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80th out of 269 books
—
260 voters
The Law of Dreams
by
Peter Behrens (Goodreads Author)
The Law of Dreams tells the story of a young man's epic passage from innocence to experience during The Great Famine in Ireland of 1847.
On his odyssey through Ireland and Britain, and across the Atlantic to “the Boston states,” Fergus is initiated to violence, sexual heat, and the glories and dangers of the industrial revolution. Along the way, he meets an unforgettable...more
On his odyssey through Ireland and Britain, and across the Atlantic to “the Boston states,” Fergus is initiated to violence, sexual heat, and the glories and dangers of the industrial revolution. Along the way, he meets an unforgettable...more
Hardcover, 408 pages
Published
August 22nd 2006
by Steerforth
(first published 2006)
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Apr 18, 2008
Jim
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Lads and lassies
Recommended to Jim by:
Danna L. Sides
Shelves:
legion-of-vermin
Imagine that you’re a tenant farmer. You’re young, never been to school, never owned a decent pair of shoes. All your life you’ve lived on the same piece of rugged earth. Then the Great Famine comes, wipes out the farm. The tenant evicts your family but your father won’t go and you watch them starve until the soldiers come and set fire to the home and everyone in your family is murdered, but you. This is the set up for Peter Behrens amazing novel The Law of Dreams. It’s a historical novel about...more
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My sister-in-law’s husband received this as a gift for Christmas, and when I read the fly-leaf I couldn’t figure out how it had slipped beneath my radar. This is exactly the sort of book I look for. Set during the great potato famine in Ireland, the story follows a boy named Fergus as he watches the simple world he knew of mountains, fields, and cattle in County Clare crumble and die in the face of the terrible blight. After his entire family dies and he is ejected from the land of the farmer wh...more
"Law of Dreams" recounts the odyssey of a young Irish boy, driven from his home by the horrors of the Famine and the injustices of British rule, left to survive amidst the growing chaos and anarchy of Famine-era Ireland, forced to weather the hardships and violence of Liverpool and Wales at the peak of the industrial revolution, before facing the interminable passage to the New World aboard a typhus-infested ship. The story is told with a gritty realism that displaces the romanticism that pervad...more
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It's a given that the majority of students learn about Ireland's Great Famine of 1847, the resulting exodus and diaspora, in high school and college history classes. Also, that unless the Famine is part of an individual's personal, family consciousness, much of what is remembered is distilled facts of distant history, despite the staggeringly epic consequences of this tragedy.
The Law of Dreams is an original, classic journey story of one man's odyssey from extreme poverty and depridation and th...more
The Law of Dreams is an original, classic journey story of one man's odyssey from extreme poverty and depridation and th...more
This book got some favorable reviews, including one from on-call Irish expert Malachy McCourt... but I had some problems with it. It's set during the Great Hunger in Ireland (circa 1847) when a huge number of Irish people died or emigrated(1 million and 2 million, respectively; it's still the worst famine on record, in terms of numbers), which, believe it or not, happens to be a subject I've read a lot about. I felt the main character managed to slip through things just a bit too easily. Horribl...more
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My favourite line from this book: "Potatoes were not made or cut, like the farmer's hay or corn, they were lifted, joyfully, the surprise of the world." I'm always a softie for the Irish stories; it's in my blood. I wanted to hear more about the main character's life once he made it to Canada, but the tale of his journey was still a captivating read.
Further evidence to my belief that the Irish tell the best stories. THis is an Odyssey-like tale of a young Irish man left orphaned and homeless by the famine. After living like an animal in the Irish bogs and then on the run from a crime of desperation, he lives a half-life in England until he is able to set sail for the promised land- North America.
The story is brutal, but the writing is so poetic and lyrical - you are swept on by its beauty even as you wince as horrors of poverty and the bli...more
The story is brutal, but the writing is so poetic and lyrical - you are swept on by its beauty even as you wince as horrors of poverty and the bli...more
I actually read this book back to back.Found it fascinating, horrifying, real, well written
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Feb 05, 2009
Bookmarks Magazine
added it
Peter Behrens, a screenwriter and author of the story collection Night Driving, characterizes a boy surviving the Great Famine as a modern-day Odysseus (or Ishmael), driven by fate and history. Critics praised Behrens's meticulous research; poetic, visceral prose; and period dialogue, and many commented that Fergus's Atlantic crossing was one of the most exciting journeys they had experienced secondhand. Others, however, felt that the novel was too cinematic and melodramatic, and opinions differ
...more
The plot follows Fergus on the journey from Ireland to Boston during the potato famine and his journey from innocence to knowledge. His family is a tenant on Carmichael land and they are burned out because they will not sell out when the farmer wants to switch to cattle at the beginning of potato famine. His first friend is Phoebe, the farmer's daughter, whom he has a crush on. He sees his parents and sister burned alive in their beds because they are too weak to leave when the fire starts. The...more
Peter Behrens reaches back to 1840s Irleland to mine his families suffering during the Irish Potato Famine to fashion a novel with an old fashioned sensiility and a cutting bite. Fergus, his descendent who lost his family to a famine so severe peole ate whatever they could forage or kill to survive. Tenents on a farm, they had thrived on the potatoes they grew each year until a blight finished off their only crop, besides a few turnips. Fergus wakes up from his childhood, remembering a few glori...more
Wow. This book was god-awful.
