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Irish Emigrant Book Review, No.91 (Feb 2003)
Class Act by Alison Norrington
Two unnaturally well-behaved children, an incredibly accommodating mother
as babysitter and a tendency to include the finer details of every bodily
function known to man and woman, though irritating, do not significantly
detract from the enjoyment of Alison Norrington’s first novel. A kind
of “Bridget Jones’ Diary” for single parents, the novel deals with the
problems facing thirty-year-old Geri, deserted by the philandering Kevin
and left with two small boys to rear on her own. In contrast with Geri’s
life of shopping, nappy-changing and housework, her friend Sinead’s life
as a successful executive in Spain seems much more attractive - though
in the perverse way of mankind, each envies the other’s apparent perfect
life. Geri’s efforts to get her life back together, involving a half-hearted,
though ultimately successful attempt at dieting, centre round a number
of evening classes taken up in the hope of finding another man. Her encounters
with candidates both suitable and unsuitable are treated with humour by
the author, and the device of interspersing the third-person narrative
with Geri’s own thoughts helps to keep the reader on track. In stark contrast
with the bumbling attempts of Geri and the questionable advice of her
mother is the disaster of Sinead’s relationship with the evil Steven,
but both women continue to promote the fiction that their lives are perfect.
Geri finds it impossible to tell Sinead that Kevin has left her, while
Sinead is too ashamed to admit to the treatment she has received. As with
all good romances, the story has a happy ending, with the two old friends
who have led parallel, unhappy and concealed lives for an entire year,
eventually finding a safe port in a very stormy world. Though some of
the characters are a bit vague and some of the scenarios stretch credibility,
on the whole this is an entertaining first novel.
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Still Waters Run Deep by Nancy
Ross
The author came to writing late in life and this has perhaps contributed
to the wealth of experiences contained between the covers of this novel.
A story that begins unpromisingly with the incipient disgrace of a Tory
MP in Home Counties England develops into a saga spanning decades and
continents. The life of Duibhne Shannon (and Ms Ross does seem to go in
for the most unlikely names) moves from the world of decaying Anglo-Irish
ascendancy to a women’s jail in Oregon and from there to the security
offered by marriage to an ambitious politician. The characters are not
consistently well portrayed and those who prove most effective are Duibhne
herself and Ma, the woman who comes into her life in America and who proves
such a rock of strength. The author explores the ramifications of an isolated
childhood, a childhood characterised by an inability to communicate between
father and child, and the consequent impulsive and naïve behaviour
demonstrated by Duibhne. Her pursuit of her cousin Bartley and her subsequent
pregnancy are evidence of the lack of a guiding hand, and this lack leads
on to a series of tragic events that result in her incarceration. The
structure of the story is facilitated by the investigation of the reporter
Delphine Blake who has covered the scandal of politician Robert MacCauley
and finds that his wife has a much more interesting background than her
composure and aristocratic bearing would suggest. The main thrust of the
narrative is carried forward by means of this investigation, which reveals
many of the apparent anomalies in the life of the Macauley family, including
the presence of a mysterious woman and her retarded son. The minor characters
in the story, among them Bart Shannon, Silas Tomalin and Bridget Macauley,
are less well portrayed, with the erratic journey of the latter pair to
the altar lacking credibility. The Irish aristocracy are not presented
in a very flattering light - one member having no interest or conversation
except hunting and racing, while his brother, the Earl, has a penchant
for liaisons with highly unsuitable partners. But the story of Duibhne’s
extraordinary life and, to a lesser extent, Ma’s involvement with the
Shannons provides sufficient interest to make the reading of “Still Waters
Run Deep” a rewarding experience.
