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On Canaan's Side (2011)

by Sebastian Barry(Favorite Author)

3.8 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0571226531 (ISBN13: 9780571226535)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Faber and Faber

review 1: Sebastian Barry must have either been raised by a houseful of women, had many girl friends as a young man or has some otherworldly powers on sensing what women, think and feel. The first novel I read by Barry was The Secret Scripture and the voice of Roseanne McNulty blew me away, then there was Annie Dunne who was a crotchety, old maid with a big heart and now Lily Bere. He creates these women characters whose lives are so interesting yet simple. He is able to evoke such compassion from his readers and the reader in turn cannot plop the novel down. Each time I start one of his novels, I think how many times can he tell us the story of another woman and each time I am ready to expect more of the same...but oh no...that is not at all what happens...rather, each time I ... moream more and more impressed by the way he constructs a tale of a woman who relies on her spirit and will to overcome life's trajedies and disappointments.
review 2: If the devil is in the details, then "On Canaan's Side" is a devil of a book. And, I love my details. Sebastian Barry's book itself is spare, just 256 pages, but it is oh so rich. Consider this moment: "The peaceful darkness filled the kitchen, crept into the kettle to make a nest for darkness, crept into the sugar tin and the baking trays, played in the curves of the ladles and the big mixing spoons, touched everything, peering at everything, even into those cancelled spaces no one sees, the tops of cabinets and the farms and asylums of dust that lie under the fridge and cooker." And, conversely, a decade may also pass in a single sentence as Lilly tells her life story, reaching back into her early life in Ireland, to her immigration into the U.S., through two more generations, visiting each war from WW II to Desert Storm. Opening with "What is the sound of an eighty-nine-year-old heart breaking?" this may be the saddest book I've ever read. Still, Lilly's indomitable spirit eased the sadness as I knew that Lilly would--again and again--survive. She is a heroine to be savored and cherished. This is not a book I will forget. less

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