I read it because The Cat lent it to me. The Cat is a colleague, so called, because he meowed during a conference call in his first week of work. As it turned out later, this is perfectly in keeping with his personality. One day The Cat appeared in my office bearing a water-logged copy of this book. Apparently, we had some prior conversation about it that I can't recall. He had read it and his sister had read it.
I pretty much hated it. It is the story of an Irish boy...more
I read it because The Cat lent it to me. The Cat is a colleague, so called, because he meowed during a conference call in his first week of work. As it turned out later, this is perfectly in keeping with his personality. One day The Cat appeared in my office bearing a water-logged copy of this book. Apparently, we had some prior conversation about it that I can't recall. He had read it and his sister had read it.
I pretty much hated it. It is the story of an Irish boy...more
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one critic described this novel as "unsparing." this concept haunted me throughout the book. "the law of dreams" is truly unsparing in the sense that behrens hammers -- over and over -- the plight of the poor during the Irish Potato Famine. the experiences of his young hero, fergus, are shocking and heart-wrenching. the young boy survives the death of his entire family to starvation, debtor's prison (where he continues to starve), and living in the wild (where he starves even more), while wealth...more
Peter Behrens has produced a wrenching and totally believable novel chronicling an Irish youth's journey after being evicted from his family's tenant farm during the mid-19th century Great Famine. With the rest of his family killed in a fire set by the landlord, "Fergus" is left to fend for himself, and his amazing story takes him to a workhouse, a gang, a Liverpool brothel, a horse farm in North Wales, and finally to a very difficult Atlantic crossing to Nova Scotia. I have no idea where Behren...more
I didn't know whether or not I'd like this book when I bought it, but it turned out to be really good! It tells the story of a teenage boy living in Ireland during the famine of 1847. The author does a wonderful job of capturing the human experience during traumatic times, and really cuts to the heart of what it means to survive, and what it is that keeps you going. The story seems to be very authentic from a historical perspective, and is very well written.
If you’re interested in depressing historical fiction, this is the book for you. Even though that may not seem like a positive preface to this review, it is the most accurate description I can think of when considering this novel.
First off, it all begins with what is an obviously tragic situation: the Irish famine. There is a whispered word that disease is spreading in the soil, but high up on their hill the farmers believe they are untouchable. Fergus is our protagonist, a poor, presumably fift...more
First off, it all begins with what is an obviously tragic situation: the Irish famine. There is a whispered word that disease is spreading in the soil, but high up on their hill the farmers believe they are untouchable. Fergus is our protagonist, a poor, presumably fift...more
Although I gave this book three stars, the writing itself deserved higher. Peter Behrens use of language is sparse and controlled which reminds me of poetry in the concise way he can convey the characters thoughts and emotions. I admire this style of writing for the craft of writing, but I find that it distances me from the characters in the story to the point that I don't ever really care about any of them. Maybe it is a flaw in me as a reader, but I do like to have characters arouse some kind...more
This was difficult at first, to read. More like one of those books that English teachers love. Full of language and angst. However, I'm glad I stuck with it, what a good find! An un-named Irish boy travels from Ireland to England to Wales and on, witnessing pain and suffering in a way that hasn't been written before. His breif moments of pleasure are almost too far apart, but not quite.
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You know that feeling when you watch old family footage, and there's that candid bit of extra stuff because the record button wasn't hit in time? That extra stuff is often the best part, and I think Peter Behrens somehow magically accomplishes that feeling in his novels. In each, he follows his characters for a little longer than you'd expect. Scenes don't end where you think they should, in a conventional arc, but you often end up getting the best moments in these unexpected places.
Both this no...more
Both this no...more
Something about historical struggles with abject poverty, cacophony, survival and sufferings of defeat just seem to churn out page turners. Peter Behrens with this his first full length novel, is definitely one of those authors that can do that for you.
Winner of the Governor General’s Award, this narrative brings us back to the 1840’s amongst Ireland’s devastating potato famine. One and a half million people perished throughout this little known crisis whereas survival and starvation were the on...more
Winner of the Governor General’s Award, this narrative brings us back to the 1840’s amongst Ireland’s devastating potato famine. One and a half million people perished throughout this little known crisis whereas survival and starvation were the on...more
Behrens does not candy coat this emigrant's tale. Law of Dreams is animalistic in its portrayal of Fergus's flight from Ireland. Behren's writing is beautiful and poignantly clear. His writing is full of Fergus's questioning thoughts that make the reader question her thoughts, as well. "Are you a part of the the world, like a bird, an apple tree, a fish or the sea itself? Or are you here to judge it, everything in it, including yourself?" (321) Fantastic.
