Venetia Kelly's Traveling Show - Frank Delany

Title: Venetia Kelly's Traveling Show
Author: Frank Delany
Published: 2010 Pages: 427
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 4.5/5

Venetia Kelly came into the world in a fashion of mythic proportions: "She sprang from the womb and waved to the crowd. Then she smiled and took a bow" (3). What do you say about a book that begins with such oomph? Set mostly in 1930s Ireland during a tumultuous political period, Venetia Kelly's Traveling Show is one man's attempt the understand how his world all of a sudden tumbled upside down. Writing the story as an aging man, Ben looks back to when he was eighteen years old and met the wondrous and compelling Venetia Kelly.

This book is so many things that it is difficult to capture in a short synopsis. It is a book about a young man who is asked to do things he should have never been asked to do; political development and upheaval during a time when the world was spinning faster than it was turning; young but forbidden love of two people who so belonged together but didn't; storytelling--how can you have a book set in Ireland without storytelling? Ben is a wonderful narrator who spares no details in his stories, and even though he is a self-proclaimed digressor (one who digresses?) every bit of his story is intriguing.

I have very little complaint about Venetia Kelly's Traveling Show. I did have troubles getting into the story at first, much like I did with Delaney's novel Ireland*, and I can't quite put my finger on why. The writing, though sprawling, is very dense and detailed, and I found myself having to pay close attention to the story as small bits and pieces would resurface. But once immersed into the writing I found I wanted to read one more chapter and then another and then cursing that my lunch break was over and I'd have to wait to read more (the chapters are generally short and usually cliffhangery).

I think my 4.5/5 rating shows that I would highly recommend Venetia Kelly's Traveling Show, but I'll say it again. This book is a perfect blend of plot and characters and I was sad when I came upon the last page of the book. I was so caught up in the story and felt so much emotion for the characters that I even got misty-eyed over the ending. Narrator Ben explains at the beginning of the book that the story isn't over and that was a tough pill to swallow, but in the end this was a very satisfying read--a read that satisfied my love of literature and beautiful writing but also my love of a good story that had me at the edge of my seat wanting to know more until I turned the last page.

*Back in my first week of blogging I wrote some thoughts of Ireland. It's actually pretty funny to read now as I mention my tendency to ramble which has only gotten worse (?) as the years have gone on.

A big thanks to Lisa at TLC Book Tours for inviting me to participate in this tour. And a big thanks to Frank Delany for sharing the lives of Ben, Venetia, and even Blarney.

Angela's Ashes - Frank McCourt

Title: Angela's Ashes
Author: Frank McCourt
Date Finished: Feb 10, 2008
Yearly Count: 7
Pages 460
Rating: 3/5

I picked this book up probably almost 10 years ago (when the movie was being released) and have tried to read it two or three times in that span. According to my dog-eared page, my last attempt took me to page 60. I don’t remember exactly why I gave up on the book, but probably because I thought it was incredibly boring. :) I was determined to get this book off my TBR shelf once and for all—and I did!!

Angela’s Ashes is Frank McCourt’s memoir of his coming of age. His memoir begins when he is a small child growing up in New York; his family keeps growing in number despite their extreme poverty, and eventually his aunt’s pay for their way back to Ireland to live. The McCourt’s situation continues on a desperate path in Ireland as his father, Malachy, finds it difficult to keep a job and when he does have a job, he drinks his paycheck before his family can see a dime (or shilling?? I am a little fuzzy on my foreign currency in the early 1930s-40s). Frank must endure daily ridicule from his classmates, members of the Catholic church, and others in general as he tries to make sense of his life and make the most of the little he has been given.

The book outlines Frank’s desire to become a man and be able to do the things that adults do—such as drink the pint, earn a living and his way to America, and do other things that I don’t need to mention. Angela’s Ashes is written from Frank’s point of view at the various stages of his life—so the narrative becomes much more detailed the older Frank is. While this type of narration was difficult at the beginning of the book when Frank is a small child (and also a great part of why I dislike James Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist…), Frank’s perspective became one of the things that I enjoyed most about the book. Sometimes it was funny to see Frank trying to make sense out of his life and some of the “rules” that he had to endure, but at other times it is heartbreaking as Frank doesn’t really quite understand what is happening to his family as they continue to struggle to survive.

So what’s up with the rating? There were times when I was really interested in the narrative, and to be fair, I never truly struggled with the prose (except the first chapter, maybe). As I got further into the book I found myself reading more and more, which could have been because of my 6+ hours in the car this weekend or because I was more interested. But, it came to a point where I could only hear about so much more heartache. I often forgot that I was reading someone’s memoirs rather than a fictional account—but for most of the book, it was just more of the same. Dad is a big fat loser. And I don’t want to diminish what Frank went through as a child, but the parts of the book that I enjoyed the most were the ones where he got away from the narrative of his dad spending all of the money in the bar and coming home drunk. I felt there was more meat to his stories about church and classroom and dancing lessons and looking for a job and becoming a man.

Do I recommend Angela’s Ashes? With caution—although I think I’ve seen more positive than negative reviews. Will I read his follow-up memoir, ‘Tis? If I can get my hands on a copy for cheap cheap cheap—but I’m not running out to store anytime soon for it.

Review: Ireland by Frank Delaney

Book: Ireland
Author: Frank Delaney
Date Read: June 12, 2007
Rating: 4/5

I'm not sure why I am absolutely incapable of writing a succinct review of a book, but I'm going to try try try with this one (ya right).

Although it took a little bit for me to get into this book, I ended up really enjoying it. I think the breaker was when my husband and I took a 3 hour car trip the other day and out of boredom (his, not mine), I read several chapters to him. We both talked about the stories, laughed, and enjoyed.

The plot of the novel is pretty simplistic. A young boy, Ronan O'Mara, meets a traveling storyteller one night and is bewitched by the stories he hears. After the third night (and third story), the storyteller is banished by O'Mara's mother, but Ronan begins a longwinded search for the elusive traveller. The book ping pongs back and forth between O'Mara's search/story and random stories of Ireland told by various narrators.

Of the many stories, the reader encounters accounts such as how the harp was invented and how George Fredrick Handel came to write "The Messiah." But the nice thing about the stories is that they follow a progression of the history of Ireland--beginning with its very formation and ending with more historical accounts of invasion, hardships, battles, and struggles for freedom. Along the journey in the book, the reader also encounters some rather colorful characters (My favorite is Professor Ryle), but I rate this book a B because some of the narrators blend together--I'm not sure their voices are quite as distinct as they should be.

Listen to me rambling on. Recommendation: While the book is lengthy (my copy was 650 pages), the reading flows well and is rather quick. I would recommend this book to those who are interested in Ireland, storytelling, history, and myth. Not the best book I've read, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

*photo courtesy www.wnyc.org