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The Raggy Boy Trilogy by Patrick
Galvin
In three sections the Cork poet has presented his memoirs, from a poverty-stricken
childhood in 1930s Cork to the harshness of a reform school and on to
service during the Second World War. Yet through it all Patrick Galvin’s
ability to be an observer sees him through the worst vicissitudes of his
life and enables him to view life with both compassion and humour. In
“Song for a Poor Boy” we are introduced to the Galvin family living on
the south side of Cork city. Unusually, it is Patrick’s father who is
the more religious of the two while his mother is out protesting about
the Spanish Civil War. The young Patrick’s education is augmented by his
friendship with Mannie Goldman, the bibliophile who introduces him to
all the great authors. Through Patrick’s rambles about the city with his
friend Connors emerge a number of fanciful and humorous vignettes, from
the man who believed himself to be a seagull, to his cousin Beatrice whose
whole life was tied into the world of fish. Patrick’s parents, the music-loving
father, supporter of the Treaty, whose greatest moment had been when he
bathed in the Ganges, and the mother who supported the Communists in Russia
and Spain and was passionately Anti-Treaty, “loved each other and they
lived happily together for a time”. In “Song for a Raggy Boy”, a much
more searing and intense narrative, we encounter Patrick as he endures
three years in a reformatory run by a mixture of sadistic, kind and ineffectual
brothers, for an unspecified crime. The cruelties inflicted on the boys
by their superiors, the cruelties the boys inflicted on each other, and
the seeming helplessness of those who would have made a difference, are
tellingly portrayed. Once again, the author seems to have achieved the
art of distancing himself from the action; he is able to view objectively
the efforts of the lay teacher, William Franklin, and the Superior, Father
Damian, to bring some humanity to bear on the lives of the boys in their
care. Among Patrick’s fellow-inmates some stand out - among them the highly-intelligent
Mercier, who is almost certainly headed for a life of crime, and the pitiful
figure of the orphan Rogers, described by Franklin as “one of the most
frightened and pathetic creatures I have ever met”. In the recently published
“Song for a Fly Boy” we follow the sixteen-year-old Patrick Galvin as
he lies about his age and signs up for wartime service in the Royal Air
Force. The futility of many of the duties of war is amply portrayed with
the fitful perambulation around the African continent by Galvin and Windmill,
his fellow armourer, and again we are introduced to a series of unique
characters; Sergeant Humphries, in charge of the bomb-dump in Sierra Leone,
who spends his days wearing only a tie and a bush hat, lying on a marble
slab in his tent; Sparky Dankworth, the pilot shunned by all crews who
recites Browning to his Sunderland seaplane; and Pilot Officer Swaine
whose main talent lies in drawing indistinguishable portraits of the Queen
Mother and Churchill in the nude. Among the quirky and irreverent episodes
the author has included some seminal moments in his life, and above all
it is the language of the poet that dominates the narrative in this remarkable
trilogy.
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The Uncoupling by Cauvery Madhavan
Indian-born but now resident in Ireland, Cauvery Madhavan’s first book,
“Paddy Indian” was a sometimes humorous and sometimes serious examination
of the difficulties of integrating into Irish society. In her second book
the author records the gradual transformation of a traditional Indian
marriage, a transformation triggered by the couple’s first holiday away
from home. When Balu and Janaki Shankar set off on their whirlwind European
tour, organised by their son Ram, they present as a typical Indian husband
and wife, he leading the way both physically and mentally, she the dutiful
wife who always bows to his superior knowledge. Her sense of duty to her
husband in daily life continues into the bedroom where his regular, but
unimaginative, demands are met with an unresponsive stoicism. A visit
to the red light district of Amsterdam leads to a fundamental change in
Balu’s desires and this, coupled with their fellow tourists introducing
Janaki to alcohol, leads to a farcical situation in which each manages
to misread the other’s words and actions. In an effort to retaliate for
slights real and imagined, both end up doing precisely what the other
one wants. In giving an insight into life in Southern India, in particular
the mechanics of acquiring a spouse, Cauvery Madhavan has successfully
managed to address the serious problems underlying the inferior position
of women in the sub-continent, while at the same time putting a humorous
cast on the events as they unfold on their European tour. The introduction
of people in various stages of integration, the liberal Singhs who have
lived in England for a number of years and their even more liberal daughters,
serves to give a pointer to the way in which the Shankars’ marriage will
evolve. The Singhs, the elderly nun and her sister, the four Chicago divorcees,
all play a part in the unravelling of the thirty-three-year marriage so
that Balu and Janaki return to India as two very different people. And
although Janaki has asserted her independence by setting up a tailoring
workshop, the lack of verbal communication between herself and Balu persists;
but there are other ways to communicate between husband and wife and in
this area, at least, there does seem to be a glimmer of hope in the final
pages.
