say, well, I went to the Rat alot and I did some modeling...and he says, "Oh my God, I totally remember you"!!!! I loved this book. How often do you get to read a book about your scene, the places you went, the shows you were at and your friends that were there with you? Easter Rising totally did it for me. If you've read All Souls, and you should...If you want to know how Michael pulled himself up out of the Southie mire? This will tell you. I loved the music scene stuff, but also, being from an Irish American household, I really enjoyed Michaels Irish journey, and how going there made his, hit you over the head with it, Irish community finally make sense to him.
June 23, 2008
I loved this author's first memoir "All Souls" about growing up amidst the poverty and violence in the tight-knit, xenophobic Irish-Catholic community of South Boston in the 1970s/80s, how that poverty and violence claimed the lives of four of his brothers and disabled one of his sisters. In Easter Rising, he focuses on his own story, how he was transported away from the projects through his love of punk music and how he reconciled himself to his heritage through visits to Ireland. Again, I felt a sort of kinship with him--we're the same age, both from a large Irish-American family (although his tops mine by six siblings), loved much of the same music, and have a propensity to write--plus I think a visit to Ireland would do me good. I still like his first book better--maybe because it was wider in scope but still personal--but I enjoyed reading more of his life story.
April 1, 2011
I was surprised by how much I liked his second memoir considering I had heard that it paled in comparison to his first--and one of my favorite--memoirs, All Soul's. It has been a while since I read All Soul's, and I intend to read it now again, but in my memory it described rather than explained the ethnocentric mindset of South Boston. Easter Rising focuses on explaining that self-deprecating mentality, using the story of MacDonald's own growth--through art, culture, and, most importantly, punk music--to contrast the beliefs and attitudes of most of his friends and family in Old Colony Housing Projects with those living outside the neighborhood.
I spent some time in South Boston in the late 90s early 2000s, and there was much contention regarding All Soul's, which had I believe had just recently been published. Among more than a few of Southie's residents--both the 'project rats' and the City Point kids--I sensed anger and bitterness towards the author for his critique of Southie culture and his blasting of the neighborhood's precious father figure, Whitey. "He's a FUCKING LIAR" I was told about MacDonald on more than one occasion. But I think, perhaps, that they were so angry and bitter with MacDonald because deep down they knew he was right.
I have since moved away from the Boston area and reside in Western Mass. I enjoy the diversity of people, ideas, and culture--things that were blatantly void in my South Shore town. When I walk down my street now, it's not a given that I'll see a white kid with an Abercrombie and Fitch sweathshirt, Boston Redsox hat, and gleaming white Nikes. I don't regularly hear: "You're fuckin WEIHD! Losah!!" or feel the arrogance and 'art-better-than-thou' mentality seeping out of every passersby pores. Instead, I see people open to things different from themselves and respectful of (or at the very least aware of) people living vastly different than themselves.
I spent some time in South Boston in the late 90s early 2000s, and there was much contention regarding All Soul's, which had I believe had just recently been published. Among more than a few of Southie's residents--both the 'project rats' and the City Point kids--I sensed anger and bitterness towards the author for his critique of Southie culture and his blasting of the neighborhood's precious father figure, Whitey. "He's a FUCKING LIAR" I was told about MacDonald on more than one occasion. But I think, perhaps, that they were so angry and bitter with MacDonald because deep down they knew he was right.
I have since moved away from the Boston area and reside in Western Mass. I enjoy the diversity of people, ideas, and culture--things that were blatantly void in my South Shore town. When I walk down my street now, it's not a given that I'll see a white kid with an Abercrombie and Fitch sweathshirt, Boston Redsox hat, and gleaming white Nikes. I don't regularly hear: "You're fuckin WEIHD! Losah!!" or feel the arrogance and 'art-better-than-thou' mentality seeping out of every passersby pores. Instead, I see people open to things different from themselves and respectful of (or at the very least aware of) people living vastly different than themselves.
October 18, 2012
The edition I read of this book has a cover that markets it as a memoir of a young man who grew up in the era of punk rock. I suppose the publisher is trying to appeal to a demographic who also grew up in the late '70's and early '80's when The Sex Pistols and The Clash were the cutting edge of the music scene. And in a way, this book does deliver. Michael MacDonald did experience British punk and new wave music when it first came to America, and he tells fascinating stories of himslef as a young boy buying records and sneaking into clubs to hear his favorite new bands.
