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The Secret Scripture (2008)

by Sebastian Barry(Favorite Author)

3.74 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0571215289 (ISBN13: 9780571215287)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Faber and Faber

review 1: Very clever, and very Irish, with some beautiful passages. "I am beginning to wonder strongly what is the nature of history. Is it only memory in decent sentences, and if so, how reliable is it? I would suggest, not very. And that therefore most truth and fact offered by these syntactical means is treacherous and unreliable. And yet I recognize that we live our lives, and even keep our sanity, by the lights of this treachery and this unreliability, just as we build our love of country on these paper worlds of misapprehension and untruth. Perhaps this is our nature, and perhaps unaccountably it is part of our glory as a creature, that we can build our best and most permanent buildings on foundations of utter dust."
review 2: There are two aspects to ... morethis novel -- the writing and the story. The writing is pure poetry! At first, I found it a bit difficult....but, as with Shakespeare, it is a transition getting into the rhythm of language. I also liked the format -- the back and forth between the two narrators and perspectives. The story is touching and has the "aha" moment when one suspects or realizes the end. There is a striking contrast of the moral and political judgements of this era and place with Roseanne's contant persistence and grace. A moving read! Thank you, Sebastian Barry, for sharing this story. less

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