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Cargando... Nine Folds Make a Paper Swan (2016)por Ruth Gilligan
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Inscríbete en LibraryThing para averiguar si este libro te gustará. Actualmente no hay Conversaciones sobre este libro. This book made me ache. It's a glimpse into the Jewish community of Ireland throughout the twentieth century, told through three different characters in different times. Ruth is a Lithuanian immigrant at the turn of the century, accidentally calling Cork, rather than New York, her home. Shem is a mid-century teenager who has lost his voice and is locked away in one of Ireland's multitude of homes for the mentally ill. And finally, Aisling, a twenty-first century London resident dating a Jewish man who eventually tells her he can't imagine marrying a gentile woman. Gradually, their stories are woven together, an intricate tapestry weaving the past, present, and future of Irish Jews into a single narrative. This book was deeply moving and I highly recommend it. Definite trigger warning for antisemtism, antisemetic slurs, ableism, and Ireland's frankly horrifying mental health institutions in the 20th century. Shem's story line bears the brunt of these problems; a mute Jewish boy in a Catholic institution that still views mental illness as bedevilment is never going to be a pleasant reading experience. The writing is very clever. There are five parts to the book, each with the English translation of the Jewish names of the first five books of the Bible: In the beginning, Names, And he called, In the Desert, and Words. The connections among the three stories are gradually revealed; one link is only shown at the end. Going back to read the very beginning is useful. But two of the stories are frustratingly sad: If only Shem had talked to his rabbi or his mother about his problem; if only Ruth had introduced herself; if only . . . . If only I felt more sympathy for or closer to the characters. The American debut for Irish author and academic Ruth Gilligan. An interesting read, each chapter, written like a short story, intertwines to illuminate a relatively unknown bit of Irish-Jewish history. I didn't find it cohesive enough, my first impulse on finishing was to reread in light of the conclusions of the various streams. Lovely language, but too many bizarre lives for her characters.
The ambitions of the novel mean that elements of the story are laboured by self-consciousness, such as a scene between Moshe and Lady Gregory, or the inclusion of footnotes in a book that otherwise forgoes formal experimentation. But Nine Folds is rich in plot, and full of characters whose stories have been neglected by an Irish literature that, for all its vibrancy and talent, has focused on the white Catholic (and often rural) experience. The novel looks to those on the margins of that brand of Irishness, while tackling serious issues such as displacement, belonging, cultural stereotyping and antisemitism with a light touch. At a moment when we are preoccupied with migration, it offers a sympathetic perspective on the difficulties of adjusting to life in a new place over two generations. Premios
"At the start of the twentieth century, a young girl and her family emigrate from Lithuania in search of a better life in America, only to land on the Emerald Isle instead. In 1958, a mute Jewish boy locked away in a mental institution outside of Dublin forms an unlikely friendship with a man consumed by the story of the love he lost nearly two decades earlier. And in present-day London, an Irish journalist is forced to confront her conflicting notions of identity and family when her Jewish boyfriend asks her to make a true leap of faith. These three arcs, which span generations and intertwine in revelatory ways, come together to tell the haunting story of Ireland's all-but-forgotten Jewish community."--Amazon.com. No se han encontrado descripciones de biblioteca. |
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Google Books — Cargando... GénerosSistema Decimal Melvil (DDC)823.92Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 2000-Clasificación de la Biblioteca del CongresoValoraciónPromedio:
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It took me a while to get into it and I'm not fond of the chapters cycling between eras way of telling a story but by the end I was very curious about it all. ( )