TOP MARKS!, 05 Nov 2008
I really don't know what I can add in review of this book, which hasn't already been said by the other reviewers - I was caught up in this wonderful novel from the outset, feeling somehow that the character of Richard got inside my head and I needed to - simply must - find out where he was going.

The story sweeps along through the Falklands war and the economic fallout which effected Argentina, through the changing 80's and ultimately leads to loss, as HIV & AIDS comes to the fore of the gay community.

The book was strange in the fact that nothing really happened and, only the final third of the story, picked up any pace. The rest of the book was told slowly, as if uncoiling. Nothing really happened and, yet, I couldn't stop reading.

The character of Richard is both gentle and yet powerful, his relationship with his mother develops further meaning the deeper you read and his partnership with Pablo touching and real, moving from initial lust through to genuine kinship.

I cannot rate this book highly enough - its definately 'a keeper' (ie. one to keep on the shelf and look forward to enjoying again in the future). This will not disappoint!

Re: Colm Toibin's The Story of the Night., 04 Nov 2008
I finished this book yesterday, and have found myself thinking about it throughout today, especially the ending. The characterisation is excellent and the characters are so real and human. I found it was a book that I didn't want to put down, and couldn't wait to return to. I can't remember the last time a book has had such a profound impact on me. The writing style grips the reader and one becomes absorbed in the story. I have never read any of the authors other work but will now, though they have a lot to live up to as this is the best book I've read in years.

Wolverhampton Libraries LGBT Reading Group Review, 23 May 2008
Richard/Ricardo discovers his identity at a time of great unrest in Argentina during the reign of the Generals and the Falklands war and before the AIDS crisis.

Following the death of his staunchly patriotic English mother, Richard finds himself alone and finding solace with men he encounters on streets and in saunas. After quitting his job as an English teacher, his Anglo-Argentinean language skills come in useful as he is introduced into the world of Americans, politics, business men and corruption. This leads him to meet the elusive but alluring Pablo, brother of Jorge - Richard's friend and English student.

Erotic but never vulgar, the story that ensues is predictable but written in a succinct and realistic style, efficiently portraying the fear and desolation that many gay men must have felt during the 80's.

It is important to bear in mind that this title was first published in 1997 so is a relatively old book and, for some, may not have the same impact that it did at the time.

The group was divided with its appraisal but, worryingly, everyone agreed the middle third of the book could have been omitted with little detriment to the overall story! This read may be best suited to someone new to gay fiction who can keep up with the history lesson too.

the story of the night by colm toibin, 11 Feb 2007
Like other readers, I bought this book by chance. I read it non-stop. i was absolutely captivated. have read some of his other work, The South and the Blackwater Lightship - both were very, very good. Give them a try - you won't be disappointed.

Can I stay for a while?, 04 Sep 2006
I bought this book by chance, interested in the content and by Toibin's reputation. I never expected to be moved to tears. I read the book in three sittings, something I have never done before, simply because I could not put it down. I think I almost fell in love with Richard Garay and I have only ever once before cried when reaching the end of a novel. The subject matter in the final chapter is particularly close to my heart and I will never forget the emotional journery either in my own life or in the chacters depected here. Thank you for writing this book and portraying real gay characters, not simply laughable, camp shallow characters, and for portraying so poiniantly how two men can fall in love so deeply, the difficulties they can sometimes face coming to terms with their sexuality and the isolation that it can bring. I want to dive back into their lives and share it with them all over again. I am profoundly moved.

TOP MARKS!, 05 Nov 2008
I really don't know what I can add in review of this book, which hasn't already been said by the other reviewers - I was caught up in this wonderful novel from the outset, feeling somehow that the character of Richard got inside my head and I needed to - simply must - find out where he was going.

The story sweeps along through the Falklands war and the economic fallout which effected Argentina, through the changing 80's and ultimately leads to loss, as HIV & AIDS comes to the fore of the gay community.

The book was strange in the fact that nothing really happened and, only the final third of the story, picked up any pace. The rest of the book was told slowly, as if uncoiling. Nothing really happened and, yet, I couldn't stop reading.

The character of Richard is both gentle and yet powerful, his relationship with his mother develops further meaning the deeper you read and his partnership with Pablo touching and real, moving from initial lust through to genuine kinship.

I cannot rate this book highly enough - its definately 'a keeper' (ie. one to keep on the shelf and look forward to enjoying again in the future). This will not disappoint!

Re: Colm Toibin's The Story of the Night., 04 Nov 2008
I finished this book yesterday, and have found myself thinking about it throughout today, especially the ending. The characterisation is excellent and the characters are so real and human. I found it was a book that I didn't want to put down, and couldn't wait to return to. I can't remember the last time a book has had such a profound impact on me. The writing style grips the reader and one becomes absorbed in the story. I have never read any of the authors other work but will now, though they have a lot to live up to as this is the best book I've read in years.

Wolverhampton Libraries LGBT Reading Group Review, 23 May 2008
Richard/Ricardo discovers his identity at a time of great unrest in Argentina during the reign of the Generals and the Falklands war and before the AIDS crisis.

Following the death of his staunchly patriotic English mother, Richard finds himself alone and finding solace with men he encounters on streets and in saunas. After quitting his job as an English teacher, his Anglo-Argentinean language skills come in useful as he is introduced into the world of Americans, politics, business men and corruption. This leads him to meet the elusive but alluring Pablo, brother of Jorge - Richard's friend and English student.

Erotic but never vulgar, the story that ensues is predictable but written in a succinct and realistic style, efficiently portraying the fear and desolation that many gay men must have felt during the 80's.

It is important to bear in mind that this title was first published in 1997 so is a relatively old book and, for some, may not have the same impact that it did at the time.

The group was divided with its appraisal but, worryingly, everyone agreed the middle third of the book could have been omitted with little detriment to the overall story! This read may be best suited to someone new to gay fiction who can keep up with the history lesson too.

the story of the night by colm toibin, 11 Feb 2007
Like other readers, I bought this book by chance. I read it non-stop. i was absolutely captivated. have read some of his other work, The South and the Blackwater Lightship - both were very, very good. Give them a try - you won't be disappointed.

Can I stay for a while?, 04 Sep 2006
I bought this book by chance, interested in the content and by Toibin's reputation. I never expected to be moved to tears. I read the book in three sittings, something I have never done before, simply because I could not put it down. I think I almost fell in love with Richard Garay and I have only ever once before cried when reaching the end of a novel. The subject matter in the final chapter is particularly close to my heart and I will never forget the emotional journery either in my own life or in the chacters depected here. Thank you for writing this book and portraying real gay characters, not simply laughable, camp shallow characters, and for portraying so poiniantly how two men can fall in love so deeply, the difficulties they can sometimes face coming to terms with their sexuality and the isolation that it can bring. I want to dive back into their lives and share it with them all over again. I am profoundly moved.

A rewarding read., 04 Dec 2007
I loved this book. Henry James really comes alive and although it is a novel about a major literary figure it is not heavy going, but flows along beautifully. I would recommend this book to any reader, but I imagine if you already had some knowledge of Henry James it would be even more interesting.

A fine biography of Henry James, 12 Jan 2007
A pleasant fictionalised biography of the novelist Henry James in which the author concentrates not so much on dates and events but on James's relationship with his family and friends. Actually Colm Toibin deliberately chose to write about a specific period of James's life, namely from January 1895 to October 1899 with a few flashbacks to tell about his youth in America before he settled in England.
We learn about the failure of his theatre play Guy Domville while Oscar Wilde was enjoying a raging success with an Ideal Husband, his subsequent departure to Ireland, the death of his wife Alice. Then he followed Wilde's imprisonment and the exile of his wife and children which impressed James very much. Often Colm Toibin describes how ideas for a new novel or short story matured in James's mind and how they were related to his daily encounters and impressions. James could write and read at leisure after the purchase of Lamb House in Rye where he enjoyed his solitude between the visits of his friends, his brother William, his sister in law Alice and Peggy, his niece. But it was after meeting the young and impetuous sculptor Hendrik Andersen in Rome that James realised that he himself was ageing slowly because he saw that Andersen was too young to know how memory and regret mingle, how nothing seems to have any shape or meaning until it is well past and lost.


England or life, 12 Nov 2006
Colm Toibin has written an extremely readable fictional account of Henry James. No knowledge of James or interest in his work is necessary to enjoy this book. It's just a wonderfully written human drama.
Toibin examines the myth that James chose Art over Life. This was a theme which seemed to preoccupy the artists and writers of the late nineteenth century. Toibin suggests that Henry James' decision to live in dull, insipid England, rather than Italy, Paris, America or Ireland was for his art. In the same way that a hostage tied to a radiator in a dark room for months develops an impossibly rich and vivid imagination so James chose England.
I loved this book

It Was a Long Life, but Do Not Seek Any "Sea Change" in It , 10 Nov 2006
And the fineness of this book is that nothing is ever really disclosed. The question then must be: Did we really want to know? Page after page of wonderfully dry prose imitating the Master, we are given the opportunity to probe behind the words. Our guesses will be as good as anyone's. k:

The Master had his life, and left a mystery about it as gentlement sought to do back then, but clearly from reading this novel, one is left with a feeling that in the long run he really did enjoy his life and probably knew very well how to keep it secret, to use a cliche, "From Here to Eternity." Hurray to him for that and Mr. Toibin. This is not a novel that is one of those guessing games.

Toibin says in a note that he liberally quoted from His Obvious Master, but then why not? James has been The Master for quite a few generations by now, including some of the most brilliant writers and film makers our cultures have produced. The American British interplay, I mean.

