- Audio CD
- Publisher: Blackstone Audio; Retail CD edition (Oct 15 2008)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1433261502
- ISBN-13: 978-1433261503
- Product Dimensions: 14.5 x 13.5 x 2.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 249 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #615,564 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
The latest from Barry (whose A Long Way was shortlisted for the 2005 Booker) pits two contradictory narratives against each other in an attempt to solve the mystery of a 100-year-old mental patient. That patient, Roseanne McNulty, decides to undertake an autobiography and writes of an ill-fated childhood spent with her father, Joe Clear. A cemetery superintendent, Joe is drawn into Ireland's 1922 civil war when a group of irregulars brings a slain comrade to the cemetery and are discovered by a division of Free-Staters. Meanwhile, Roseanne's psychiatrist, Dr. Grene, investigating Roseanne's original commitment in preparation for her transfer to a new hospital, discovers through the papers of the local parish priest, Fr. Gaunt, that Roseanne's father was actually a police sergeant in the Royal Irish Constabulary. The mysteries multiply when Roseanne reveals that Fr. Gaunt annulled her marriage after glimpsing her in the company of another man; Gaunt's official charge was nymphomania, and the cumulative fallout led to a string of tragedies. Written in captivating, lyrical prose, Barry's novel is both a sparkling literary puzzle and a stark cautionary tale of corrupted power. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
aThese lives are reimagined in language of surpassing beauty. Above all it is the surpassing quality of Mr. Barryas language that gives it its power . . . Mr. Barry has said that his novels and plays often begin as poems (he is a published poet), but his language never clots the flow of his story; it never gives a whiff of labor and strain. It is like a song, with all the pulse of the Irish language, a song sung liltingly and plaintively from the top of Ben Bulben into the airy night.a
aDinitia Smith, "NY Times Daily Book Review"
aJust as he (Barry) describes people stopping in the street to look at Roseanne, so I often found myself stopping to look at the sentences he gave her, wanting to pause and copy them down . . . When I reached the last page, I did feel that I had shared a profound experience . . .a
aMargot Livesey, "The Boston Globe"
aLuminous and lyrical.a
aPam Houston, "O Magazine"
aIad nominate Sebastian Barry, the most exhilarating prose stylist in Irish fictionawhich just about makes him, by definition, the best prose writer in the English language . . . Barry has shown a dazzling facility with poetry, drama and fictionahis works form a mosaic-like whole, though each stands on its own. He never uses a fancy word when a simple one will do; his characters speak a plain vocabulary, but in cadences tempered and honed into poetry . . . Sebastian Barryas achievement is unlike that of any other modern Western writer, a tapestry of interrelated works in different mediums woven from strands of his past and that of his country. "The Secret Scripture" fits seamlessly into a vision that seeks to restore with language that which has been taken away byhistory.a
aAllen Barra, "Salon.com" --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
aDinitia Smith, "NY Times Daily Book Review"
aJust as he (Barry) describes people stopping in the street to look at Roseanne, so I often found myself stopping to look at the sentences he gave her, wanting to pause and copy them down . . . When I reached the last page, I did feel that I had shared a profound experience . . .a
aMargot Livesey, "The Boston Globe"
aLuminous and lyrical.a
aPam Houston, "O Magazine"
aIad nominate Sebastian Barry, the most exhilarating prose stylist in Irish fictionawhich just about makes him, by definition, the best prose writer in the English language . . . Barry has shown a dazzling facility with poetry, drama and fictionahis works form a mosaic-like whole, though each stands on its own. He never uses a fancy word when a simple one will do; his characters speak a plain vocabulary, but in cadences tempered and honed into poetry . . . Sebastian Barryas achievement is unlike that of any other modern Western writer, a tapestry of interrelated works in different mediums woven from strands of his past and that of his country. "The Secret Scripture" fits seamlessly into a vision that seeks to restore with language that which has been taken away byhistory.a
aAllen Barra, "Salon.com" --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
The world begins anew with every birth, my father used to say. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