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The Parting Glass by Pamalla
Stockho
Pamalla Stockho’s novel is a mixture of fact and fiction, the factual
events centring on the murder of a college friend in Virginia. Set during
the 1970s, “The Parting Glass” draws on national events to successfully
convey the ambience of the period, while at the same time focusing on
the personal story of Dublin-born Fiona O’Meara, whose family had come
to America when she was a young child. The unrest among the black population,
the trials of medical training and practice and the emerging sexuality
of a young Irish Catholic are intertwined into an engaging story which,
though a little slow initially, gradually establishes a hold on the reader’s
imagination. The story of Josh, the murdered friend, is perhaps the most
successful thread, though it becomes subsumed for a while in the development
of the relationship between Michael O’Byrne and Fiona, but the final stages
of the story are skilfully handled. Ms Stockho is particularly convincing
in her treatment of the character of Daniel, the child who has lost his
mother and whom Fiona gradually wins round. Here she displays an insight
into the mind of a child and his vulnerability in a troubled environment.
While some of the dialogue does not flow as freely as it might, the exchanges
between Fiona, her family, friends and employer serve to lighten the darker
aspects of the novel.
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New Hibernia Review ed. Thomas
Dillon Redshaw
The Winter 2002 edition of this quarterly publication contains an examination
by Natasha Casey of the Irish dimension in American popular culture, with
particular reference to Riverdance; a particularly topical analysis of
Ireland’s neutral stance in past conflicts; an entertaining account of
the bitter rivalry between George Moore and W.B. Yeats by Moore’s biographer,
Adrian Frazier; new work from American poet Daniel Tobin; an examination
of the poetry of Eavan Boland and Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill, through Irish,
by Dr Riona Ni Fhrighil; and a description by Mary Mulvihill of a multimedia
exhibition which includes photographs taken on Bloody Sunday in 1972.
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Winterlight by Susan Connolly
This collection of poems by the Drogheda-based Susan Connolly is redolent
of the Louth and Meath countryside. In the title poem, “Winterlight”,
she provides a litany of notable places, Bru na Boinne, Beaulieu Wood
and Seapoint, in a bid to reconnect with a loved one, while the Boyne
takes a central place in a poem remembering the violent death of Bettina
Poeshcel, a German tourist murdered near Newgrange, as it “. . . stood
still for a moment, then slowly turned away.” In direct and spare language
Susan Connolly reflects on the aspects of her childhood, on her development
as a poet and the healing powers of nature. The beautifully presented
volume of poems is illustrated with the atmospheric photographs of Anne-Marie
Moroney.
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Limerick - A Stroll Down Memory
Lane compiled by Sean Curtin
If you come from or are familiar with Limerick, or if you were born before
or during the 1950s, this collection of photographs is an enjoyable exercise
in nostalgia. Many of the photographs were taken just before old cottages,
shops or places of business were demolished and details are given as to
occupants and replacement buildings. One particularly interesting feature
is the provision of lists of names given for individual streets. For example
a photograph of Island View Terrace includes a list of almost forty names
of families and businesses who were former residents. While many of the
photographs are dated, some with an approximate date, a few are unclassified
and this is a pity as I’m sure it would have been possible to give at
least the relevant decade. The photographs vary in quality but some are
astonishingly clear, like the large group of young people caught on camera
in the Stella Ballroom in the 1950s, where each and every face is perfectly
identifiable. Photographs to catch the imagination include the frozen
River Shannon in 1963, a picture of Mick Mackey with the McCarthy Cup
and the wonderfully named Glue Yard Lane.
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Quick Thinking On Your Feet
by Valerie Price
Acknowledging that many of us are masters of “staircase wit”, defined
as the answers we should have given that we remember on our way to bed,
training consultant Valerie Price has set out in this book her guide to
dealing with problems encountered in a business setting. Her methods are
based on the need for clear and effective thinking to convince others,
citing ten tricks of manipulation and ways of dealing with them. Each
section is illustrated with actual examples of the way in which the technique
worked in a particular situation and the final section of the book is
devoted to allowing the reader monitor their own progress in achieving
their goals.
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Home Baking by Biddy White
Lennon
Part of the Best of Irish cookery book series, Biddy White Lennon’s collection
of recipes for home baking includes the expected soda breads, barm brack
and buttermilk scones but also introduces some more unusual recipes. Featured
is the Waterford Blaas, a special type of breakfast roll exclusive to
the county, and Yalla Meal Scones, a recipe gleaned from the writings
of Florence Irwin who was a travelling cookery teacher in the North one
hundred years ago. A brief introductory history of baking in Ireland is
complemented by short paragraphs leading into each recipe and a glossary
inthe final pages to make this a useful addition to a baker’s library.
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