While the novel helped me to understand Henry James a lot more than I had believed that it would, I still cannot agree with the reviewer here who said it should have bettered "The Line of Beauty" in the Booker prizing.

Mr. Toibin has probably never written a bad sentence since he started, with the beautiful "The South" I think. He is young enough, and I am old enough to hope that I can continue to enjoy him.

Really gets inside the mind of Henry James and the lives of those around him, 09 Oct 2006
Tobin has a very deliberate, precise style of writing. You have to savour the words and make your mind up pretty quickly if they draw you into the story or not. The book is almost written from inside the mind of another person (the novelist, Henry James). I had never read anything by James and you don't have to in order to enjoy the book. You get to live inside a writer's mind. You understand James' personality and begin to be able to predict how he will react to situations as the come up in the book.

Because of Tobin's ability to occupy another's mind and to open it up to the reader The Master is an excellent book. James seems to have a colourful family and lived in interesting times but it is neither this nor the plot that drives the book. It is curiosity about James' perspective on events that keep the reader reading.

Set in Ireland in the 1990s, the The Blackwater Lightship tells the story of the Devereux family. Helen doesn't get on with her mother Lily, and Lily doesn't get on with her mother Dora. Three generations of women, tetchy with recriminations and memory, are forced together when they discover that Helen's younger brother, Declan, is dying from an AIDS-related illness: "It was like a dark shadow in a dream, and then it became real and sharp."

This novel is an intense examination of Colm Toibin's signature themes: death, loss, illness and morality. However, if the themes are a continuance from his previous books, the style is a distinct departure from the lyrical prose of The Story of the Night and The Heather Blazing. In The Blackwater Lightship Toibin strips his style down to spare sentences, and what is said is bleaker: "It was clear to her now that it did not matter whether there were people or not--the world would go on. Imaginings and resonances and pains and small longings, they meant nothing against the hardness of the sea." It is almost as if he is writing us and himself, as the novelist, out of the picture. The familiar poetry of landscape: "the sudden rise in the road and then the first view of the sea glinting in the slanted summer light", is all that is left.

There is not much plot, the book concentrates on the gradual unfolding of talk between the Devereux clan, and two friends of Declan's, who have fine lines of catty commentary. Dora asks: "Is there a need to rake over everything?" But words, even bitter ones, are shaky constants, when everything else is crumbling. This puts a lot of pressure on the prose; when it works well it's charged with suppressed emotion, strangely lulling in its determination to be quiet and ordinary. But sometimes its simplicity makes the book a little static, threatening to becalm the reader. The Blackwater Lightship is a book about the frailty of human experiences, in the face of indifferent nature: "soon they would only be a memory, and that too would fade with time." Toibin deals with the tricky balance between hopefulness and hopelessness with elegant economy, and very few stumbles. --Eithne Farry

TOP MARKS!, 05 Nov 2008
I really don't know what I can add in review of this book, which hasn't already been said by the other reviewers - I was caught up in this wonderful novel from the outset, feeling somehow that the character of Richard got inside my head and I needed to - simply must - find out where he was going.

The story sweeps along through the Falklands war and the economic fallout which effected Argentina, through the changing 80's and ultimately leads to loss, as HIV & AIDS comes to the fore of the gay community.

The book was strange in the fact that nothing really happened and, only the final third of the story, picked up any pace. The rest of the book was told slowly, as if uncoiling. Nothing really happened and, yet, I couldn't stop reading.

The character of Richard is both gentle and yet powerful, his relationship with his mother develops further meaning the deeper you read and his partnership with Pablo touching and real, moving from initial lust through to genuine kinship.

I cannot rate this book highly enough - its definately 'a keeper' (ie. one to keep on the shelf and look forward to enjoying again in the future). This will not disappoint!

Re: Colm Toibin's The Story of the Night., 04 Nov 2008
I finished this book yesterday, and have found myself thinking about it throughout today, especially the ending. The characterisation is excellent and the characters are so real and human. I found it was a book that I didn't want to put down, and couldn't wait to return to. I can't remember the last time a book has had such a profound impact on me. The writing style grips the reader and one becomes absorbed in the story. I have never read any of the authors other work but will now, though they have a lot to live up to as this is the best book I've read in years.

Wolverhampton Libraries LGBT Reading Group Review, 23 May 2008
Richard/Ricardo discovers his identity at a time of great unrest in Argentina during the reign of the Generals and the Falklands war and before the AIDS crisis.

Following the death of his staunchly patriotic English mother, Richard finds himself alone and finding solace with men he encounters on streets and in saunas. After quitting his job as an English teacher, his Anglo-Argentinean language skills come in useful as he is introduced into the world of Americans, politics, business men and corruption. This leads him to meet the elusive but alluring Pablo, brother of Jorge - Richard's friend and English student.

Erotic but never vulgar, the story that ensues is predictable but written in a succinct and realistic style, efficiently portraying the fear and desolation that many gay men must have felt during the 80's.

It is important to bear in mind that this title was first published in 1997 so is a relatively old book and, for some, may not have the same impact that it did at the time.

The group was divided with its appraisal but, worryingly, everyone agreed the middle third of the book could have been omitted with little detriment to the overall story! This read may be best suited to someone new to gay fiction who can keep up with the history lesson too.

the story of the night by colm toibin, 11 Feb 2007
Like other readers, I bought this book by chance. I read it non-stop. i was absolutely captivated. have read some of his other work, The South and the Blackwater Lightship - both were very, very good. Give them a try - you won't be disappointed.

Can I stay for a while?, 04 Sep 2006
I bought this book by chance, interested in the content and by Toibin's reputation. I never expected to be moved to tears. I read the book in three sittings, something I have never done before, simply because I could not put it down. I think I almost fell in love with Richard Garay and I have only ever once before cried when reaching the end of a novel. The subject matter in the final chapter is particularly close to my heart and I will never forget the emotional journery either in my own life or in the chacters depected here. Thank you for writing this book and portraying real gay characters, not simply laughable, camp shallow characters, and for portraying so poiniantly how two men can fall in love so deeply, the difficulties they can sometimes face coming to terms with their sexuality and the isolation that it can bring. I want to dive back into their lives and share it with them all over again. I am profoundly moved.

A rewarding read., 04 Dec 2007
I loved this book. Henry James really comes alive and although it is a novel about a major literary figure it is not heavy going, but flows along beautifully. I would recommend this book to any reader, but I imagine if you already had some knowledge of Henry James it would be even more interesting.

A fine biography of Henry James, 12 Jan 2007
A pleasant fictionalised biography of the novelist Henry James in which the author concentrates not so much on dates and events but on James's relationship with his family and friends. Actually Colm Toibin deliberately chose to write about a specific period of James's life, namely from January 1895 to October 1899 with a few flashbacks to tell about his youth in America before he settled in England.
We learn about the failure of his theatre play Guy Domville while Oscar Wilde was enjoying a raging success with an Ideal Husband, his subsequent departure to Ireland, the death of his wife Alice. Then he followed Wilde's imprisonment and the exile of his wife and children which impressed James very much. Often Colm Toibin describes how ideas for a new novel or short story matured in James's mind and how they were related to his daily encounters and impressions. James could write and read at leisure after the purchase of Lamb House in Rye where he enjoyed his solitude between the visits of his friends, his brother William, his sister in law Alice and Peggy, his niece. But it was after meeting the young and impetuous sculptor Hendrik Andersen in Rome that James realised that he himself was ageing slowly because he saw that Andersen was too young to know how memory and regret mingle, how nothing seems to have any shape or meaning until it is well past and lost.


England or life, 12 Nov 2006
Colm Toibin has written an extremely readable fictional account of Henry James. No knowledge of James or interest in his work is necessary to enjoy this book. It's just a wonderfully written human drama.
Toibin examines the myth that James chose Art over Life. This was a theme which seemed to preoccupy the artists and writers of the late nineteenth century. Toibin suggests that Henry James' decision to live in dull, insipid England, rather than Italy, Paris, America or Ireland was for his art. In the same way that a hostage tied to a radiator in a dark room for months develops an impossibly rich and vivid imagination so James chose England.
I loved this book

It Was a Long Life, but Do Not Seek Any "Sea Change" in It , 10 Nov 2006
And the fineness of this book is that nothing is ever really disclosed. The question then must be: Did we really want to know? Page after page of wonderfully dry prose imitating the Master, we are given the opportunity to probe behind the words. Our guesses will be as good as anyone's. k:

The Master had his life, and left a mystery about it as gentlement sought to do back then, but clearly from reading this novel, one is left with a feeling that in the long run he really did enjoy his life and probably knew very well how to keep it secret, to use a cliche, "From Here to Eternity." Hurray to him for that and Mr. Toibin. This is not a novel that is one of those guessing games.

Toibin says in a note that he liberally quoted from His Obvious Master, but then why not? James has been The Master for quite a few generations by now, including some of the most brilliant writers and film makers our cultures have produced. The American British interplay, I mean.

While the novel helped me to understand Henry James a lot more than I had believed that it would, I still cannot agree with the reviewer here who said it should have bettered "The Line of Beauty" in the Booker prizing.

Mr. Toibin has probably never written a bad sentence since he started, with the beautiful "The South" I think. He is young enough, and I am old enough to hope that I can continue to enjoy him.

Really gets inside the mind of Henry James and the lives of those around him, 09 Oct 2006
Tobin has a very deliberate, precise style of writing. You have to savour the words and make your mind up pretty quickly if they draw you into the story or not. The book is almost written from inside the mind of another person (the novelist, Henry James). I had never read anything by James and you don't have to in order to enjoy the book. You get to live inside a writer's mind. You understand James' personality and begin to be able to predict how he will react to situations as the come up in the book.

