Memoir. John McGahern

The authors childhood was full of hardships and pain but he had such a wonderful relationship with his dear mother. What a strange cruel father he had. This story was very interesting. I want to read more of his stories.

For fans of John McGahern his memior will give you insight into his characters in Amongst Women and The Dark. Well worth the read to know an author and his thoughts.

It is hard not to compare favorably this memoir of an Irish childhood with Angela's Ashes. Mcgahern had a difficult time: his beloved, saintly mother died when he was nine leaving him and his younger sisters to be raised by their brutal, sadistic father.He tells it like it was in a non-exploitative, straightforward way, without playing it for laughs.He was expected to enter the priesthood, and he accepted this, until he discovered a different world through his love of reading.He paid a stiff price for his independence, but anyone who reads this, and his other works, will be glad he did manage to find his own way.

This is the kind of book that ligers on in the memory long after the reader has finished the final page. It's a very vivid portrait of a deeply devoted sons love for his mother only for her to die and for authors life to be dominated by a bullying insensitive rural policeman father in a tiny hamlet with no crime to tackle. This truly is a wonderful book that is enriching and life affirming.

John McGahern's memoir summarises the leitmotifs of his fictional works, where recurring themes of abused children, put-upon wives, and dominating, "old-school" husbands are echoed here. Indeed, one can trace the genesis of the themes of his novels from the people, places, and circumstances that provide the unity of his prose in "All Will Be Well". And the kind of man and writer into which McGahern matured is elegantly presented in this quote (p. 87): "I am sure it is from those days that I take the belief that the best of life is life lived quietly, where nothing happens but our calm journey through the day, where change is imperceptible and the precious life is everything".

Though McGahern is not well known in the United States, his books were very influential in Irish literature. His early work, "The Dark", a family saga including an abusive father and a seductive priest, was banned in Ireland in the 1950's. He was forced to find work in London and the United States before returning to Ireland. This memoir, particularly focusing on his childhood years is strangely flat in places, but where it illuminates is in his relationship to his mother, and, in the true Irish fashion; his relationship to her MEMORY. She takes on a quietly iconic status, so that, even though she died when he was 8 years old, her influence is all over his writing. He reminds one of another great Irish writer of an earlier era, Patrick Kavanaugh. Both deal with rural Ireland of bygone times. Both are past-haunted. There is none of the squalid, almost humourous tone of Frank McCourt. McGahern has more dignity. The manipulative nature of his relationship with his father is also a dominant theme. His father was an "old" Irish male, a rigid police sergeant who lived in the Gardai barracks most of his married life. The clash of wills and ideals is palpable between the two men. McGahern was transformed by his writing into something which transcended his tortured youth. I heard of his death today. Perhaps he will receive his worldwide recognition postumously. He certainly deserves it.