The world begins anew with every birth, my father used to say. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Redemption of a Sad and Bitter Life,
By Ian Gordon Malcomson (Victoria, BC) - See all my reviews (HALL OF FAME) (TOP 10 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: The Secret Scripture (Hardcover)
This is one of the better modern Irish novels I've read in a long time. Sebatian Barry has created a deeply disturbing story about the long and unhappy life of a centenarian named Roseanne McNulty as she lives out her dying days in a Roscommon asylum, the Leitrim Hotel. Her sad, mysterious life has been one of being misunderstood, mistreated, and neglected. Once a very pretty colleen growing up in the Sligo area, Roseanne's life takes some very tragic and unexpected twists and turns throughout the twentieth century. As the daughter of a former Royal Irish Constabulary policeman and a deranged mother, Roseanne gets drawn into a very unfortunate and unhappy set of circumstances that she has no control over. Ireland is about to become independent; the Irish Catholic Church is bent on re-inforcing its authority throughout the state; and local prejudices and superstitions still carry the day. The truth of her story only comes out around her 100th birthday when the director of the asylum, Dr. Grene, does a psychological assessment of her in preparation for releasing her before the old building is demolished. In the space of a number of weeks, Dr. Grene, a very troubled man himself, holds a series of conversations with Roseanne as to the nature of her story. For a while there are two versions of events going on, as Grene and Roseanne regale each other with what they know about the past. Grene's is one obtained by checking out local and national sources, while Roseanne's is one of a selective memory of a wide range of personal hurts and indignities. Using the techniques of psychoanalysis, Grene leads Roseanne to see the bigger picture of her life: the swirl of events that make her less an author of her own terrible misfortune and more the unfortunate, hapless victim of circumstances. By the end of the novel, the issues of guilt that have burdened this woman for close to a century have been removed because two people got together to effect each other's emotional and spiritual healing. Barry writes with conviction and purpose. The old Ireland, bound by servitude to the Church and tradition, comes alive in this story as it battles to hold its own against the forces of modernism and political change.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Scripture,
By
This review is from: The Secret Scripture: A Novel (Paperback)
Read this book for the sheer delight of reading the writing. Barry's ability to tell a powerful and dramatic story with such a delicate touch and such an appreciation for language is genius. This book has a lot to say, and it says it well. This is one of the few books that transcended the page and entered into my dreams. I 'felt' this book. Anyone interested, like I am, in what society does to those who are inconvenient, those who need 'tidied away' will learn from The Secret Scripture.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
A shockig look inside and Asylum,
By
This review is from: The Secret Scripture: A Novel (Paperback)
I listened to the audio version of this novel. It was from Blackstone Audio and was read by Wanda McCaddon, unabridged, 9 hours and 45 minutes.At first I was rather confused as to which character was speaking until I realized that each change of character was announced. Somehow I had managed to mis-understand what was happening. Once that was cleared in my mind, I was able to follow the story and enjoy it. Roseanne McNulty of County Sligo, Ireland has been living in a mental hospital for most of her adult life. As she approaches the age of one hundred years, the staff psychiatrist Dr. Grene is required to assess her and determine her suitability for release. Over the course of the next weeks/months, Dr. Grene tries to coax Roseanne into telling her story. She is very resistant. Unknown to the doctor, Roseanne has been recording her memories in a notebook that she keeps hidden. I found myself outraged on Roseanne's behalf. All she wanted was to be able to love her husband, yet she was blocked at so many turns. I was also shocked at the in-adequate level of care that Dr. Grene showed his patients. One would think that after decades of being her psychiatrist, he would have known her history and that he would have established weekly sessions with each patient. He admitted that he only visited Roseanne once or twice a year to she that her physical needs were being met. This is an interesting story and it challenges me to consider the role of religion in personal relationships and also the position of priests and the power they wield.
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