Because of Tobin's ability to occupy another's mind and to open it up to the reader The Master is an excellent book. James seems to have a colourful family and lived in interesting times but it is neither this nor the plot that drives the book. It is curiosity about James' perspective on events that keep the reader reading.

Beautiful, heartfelt book, 18 Mar 2007
This quiet, understated novel, the fourth by Irish writer Colm Tóibín, was short-listed for the 1999 Booker Prize and the 2001 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. And with good reason. It is a beautiful heartfelt book about three generations of women, estranged for years, who must join forces to look after one of their own who has a serious life-threatening illness.

Helen, the central character, is a 30-something school teacher married with two young boys, who has managed to carve out a comfortable existence in Dublin. But despite her career success and ordered life, she hides a guilty secret: as a college student she had a falling out with her mother, Lily, and has not talked to her since. In fact Lily was not invited to Helen's wedding and she has never met her grandsons.

Helen's relationship with her grandmother, Dora, is not quite as strained, but Dora and Lily are particularly tetchy with one another and rarely talk.

But these personal histories, filled with pain, hurt and anger, must be cast aside when Helen's younger brother, Declan, announces he has AIDS. For the first time in decades the three women are thrown together by circumstances beyond their control.

When a very ill Declan says he wants to stay in his grandmother's falling-down house by the Wexford coast, the three women, all strong-willed and contrary, find their tense relationships tested even further.

Things are not made any easier by the presence of Declan's gay friends whom he regards as "family" but whom his mother, in particular, does not like.

But for Helen it is the house, which holds unpleasant childhood reminders of her father's untimely death, that causes her to confront her troubled past.

The Blackwater Lightship is not a straightforward novel. There's no happy conclusion. By turns it is shocking and moving. Its stark, spare prose lulls the reader into a false sense of comfort, a bit like the calm before the storm, because the nub of this novel is far from pleasant. Exploring the notions of family ties and how history binds us together no matter how hard we might try to escape it, it also looks at morals, manners and the pain we can dish out with one hand and hold close with the other.

This is a quick, emotional read and one that lingers in the mind for a considerable time. It is hugely reminiscent of John McGahern's Amongst Women and Jennifer Johnston's The Gingerbread Women, two other Irish novels about troubled people coming to term with familial relationships, both written in a succinct, bleak style.

when a tragedy strikes, 29 Nov 2004
We are studying Toibin'w book at school and we are enjoying it very much. The style is easy to comprehend even to a non native speaker but the story is really interesting. We've met the author and found him really interesting and intelligent. I really suggest this book!

Love, Family, AIDS and Dysfunction, 08 Jul 2004
Helen O'Doherty lives in Dublin with her husband and two sons. She is a school principal and set with her life. She is happy and even though she may be a bit more reserved in her marriage than her husband would like, all seems well. When school is over she and her hubby plan a large party in their new home to celebrate. Her husband and children will go the next day to visit relatives, and Helen will follow when she clears up her end of school issues. Helen worries about her life and her children. Are they too needy? Is it right that the youngest needs his parents so thoroughly? Helen seems to be a thoroughly modern woman of the 90's- ready to live her life. Helen's family is off and she is ready to go to school when a friend of her brother, Declan, arrives to tell her Declan is seriously ill and needs to see her. And so it goes.. Paul, Declan's friend tells her he has AIDS and has been ill for quite a while. He does not have a serious relationship right now, and he does need a place to go to recuperate. It is decided by Declan that he wants to go to Grandmother's house, but first, would Helen tell Grandmother and mom, Lily about his disease?
No small deed is this one...Helen has had an on -again off-again relationship with her mother and grandmother for years. In fact, she has only seen them at Christmas time, but neither was invited to her wedding nor have they met her family or children. How will she tell them, what will they say and how will they react? Oh, no, what to do...
Mom- Lily, Helen, Paul and Larry, Declan's friends all move into grandmother's house in a desolate spot on the ocean near the Blackwater Lightship. This place and house has particular meaning to the family-they were brought up here. Lily, the mom as a child; Helen and Declan when they father got sick and died and mom left them, or abandoned them, as Helen and Declan remember. This dysfunctional family now has a chance to reclaim their lost relationships. Paul and Larry are gay, as is Declan, and as they reveal their lives, the lives of the others come into semblance. The living and the dying , the coming and the going, the new and the old all take on extra meaning.

Colm Toibin has written a marvelous study of a family entwined in the everyday business of living and dying in his book "The Blackwater Lightship: A Novel". The relationships in this family are not unusual, but so well written in such a cleverly calm but studied manner. Colm Toibin's knowledge of the clinical process of AIDS is well revealed and accurate. You feel like you are in the midst of Declan's fevers and
pain and suffering. The judgment of being Gay and having AIDS in the 90's is explored and well written. This is a book of the ages- always timely, relationships explored, the pain and suffering of lost time with family well documented. A novel to learn from. Colm Toibin was on the short list for the Booker prize for
this novel. He is an author to be recommended- a writer of fabulous ability- to be enjoyed and thought about for days after the novel is finished. prisrob

An intense exploration of the ties that bind., 15 Sep 2003
Colm Toibin cuts straight to the heart in this sensitive novel of an independent daughter, long estranged from her overly controlling mother, and their attempt to reach some sort of understanding and level of communication. Daughter Helen and mother Lily are drawn to the neutral ground of Helen's grandmother's house in rural Ireland when Helen's brother Declan is gravely ill with AIDS and wants to return to the strand for a last look at the sea. Toibin is both straightforward and graphic in describing Declan's declining health and completely open in describing the romantic relationships of Paul and Larry, Declan's two gay friends who are also attending him at the cottage in Cush. But the focus of the story remains squarely on Helen and Lily and their long estrangement, so intense that Lily was never invited to attend Helen's wedding and, after seven years, still has not seen her grandchildren. In the crucible of Declan's sick room, those attending him are painfully aware of the tenuousness of life, and as they reach out to him with love, they share many of their innermost feelings and the stories that have shaped their lives.

In prose that is so simple and so controlled one wonders how it can possibly carry the weight of these emotion packed scenes, Toibin empathizes with Helen, a daughter whose mother failed to meet her emotional needs when she was a child, and then tried to overpower and control her when she became strong enough to stand on her own. At the same time, he explores Lily's competing needs and the limitations imposed on her by her husband's early death and her need to support her family both financially and physically.

The obvious symbolism of the lightship, the wave-washed strand, and the eroding headland on which the grandmother's cottage perches adds weight and universality to the crises facing the participants in this intense and poignant domestic drama. The involved reader will come away with new understandings of the need for connection, the essence of compassion, and the full meaning of love as the characters in this thematically complete novel find their resolutions. Mary Whipple

beautiful beautiful beautiful, 03 Jun 2003
I started this book knowing that I was going to love it - based on previous books Toibin has written. And I did. From beginning to end I could just feel myself there - at the party, on the beach, in the room with three generations of that family. I didn't always want to be there but something was keeping me reading on, just to see if they could make some sense of it all.
When I read it for the second time, I enjoyed the use of light and dark as they characters revealed more. The lighthouse just gave flashes of illumination as the characters struggled to understand each other and themselves.
So it's not just another book about AIDS, it's a beautiful book about a fmaily and how a family can tear itself apart. Or pull together. I loved it!

TOP MARKS!, 05 Nov 2008
I really don't know what I can add in review of this book, which hasn't already been said by the other reviewers - I was caught up in this wonderful novel from the outset, feeling somehow that the character of Richard got inside my head and I needed to - simply must - find out where he was going.

The story sweeps along through the Falklands war and the economic fallout which effected Argentina, through the changing 80's and ultimately leads to loss, as HIV & AIDS comes to the fore of the gay community.

The book was strange in the fact that nothing really happened and, only the final third of the story, picked up any pace. The rest of the book was told slowly, as if uncoiling. Nothing really happened and, yet, I couldn't stop reading.

The character of Richard is both gentle and yet powerful, his relationship with his mother develops further meaning the deeper you read and his partnership with Pablo touching and real, moving from initial lust through to genuine kinship.

I cannot rate this book highly enough - its definately 'a keeper' (ie. one to keep on the shelf and look forward to enjoying again in the future). This will not disappoint!

Re: Colm Toibin's The Story of the Night., 04 Nov 2008
I finished this book yesterday, and have found myself thinking about it throughout today, especially the ending. The characterisation is excellent and the characters are so real and human. I found it was a book that I didn't want to put down, and couldn't wait to return to. I can't remember the last time a book has had such a profound impact on me. The writing style grips the reader and one becomes absorbed in the story. I have never read any of the authors other work but will now, though they have a lot to live up to as this is the best book I've read in years.

Wolverhampton Libraries LGBT Reading Group Review, 23 May 2008
Richard/Ricardo discovers his identity at a time of great unrest in Argentina during the reign of the Generals and the Falklands war and before the AIDS crisis.

Following the death of his staunchly patriotic English mother, Richard finds himself alone and finding solace with men he encounters on streets and in saunas. After quitting his job as an English teacher, his Anglo-Argentinean language skills come in useful as he is introduced into the world of Americans, politics, business men and corruption. This leads him to meet the elusive but alluring Pablo, brother of Jorge - Richard's friend and English student.

Erotic but never vulgar, the story that ensues is predictable but written in a succinct and realistic style, efficiently portraying the fear and desolation that many gay men must have felt during the 80's.

It is important to bear in mind that this title was first published in 1997 so is a relatively old book and, for some, may not have the same impact that it did at the time.