This book is also a coming of age story, and more than just about punk rock. MacDonald grew up in the troubled housing projects of South Boston. He hated his drug and crime filled streets, and music became his way out. His way to rebel from the life he did not want to lead. Thus, the story becomes a memoir about struggle and finding your way, especially when you have family members and neighbors dying around you. MacDonald does survive, with the help of punk rock and a strong will to escape the fate of other in his Southie neighborhood.
The book ends with his trip to Ireland to discover the Irish side of his family, and though this is a fascinating account, this section leads to the disjointed nature of the book. In fact, there are almost two books in this one. He does fall in love with punk rock and become his own person through it, but there is a bridge missing between this life and the life he leads at the end, a man working to clean up the streets of his old neighborhood and someone no longer ashamed of his past. Despite this schism in the book, it is certainly worth a read.
This book is also a coming of age story, and more than just about punk rock. MacDonald grew up in the troubled housing projects of South Boston. He hated his drug and crime filled streets, and music became his way out. His way to rebel from the life he did not want to lead. Thus, the story becomes a memoir about struggle and finding your way, especially when you have family members and neighbors dying around you. MacDonald does survive, with the help of punk rock and a strong will to escape the fate of other in his Southie neighborhood.
The book ends with his trip to Ireland to discover the Irish side of his family, and though this is a fascinating account, this section leads to the disjointed nature of the book. In fact, there are almost two books in this one. He does fall in love with punk rock and become his own person through it, but there is a bridge missing between this life and the life he leads at the end, a man working to clean up the streets of his old neighborhood and someone no longer ashamed of his past. Despite this schism in the book, it is certainly worth a read.
April 12, 2014
I recently heard Michael Patrick MacDonald speak at a conference and his story and remarks on intergenerational trauma compelled me to go back and finally read his second book. Where All Souls is amazing storytelling about the MacDonald family and the social and cultural underpinnings that shaped their lives in Southie, Easter Rising brings you into the author's own experience and how he dealt with so much trauma. It is raw and gut wrenching but also redemptive. "Everyone knew exactly how they should feel about fighting but were confused when it came to pain," he says speaking of the Irish generally, and his own neighbors and family specifically. As the author has learned through his personal experience as well as through work in other Boston neighborhoods, agency and voice allow for transformation.
April 28, 2017
I loved the author's All Souls, and I'm from Boston, West Roxbury to be exact; where a lot of people thought they were better than others. fortunately after reading All Souls, i dropped that myth; had done so much earlier in my life, but still needed a reminder. The people are strong and clannish and MacDonald portrays well his alienation, quest, and yet tug of family.
Read
October 5, 2010I almost never read memoirs, they just aren't that interesting to me. But for some reason this one caught my eye and I decided to give it twenty pages or so. Those twenty pages didn't grip me, but they were enough to make me give it another twenty pages, and on in that vein until I was halfway through the book. MacDonald's previous book (All Souls) was apparently all about the hard life growing up in Boston's Irish-Catholic "Southie" neighborhood (as seen in movies such as The Departed, Mystic River, Boondock Saints, Good Will Hunting, Gone Baby Gone, and many more). I didn't read that book, but now that I've read this, it's hard to imagine what it would contain that's not in this one. MacDonald writes well in his own voice, as he describes how he "got out" of the cycle of poverty, drugs, crime, etc. that doomed so many of his siblings and friends. What freed him from all that was discovering underground music, specifically the punk scene that was just bubbling up in the late 1970s on the heels of English punk. The discovery of a whole new world and a whole different way of thinking liberated him and took him on a completely different life path from that which killed four of his brothers. To a much less dramatic extent, I had the same experience with punk music, and I suppose that link to my own adolescence is what kept me reading. The other elements of the book (various family tragedies, trips to Ireland to connect with his ancestors, etc.) are all well-written, but just not that interesting to me, although I expect readers who like memoirs will find them much more compelling. There are also some somewhat awkward jumps in time, and elisions of his life story which make the overall framework a bit choppy. On the whole, I still can't decide if I'm glad I read it or not -- I fell neither richer or poorer for the hours spent, but I suspect that has more to do with me than the book. If you like memoirs and have an interest in Boston, or punk rock, or people's struggle to escape their circumstances, give it a chance.
July 30, 2013
To summarize very quickly, imagine the moves A Bronx Tale, Good Will Hunting, The Departed, and American Hardcore blended together, and you've got Easter Rising.
