Product Description

From Amazon.com

The son of a German mother and an Irish father, Hugo Hamilton grew up in Dublin in the 1950s wearing "lederhosen and Aran sweaters, smelling of rough wool and new leather, Irish on top and German below." His family spoke both German and Irish, but English was strictly forbidden--even uttering a few words of the cursed language was enough to earn an often brutal punishment from their father, a staunch Irish nationalist. His father maintained that "your home is your language" and insisted that they be a model Irish family and an example for others to follow. Hamilton and his siblings were not even permitted to play with children who did not speak Irish exclusively--a particular problem in a country where English is the primary language. Ironically, he was taunted mercilessly for his German heritage and children jeered him with cries of "Eichmann" and "Heil Hitler." He was even put on "trial" once by a gang of kids who sentenced him death by snowball firing squad. This confusing quest to discover his identity and to gain an understanding of his family history is at the heart of The Speckled People, a profoundly touching and beautifully written memoir.

His parents' secrecy concerning their own pasts only exacerbated his frustration, forcing Hamilton to cling to fragments of information gleaned secretly from hidden photographs and buried family relics. Written from the perspective of a child, Hamilton captures his feelings of confusion, guilt, and fear convincingly and with much humor and insight. Full of poetic passages, sharp observations, and the kind of subtle epiphanies that are best expressed by a child, the book is a joy to read. "When you're small you know nothing and when you grow up there are things you don't want to know," he writes. This memoir is Hamilton's attempt to reconcile the two. --Shawn Carkonen --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

"I know what it's like to lose, because I'm Irish and I'm German," explains Hamilton in this beautiful memoir of a mixed childhood in the years after WWII. Hamilton's father says they are speckled, breac in Gaelic: spotted like a trout. With an Irish father and a German mother, Hamilton comes to Ireland as a boy in the 1950s and finds a homeland that will never fully accept him. Other children call him "Kraut" and "Nazi" and taunt him with "Sieg Heil!" salutes. Yet Hamilton is in many ways more Irish than they. His father never allows him to speak English and insists the family use the Gaelic form of their last name (O hUrmoltaigh), which many of their neighbors can't even pronounce. Despite these efforts, Hamilton knows, "we'll never be Irish enough." There is much in this Irish memoir that's familiar to the genre: the dark, overwhelming father; the tragic mother; the odd mix of patriotism and self-loathing ("the hunger strike and Irish coffee" are the country's greatest inventions, Hamilton's father says). But the book is never cliched, thanks largely to Hamilton's frankly poetic language and masterful portrait of childhood. This is really a book about how children see the world: the silent otherworld at the bottom of a swimming pool, the terror of a swarm of bees, the strangeness of a city transformed by snow. By turns lyrical and elegiac, this memoir is an absorbing record of a unique childhood and a vanishing heritage.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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When you're small you know nothing. Read the first page

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4.8 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)

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5.0 out of 5 stars Almost an Angela's Ashes, Dec 8 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Speckled People (Hardcover)

The cover picture and the packaging are obviously attempting to ride on the coat tails of the phenomonal success of "Angela's Ashes." Which is okay in this case, because there are many similarities, and also because this book is almost as good. Almost. It's very close. Which is to say: it's still better than just about any other memoir you could get your hands on. This is a most charming, most intuitive, most page-turning read. I loved it. You probably will too.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Speckled Like A Trout, Oct 6 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Speckled People (Hardcover)

Some reviewers tell the whole story in a paragraph like this, which I will refrain from doing. That would take away the entertainment value of reading the book. Suffice it to say that, of the 50+ books I read a year, this one is one of the top 5 of the year. It has a very interesting voice (a child's perspective), and story (one Irish parent, one German parent, and their children who live in Ireland after WWII) that certainly makes you think about one's place in the world and also one's perspective of history. I highly recommend reading this book.

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4.0 out of 5 stars We Knew About Losing, Aug 14 2003

By	taking a rest - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

This review is from: The Speckled People (Hardcover)

The cover of this book has one of the most charming photographs of a young child reading. The picture has much greater relevance, as it is not simply a wonderful photograph chosen for the cover of a book, rather a picture of a young Hugo Hamilton. The author characterizes his early years in post war Europe as the child of an Irish mother and a German father by stating, "We knew about losing, we were Irish and German".

This autobiography is not like many I have read by before, especially those set in Ireland. This is not a fairy tale that is ruled by wicked characters from Dickens or a childhood that is unfamiliar with happiness. The most bizarre character that struck me was his father, an ultra nationalist obsessed with Gaelic. For this man absolutely everything secured its destruction by whether or not Gaelic was the written or spoken word. This was a man who would imperil his family financially not because there was a lack of work rather those he worked for did not address his mail in Gaelic. His children were made near recluses, as he would not allow them to interact with any children that did not come from a home that shared his strict and bizarre views of language. When his strange fixation on language was added to the prejudice the children experienced as a result of lingering German prejudice, there was plenty for this man to write about. As happens in many instances his Mother was a critical influence and she is interesting to read of as well.

This is a beautifully written work but is not one that will constantly raise your spirits. I found it to be melancholy, but a very worthwhile use of your reading time.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Nationalism and Nazism
Memories of an unhappy Irish childhood marred by an eccentric and often ludicrous father who, although the son of a British sailor and (apparently) not a native Gaelic speaker,... Read more

Published on Jul 17 2003 by D. P. Birkett