The group was divided with its appraisal but, worryingly, everyone agreed the middle third of the book could have been omitted with little detriment to the overall story! This read may be best suited to someone new to gay fiction who can keep up with the history lesson too.

the story of the night by colm toibin, 11 Feb 2007
Like other readers, I bought this book by chance. I read it non-stop. i was absolutely captivated. have read some of his other work, The South and the Blackwater Lightship - both were very, very good. Give them a try - you won't be disappointed.

Can I stay for a while?, 04 Sep 2006
I bought this book by chance, interested in the content and by Toibin's reputation. I never expected to be moved to tears. I read the book in three sittings, something I have never done before, simply because I could not put it down. I think I almost fell in love with Richard Garay and I have only ever once before cried when reaching the end of a novel. The subject matter in the final chapter is particularly close to my heart and I will never forget the emotional journery either in my own life or in the chacters depected here. Thank you for writing this book and portraying real gay characters, not simply laughable, camp shallow characters, and for portraying so poiniantly how two men can fall in love so deeply, the difficulties they can sometimes face coming to terms with their sexuality and the isolation that it can bring. I want to dive back into their lives and share it with them all over again. I am profoundly moved.

A rewarding read., 04 Dec 2007
I loved this book. Henry James really comes alive and although it is a novel about a major literary figure it is not heavy going, but flows along beautifully. I would recommend this book to any reader, but I imagine if you already had some knowledge of Henry James it would be even more interesting.

A fine biography of Henry James, 12 Jan 2007
A pleasant fictionalised biography of the novelist Henry James in which the author concentrates not so much on dates and events but on James's relationship with his family and friends. Actually Colm Toibin deliberately chose to write about a specific period of James's life, namely from January 1895 to October 1899 with a few flashbacks to tell about his youth in America before he settled in England.
We learn about the failure of his theatre play Guy Domville while Oscar Wilde was enjoying a raging success with an Ideal Husband, his subsequent departure to Ireland, the death of his wife Alice. Then he followed Wilde's imprisonment and the exile of his wife and children which impressed James very much. Often Colm Toibin describes how ideas for a new novel or short story matured in James's mind and how they were related to his daily encounters and impressions. James could write and read at leisure after the purchase of Lamb House in Rye where he enjoyed his solitude between the visits of his friends, his brother William, his sister in law Alice and Peggy, his niece. But it was after meeting the young and impetuous sculptor Hendrik Andersen in Rome that James realised that he himself was ageing slowly because he saw that Andersen was too young to know how memory and regret mingle, how nothing seems to have any shape or meaning until it is well past and lost.


England or life, 12 Nov 2006
Colm Toibin has written an extremely readable fictional account of Henry James. No knowledge of James or interest in his work is necessary to enjoy this book. It's just a wonderfully written human drama.
Toibin examines the myth that James chose Art over Life. This was a theme which seemed to preoccupy the artists and writers of the late nineteenth century. Toibin suggests that Henry James' decision to live in dull, insipid England, rather than Italy, Paris, America or Ireland was for his art. In the same way that a hostage tied to a radiator in a dark room for months develops an impossibly rich and vivid imagination so James chose England.
I loved this book

It Was a Long Life, but Do Not Seek Any "Sea Change" in It , 10 Nov 2006
And the fineness of this book is that nothing is ever really disclosed. The question then must be: Did we really want to know? Page after page of wonderfully dry prose imitating the Master, we are given the opportunity to probe behind the words. Our guesses will be as good as anyone's. k:

The Master had his life, and left a mystery about it as gentlement sought to do back then, but clearly from reading this novel, one is left with a feeling that in the long run he really did enjoy his life and probably knew very well how to keep it secret, to use a cliche, "From Here to Eternity." Hurray to him for that and Mr. Toibin. This is not a novel that is one of those guessing games.

Toibin says in a note that he liberally quoted from His Obvious Master, but then why not? James has been The Master for quite a few generations by now, including some of the most brilliant writers and film makers our cultures have produced. The American British interplay, I mean.

While the novel helped me to understand Henry James a lot more than I had believed that it would, I still cannot agree with the reviewer here who said it should have bettered "The Line of Beauty" in the Booker prizing.

Mr. Toibin has probably never written a bad sentence since he started, with the beautiful "The South" I think. He is young enough, and I am old enough to hope that I can continue to enjoy him.

Really gets inside the mind of Henry James and the lives of those around him, 09 Oct 2006
Tobin has a very deliberate, precise style of writing. You have to savour the words and make your mind up pretty quickly if they draw you into the story or not. The book is almost written from inside the mind of another person (the novelist, Henry James). I had never read anything by James and you don't have to in order to enjoy the book. You get to live inside a writer's mind. You understand James' personality and begin to be able to predict how he will react to situations as the come up in the book.

Because of Tobin's ability to occupy another's mind and to open it up to the reader The Master is an excellent book. James seems to have a colourful family and lived in interesting times but it is neither this nor the plot that drives the book. It is curiosity about James' perspective on events that keep the reader reading.

Beautiful, heartfelt book, 18 Mar 2007
This quiet, understated novel, the fourth by Irish writer Colm Tóibín, was short-listed for the 1999 Booker Prize and the 2001 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. And with good reason. It is a beautiful heartfelt book about three generations of women, estranged for years, who must join forces to look after one of their own who has a serious life-threatening illness.

Helen, the central character, is a 30-something school teacher married with two young boys, who has managed to carve out a comfortable existence in Dublin. But despite her career success and ordered life, she hides a guilty secret: as a college student she had a falling out with her mother, Lily, and has not talked to her since. In fact Lily was not invited to Helen's wedding and she has never met her grandsons.

Helen's relationship with her grandmother, Dora, is not quite as strained, but Dora and Lily are particularly tetchy with one another and rarely talk.

But these personal histories, filled with pain, hurt and anger, must be cast aside when Helen's younger brother, Declan, announces he has AIDS. For the first time in decades the three women are thrown together by circumstances beyond their control.

When a very ill Declan says he wants to stay in his grandmother's falling-down house by the Wexford coast, the three women, all strong-willed and contrary, find their tense relationships tested even further.

Things are not made any easier by the presence of Declan's gay friends whom he regards as "family" but whom his mother, in particular, does not like.

But for Helen it is the house, which holds unpleasant childhood reminders of her father's untimely death, that causes her to confront her troubled past.

The Blackwater Lightship is not a straightforward novel. There's no happy conclusion. By turns it is shocking and moving. Its stark, spare prose lulls the reader into a false sense of comfort, a bit like the calm before the storm, because the nub of this novel is far from pleasant. Exploring the notions of family ties and how history binds us together no matter how hard we might try to escape it, it also looks at morals, manners and the pain we can dish out with one hand and hold close with the other.

This is a quick, emotional read and one that lingers in the mind for a considerable time. It is hugely reminiscent of John McGahern's Amongst Women and Jennifer Johnston's The Gingerbread Women, two other Irish novels about troubled people coming to term with familial relationships, both written in a succinct, bleak style.

when a tragedy strikes, 29 Nov 2004
We are studying Toibin'w book at school and we are enjoying it very much. The style is easy to comprehend even to a non native speaker but the story is really interesting. We've met the author and found him really interesting and intelligent. I really suggest this book!

Love, Family, AIDS and Dysfunction, 08 Jul 2004
Helen O'Doherty lives in Dublin with her husband and two sons. She is a school principal and set with her life. She is happy and even though she may be a bit more reserved in her marriage than her husband would like, all seems well. When school is over she and her hubby plan a large party in their new home to celebrate. Her husband and children will go the next day to visit relatives, and Helen will follow when she clears up her end of school issues. Helen worries about her life and her children. Are they too needy? Is it right that the youngest needs his parents so thoroughly? Helen seems to be a thoroughly modern woman of the 90's- ready to live her life. Helen's family is off and she is ready to go to school when a friend of her brother, Declan, arrives to tell her Declan is seriously ill and needs to see her. And so it goes.. Paul, Declan's friend tells her he has AIDS and has been ill for quite a while. He does not have a serious relationship right now, and he does need a place to go to recuperate. It is decided by Declan that he wants to go to Grandmother's house, but first, would Helen tell Grandmother and mom, Lily about his disease?
No small deed is this one...Helen has had an on -again off-again relationship with her mother and grandmother for years. In fact, she has only seen them at Christmas time, but neither was invited to her wedding nor have they met her family or children. How will she tell them, what will they say and how will they react? Oh, no, what to do...
Mom- Lily, Helen, Paul and Larry, Declan's friends all move into grandmother's house in a desolate spot on the ocean near the Blackwater Lightship. This place and house has particular meaning to the family-they were brought up here. Lily, the mom as a child; Helen and Declan when they father got sick and died and mom left them, or abandoned them, as Helen and Declan remember. This dysfunctional family now has a chance to reclaim their lost relationships. Paul and Larry are gay, as is Declan, and as they reveal their lives, the lives of the others come into semblance. The living and the dying , the coming and the going, the new and the old all take on extra meaning.