I guess I didn't begin the book with such high expectations, not having read All Souls as many other reviewers have. At first I was hooked by the story, which really accurately portrays Boston and its characters. The narrator's childhood memories were a mix of tough-kid-from-the-streets-of-Southie and nostalgia for quirky family members, followed by a traumatic incident that causes the narrator to seek solace both from his pain and from his backwards neighborhood in the emerging Boston punk scene.
But the book quickly turned into a who's who of that scene, and the constant name-dropping got annoying while sending the meat of the story into the background. By page 150 I was completely fed up. Even as a Bostonion familiar with the names and places of mention, I was incredibly bored. I can't imagine how someone living outside of Mass. could trudge through, unless they were interested in the punk scene.
Later, the story became a mini history lesson on the troubles in Ireland, albeit an extremely unsophisticated one. Several times in the narrative I didn't know if I was reading the thoughts of the adult narrator or the immature teen. For example, when the character was 11, I found his thoughts to be beyond his age; when he was 30-something, he seemed to me very naive.
I wish MacDonald stuck with honest personal reflection on the tragedies of his family and neighborhood instead of trying to simultaneously write a tribute to Boston punk AND a political statement about how the Irish troubles relate to the troubles of South Boston. It's just too much, and as a result none are done really well.
I guess I didn't begin the book with such high expectations, not having read All Souls as many other reviewers have. At first I was hooked by the story, which really accurately portrays Boston and its characters. The narrator's childhood memories were a mix of tough-kid-from-the-streets-of-Southie and nostalgia for quirky family members, followed by a traumatic incident that causes the narrator to seek solace both from his pain and from his backwards neighborhood in the emerging Boston punk scene.
But the book quickly turned into a who's who of that scene, and the constant name-dropping got annoying while sending the meat of the story into the background. By page 150 I was completely fed up. Even as a Bostonion familiar with the names and places of mention, I was incredibly bored. I can't imagine how someone living outside of Mass. could trudge through, unless they were interested in the punk scene.
Later, the story became a mini history lesson on the troubles in Ireland, albeit an extremely unsophisticated one. Several times in the narrative I didn't know if I was reading the thoughts of the adult narrator or the immature teen. For example, when the character was 11, I found his thoughts to be beyond his age; when he was 30-something, he seemed to me very naive.
I wish MacDonald stuck with honest personal reflection on the tragedies of his family and neighborhood instead of trying to simultaneously write a tribute to Boston punk AND a political statement about how the Irish troubles relate to the troubles of South Boston. It's just too much, and as a result none are done really well.
Read
July 28, 2011This book was nowhere near as good as MacDonald's previous book, All Souls. Although Easter Rising was an interesting tour through the underground punk and indie scene permeating Boston throughout the late 70s and early 80s, I have to say (and this is going to sound horrible), there was an element of authenticity missing that MacDonald captured so beautifully in his first book. This is not to say that I don't believe MacDonald encountered many of the scenes he describes in Easter Rising. I'm sure he did. However, some of the evaluations and reflections he considers just seem waaaaaaaay too adroit and sophisticated for an 11 year old. This is not altogether a completely catastrophic thing, depending on the presentation of such insights. To put it plainly, I wish MacDonald had been more successful in delineating between the moments of narration as an 11 year old kid and his reflection as a much older adult. I truly believe he authentically thought the things he was writing about, I just am not entirely convinced they originally came from the mind of an 11 year old boy at that particular instance of experience. Otherwise, if you've ever listened to punk or indie rock, or lived in Boston for a time, this is a pretty interesting trek through the underground venues you may have never realized even ever existed.
March 24, 2014
I suspect when "All Souls" came out, a lot of people went to the author and said "This book is amazing, but what about you?" I noticed, reading it, that MPM kept himself very much to the narrator role of the book, and sometimes it seemed as if we only knew what he was up to because of his presence or absence during his story about one of his siblings or his mother.
So now we know what he was up to, and I'm glad we found out. It's just not as compelling a story, I suspect because he has a harder time crafting a narrative around his own experience. There were a few really compelling moments, but by and large this book is less than its predecessor. It's still good! But it's not quite as amazing. Almost anything would suffer in comparison with "All Souls," and the comparison was unavoidable as a companion book.
