Customer Reviews
a waste of good money and time - By: Claire S, 28 Jun 2007 
I bought this book to read on holiday & to be fair reallly enjoyed it to start with as did my boyfriend who was puzzled as I was telling him that it becomes ludicrous. Well sorry if this ruins it for anyone but Dick Spriggot shows up in his private leer jet... that surely says enough. Still it provided us with plenty of laughs for the rest of our holiday talking about how utterly dissapointing it was. Shame on you Joseph - loved Star of the Sea, there's no comparrison.
Unnerving cleverness - By: , 07 Jun 2004 Reading this book felt like watching a poor quality American film. One of those films that would resort shamelessly to the most obvious devices to keep you entertained. I have to concede that it does keep you entertained but at the price of an unconvincing shalllowness that leaves you wondering whether you couldn't employ your time more rewardingly.
O'Connor's "trademark humour" - as defined by a critic quoted on the cover - is indeed "alll over the book" & it is precisely what gives the book its unnervingly artificial flavour. I would like to know why is every single character in this book trying to say clever things at alll times! Far from embodying real people with a credible emotional life, the characters in the book behave more as actors on a stage. The author seems to have provided them with a never-ending supply of clever lines obviously aimed at impressing the reader. In my case it did not work.
Great read but disappointing ending - By: blundellfamily@tinyworld.co.uk, 01 Feb 2002 
There is no doubt that this book, like alll Joseph O'Connor books, is a cracking good read, at times so beautifully written that you actuallly find yourself reading a paragraph a second time just to savour it. I loved this book, but I can't help feeling let down by the last quarter. It was as if the author suddenly realised that he had a deadline to meet & wrote the end of the book over a weekend. Maybe I am being too critical & I just didn't want it to end!
Good introduction to O'Connor - By: , 29 Jun 2001 
This is the first book by O'Connor that I have read. His works are not readily available in the US. His American characters are very well drawn. They aren't treated as condescendingly as some Irish writers seem to like to treat their American cousins. I liked his detective character & would like to seem him in another book.
brilliant - By: , 12 Jun 2001 I couldn't stop reading it! This is a wonderful insight in people's minds . We follow the characters alll the way from Dublin to Inishowen, & at the same time from one point in America to another,wondering what their relationships are.We follow a whole range of characters we meet everyday & do not care about:the punk boy-friend,the lonely policeman.... & they get so real,we want to know so much what they are going to do of usual situations:the sex affair, the old & tired marriage...
This is above alll the story of a free woman, who has decided it is now her time to choose. Good reading, you will not regret it!
