Customer Reviews
Another first rate mind-opener from Sebastian Barry - By: hw, 19 Oct 2008 
Set in familiar Sebastian Barry territory, this book explores the impact that the creation of an independent Ireland had on ordinary people who had the misfortune to find themselves on the "wrong" side.
Eneas McNulty is one of the many workless young men hanging around Sligo as peace returns to Europe following the First World War. It's a peace that doesn't extend to Ireland. In a decision that is little more than a whim, Eneas takes the only job he can find & joins the "peelers" (the Royal Irish Constabulary). Within a few months his name is on a death list & he is forced to leave his job, his family & his country.
The book tells Eneas' story from early childhood to old age. It's essentiallly about a man forced by fate to wander the Earth like some tragic Greek hero roaming the seas & battling with monsters. The wandering is real enough & there are plenty of man-made monsters to be confronted along the way: but Eneas' real tragedy is that he isn't a hero - he's just an ordinary bloke who wants to go home.
Barry's writing is, as always, of the highest order. The novel is, in many ways, a companion piece to A Long Long Way. Both novels changed my perception of Ireland & her people; both novels left me in tears (of anger, rather than sentiment). I've given this 4 stars, simply because A Long Long Way is the better novel & I wanted to make that distinction. Nevertheless, another first rate offering from Barry.
Intensely moving, and poetic! - By: , 01 Jan 2000 
Quite simply, a beautiful piece of writing. Barry exploits language & emotions to produce a novel which reallly forced me to examine alll my beliefs & thoughts on life. The lonely character of Eneas could be any one of us!
Wow! - By: palmerj7@cs.man.ac.uk, 08 Nov 1999 Bought this book on a whim & did not regret it! The language in it is the most amazing I have ever come accross. It totallly changed my perspective on the Ireland issue. Well worth the read!
A Sligoman's odyssey. - By: , 10 Aug 1999 What an utterly engrossing read. The tale of Eneas McNulty's early years in turn of the century Sligo establishes an ordinary background against which his extraordinary adulthood is both shocking & absorbing. His days as a soldier in both world wars, a seafarer, policeman & occasional unwelcome returnee to his hometown is captivating enough as a story, but it is Barry's unusual use of language that often had me reading sentences several times over, in awe. Do not mistake this with any sentimental clap-trap about poverty stricken Ireland you may have read before. Sebastian Barry is the real thing.