For me the most compelling part of the story was Michael's journey to therapy by way of various hospital EDs and a faith healing. I heard him tell, in person, the story about the therapist who was so moved by his family story that she broke down crying; it was just as powerful in written form. I can't imagine how hard it must have been to write about, but I'm glad he did.
So now we know what he was up to, and I'm glad we found out. It's just not as compelling a story, I suspect because he has a harder time crafting a narrative around his own experience. There were a few really compelling moments, but by and large this book is less than its predecessor. It's still good! But it's not quite as amazing. Almost anything would suffer in comparison with "All Souls," and the comparison was unavoidable as a companion book.
For me the most compelling part of the story was Michael's journey to therapy by way of various hospital EDs and a faith healing. I heard him tell, in person, the story about the therapist who was so moved by his family story that she broke down crying; it was just as powerful in written form. I can't imagine how hard it must have been to write about, but I'm glad he did.
June 23, 2016
MacDonald was born the year after I was, and grew up in South Boston. Some of what he writes about sounds familiar: the music scene in the 70's and early 80's, forced busing of Boston schools along with overt (and not so-overt) racism in Boston, some facets of Irish American culture. But MacDonald grew up as one of 10, raised by a single mom (who sounded like an amazing, accordion-playing character - she went back to school to get her college degree at Suffolk after the kids were born and graduated cum laude, I think) in the projects at Old Colony in South Boston. Four of his siblings died - mostly from violence - and MacDonald describes in searing detail the drug scene and fall-out in South Boston from Whitey Bulger's reign. His memoir is an ode to family, perseverance, and facing up to the facts of one's own particular life. I love his last acknowledgement: "to Ma, to the music, and to the spirit of rebellion."
June 2, 2015
I read Michael Patrick MacDonald's earlier novel, "All Souls" which I enjoyed directly before reading this one. I really wanted to like this and the beginning was pretty good, but he talked way to much about the punk scene and how he was too good for Southie. When I was about 1/4 of the way through I almost had to put it down, but I pushed through. The end seemed to come out of nowhere although it was more entertaining. The writing isn't bad, it was just more information about himself than about Southie or what it was like back then. I would recommend skipping this book and just reading "All Souls."
July 14, 2008
This is the follow up to [All Souls-A Family Story from Southie] In this one MacDonald talks about turning away from his family and his neighborhood and getting into the punk scene of the late 70's and early 80's. He eventually seeks to learn more about his heritage and makes peace with a lot of things. Not as good as the first and might be someone confusing if you hadn't read the other but still good. The losses he and his family endured are staggering and definitely hard to sit with but their resilience is amazing.
June 12, 2015
It took a while to get to my favorite part where visiting his grandfather's Ireland but his struggles do come together. Learned about South Boston, Whitey Bulger and more than I ever dreamed of the music in the 80's and 90's. The dealing with so many tragedies the Irish way explains so much for any Irish family finding a path to coping with loss.
May 15, 2008
Well, written. Makes me think differtly when I see a kid who is screaming to be different. I'll try to be a little more understanding.
May 15, 2022
These two books (All Souls: A Family Story from Southie and Easter Rising: An Irish American Coming Up from Under) by Michael Patrick MacDonald were published many years ago, but I just learned of them. I was immediately intrigued because I’m an Irish-American, I grew up in Boston, I lived in the public housing projects in Everett, MA just 7 miles northwest of South Boston, and I’m the same age as the author's older brother Frankie so I know the time period this story took place and... I knew to stay the hell out of Southie.
While the projects I lived in were not as violent and tribal as the Southie projects and neighborhood, there are many familiar parallels. As a child, you accept what you are presented because you simply don’t know otherwise.
The Forced Busing Crisis began the year after I graduated high school. I remember the stunning pictures in the Boston Globe and the news videos on TV of all the absolute craziness. I’ve read Kevin Week’s book Brutal: The Untold Story of My Life Inside Whitey Bulger's Irish Mob and Kevin Cullens’ book Whitey Bulger: America's Most Wanted Gangster and the Manhunt That Brought Him to Justice, about the Whitey Bulger Winter Hill gang and their presence in Southie. I’ve also read Patrick Nee’s, A Criminal and an Irishman: The Inside Story of the Boston Mob - IRA Connection about his life in Southie and Southie’s support of the IRA. It was all fascinating to me because it was all so familiar, yet it’s also repulsive.
