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Post by fionnuala on Jul 6, 2008 23:01:34 GMT
This book was unputdownable (I don't even know if there is such a word but it describes it well!)
It's the story of Maura Murphy - a lady who is diagnosed with cancer in her seventies who goes on to leave her husband after years of abuse and write her memoirs and boy do they make some reading!! This is not an edited version of life in Ireland in the 30's, 40's, 50's etc - this is an Angela's Ashes no holds barred story of hardship which is totally gripping but very witty and remarkable at the same time!
Her story moves backwards and forwards from the modern day to her past and she wrote it as the result of keeping a diary for years. She also writes how her children are feeling, from their perspective and in diary form, when the come home to nurse her when she is sick which I found intriguing as it gave a v real picture of how everyone was feeling.
Maura was the mother of nine children and she was married to a hard drinking, womanising man who I would have thumped if I had got my hands on him whilst reading her account of the shocking abuse and hard times she had to endure largely because of him. Her story begins in Offaly, moves to Birmingham where the Irish were made less welcome than rodents and she gives accounts of all her experiences from childbirthh to jobs she had and people she met along the way! It makes for truly riveting reading and I would reccomend it to everyone!
I will gladly lend this book to any of you and guarantee that you will love it (bit dangerous saying that maybe?!)
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Post by Jacqui on Jul 7, 2008 11:25:07 GMT
Fionnula it sounds like a riveting read! if you don't mind could I borrow it please?
x
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Post by claire on Jul 7, 2008 14:18:36 GMT
Love the review Fionn, you make it sound like a great read
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Post by fionnuala on Jul 7, 2008 23:36:13 GMT
No bother Jacqui! I would say that I'd post it but sure you're only up the road and I'm off now for two weeks so maybe we could meet to exchange it?? Cup of coffee in Rushmere maybe??
Would you like it after Jacqui Claire - it's the sort of book that I think you'd love from the way you talk!
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Post by claire on Jul 8, 2008 7:43:56 GMT
wouldn't mind reading it
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Post by susanmay on Jul 8, 2008 10:47:48 GMT
I've just ordered this book. Sounds brilliant.
Fionn, I feel the same way when I say these books are great. Unfortunately they are true to life and some poor soul has lived through them.
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Post by Jacqui on Jul 8, 2008 18:26:31 GMT
That would be great Fion when suits ya,it'll be fab to have a catch up. I'll give you a ring and we'll sort something out.
x
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Post by susanmay on Aug 7, 2008 12:21:41 GMT
Thanks Fionn. Another excellent recommendation. We definitely have the same taste in books! I've read a few chapter's in so far. Already my heart bleeds for Maura  Will let you know what I think of it more at the end. PS I think Maura Murphy has other books out  |
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Post by fionnuala on Aug 11, 2008 22:11:12 GMT
Well if she has Susan I'd definitely love to read them - I love her style!
Can't wait to hear your opinion - although I think I can predict that you'll love the rest of it!
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Post by susanmay on Aug 28, 2008 17:07:44 GMT
What a book. I didn't want it to end. The writing is so warm and engaging.
Like Fionn said - if I had of got my hands on Maura's husband; John, I would have rang his neck! He was a complete an utter idiot to put it mildly.
How those woman rared such big families with an alcoholic husband not bringing in a wage packet; I do not know.
I think under the circumstances Maura held herself with such pride.
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Post by fionnuala on Sept 16, 2008 14:51:50 GMT
I can't believe that he used to say that she was illiterate Susan? ? Her writing is superb and so totally absorbing!! I'm really glad you liked it and definitely have to agree that we do seem to have the same taste! Am reading a book at the moment (which I also think you'd love) called Life with George which is a true story about how a dog helps a journalist and her son recover from bereavement! It's a mixture of funny and sad but very insightful at the same time and full of interesting facts as the author talks about her work and research into her own writing which is mostly historical!! I'll send it to you when I'm finished if you like! |
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Post by susanmay on Sept 16, 2008 15:11:20 GMT
Your very good Fionn thanks. DONT READ BELOW IF YOU HAVEN'T READ IT!!!!!!!!!!! She sure showed him that she wasn't illiterate. He must have been mortified when she wrote the book or then again does his type ever suffer with embarrassment  I felt so sorry for her when she found out he was having the affair. |
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Post by fionnuala on Sept 17, 2008 22:12:19 GMT
I felt sorry for her when she got evicted from her home in Birmingham by bailiffs who left her sitting in the garden heavily pregnant and with three or four children round her feet and where was John, the big useless bollox, in the pub of course!! Ooooooooh that made me so cross - I know what I'd have done with him! But fair play to her what comes around goes around - I'm sure he cringed the furst time he read her memoirs that's if he had the balls on him to open the book in the first place - he wasn't such a big fella then!!!!
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Post by claire on Sept 19, 2008 11:48:01 GMT
Got this in the post today Susan thanks!
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Post by susanmay on Sept 19, 2008 14:35:19 GMT
No problem Claire. Can't wait to hear what you think of it.
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Post by claire on Sept 28, 2008 14:12:10 GMT
I've just finished reading this and I must say I admire this woman. She put up with a lot, like many other women in those times. I couldn't get over the poverty the total lack of money even when he wasn't out drinking all the time. Even when she was talking badly of him she kept finding good things about him. I've seen this happen before with an aunt and uncle of mine and loved him till the end. The whole poverty thing really got to me, from the time she was a little girl and how her parents coped and with her till the end. I was sorry to see that she had to give up the cottage to get some peace in the end. After all her work she couldn't even get to enjoy it. I hated the parts when the kids were saying that it was always about their mother and her illnesses, I found them so unfair to her. What a pity she didn't get the help then that she could get today in that situation. Great book
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Post by susanmay on Sept 28, 2008 18:30:54 GMT
Glad you liked it Claire.
I honestly don't know where the children were coming from; after all they seen the type of man their father was.
I posted 'The Light in The Window' (another Irish true story) to you. Its another book I mentioned on one of the threads.
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Post by claire on Sept 29, 2008 5:23:35 GMT
When he was off the drink he was fine and he really could be a great man. After all that is said and done he is their father. And if the mother could forgive him then so could they.
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Post by fionnuala on Sept 30, 2008 15:09:41 GMT
I totally agree girls! The children seemed to be portraying her as being quite selfish at times which was very unfair given what she had had to sacrifice for them and protect them from! I hope that they all read her story and took on board exactly what their mother had to contend with!! John, to me, is like a hell of a lot of Irish men - he's grand when he's not drinking!! I suppose maybe its hard for children in such circumstances to take sides but good God when your father is beating your mother to a pulp I think its time to take a stand!! I thought it so sad when she wrote that she crushed painkillers into her drink when he went to the pub as she hoped that it would numb the pain from the beating she knew she'd get when he would come home! What an existence!!
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