Gain Tipperary Generated By Frank Delaney Expressed As E-Text

beginning of the book was a bit boring and the presentday narrator felt intrusive, I didn't care much for Charles either, He came across as a bit pathetic, chasing after a mostly unlikeable woman who wasn't the least bit interested in him, However, about a quarter of the way into the book, things began to improve, The history became more interesting, more was revealed about the presentday narrator, and Charles developed a backbone and a personality, By the time I reached the end, I'd learned quite a bit about Ireland's history, I liked almost all of the characters, and I'd decided that I liked the book, too.
It was worthing wading through the boring bits at the beginning, This was more of a,star for me. I really enjoyed the historical aspect of this novel, reading about England's rule in Ireland at the time and the fight to give back rule to the Irish, I also enjoyed the story of the restoration of Tipperary castle and his descriptions of it were superb, It was largely unbelievable that a person who wasn't well connected or wealthy could meet with every person of interest in Ireland at the time which is why a lot of people may be put off this story.
Although it would be quite cool to have met all those amazing characters, I think the author was just showing off his knowledge about them, This was a book of the history of Ireland as it struggled to become a nation from the mideighteenth century through World War I that was told in this captivating novel beginning with a trunk being discovered by a history professor intrigued by its contents including the written history of a Charles O'Brien.
But as O'Brien cautions the reader, "Be careful about me, Be careful about my country and my people and how we tell our history, " And so begins the story that I found hard to put down, It was the perfect book to be reading on St, Patrick's Day. I love historical fiction and love books about Ireland, so I was pretty excited about this, Unfortunately, the excitement didn't last, Not only did I want to slap the two main characters a very immatureyear old man who falls headoverheels for anyear old ice princess, but the structure is annoying continuous back and forth between firstperson recollections of the main character and thirdperson narrative by the person who supposedly discovered the journals of this guy.
It is a way to insert a lot of explanation and historical trivia, but feels very blatant, The third annoying factor is the fact that wherever he goes, the main character meets up with prominent people of

the day Oscar Wilde, James A, Joyce, Charles Parnell, William Butler Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, etc, etc, He has brief encounters and manages to either accept or dispense pithy advice from/to each person before moving on, What is that all about It doesn't advance the story at all it's just namedropping! Grrrr, . . Listening to the audiobook was like having a favorite uncle tell a story, Frank Delaney is a natural story teller and a wonderful narrator, “My wooing began in passion, was defined by violence and circumscribed by land all these elements molded my soul, ” So writes Charles OBrien, the unforgettable hero of bestselling author Frank Delaneys extraordinary new novela sweeping epic of obsession, profound devotion, and compelling history involving a turbulent era that would shape modern Ireland.
 

Born into a respected IrishAnglo family in, Charles loves his native land and its longsuffering but irrepressible people, As a healer, he travels the countryside dispensing traditional cures while soaking up stories and legends of bygone timesand witnessing the painful, often violent birth of landreform measures destined to lead to Irish independence.


At the age of forty, summoned to Paris to treat his dying countrymanthe infamous Oscar WildeCharles experiences the fateful moment of his life, In a chance encounter with a beautiful and determined young Englishwoman, eighteenyearold April Burke, he is instantly and passionately smittenbut callously rejected, Vowing to improve himself, Charles returns to Ireland, where he undertakes the preservation of the great and abandoned estate of Tipperary, in whose shadow he has lived his whole lifeand which, he discovers, may belong to April and her father.


As Charles pursues his obsession, he writes the “History” of his own life and country, While doing so, he meets the great figures of the day, including Charles Parnell, William Butler Yeats, and George Bernard Shaw, And he also falls victim to less wellknown characterswho prove far more dangerous, Tipperary also features a second “historian:” a presentday commentator, a retired and obscure history teacher who suddenly discovers that he has much at stake in the telling of Charless story.


In this gloriously absorbing and utterly satisfying novel, a mans passion for the woman he loves is twinned with his countrys emergence as a nation, With storytelling as sweeping and dramatic as the land itself, myth, fact, and fiction are all woven together with the power of the great nineteenthcentury novelists, Tipperary once again proves Frank Delaneys unrivaled mastery at bringing Irish history to life,

Praise for Frank Delaneys TIPPERARY:
“The narrative moves swiftly and surelyA sort of Irish Gone With the Wind, marked by sly humor, historical awareness and plenty of staying power.
” Kirkus s
“Another meticulously researched journeyDelaneys careful scholarship and compelling storytelling bring it uniquely alive, Highly recommended. ” Library Journal starred
“Sophisticated and creative, ” Booklist
“Delaneys confident storytelling and quirky characterizations enrich a fascinating and complex period of Irish history, ” Publishers Weekly
“Read just a few sentences of Frank Delaneys writing and youll see why National Public Radio called him the worlds most eloquent man.
” Kirkus s, “Big Book Guide”


From the Hardcover edition, This was my second Frank Delaney book and I thought I was headed into another book like his Ireland! Was I ever mistaken, but the writing and story did not disappoint.
It has some similarities and threads of yearning and disappointment, but is entirely different, just like the different parts of the country Ireland are very different, The history that is brought to life in this book, even if in a fictional way, is breathtaking, It brough being in Dublin on my last trip even more dimension because I had more of a grip on what the soldiers might have feltyears ago, and what was really at risk for them.
We didn't make it to Tipperary, maybe next time, but I think most of the places in those parts of the book are completely fictional,

I very much appreciate Mr, Delaney narrating his own books for the audiobook versions, there is nothing like the writer voicing their own words to inject their own meaning into what is understood by the listener.
It's a long way to Tipperary, and it took a long time to read this book!