The ever presence of drug abuse, alcoholism, vandalism, crime, mobsters, corruption, and just plain cold toughness in the projects makes it extremely hard to escape. Taking the straight path out is near impossible. When you're a child or a teenager in this environment, and this all you've known, you consider it "normal", simply because you don't know anything else. It was quite interesting to learn about somebody else's perspective, albeit much, much, harder and painful than mine.
When I became a young man I left Boston and moved to Minnesota without looking back. I talk little about my youth to my friends and family because the few times I tried, its obvious they just don’t understand. My wife confidently and ademently dismisses it all as “toxic masculinity”. So I just keep it to myself, after all it was 40+ years ago.
A couple of years ago I met a guy, near my age, at the local dog park who was from Southie. I couldn’t believe it... all the way out here in MN I meet somebody from Southie. We became friends and we have shared our stories. He confided that if he hadn’t joined the Air Force right out of High School, that he was sure he would have ended up dead at an early age. He told me he was glad to have met me, because I understood… and that sense of being understood, as well as the author's intense writing style, is what struck me most about these two books.
I enjoyed reading the author's writings on his experience in visiting Ireland for the first time, as I too was surprised at my own unexpected sense of belonging when I visited Ireland and didn't want to leave. Like the author, my trip to Ireland inspired me to learn about my Irish culture and the history of the Irish.
The author wrote at length about his time as a Punk Rocker. It was obviously important to him, his way of escaping and expressing his disproval. But I wasn't too interested in all the Punk Rock details. But it did give me a better sense of what those people were all about... in that time period I didn't understand the Punk Rockers and the outrageous music just did not appeal to me. I figured they were just trying to draw attention so I was just dismissive of them... I was locked into WBCN 104.1 with Charles Laquidara, Ken Shelton, and Mark Parenteau (WBCN and the American Revolution: How a Radio Station Defined Politics, Counterculture, and Rock and Roll).
While the projects I lived in were not as violent and tribal as the Southie projects and neighborhood, there are many familiar parallels. As a child, you accept what you are presented because you simply don’t know otherwise.
The Forced Busing Crisis began the year after I graduated high school. I remember the stunning pictures in the Boston Globe and the news videos on TV of all the absolute craziness. I’ve read Kevin Week’s book Brutal: The Untold Story of My Life Inside Whitey Bulger's Irish Mob and Kevin Cullens’ book Whitey Bulger: America's Most Wanted Gangster and the Manhunt That Brought Him to Justice, about the Whitey Bulger Winter Hill gang and their presence in Southie. I’ve also read Patrick Nee’s, A Criminal and an Irishman: The Inside Story of the Boston Mob - IRA Connection about his life in Southie and Southie’s support of the IRA. It was all fascinating to me because it was all so familiar, yet it’s also repulsive.
The ever presence of drug abuse, alcoholism, vandalism, crime, mobsters, corruption, and just plain cold toughness in the projects makes it extremely hard to escape. Taking the straight path out is near impossible. When you're a child or a teenager in this environment, and this all you've known, you consider it "normal", simply because you don't know anything else. It was quite interesting to learn about somebody else's perspective, albeit much, much, harder and painful than mine.
When I became a young man I left Boston and moved to Minnesota without looking back. I talk little about my youth to my friends and family because the few times I tried, its obvious they just don’t understand. My wife confidently and ademently dismisses it all as “toxic masculinity”. So I just keep it to myself, after all it was 40+ years ago.
A couple of years ago I met a guy, near my age, at the local dog park who was from Southie. I couldn’t believe it... all the way out here in MN I meet somebody from Southie. We became friends and we have shared our stories. He confided that if he hadn’t joined the Air Force right out of High School, that he was sure he would have ended up dead at an early age. He told me he was glad to have met me, because I understood… and that sense of being understood, as well as the author's intense writing style, is what struck me most about these two books.
I enjoyed reading the author's writings on his experience in visiting Ireland for the first time, as I too was surprised at my own unexpected sense of belonging when I visited Ireland and didn't want to leave. Like the author, my trip to Ireland inspired me to learn about my Irish culture and the history of the Irish.
The author wrote at length about his time as a Punk Rocker. It was obviously important to him, his way of escaping and expressing his disproval. But I wasn't too interested in all the Punk Rock details. But it did give me a better sense of what those people were all about... in that time period I didn't understand the Punk Rockers and the outrageous music just did not appeal to me. I figured they were just trying to draw attention so I was just dismissive of them... I was locked into WBCN 104.1 with Charles Laquidara, Ken Shelton, and Mark Parenteau (WBCN and the American Revolution: How a Radio Station Defined Politics, Counterculture, and Rock and Roll).
