Community Reviews
Where do I even begin?
The synopsis of this book did not grab me, and when I look back on it now, it still doesn't appeal to me. There are so many 5 star gushing reviews on this book, however, that I couldn't resist picking it up.
And I'm so glad I did.
I will spare you a regurgitation of everything you've already read and keep this brief with some of my floating thoughts that may or may not mean anything.
1. I loved Cyril. He was by no means perfect, but I felt like I was right there with him from early childhood on. When he was hopeful, I was hopeful. When his heart broke, mine broke, too.
2. I loved Julian almost as much as Cyril did.
The conversation of two seven-year-old boys:
"What's a pervert?" I asked.
"It's someone who's a sex maniac." he explained.
"Oh."
"I'm going to be a pervert when I grow up," he continued."
Teenage Julian:
I've always believed there's a direct correlation between the size of a man's hand, the circumference of his wife's tits and the happiness of their marriage." "Saints alive!" said Mary-Margaret, looking as if she was about to faint.
3. I adored the character of Maude. I wish she had been in more of the book because she was fascinating. I could almost taste that second-hand smoke.
"What you know about women," replied Maude, "could be written in large font on the back of a postage stamp and there'd still be room for the Lord's Prayer."
4. I am admittedly completely ignorant of Irish history. You say Irish history; I ask, "You mean the Potato Famine?" No exaggeration.
I don't stop to think about what Ireland's stance was on homosexuality or how the time period written about in this book wasn't really all that long ago. This is one of those things that is shocking to me especially today. I am baffled and outraged at the amount of hatred people can feel towards a person and/or a whole group of people for something like being attracted to those of the same sex, as if they have a reason to be so offended by something that doesn't affect them. /rant
I think the span of that evolution (slow - so, so, so slow) was important to share and really well done. The passion and ignorance and hardships and AIDS blame game were written so vividly and so honestly without coming across as manipulative or gimmicky.
...and all notions of being quiet went out of my head as we did what we had come here to do, what we had been born to do.
I finished this over a week ago and have thought of it every day since.
5 Stars
The synopsis of this book did not grab me, and when I look back on it now, it still doesn't appeal to me. There are so many 5 star gushing reviews on this book, however, that I couldn't resist picking it up.
And I'm so glad I did.
I will spare you a regurgitation of everything you've already read and keep this brief with some of my floating thoughts that may or may not mean anything.
1. I loved Cyril. He was by no means perfect, but I felt like I was right there with him from early childhood on. When he was hopeful, I was hopeful. When his heart broke, mine broke, too.
2. I loved Julian almost as much as Cyril did.
The conversation of two seven-year-old boys:
"What's a pervert?" I asked.
"It's someone who's a sex maniac." he explained.
"Oh."
"I'm going to be a pervert when I grow up," he continued."
Teenage Julian:
I've always believed there's a direct correlation between the size of a man's hand, the circumference of his wife's tits and the happiness of their marriage." "Saints alive!" said Mary-Margaret, looking as if she was about to faint.
3. I adored the character of Maude. I wish she had been in more of the book because she was fascinating. I could almost taste that second-hand smoke.
"What you know about women," replied Maude, "could be written in large font on the back of a postage stamp and there'd still be room for the Lord's Prayer."
4. I am admittedly completely ignorant of Irish history. You say Irish history; I ask, "You mean the Potato Famine?" No exaggeration.
I don't stop to think about what Ireland's stance was on homosexuality or how the time period written about in this book wasn't really all that long ago. This is one of those things that is shocking to me especially today. I am baffled and outraged at the amount of hatred people can feel towards a person and/or a whole group of people for something like being attracted to those of the same sex, as if they have a reason to be so offended by something that doesn't affect them. /rant
I think the span of that evolution (slow - so, so, so slow) was important to share and really well done. The passion and ignorance and hardships and AIDS blame game were written so vividly and so honestly without coming across as manipulative or gimmicky.
...and all notions of being quiet went out of my head as we did what we had come here to do, what we had been born to do.
I finished this over a week ago and have thought of it every day since.
5 Stars
I enjoyed this, mainly because I grew up in Ireland, and so I really identified with a lot of the characters and content. The story of a gay boy growing up in Catholic Ireland and then later in New York during the AIDS pandemic was really interesting - although at times the plot felt a bit predictable. I enjoyed the fact that we follow the characters over a number of years and meet them at different stages of their lives. Manages to be both humorous and tragic, which is an interesting mix.
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