Colm Toibin has written a marvelous study of a family entwined in the everyday business of living and dying in his book "The Blackwater Lightship: A Novel". The relationships in this family are not unusual, but so well written in such a cleverly calm but studied manner. Colm Toibin's knowledge of the clinical process of AIDS is well revealed and accurate. You feel like you are in the midst of Declan's fevers and
pain and suffering. The judgment of being Gay and having AIDS in the 90's is explored and well written. This is a book of the ages- always timely, relationships explored, the pain and suffering of lost time with family well documented. A novel to learn from. Colm Toibin was on the short list for the Booker prize for
this novel. He is an author to be recommended- a writer of fabulous ability- to be enjoyed and thought about for days after the novel is finished. prisrob

An intense exploration of the ties that bind., 15 Sep 2003
Colm Toibin cuts straight to the heart in this sensitive novel of an independent daughter, long estranged from her overly controlling mother, and their attempt to reach some sort of understanding and level of communication. Daughter Helen and mother Lily are drawn to the neutral ground of Helen's grandmother's house in rural Ireland when Helen's brother Declan is gravely ill with AIDS and wants to return to the strand for a last look at the sea. Toibin is both straightforward and graphic in describing Declan's declining health and completely open in describing the romantic relationships of Paul and Larry, Declan's two gay friends who are also attending him at the cottage in Cush. But the focus of the story remains squarely on Helen and Lily and their long estrangement, so intense that Lily was never invited to attend Helen's wedding and, after seven years, still has not seen her grandchildren. In the crucible of Declan's sick room, those attending him are painfully aware of the tenuousness of life, and as they reach out to him with love, they share many of their innermost feelings and the stories that have shaped their lives.

In prose that is so simple and so controlled one wonders how it can possibly carry the weight of these emotion packed scenes, Toibin empathizes with Helen, a daughter whose mother failed to meet her emotional needs when she was a child, and then tried to overpower and control her when she became strong enough to stand on her own. At the same time, he explores Lily's competing needs and the limitations imposed on her by her husband's early death and her need to support her family both financially and physically.

The obvious symbolism of the lightship, the wave-washed strand, and the eroding headland on which the grandmother's cottage perches adds weight and universality to the crises facing the participants in this intense and poignant domestic drama. The involved reader will come away with new understandings of the need for connection, the essence of compassion, and the full meaning of love as the characters in this thematically complete novel find their resolutions. Mary Whipple

beautiful beautiful beautiful, 03 Jun 2003
I started this book knowing that I was going to love it - based on previous books Toibin has written. And I did. From beginning to end I could just feel myself there - at the party, on the beach, in the room with three generations of that family. I didn't always want to be there but something was keeping me reading on, just to see if they could make some sense of it all.
When I read it for the second time, I enjoyed the use of light and dark as they characters revealed more. The lighthouse just gave flashes of illumination as the characters struggled to understand each other and themselves.
So it's not just another book about AIDS, it's a beautiful book about a fmaily and how a family can tear itself apart. Or pull together. I loved it!

Disappointing, 30 Sep 2008
A fairly unremarkable collection, although a Priest in the Family is a very satisfying tale. Toibin is a far superior novelist - but then as a novelist he is truly world class.

Well-written but somewhat enigmatic, 30 Dec 2007
I had never previously read any of Colm Toibin's works so I came to these short stories with an open mind, though obviously influenced by the good reviews the book has received in the press. I've read just three of the stories: the first two, and the last (the longest) and while the writing is good and the atmosphere is very well evoked I found them somewhat unsatisfying. Sometimes you do need to have an open ending so you can make up your own mind but to me two of these stories almost seemed to be lifted from a longer novel, such was the effect of inconclusiveness.

I much preferred the book of William Trevor's short stories (After Rain) which I read a year earlier - he is a writer I would return to. I will try a novel by Colm Toibin but his short stories don't quite suit my tastes.



Memorable stories, 17 Nov 2007
The thread that ties the beautifully written nine stories in this book together is that in each one there is a complex relationship between a mother and a son. I don't think that all of them `focus' on this relationship, as the blurb on the back has it, for only in four of the nine stories is it central. Rather, each one seems to me to focus on either the mother or the son; but whichever it is, we are let deeply into that person's thoughts and see the world through that person's eyes, and mostly it is a sad or even tragic world. A death figures in several of the stories. Some are most evocatively set in various very Irish communities: a criminal one in the first story, an Irish pub in the second, a small village where everyone knows everyone else in others. The long last story is set in the mountains of Spain. All are memorable in their deceptively simple style and in their psychological content.

"He thought about the confidence of those roads, their strength and their solidity", 23 Apr 2007
In Mothers and Sons, Irish writer Colm Toibin continues his trademark gift for presenting nuance and intimacy in this collection of nine haunting and exquisitely written short stories. Melancholy and thought-provoking, and filled with the complexities of life, Toibin introduces us to sons and mothers who are constantly grappling to understand each other and where an emotional canvas of familiaral expectation is as rich and as unexpected as life itself.

In the first story, "The Use of Reason," alcoholism lurks just below the surface as an art thief living in Dublin realizes that he may not be able to rely on the discretion of his mother as he once first thought. Having just stolen a valuable Rembrandt, he's anxious to unload the work to a pair of Dutch criminals, but unfortunately, his mother just doesn't know when to keep her mouth shut boasting in the local pub her beloved son's escapades.

In "The Name of the Game" we see a mother forced to provide for her son when after the death of her husband she inherits his supermarket, along with all of his debts. All of a sudden, faced with certain poverty, she learns to be tough and competitive and on the advice of her suppliers, she takes a risk and enlarges the store into a chip and burger shop, perhaps relying more on her own tenacity, than on the family's dwindling resources. In the process of remaking the business, she discovers that her son has a good head for numbers and comes to her aid, helping out with the accounting and preparing the way for her retirement.

Other stories cover similar themes: There's a mother's disbelief, disappointment and her decisive fear of facing the truth when she hears that her son has been arrested over accusations of sexual abuse; then there's a mother who is battling her son's depression whilst also coping with her husband, bedridden after a stroke; and a son who was abandoned as a child and then suddenly hears his mother singing in a pub; and yet another son, who after his mother's funeral, goes out partying with his mates and awakens to all things sexual one night on a beach.

Each story is infused with the myriad attributes of human emotions: the heartbreak that exists over the loss of a parent, a love that is betrayed, and the inevitable disappointments that come when you realize that your son or your mother, or even your sibling is perhaps not the person who you thought they were. While the smaller stories provide small vignettes of anticipation along with despair and even acceptance, the longer stories have a luminosity all their own and are infused with a steadily mounting tension.

The final story "A Long Winter," and set in Spain is all about yearning and defeat, and centers on a son's concern for his alcoholic mother when the needless cruelty of his father eventually leads to her disappearance into the harsh bleak Spanish winter. As the boy spends his days desperately searching for her, he battles with his hidden desires and his attraction for a good-looking police officer and then for an uneducated houseboy whom his father employs to help around the house.

Throughout these stories Toibin courageously reiterates the truth unflinchingly about love and families and the ties that inevitably bind us together. Indeed the author seems to embrace what he sees as the melancholy and sadder aspects of life. Written in Toibin's now familiar exquisite style, this collection contains many small gems, and are fine examples of the art of short story writing. In the end, Mothers and Sons is often heart wrenching, but always thought-provoking as these tales evoke the bittersweet angst of ordinary people, the "mothers and sons" that exist in us all. Mike Leonard April 07.


Excellent collection , 21 Mar 2007
This is an engaging collection of short stories that to greater or lesser degrees explore the relationship between mothers and sons. As with most of Toibin's work, there is a sustained emotional distance between the narrator and the characters. It's not a cold and clinical distance, but it is at times one of disinterest. The characters and all their flaws are placed on view and no authorial judgment is passed on their actions. The most successful stories in this collection are the slightly longer ones like The Name of the Game, a brilliantly realised portrayal of selfishness or self-determination, and the vignette-like The Song, a painful tale of repression that is finished just minutes after beginning it. There's not much emotional warmth in the stories, as the filial relationships are rarely peaceful or mutually satisfying, but the craftsmanship is superb and the stories are memorable for their sharply drawn characters.

TOP MARKS!, 05 Nov 2008
I really don't know what I can add in review of this book, which hasn't already been said by the other reviewers - I was caught up in this wonderful novel from the outset, feeling somehow that the character of Richard got inside my head and I needed to - simply must - find out where he was going.

The story sweeps along through the Falklands war and the economic fallout which effected Argentina, through the changing 80's and ultimately leads to loss, as HIV & AIDS comes to the fore of the gay community.

The book was strange in the fact that nothing really happened and, only the final third of the story, picked up any pace. The rest of the book was told slowly, as if uncoiling. Nothing really happened and, yet, I couldn't stop reading.

The character of Richard is both gentle and yet powerful, his relationship with his mother develops further meaning the deeper you read and his partnership with Pablo touching and real, moving from initial lust through to genuine kinship.

I cannot rate this book highly enough - its definately 'a keeper' (ie. one to keep on the shelf and look forward to enjoying again in the future). This will not disappoint!

Re: Colm Toibin's The Story of the Night., 04 Nov 2008
I finished this book yesterday, and have found myself thinking about it throughout today, especially the ending. The characterisation is excellent and the characters are so real and human. I found it was a book that I didn't want to put down, and couldn't wait to return to. I can't remember the last time a book has had such a profound impact on me. The writing style grips the reader and one becomes absorbed in the story. I have never read any of the authors other work but will now, though they have a lot to live up to as this is the best book I've read in years.

Wolverhampton Libraries LGBT Reading Group Review, 23 May 2008
Richard/Ricardo discovers his identity at a time of great unrest in Argentina during the reign of the Generals and the Falklands war and before the AIDS crisis.

Following the death of his staunchly patriotic English mother, Richard finds himself alone and finding solace with men he encounters on streets and in saunas. After quitting his job as an English teacher, his Anglo-Argentinean language skills come in useful as he is introduced into the world of Americans, politics, business men and corruption. This leads him to meet the elusive but alluring Pablo, brother of Jorge - Richard's friend and English student.

Erotic but never vulgar, the story that ensues is predictable but written in a succinct and realistic style, efficiently portraying the fear and desolation that many gay men must have felt during the 80's.

