| | 
|
|
 |
|
At Swim Two Boys
Jamie O'Neill. Scribner: 2002 (hardcover).
ISBN: 0743222946. 562 pages.
Guide not available
|
| |
|
For those of you out there who are still feeling guilty about never reading James Joyce--forget it! Here's a Irish novel that while extremely Joycean in style and spirit is also aggressively readable.
In addition, it's one of the most authentic, appealing, and evocative love stories yet to grace our new century, even as it recounts events of almost a century ago. Set in the year preceeding the Easter Uprising of 1916, At Swim, Two Boys chronicles the passionate, confrontational relationship between Jim Mack, an aspiring shcolar and son of a delusionally ambitious shopkeeper, and Doyler Doyle, a notorious ruffian waste-collecter and son of Jim's Dad's old army buddy. The boys make a secret pact to claim a new country for themselves; meanwhile, adults in positions of both responsible and corrupt authority make other plans for these two promising young boys--everyone, it seems, has already laid claim to a little piece of each of them. You might think you can guess the ending, but you won't. Let's just say it hits you right where it counts. The writing is truly exquisite and the story is bold as brass--this book's going to get a lot of very well-deserved attention for a very long time.
|
| |
| |
contact us
