[FNI]∎ PDF Free Famine Liam O'Flaherty 9781903582206 Books

Famine Liam O'Flaherty 9781903582206 Books

Download As PDF : Famine Liam O'Flaherty 9781903582206 Books

Famine Liam O'Flaherty 9781903582206 Books

This book is absolutely extraordinary. I'm quite familiar with the history of the Great Hunger, but to learn about it through the eyes of fictionalized Irish people was a humbling experience. Facts and figures can't even approach the life that people lived ... or died from. Taking one place and one family with their neighbors, O'Flaherty makes the failure of the potato crops palpable. O'Flaherty adds to his novel historical background information to put the story in context. This doesn't detract from the story at all, but is welcome. Irish history is complex.

Man's inhumanity to man is painted in stark colors by O'Flaherty. I finished my reading heartbroken and tearful at the utter, needless cruelty that were inflicted on the Irish people by the British during the Great Hunger.

O'Flaherty's writing is often choppy, and his dialogue can be hard to follow. Stick with it. You'll soon grow accustomed to his style and will not be disappointed.


Tags : Famine [Liam O'Flaherty] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Book by O'Flaherty, Liam,Liam O'Flaherty,Famine,Wolfhound,1903582202,504633489,Classics,Classic fiction,Fiction,Fiction - Historical,Fiction Classics,Fiction Historical,Historical - General,Historical fiction,Literature: Classics,Modern fiction,O'faolain, Sean - Prose & Criticism,History: American

Famine Liam O'Flaherty 9781903582206 Books Reviews

Mr. O’Flaherty’s story begins with the Kilmartins, a rural Irish family, but quickly grows out to encompass dozens of others populating the landscape and small towns around them. The way their lives are depicted feels quite realistic.

At the beginning, the lives of most of Irish farmers are tolerable, though never easy. Their families, their religion, and their traditions are all that many of them have to hang on to. They are obviously dispossessed, and many of the liberties we might take for granted are denied them, even if they do everything “right”. A system designed to allow the English to extract most of their wealth and hope from them on a regular basis can be borne by the lucky ones as long as nothing goes wrong, but most live on the margins and have no room in their lives for surprises. If one “slips over the edge”, it is almost heartbreakingly impossible to climb back out again, and there are many around that have never quite managed to do so after a single misfortune. Most valiantly endure this struggle, sometimes over and over again.

Most of them rely heavily on their “praties” (potatoes) as a staple in their diet, and for some (unexplained) reason, don’t even attempt to grow anything else. The soils in the more hilly parts of Ireland are very poor, which may explain this—too much work for too little return. When the blight sweeps over the country, which when it happens, occurs almost fast enough to watch, it is usually too late to save the crop. That slim margin on which life is being lived is gone in the twinkling of an eye, and mass starvation begins.

Those behind on their rents are ruthlessly evicted, although with the entire countryside living in crushing poverty, it is far from clear how the mighty landlords think they will produce any wealth out of untenanted land. They appear to be clinging to a mythology that the poor Irish peasants are hiding at least some of what they have (which they sometimes are—to keep from starving in the winter!), and that the threat of eviction will cause them to give it over. Even when they do, the resulting lack of food dooms them.

The way in which everyone’s humanity starts to get stripped away is well portrayed, and the descriptions of people starving are quite stark. A powerful novel with both some hope and some sadness at its end.
By the last five chapters I was hoping the rest of the characters would die quickly so that I wouldn't have to endure their pain.
To get a good idea on how bad thing were during that terrible time in Ireland this the best book I have ever read
I read this wonderful book while sitting in a comfy, peat- (turf-) heated parlor overlooking Cahersiveen, Kerry, Ireland. And the history was right there--the people, the events stepped right off the page into that lovely place. I would recommend FAMINE to anyone who descends from the Irish or who simply wants to understand the suffering and the eventual triumph of this gentle people.
The BEST book on the subject IF you like a great story to explain a horrific incident.
Liam O'Flaherty is the guardian of a lifestyle and a traditional way of thinking which died with the Great Famine. Read "Famine" and you'll know why the Irish are the way they are. It's recommended reading for anyone trying to get a peek at the Irish psyche.
I liked it and it's on a seldom-used subject.
This book is absolutely extraordinary. I'm quite familiar with the history of the Great Hunger, but to learn about it through the eyes of fictionalized Irish people was a humbling experience. Facts and figures can't even approach the life that people lived ... or died from. Taking one place and one family with their neighbors, O'Flaherty makes the failure of the potato crops palpable. O'Flaherty adds to his novel historical background information to put the story in context. This doesn't detract from the story at all, but is welcome. Irish history is complex.

Man's inhumanity to man is painted in stark colors by O'Flaherty. I finished my reading heartbroken and tearful at the utter, needless cruelty that were inflicted on the Irish people by the British during the Great Hunger.

O'Flaherty's writing is often choppy, and his dialogue can be hard to follow. Stick with it. You'll soon grow accustomed to his style and will not be disappointed.