It is important to bear in mind that this title was first published in 1997 so is a relatively old book and, for some, may not have the same impact that it did at the time.

The group was divided with its appraisal but, worryingly, everyone agreed the middle third of the book could have been omitted with little detriment to the overall story! This read may be best suited to someone new to gay fiction who can keep up with the history lesson too.

the story of the night by colm toibin, 11 Feb 2007
Like other readers, I bought this book by chance. I read it non-stop. i was absolutely captivated. have read some of his other work, The South and the Blackwater Lightship - both were very, very good. Give them a try - you won't be disappointed.

Can I stay for a while?, 04 Sep 2006
I bought this book by chance, interested in the content and by Toibin's reputation. I never expected to be moved to tears. I read the book in three sittings, something I have never done before, simply because I could not put it down. I think I almost fell in love with Richard Garay and I have only ever once before cried when reaching the end of a novel. The subject matter in the final chapter is particularly close to my heart and I will never forget the emotional journery either in my own life or in the chacters depected here. Thank you for writing this book and portraying real gay characters, not simply laughable, camp shallow characters, and for portraying so poiniantly how two men can fall in love so deeply, the difficulties they can sometimes face coming to terms with their sexuality and the isolation that it can bring. I want to dive back into their lives and share it with them all over again. I am profoundly moved.

A rewarding read., 04 Dec 2007
I loved this book. Henry James really comes alive and although it is a novel about a major literary figure it is not heavy going, but flows along beautifully. I would recommend this book to any reader, but I imagine if you already had some knowledge of Henry James it would be even more interesting.

A fine biography of Henry James, 12 Jan 2007
A pleasant fictionalised biography of the novelist Henry James in which the author concentrates not so much on dates and events but on James's relationship with his family and friends. Actually Colm Toibin deliberately chose to write about a specific period of James's life, namely from January 1895 to October 1899 with a few flashbacks to tell about his youth in America before he settled in England.
We learn about the failure of his theatre play Guy Domville while Oscar Wilde was enjoying a raging success with an Ideal Husband, his subsequent departure to Ireland, the death of his wife Alice. Then he followed Wilde's imprisonment and the exile of his wife and children which impressed James very much. Often Colm Toibin describes how ideas for a new novel or short story matured in James's mind and how they were related to his daily encounters and impressions. James could write and read at leisure after the purchase of Lamb House in Rye where he enjoyed his solitude between the visits of his friends, his brother William, his sister in law Alice and Peggy, his niece. But it was after meeting the young and impetuous sculptor Hendrik Andersen in Rome that James realised that he himself was ageing slowly because he saw that Andersen was too young to know how memory and regret mingle, how nothing seems to have any shape or meaning until it is well past and lost.


England or life, 12 Nov 2006
Colm Toibin has written an extremely readable fictional account of Henry James. No knowledge of James or interest in his work is necessary to enjoy this book. It's just a wonderfully written human drama.
Toibin examines the myth that James chose Art over Life. This was a theme which seemed to preoccupy the artists and writers of the late nineteenth century. Toibin suggests that Henry James' decision to live in dull, insipid England, rather than Italy, Paris, America or Ireland was for his art. In the same way that a hostage tied to a radiator in a dark room for months develops an impossibly rich and vivid imagination so James chose England.
I loved this book

It Was a Long Life, but Do Not Seek Any "Sea Change" in It , 10 Nov 2006
And the fineness of this book is that nothing is ever really disclosed. The question then must be: Did we really want to know? Page after page of wonderfully dry prose imitating the Master, we are given the opportunity to probe behind the words. Our guesses will be as good as anyone's. k:

The Master had his life, and left a mystery about it as gentlement sought to do back then, but clearly from reading this novel, one is left with a feeling that in the long run he really did enjoy his life and probably knew very well how to keep it secret, to use a cliche, "From Here to Eternity." Hurray to him for that and Mr. Toibin. This is not a novel that is one of those guessing games.

Toibin says in a note that he liberally quoted from His Obvious Master, but then why not? James has been The Master for quite a few generations by now, including some of the most brilliant writers and film makers our cultures have produced. The American British interplay, I mean.

While the novel helped me to understand Henry James a lot more than I had believed that it would, I still cannot agree with the reviewer here who said it should have bettered "The Line of Beauty" in the Booker prizing.

Mr. Toibin has probably never written a bad sentence since he started, with the beautiful "The South" I think. He is young enough, and I am old enough to hope that I can continue to enjoy him.

Really gets inside the mind of Henry James and the lives of those around him, 09 Oct 2006
Tobin has a very deliberate, precise style of writing. You have to savour the words and make your mind up pretty quickly if they draw you into the story or not. The book is almost written from inside the mind of another person (the novelist, Henry James). I had never read anything by James and you don't have to in order to enjoy the book. You get to live inside a writer's mind. You understand James' personality and begin to be able to predict how he will react to situations as the come up in the book.

Because of Tobin's ability to occupy another's mind and to open it up to the reader The Master is an excellent book. James seems to have a colourful family and lived in interesting times but it is neither this nor the plot that drives the book. It is curiosity about James' perspective on events that keep the reader reading.

Beautiful, heartfelt book, 18 Mar 2007
This quiet, understated novel, the fourth by Irish writer Colm Tóibín, was short-listed for the 1999 Booker Prize and the 2001 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. And with good reason. It is a beautiful heartfelt book about three generations of women, estranged for years, who must join forces to look after one of their own who has a serious life-threatening illness.

Helen, the central character, is a 30-something school teacher married with two young boys, who has managed to carve out a comfortable existence in Dublin. But despite her career success and ordered life, she hides a guilty secret: as a college student she had a falling out with her mother, Lily, and has not talked to her since. In fact Lily was not invited to Helen's wedding and she has never met her grandsons.

Helen's relationship with her grandmother, Dora, is not quite as strained, but Dora and Lily are particularly tetchy with one another and rarely talk.

But these personal histories, filled with pain, hurt and anger, must be cast aside when Helen's younger brother, Declan, announces he has AIDS. For the first time in decades the three women are thrown together by circumstances beyond their control.

When a very ill Declan says he wants to stay in his grandmother's falling-down house by the Wexford coast, the three women, all strong-willed and contrary, find their tense relationships tested even further.

Things are not made any easier by the presence of Declan's gay friends whom he regards as "family" but whom his mother, in particular, does not like.

But for Helen it is the house, which holds unpleasant childhood reminders of her father's untimely death, that causes her to confront her troubled past.

The Blackwater Lightship is not a straightforward novel. There's no happy conclusion. By turns it is shocking and moving. Its stark, spare prose lulls the reader into a false sense of comfort, a bit like the calm before the storm, because the nub of this novel is far from pleasant. Exploring the notions of family ties and how history binds us together no matter how hard we might try to escape it, it also looks at morals, manners and the pain we can dish out with one hand and hold close with the other.

This is a quick, emotional read and one that lingers in the mind for a considerable time. It is hugely reminiscent of John McGahern's Amongst Women and Jennifer Johnston's The Gingerbread Women, two other Irish novels about troubled people coming to term with familial relationships, both written in a succinct, bleak style.

when a tragedy strikes, 29 Nov 2004
We are studying Toibin'w book at school and we are enjoying it very much. The style is easy to comprehend even to a non native speaker but the story is really interesting. We've met the author and found him really interesting and intelligent. I really suggest this book!

Love, Family, AIDS and Dysfunction, 08 Jul 2004
Helen O'Doherty lives in Dublin with her husband and two sons. She is a school principal and set with her life. She is happy and even though she may be a bit more reserved in her marriage than her husband would like, all seems well. When school is over she and her hubby plan a large party in their new home to celebrate. Her husband and children will go the next day to visit relatives, and Helen will follow when she clears up her end of school issues. Helen worries about her life and her children. Are they too needy? Is it right that the youngest needs his parents so thoroughly? Helen seems to be a thoroughly modern woman of the 90's- ready to live her life. Helen's family is off and she is ready to go to school when a friend of her brother, Declan, arrives to tell her Declan is seriously ill and needs to see her. And so it goes.. Paul, Declan's friend tells her he has AIDS and has been ill for quite a while. He does not have a serious relationship right now, and he does need a place to go to recuperate. It is decided by Declan that he wants to go to Grandmother's house, but first, would Helen tell Grandmother and mom, Lily about his disease?
No small deed is this one...Helen has had an on -again off-again relationship with her mother and grandmother for years. In fact, she has only seen them at Christmas time, but neither was invited to her wedding nor have they met her family or children. How will she tell them, what will they say and how will they react? Oh, no, what to do...
Mom- Lily, Helen, Paul and Larry, Declan's friends all move into grandmother's house in a desolate spot on the ocean near the Blackwater Lightship. This place and house has particular meaning to the family-they were brought up here. Lily, the mom as a child; Helen and Declan when they father got sick and died and mom left them, or abandoned them, as Helen and Declan remember. This dysfunctional family now has a chance to reclaim their lost relationships. Paul and Larry are gay, as is Declan, and as they reveal their lives, the lives of the others come into semblance. The living and the dying , the coming and the going, the new and the old all take on extra meaning.