January 10, 2023
I was hesitant to read this since the 1st book was so devastatingly relatable, but I came to learn that this one is a bit lighter, and its moments of humor create a perfect balance.
I did enjoy the 1st more, but there was no way I could give this book a 3-star review.
His battle with anxiety for his family's safety felt so similar to my own experiences.
"...my family was cursed. Nausea snuck up on me when I least suspected it, overwhelming my head and my stomach with the certainty that expecting anything better than the worst possible outcome was useless fantasy." - pg. 99
"...I'd heard about how dope numbs. But I couldn't entertain the thought of abandoning control like that. I needed my wits about me more than ever, for I knew that the worst could and would happen at a horrifying moment's notice." - pg/ 128
"For the first time I thought that most likely everyone wasn't dead and that even if they were I could handle it." pg. 142
"I'd...sneak into the Gardner, where I'd sit and look at Rembrandt's 'Storm on the Sea of Galilee.'"- pg. 89
"I'd imagined suicide after Davey jumped. I figured most people thought of it sometimes...I decided my family had been through enough. Killing myself was out of the question." - pg. 97
"I keep that nest on my mantel not only as a nudge to celebrate Christmas but also as a reminder that life can change, painful things can transform, that you don't have to stay stuck."
I did enjoy the 1st more, but there was no way I could give this book a 3-star review.
His battle with anxiety for his family's safety felt so similar to my own experiences.
"...my family was cursed. Nausea snuck up on me when I least suspected it, overwhelming my head and my stomach with the certainty that expecting anything better than the worst possible outcome was useless fantasy." - pg. 99
"...I'd heard about how dope numbs. But I couldn't entertain the thought of abandoning control like that. I needed my wits about me more than ever, for I knew that the worst could and would happen at a horrifying moment's notice." - pg/ 128
"For the first time I thought that most likely everyone wasn't dead and that even if they were I could handle it." pg. 142
"I'd...sneak into the Gardner, where I'd sit and look at Rembrandt's 'Storm on the Sea of Galilee.'"- pg. 89
"I'd imagined suicide after Davey jumped. I figured most people thought of it sometimes...I decided my family had been through enough. Killing myself was out of the question." - pg. 97
"I keep that nest on my mantel not only as a nudge to celebrate Christmas but also as a reminder that life can change, painful things can transform, that you don't have to stay stuck."
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 3, 2019
This is the author’s follow-up to All Souls. It’s a more personal take on how he escapes the death grip of Southie to find an identity for himself that is not based on racial bigotry. “In my lowest moments, as I wandered all over the city or kept the deathwatch, I would nearly collapse from the recurring realization that the most any of my family could ever hope for was a fate like Davey’s and Kathy’s -- crashing one way or another onto the twisted concrete of Old Colony” (99).
Michael made it out and made a better life for himself. Immersing himself in the New Wave/Punk music scene was hugely influential in forming his almost self-destruction and ultimate healing as he discovers his Post Traumatic Symptoms and tries to pull together the pieces of his past into a semblance of a future. This man is a hero of mine. I relate all too much to his story. Thank you for giving my voice a voice. Thank you for your words.
Michael made it out and made a better life for himself. Immersing himself in the New Wave/Punk music scene was hugely influential in forming his almost self-destruction and ultimate healing as he discovers his Post Traumatic Symptoms and tries to pull together the pieces of his past into a semblance of a future. This man is a hero of mine. I relate all too much to his story. Thank you for giving my voice a voice. Thank you for your words.
April 12, 2022
If you are Irish/American and have visited Ireland, you have most likely shared the author's surprise on his first visit that everyone "looked like him," and that he saw his grandmother in every older woman in every little village he visited. This is not an easy story to read, but it is a realistic story. As I read it, I was comparing the author's family in Boston to a family I know well who lived at the North Jersey shore. The stories were almost identical. If you know the music of the late 1970s underground, grunge, pop and even harder, you will find yourself mesmerized by the author's knowledge and experience--- Patti Smith, Sex Pistols, Buzzcocks, The Voidoids, Iggy and the Stooges, Sonic Reducer to name a few. This book is a real look into the live of many Irish whose struggles in adjusting to life in their new country are profound, said and often heroic.