This dense historical novel takes place in lateth and earlyth century Ireland.
Charles O'Brien is a gentleman and healer, and he is madly in love with two things: Tipperary Castle and Ireland in general and April Burke, When April Burke takes possession of the castle, Charles becomes even more obsessed and manages to help April restore the big house to its former glory, But that doesn't make her love him, Or even like him.

More than anything, this is a love story about O'Brien and Ireland and Tipperary Castle, It is told mainly from two points of view: O'Brien's and the present day narrator's, And our latter narrator becomes a part of the story as well,

This novel is dense and slow, I'm not sure how or why I finished it, But I did.




Frank Delaney is a shanachie, following on in the tradition of the old storytellers of Ireland, This would seem to be the art he employs, but behind the apparent simplicity and anecdotal nature of the tales he tells lies a very sharplyhoned novelist's mind, There is a design behind the loosely linked series of stories through which the principal narrator, Charles O'Brien, sets out his own life story from thes through to the earlyth century.
Charles acts as a witness to the way in which the land was restored to the dispossessed and embittered native population and comes in contact, often quite innocently, with major figures of the period such as Parnell, Oscar Wilde, Shaw, Yeats and even Michael Collins.
Other voices interject from time to time to indicate that Charles for all his confidence in his own eloquence and grasp of the situation often doesn't quite understand how others see him nor what is really taking place in the country.
This is wonderfully well done and constitutes a fresh and rather variegated look at a period which most of us who grew up in Ireland only know from textbooks, One of the most devastating and politically incorrect themes which continually comes through flying in the face of the pieties of the modern Republic is that there is such an enormous disparity between native Catholics and settler Protestants, both of whom passionately love the land, that there is practically no hope whatsoever of the two tribes ever being able to comprehend one another.

Don't listen to the naysayers who haven't finished the book, I normally wouldn't read something like this but I did and to me that says a lot, This book has something for every reader, including war, history, adventure, and romance, The plot is sweeping and complex, entertaining and amusing,

Tipperary is full of elegant prose and beautifully told, exploring themes of unrequited love, patriotism, the finality of life, and faith among many others, The plot stitches together two stories simultaneously each with their own prejudices pitted against the other, weaving in and out of one another until they both collide,

The worn down Tipperary estate is the touchstone for all the characters some of which appear very late, Charles is an Irish everyman, a healer by trade, who takes the task of writing a history of both himself and the land he lives in and loves, While tending to the wounds of Oscar Wilde he meets the mesmerizing April Burke, who becomes his life's passion, She is a complex character with a complex past and not very likeable, but Charles doesn't allow this to deter him and pursues her anyway, During this pursuit he learns April may be the rightful heir of Tipperary castle and he helps her in trying to secure it in court, We quickly learn, however, that there are many enemies in Ireland at the time of his writing, all of which seem to thwart Charles in his desire to help Miss Burke.


In conclusion, this is a story worth reading, and a read worth finishing, I usually devour books but for some reason this took me almost a month to read, I just didn't feel as engaged in the book so I let days pass without reading it, I loved Delaney's previous book, Ireland, My favorite part of Ireland was Delaney's love of storytelling, Irish culture, and Irish history shone through his beautifullywritten book,

Tipperary shows his love of Irish culture/history as well, but the storytelling piece suffered a bit, He also recycled almost all of the elements in Ireland: noble but lonely man with love of all things Irish and in a traditionally Irish occupation that has him travel to every part of Ireland the almost obsessive devotion to an elusive love object questions of ancestry switching narrators throughout the story even the direct participation of the main character in the Easter Uprising and multiple encounters with famous Irish notables.
It felt like he took so many of the same elements that were successful in Ireland and rearranged them with moderate success in Tipperary,

I found myself finally engaged/of the way through the book, and overall it was pretty satisfying, But it was not Delaney's best work, I loved the imagery and history in this book, as well as the revelation at the end, However, the first half is too slow and the interweaving of timelines was not as smooth and captivating as it could have been, I learned a lot about Irish history and enjoyed the characters so overall glad I read it! I became a fan of Frank Delaney after reading hiswork, Ireland, Delaney is a master of wefting and warping Ireland's history into fictional stories with colorful characters, adding just the right amount of mystery to keep you turning the pages, In Tipperary, we follow Charles O'Brien from a lad of nine through to his sixties we get to know the man, his passions, his hobbies, and his chosen career and are engaged in the story if his seemingly unrequited love for theyears his junior, April Burke.
The story hums along being told from the journals and letters of O'Brien, journals of his mother and closest friend Harney, until in the middle of the book, Delaney drops the mystery.


Tipperary utilizes several different storytelling methods: the use of epistolary, narrative, and historical references, The first half of the book is regrettably sluggish as the reader begins to wonder how Delaney wrote apage novel based on a court case concerning the rightful ownership of Tipperary Castle however, once the narrator, Michael Nugent, is revealed and it is made known that there is a mystery with O'Brian and Burke that ultimately concerns him, the story picks up.
Otherwise potentially boring facts and historical events take on a new meaning and fervor as the reader tries to work out Nugent's place in the story beyond narration,

I nearly put the book down, and would have been disappointed to do so because I love Delaney's style and gift of story, but was glad that I hung in there as Tipperary did redeem itself in the end.
It was okay. I found that I muddled through it, and it really did take me a long time to finish it, I was determined, in the end, to just sit and finally finish it,

It's an interesting account of early Ireland history, from the point of view of a young man when he started his journal, through the tumultuous years of Ireland's history.
As many reviews have pointed out, it does seem to take from Forrest Gump, with notable Irish heroes, writers and poets just conveniently showing up during the course of the young man's life.


I found that I would be a couple of sentences into a paragraph before I knew whose point of view it was, It did drag quite a bit for me, hence thestar rating, .