Colm Toibin has written a marvelous study of a family entwined in the everyday business of living and dying in his book "The Blackwater Lightship: A Novel". The relationships in this family are not unusual, but so well written in such a cleverly calm but studied manner. Colm Toibin's knowledge of the clinical process of AIDS is well revealed and accurate. You feel like you are in the midst of Declan's fevers and
pain and suffering. The judgment of being Gay and having AIDS in the 90's is explored and well written. This is a book of the ages- always timely, relationships explored, the pain and suffering of lost time with family well documented. A novel to learn from. Colm Toibin was on the short list for the Booker prize for
this novel. He is an author to be recommended- a writer of fabulous ability- to be enjoyed and thought about for days after the novel is finished. prisrob

An intense exploration of the ties that bind., 15 Sep 2003
Colm Toibin cuts straight to the heart in this sensitive novel of an independent daughter, long estranged from her overly controlling mother, and their attempt to reach some sort of understanding and level of communication. Daughter Helen and mother Lily are drawn to the neutral ground of Helen's grandmother's house in rural Ireland when Helen's brother Declan is gravely ill with AIDS and wants to return to the strand for a last look at the sea. Toibin is both straightforward and graphic in describing Declan's declining health and completely open in describing the romantic relationships of Paul and Larry, Declan's two gay friends who are also attending him at the cottage in Cush. But the focus of the story remains squarely on Helen and Lily and their long estrangement, so intense that Lily was never invited to attend Helen's wedding and, after seven years, still has not seen her grandchildren. In the crucible of Declan's sick room, those attending him are painfully aware of the tenuousness of life, and as they reach out to him with love, they share many of their innermost feelings and the stories that have shaped their lives.

In prose that is so simple and so controlled one wonders how it can possibly carry the weight of these emotion packed scenes, Toibin empathizes with Helen, a daughter whose mother failed to meet her emotional needs when she was a child, and then tried to overpower and control her when she became strong enough to stand on her own. At the same time, he explores Lily's competing needs and the limitations imposed on her by her husband's early death and her need to support her family both financially and physically.

The obvious symbolism of the lightship, the wave-washed strand, and the eroding headland on which the grandmother's cottage perches adds weight and universality to the crises facing the participants in this intense and poignant domestic drama. The involved reader will come away with new understandings of the need for connection, the essence of compassion, and the full meaning of love as the characters in this thematically complete novel find their resolutions. Mary Whipple

beautiful beautiful beautiful, 03 Jun 2003
I started this book knowing that I was going to love it - based on previous books Toibin has written. And I did. From beginning to end I could just feel myself there - at the party, on the beach, in the room with three generations of that family. I didn't always want to be there but something was keeping me reading on, just to see if they could make some sense of it all.
When I read it for the second time, I enjoyed the use of light and dark as they characters revealed more. The lighthouse just gave flashes of illumination as the characters struggled to understand each other and themselves.
So it's not just another book about AIDS, it's a beautiful book about a fmaily and how a family can tear itself apart. Or pull together. I loved it!

Disappointing, 30 Sep 2008
A fairly unremarkable collection, although a Priest in the Family is a very satisfying tale. Toibin is a far superior novelist - but then as a novelist he is truly world class.

Well-written but somewhat enigmatic, 30 Dec 2007
I had never previously read any of Colm Toibin's works so I came to these short stories with an open mind, though obviously influenced by the good reviews the book has received in the press. I've read just three of the stories: the first two, and the last (the longest) and while the writing is good and the atmosphere is very well evoked I found them somewhat unsatisfying. Sometimes you do need to have an open ending so you can make up your own mind but to me two of these stories almost seemed to be lifted from a longer novel, such was the effect of inconclusiveness.

I much preferred the book of William Trevor's short stories (After Rain) which I read a year earlier - he is a writer I would return to. I will try a novel by Colm Toibin but his short stories don't quite suit my tastes.



Memorable stories, 17 Nov 2007
The thread that ties the beautifully written nine stories in this book together is that in each one there is a complex relationship between a mother and a son. I don't think that all of them `focus' on this relationship, as the blurb on the back has it, for only in four of the nine stories is it central. Rather, each one seems to me to focus on either the mother or the son; but whichever it is, we are let deeply into that person's thoughts and see the world through that person's eyes, and mostly it is a sad or even tragic world. A death figures in several of the stories. Some are most evocatively set in various very Irish communities: a criminal one in the first story, an Irish pub in the second, a small village where everyone knows everyone else in others. The long last story is set in the mountains of Spain. All are memorable in their deceptively simple style and in their psychological content.

"He thought about the confidence of those roads, their strength and their solidity", 23 Apr 2007
In Mothers and Sons, Irish writer Colm Toibin continues his trademark gift for presenting nuance and intimacy in this collection of nine haunting and exquisitely written short stories. Melancholy and thought-provoking, and filled with the complexities of life, Toibin introduces us to sons and mothers who are constantly grappling to understand each other and where an emotional canvas of familiaral expectation is as rich and as unexpected as life itself.

In the first story, "The Use of Reason," alcoholism lurks just below the surface as an art thief living in Dublin realizes that he may not be able to rely on the discretion of his mother as he once first thought. Having just stolen a valuable Rembrandt, he's anxious to unload the work to a pair of Dutch criminals, but unfortunately, his mother just doesn't know when to keep her mouth shut boasting in the local pub her beloved son's escapades.

In "The Name of the Game" we see a mother forced to provide for her son when after the death of her husband she inherits his supermarket, along with all of his debts. All of a sudden, faced with certain poverty, she learns to be tough and competitive and on the advice of her suppliers, she takes a risk and enlarges the store into a chip and burger shop, perhaps relying more on her own tenacity, than on the family's dwindling resources. In the process of remaking the business, she discovers that her son has a good head for numbers and comes to her aid, helping out with the accounting and preparing the way for her retirement.

Other stories cover similar themes: There's a mother's disbelief, disappointment and her decisive fear of facing the truth when she hears that her son has been arrested over accusations of sexual abuse; then there's a mother who is battling her son's depression whilst also coping with her husband, bedridden after a stroke; and a son who was abandoned as a child and then suddenly hears his mother singing in a pub; and yet another son, who after his mother's funeral, goes out partying with his mates and awakens to all things sexual one night on a beach.

Each story is infused with the myriad attributes of human emotions: the heartbreak that exists over the loss of a parent, a love that is betrayed, and the inevitable disappointments that come when you realize that your son or your mother, or even your sibling is perhaps not the person who you thought they were. While the smaller stories provide small vignettes of anticipation along with despair and even acceptance, the longer stories have a luminosity all their own and are infused with a steadily mounting tension.

The final story "A Long Winter," and set in Spain is all about yearning and defeat, and centers on a son's concern for his alcoholic mother when the needless cruelty of his father eventually leads to her disappearance into the harsh bleak Spanish winter. As the boy spends his days desperately searching for her, he battles with his hidden desires and his attraction for a good-looking police officer and then for an uneducated houseboy whom his father employs to help around the house.

Throughout these stories Toibin courageously reiterates the truth unflinchingly about love and families and the ties that inevitably bind us together. Indeed the author seems to embrace what he sees as the melancholy and sadder aspects of life. Written in Toibin's now familiar exquisite style, this collection contains many small gems, and are fine examples of the art of short story writing. In the end, Mothers and Sons is often heart wrenching, but always thought-provoking as these tales evoke the bittersweet angst of ordinary people, the "mothers and sons" that exist in us all. Mike Leonard April 07.


Excellent collection , 21 Mar 2007
This is an engaging collection of short stories that to greater or lesser degrees explore the relationship between mothers and sons. As with most of Toibin's work, there is a sustained emotional distance between the narrator and the characters. It's not a cold and clinical distance, but it is at times one of disinterest. The characters and all their flaws are placed on view and no authorial judgment is passed on their actions. The most successful stories in this collection are the slightly longer ones like The Name of the Game, a brilliantly realised portrayal of selfishness or self-determination, and the vignette-like The Song, a painful tale of repression that is finished just minutes after beginning it. There's not much emotional warmth in the stories, as the filial relationships are rarely peaceful or mutually satisfying, but the craftsmanship is superb and the stories are memorable for their sharply drawn characters.

A masterpiece, 28 Mar 2008
One of my favourite novels. Along only with John McGahern, Toibin writes the most beautifully economical prose that I have read. If you have read The Master, prior to reading this work it comes as a surprise. The Master is utterly different in terms of writing style, very ornate and precise reflecting perhaps its subject matter Henry James. The narrative here alternates simply with each chapter from flashback to present day. The protagonist is Eamon Redmond, a judge of the High Court. Eamon's reminiscences of some of the pivotal moments of his childhood in Wexford and his sexual awakening are masterfully executed and the "segues" back to the present day events, perfectly timed. Even Toibin's portrayal of the Judge's intellectual struggles with some of his cases, are wonderfully detailed and to me at least seem very accurate. The book deals with the Judges' regret, his own realisation of his distant and cold nature (having its origins in profound grief and loss experienced in childhood and a deep-seated feeling of his own worthlessness) his inability to properly express - or perhaps feel wholly feel - love towards his wife and finally, it hints at a possibility of redemption for him. This is all done with a prose style that is starkly beautiful in its simplicity but seems effortless at the same time.

A deeply emotional, deeply moving book, 25 Feb 2008
The Heather Blazing by Colm Toibin is a deeply emotional, deeply moving book. It's the story of Eamon Redmond, a complex man, grown on tender roots, influential friends, a keen intellect and a tangible distance between himself and those whom he loves.

The book is set in three parts, each of which dips in and out of time. We are with Eamon as a child in the small Wexford seaside villages he forever regards as home. Coastal erosion changes them over time and provides, in itself, a metaphor of aging, both of the individual and the community. Eamon's schoolteacher father is a significant figure, both locally as a renowned teacher, and nationally as a result of what he accomplished in his youth in the furtherance of Irish independence and political development. Eamon's mother died when he was young, an act for which, perhaps, he could never forgive her.