Fergus was besieged with guilt for survi...more
Fergus was besieged with guilt for survi...more
Dec 25, 2007
Kim
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
folks interested in 19th century Europe/America
This book was intersting, captivating, and historically interesting. An easy yet informative read, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about 19th century immigration to the United States, particularly from the perspective of the Irish who had survived the potato famine. As a warning, this book can be heavy. Not exactly a happy read, it was still redeeming in content and worth the time.
I truly enjoyed this book. I was very concerned about Fergus' relationship with Molly but it all works out in the end. The characters were life-like and the drama of living in extreme poverty comes through loud and clear. The immigrants who came across the Atlantic on these cargo ships truly suffered. I never really thought about what my ancestors had gone through to get here, my great-grandparents and my grandparents too. I never realized how difficult their lives had been before the potato fam...more
A rough and graphic novel, but nevertheless an effortless and good read. Fergus goes through a lot of misery in is life during the infamous Irish Famine. He travels through Ireland, England, Wales and then through America, trying to find his way and to cope with the past and to "keep moving", which is in other words: the Law of Dreams.
Fergus goes through a lot, and sadly a lot of people die. I did not get attached to characters and did not really mind them dying. I did feel sympathy for Fergus,...more
Fergus goes through a lot, and sadly a lot of people die. I did not get attached to characters and did not really mind them dying. I did feel sympathy for Fergus,...more
Incredible journey from boyhood and a patch of land in Ireland, to manhood and the new world, and the places and people in between.
This is an excellent historical novel of the poverty and despair experienced by the poor Irish tenant farmers after the potato famine.
it describes famine and starvation so vividly I felt guilty sitting down to a meal after reading it.
Bleak and grim its told through the eyes of Fergus a young man who watches his family die and his home destroyed, ends up incarcerated in an appalling workhouse, manages to escape, joins a gang of youngsters known as the bog boys living rough and on the verge of cri...more
it describes famine and starvation so vividly I felt guilty sitting down to a meal after reading it.
Bleak and grim its told through the eyes of Fergus a young man who watches his family die and his home destroyed, ends up incarcerated in an appalling workhouse, manages to escape, joins a gang of youngsters known as the bog boys living rough and on the verge of cri...more
As I have been exploring my Irish roots the past 15 years I also find fiction an interesting source to understand the Irish Potato Famine in the mid 1800’s. Behrens offers a glimpse into the appalling conditions as a young man experiences losses, deaths, love, and the continuing quest for"something better than this.”
It is a riveting tale in which Behrens draws the reader into this personal journey. Overall this is an excellent book, but I gave it 4 stars rather than 5 because of the ending. The...more
It is a riveting tale in which Behrens draws the reader into this personal journey. Overall this is an excellent book, but I gave it 4 stars rather than 5 because of the ending. The...more
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Set in 1840's Ireland during the great Famine, this novel declares that "the law of dreams" is to move ever forward, no matter how horrendous the trauma. It's indeed about a survivor who moves ever forward. Perhaps it's also about a "dream law", a system under which there can be actual justice--as opposed to the laissez-faire economics that doomed the Irish to perfectly legal mass starvation, while food was being exported under guard from Ireland to England. I wish Paul Ryan would read this book...more
The Law of Dreams is a reason we read.
This was a beautiful book. It describes how a young tenant farmer named Fergus travels across Ireland, struggles to find work in England, and finally takes a ship to America. He experiences very different harsh, real lives, from a group of children turned bandits in order to survive to the ragged, quick-blooded workers building a railroad by cutting through raw earth.
Fergus doesn’t just encounter things. He breathes people. He wades through his surroundings...more
This was a beautiful book. It describes how a young tenant farmer named Fergus travels across Ireland, struggles to find work in England, and finally takes a ship to America. He experiences very different harsh, real lives, from a group of children turned bandits in order to survive to the ragged, quick-blooded workers building a railroad by cutting through raw earth.
Fergus doesn’t just encounter things. He breathes people. He wades through his surroundings...more
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Peter Behrens' is author of two novels,, THE LAW OF DREAMS (Steerforth/Random House) and THE O'BRIENS (Pantheon) and a collection of short stories, NIGHT DRIVING (Macmillan). Behrens was a Fellow of the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown and held a prestigious Stegner Fellowship at Stanford University. He was born in Montreal and lives on the coast of Maine with his wife and son.
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“What you lost weakened you, could kill you. What you wanted kept you going. What you wanted gave you strength.”
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“Sooner or later everyone disguises themselves and where they have been and what they have done.”
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