Dimly aware of the political tensions that have grown in Ireland in his absence, Willie returns on leave to find a world split and ravaged by forces closer to home. Despite the comfort he finds with his family, he knows he must rejoin his regiment and fight until the end. With grace and power, Sebastian Barry vividly renders Willie's personal struggle as well as the overwhelming consequences of war.
MedHums at UMN--18th and 19th century British/Irish Literature and Social Determinants of Health. Dog-owner. President @ACIrishStudies He/him
Sebastian Barry's A Long, Long Way or Elizabeth Bowen's The Last September https://t.co/ip16uRTRJG
Faith in nature 🌳 Destiny in truth ⚖️
@Ed_Wi11iam @jposhaughnessy @tommycollison Sebastian Barry is excellent and incredibly prolific. His A Long Long Way was a fantastic window into the complexity of being Irish (set in and around Easter 1916, when some Irish are rebelling against the British and many, many more are fighting with them in WW1)
Texan celebrating his Irish heritage; operated by @RickBarry44
@Oh_Behave_John Absolutely! For three years this account was styled "Sebastian Barry Fan." I had no trouble quoting him and his works daily for that period. He writes memorable sentences and compelling stories. The opening 2-3 pages of A Long Long Way are an excellent example.
"A modern masterpiece."--The Boston Globe
"Barry succeeds admirably in creating complex individuals who find themselves trapped in a brutal reality."--Los Angeles Times
"Wrenching...[Barry marches] bravely into the darkest, most dangerous terrain of human nature."--The Christian Science Monitor
"Nobody writers better about the trenches of the First World War than Sebastian Barry. In brutally effective prose he lays bare and celebrates the heroism of the young men whose livers were lost on the killing fields of France. His great gift is that he makes you feel he is reporting events that he's witnessed first hand."--Peter Sheridan, author of Everything Inch of Her
"This is Sebastian Barry's song of innocence and experience, composed with poetic grace and an eye, both unflinching and tender, for savage detail and moments of pure beauty. It is also an astonishing display of Barry's gift for creative a memorable character, whom he has written, indelibly, back into a history which continues to haunt us."--Colm Tóibín
"Lyrical...Willie Dunne's voice, like his dilemmas, has the resonance of authenticity."--Hew Starchan, author of The First World War
"A Long Long Way is one of those novels that, as you turn it over in your mind, may just stay with you a long, long time."--The Denver Post