We also see Eamon as an adolescent, hormones abuzz, becoming aware of adulthood, a physical, intellectual and, for him, a political transformation. But it is also a time when his father's illness complicates his life. Throughout, we are never sure whether Eamon's perception of such difficulty remains primarily selfish, driven by self-interest. If we are honest, none of us knows how that equation works out.

We are with Eamon when he meets Carmel, his future and only wife. They share a political commitment and a life together. And they have two children. Naimh becomes pregnant at a crucial time. Donal is successful in his own way, but perhaps inherited his father's distance in relationships.

And then there's another time and another Eamon, the professional, the legal Eamon. At first he practices law, but later, at a relatively early age, he accepts a politically-driven appointment to the judiciary. He has powerful sponsors, but also toys a little with the idea that he is being kicked upstairs. The moment, however, is his, no matter how dubious the source of the patronage. And then there are the cases that he has to judge, cases that impact in their own way upon the substance of his own life, his own family, whatever that might be, however the entity might be defined. It remains a substance that is perceived mainly by others, it seems, as he enacts his training and judges other people's experience according to rules he has dutifully learned so that he might apply them dispassionately.

So Colm Toibin mixes these time frames and circumstances in each of the book's three sections. We are also presented with some intellectual arguments arising from the substance of the judge's daily routine, issues with which he must grapple in his assessment of competing interests. Eventually he must address the dichotomy of terrorism versus political action, a definition that, years ago, might have left his own father on this side or that, if ever he had been identified.

Eamon's friends, in hindsight, might not have been the most worthy or honest sponsors, and so, again only with hindsight, we might question his judgment. But the pursuance of interests, like life, itself, is a process, and a process that The Heather Blazing describes in its richness and illusory permanence. As the Wexford coast erodes, Eamon ages, changes, succeeds, fails, loves and loves again, all in his own way. He engages us, and yet we, like the trusting, thoughtful Carmel, his wife, we never really know him, and we never really understand why we feel that way. If only he knew himself. A quite beautiful book. Life goes on.




character study rather than plot driven Irish novel, 30 Nov 2000
It was the evocative title of The Heather Blazing that drew me towards it, having read and not particularly liked Toibin's earlier novel, The South. The story can be summarized in a few words...it is just selected elements from the past and present of the protagonist's life, mainly focusing on time spent on holidays in rural Ireland, away from his high profile Dublin life as a judge. The important characters in Eamon's life are introduced- his wife, daughter, son, father, uncles and aunts- and his relationship with these people is left, to a certain extent, up to the reader to decide. His love of the sea and enjoyment of nature is at odds with his relationships with the other main characters-his wife, daughter, son, father and uncles and aunts. The struggle of these people to understand him is seen by the reader and the wish that he would share more surfaces many times during the book. I recommended this book to a book club and read it with several different nationalities. The "Irishness" of the book is apparent but this seems to be taken in a good way and also has universal appeal. Much has been written elsewhere about Toibin's sparse style and I felt that in this book in particular, the reader is left filled with a longing for more, in the best possible way. Some scenes, described perhaps in one paragraph stay in my mind as though pages were devoted to developing them. In a book where character is driving the story rather than plot, one moves towards the conclusion not sure what to expect. It is fitting that, like life, the ending is uncertain, leaving the reader once more to take the information and make his/her own decision.

TOP MARKS!, 05 Nov 2008
I really don't know what I can add in review of this book, which hasn't already been said by the other reviewers - I was caught up in this wonderful novel from the outset, feeling somehow that the character of Richard got inside my head and I needed to - simply must - find out where he was going.

The story sweeps along through the Falklands war and the economic fallout which effected Argentina, through the changing 80's and ultimately leads to loss, as HIV & AIDS comes to the fore of the gay community.

The book was strange in the fact that nothing really happened and, only the final third of the story, picked up any pace. The rest of the book was told slowly, as if uncoiling. Nothing really happened and, yet, I couldn't stop reading.

The character of Richard is both gentle and yet powerful, his relationship with his mother develops further meaning the deeper you read and his partnership with Pablo touching and real, moving from initial lust through to genuine kinship.

I cannot rate this book highly enough - its definately 'a keeper' (ie. one to keep on the shelf and look forward to enjoying again in the future). This will not disappoint!

Re: Colm Toibin's The Story of the Night., 04 Nov 2008
I finished this book yesterday, and have found myself thinking about it throughout today, especially the ending. The characterisation is excellent and the characters are so real and human. I found it was a book that I didn't want to put down, and couldn't wait to return to. I can't remember the last time a book has had such a profound impact on me. The writing style grips the reader and one becomes absorbed in the story. I have never read any of the authors other work but will now, though they have a lot to live up to as this is the best book I've read in years.

Wolverhampton Libraries LGBT Reading Group Review, 23 May 2008
Richard/Ricardo discovers his identity at a time of great unrest in Argentina during the reign of the Generals and the Falklands war and before the AIDS crisis.

Following the death of his staunchly patriotic English mother, Richard finds himself alone and finding solace with men he encounters on streets and in saunas. After quitting his job as an English teacher, his Anglo-Argentinean language skills come in useful as he is introduced into the world of Americans, politics, business men and corruption. This leads him to meet the elusive but alluring Pablo, brother of Jorge - Richard's friend and English student.

Erotic but never vulgar, the story that ensues is predictable but written in a succinct and realistic style, efficiently portraying the fear and desolation that many gay men must have felt during the 80's.

It is important to bear in mind that this title was first published in 1997 so is a relatively old book and, for some, may not have the same impact that it did at the time.

The group was divided with its appraisal but, worryingly, everyone agreed the middle third of the book could have been omitted with little detriment to the overall story! This read may be best suited to someone new to gay fiction who can keep up with the history lesson too.

the story of the night by colm toibin, 11 Feb 2007
Like other readers, I bought this book by chance. I read it non-stop. i was absolutely captivated. have read some of his other work, The South and the Blackwater Lightship - both were very, very good. Give them a try - you won't be disappointed.

Can I stay for a while?, 04 Sep 2006
I bought this book by chance, interested in the content and by Toibin's reputation. I never expected to be moved to tears. I read the book in three sittings, something I have never done before, simply because I could not put it down. I think I almost fell in love with Richard Garay and I have only ever once before cried when reaching the end of a novel. The subject matter in the final chapter is particularly close to my heart and I will never forget the emotional journery either in my own life or in the chacters depected here. Thank you for writing this book and portraying real gay characters, not simply laughable, camp shallow characters, and for portraying so poiniantly how two men can fall in love so deeply, the difficulties they can sometimes face coming to terms with their sexuality and the isolation that it can bring. I want to dive back into their lives and share it with them all over again. I am profoundly moved.

A rewarding read., 04 Dec 2007
I loved this book. Henry James really comes alive and although it is a novel about a major literary figure it is not heavy going, but flows along beautifully. I would recommend this book to any reader, but I imagine if you already had some knowledge of Henry James it would be even more interesting.

A fine biography of Henry James, 12 Jan 2007
A pleasant fictionalised biography of the novelist Henry James in which the author concentrates not so much on dates and events but on James's relationship with his family and friends. Actually Colm Toibin deliberately chose to write about a specific period of James's life, namely from January 1895 to October 1899 with a few flashbacks to tell about his youth in America before he settled in England.
We learn about the failure of his theatre play Guy Domville while Oscar Wilde was enjoying a raging success with an Ideal Husband, his subsequent departure to Ireland, the death of his wife Alice. Then he followed Wilde's imprisonment and the exile of his wife and children which impressed James very much. Often Colm Toibin describes how ideas for a new novel or short story matured in James's mind and how they were related to his daily encounters and impressions. James could write and read at leisure after the purchase of Lamb House in Rye where he enjoyed his solitude between the visits of his friends, his brother William, his sister in law Alice and Peggy, his niece. But it was after meeting the young and impetuous sculptor Hendrik Andersen in Rome that James realised that he himself was ageing slowly because he saw that Andersen was too young to know how memory and regret mingle, how nothing seems to have any shape or meaning until it is well past and lost.


England or life, 12 Nov 2006
Colm Toibin has written an extremely readable fictional account of Henry James. No knowledge of James or interest in his work is necessary to enjoy this book. It's just a wonderfully written human drama.
Toibin examines the myth that James chose Art over Life. This was a theme which seemed to preoccupy the artists and writers of the late nineteenth century. Toibin suggests that Henry James' decision to live in dull, insipid England, rather than Italy, Paris, America or Ireland was for his art. In the same way that a hostage tied to a radiator in a dark room for months develops an impossibly rich and vivid imagination so James chose England.
I loved this book

It Was a Long Life, but Do Not Seek Any "Sea Change" in It , 10 Nov 2006
And the fineness of this book is that nothing is ever really disclosed. The question then must be: Did we really want to know? Page after page of wonderfully dry prose imitating the Master, we are given the opportunity to probe behind the words. Our guesses will be as good as anyone's. k:

The Master had his life, and left a mystery about it as gentlement sought to do back then, but clearly from reading this novel, one is left with a feeling that in the long run he really did enjoy his life and probably knew very well how to keep it secret, to use a cliche, "From Here to Eternity." Hurray to him for that and Mr. Toibin. This is not a novel that is one of those guessing games.

Toibin says in a note that he liberally quoted from His Obvious Master, but then why not? James has been The Master for quite a few generations by now, including some of the most brilliant writers and film makers our cultures have produced. The American British interplay, I mean.

While the novel helped me to understand Henry James a lot more than I had believed that it would, I still cannot agree with the reviewer here who said it should have bettered "The Line of Beauty" in the Booker prizing.

Mr. Toibin has probably never written a bad sentence since he started, with the beautiful "The South" I think. He is young enough, and I am old enou