November 20, 2021
MacDonald is such an exquisite writer. However, this particular continuation of his life story is dark. Most of the glimpses into the author's growing up years ARE dark and so anyone suffering from depression might not want to read about it.
Having read his first book, I was glad to have this one in hand and to continue along the author's recorded path toward discovering his gifts and passion for helping young people to avoid some of his own prior pitfalls.
The ending was a gem and worth the read. Having distinctive Irish roots of my own, I was riveted to the author's tale of visiting Ireland on several occasions. His memories of the people there, their ways, their faces and way of speaking, their quaint phrasing, all of these are reminiscent of my own family.
I highly recommend the book even with the "shadow" pages
Having read his first book, I was glad to have this one in hand and to continue along the author's recorded path toward discovering his gifts and passion for helping young people to avoid some of his own prior pitfalls.
The ending was a gem and worth the read. Having distinctive Irish roots of my own, I was riveted to the author's tale of visiting Ireland on several occasions. His memories of the people there, their ways, their faces and way of speaking, their quaint phrasing, all of these are reminiscent of my own family.
I highly recommend the book even with the "shadow" pages
December 10, 2021
'Disappointing follow-up' is an understatement. Imagine a sequel to Seinfeld subtracting all the characters of interest, retaining nothing but the 'what's the deal with...' twaddle and the canned laugh track. Or a blockbuster vehicle with Chris Kattan at the helm. This is the memoir equivalent of Gigli. A fitting epitaph for the punk rock scene: a snooty poser sanctimoniously lecturing about the finer points of posing from a high horse, and when he tires of that starts spinning baloney so preposterous one wonders if Chris Kyle ghost wrote significant portions of it. If you enjoyed All Souls and don’t want that ruined for you I’d advise avoiding this like the Omicron variant.
January 27, 2021
I loved his first book, All Souls, about growing up in the Old Colony Housing project in Southie. There was hope in that first book but not in this one. It was a grim follow-up to the author entering adulthood. There was a lot of focus on hanging out in the punk rock scene in Boston and New York. A lot. The book also jumped around so one page he was in Southie and the next on a plane to Ireland and 20 years older. He's had a tough life, no doubt about that and I hope the world has improved for his family.
November 13, 2018
Was reminded I’d been meaning to read this by the death of Whitey Bulger.
If you liked All Souls, definitely worth it, and if you’re interested in the underground rock music scene of the time, all the more reason. Lots of good stories and strong feelings well expressed. But it suffers from a higglety-pigglety structure and chronology... almost more like a set of appendixes to All Souls than a book that stands up on its own.
If you liked All Souls, definitely worth it, and if you’re interested in the underground rock music scene of the time, all the more reason. Lots of good stories and strong feelings well expressed. But it suffers from a higglety-pigglety structure and chronology... almost more like a set of appendixes to All Souls than a book that stands up on its own.
December 27, 2017
Sequel to All Souls, which I really liked. Subtle humor throughout, but the part, about his trips to Ireland, was really funny. His mother is quite a character. His foray into the punk scene didn't hold my interest.
The ending was abrupt. I felt like the reader was left hanging. What happens next?
The ending was abrupt. I felt like the reader was left hanging. What happens next?
June 12, 2019
I really enjoyed All Souls, and Easter Rising was also very good. In this memoir, MacDonald focuses mostly on the role of music in his teen years, then his gradual reimmersion into Irish American culture, including a trip to Ireland with his mother. I'm stuck between a three and a four, but because it feels a little different than many memoirs, I am going to bump up the score.
April 25, 2021
After reading All Souls, a memoir in which the author is a witness to his family and neighborhood, I was curious about the author himself, and very much enjoyed reading his personal memoir of identify formation - from a grieving, silent, and depressed adolescent into punk rock to a young man who comes to understand and appreciate his Irish American heritage.
July 11, 2023
Couldn’t relate to this book being non-Irish. Memoir style book. It was sad but the lack of relations made it difficult for me to read. I think someone of Irish descent familiar with the religious struggle in Ireland and growing up in South Boston might enjoy this more. Big emphasis on metal music that I didn’t enjoy.
May 14, 2018
Easter Rising is a brave, heartbreaking piece of truth.
-Patti Smith
I agree.
-Patti Smith
I agree.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 107 reviews