Irish Readers discussion

This is comment thread two for QIR joint winner Ghost light for section 3/3.

Just finished this novel and I really enjoyed this book, would never have picked it up in a bookshop but as it was a group read thought might as well give it a go, this book drew me in from the first page indeed from the book cover as it is beautiful, loved the characters and the way this book is written, I even googled characters to see how much was true and how much was fiction. A great read and an intriguing story.

I read it last year and had the exact same experience as Dem. Wouldn't have bought it but really enjoyed it.

Here's a clip of Molly in action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JT0rH_...

John wrote: "I read it last year and had the exact same experience as Dem. Wouldn't have bought it but really enjoyed it.

Here's a clip of Molly in action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JT0rH_..."

That was great John! thanks for putting that on here.

Really liked the title and explanation of it.
Simple imagery made elegant.

Personal dislikes:
- The way it reads 'you are ___, you have never ___, you have ___ etc, for a large portion of the book, the way it seems like you're almost telling her what she does and who she is. The way she talks to herself throughout. I know the story makes sense of this as you read on, but it's an irk I had reading it.
- I enjoyed the imagery. It was a brilliant use of words. But I found it left little story when all was described in such detail. Quite the way he described Synge, making a play of a simple object.

All in all, this book took me quite a bit of time to get through and quite a few tries to get into it.
3* story with 5* writing.

This is the first book I've read by Joseph O'Connor. I enjoyed the story. I found the writing, especially the different perspectives, excellent. I've read very few books where the different character perspectives sound like they're written in different voices, but O'Connor manages to do that in Ghost Light. However, I found it difficult to read Molly's modern-day thoughts. They tended to ramble, jump time periods, and were written in a very stream-of-consciousness manner. While this is exactly how the thoughts of an elderly alcoholic should probably sound, it made the reading very difficult for me. I also love historical fiction and so was glad to have the oppotunity to learn more about John Synge and his muse Molly only to be disappointed by the author's notes. Apparently many historians feel Synge and Molly never had an affair (only a friendship) and O'Connor readily states that little of what he wrote actually happened. So I'm left feeling somewhat divided on the book - I liked parts and didn't like others. Whether or not I'd read another book by this author would probably depend upon both the story and the manner in which it was written.

Best quote ever: A man's body is like the map of Ireland. Keep your hands away from Limerick.

Made my week