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. read full description
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Apr 18, 2008
Jim
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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
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May 03, 2007
Nick
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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
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Nov 11, 2008
John
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"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
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Feb 26, 2008
Danna
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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 deprid More...
The Law of Dreams is an original, classic journey story of one man's odyssey from extreme poverty and deprid More...
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Mar 30, 2007
Patrick
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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. Horr
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Feb 22, 2009
Julie
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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.
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Jan 31, 2009
Julie
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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 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 More...
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Dec 10, 2008
Lainey
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I actually read this book back to back.Found it fascinating, horrifying, real, well written
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Feb 05, 2009
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
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May 19, 2011
Eleanor
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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 s 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 s More...
Jan 12, 2010
Annie
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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
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Aug 15, 2009
Chuck
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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
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Nov 12, 2007
Lara
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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.
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Jan 09, 2009
Terryann
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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.
Feb 09, 2011
Kim
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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 bes More...
Fergus was bes More...
Dec 25, 2007
Kim
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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.
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Jan 23, 2009
Kevin
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Incredible journey from boyhood and a patch of land in Ireland, to manhood and the new world, and the places and people in between.
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Jan 22, 2012
Kelsey
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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 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 More...
Apr 11, 2008
Kevin
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This book is a great beauty and a total immersion in its time and places. I've bought it for half a dozen people since I read it.
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Jun 15, 2008
Beth
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Great story about the famine times in Ireland, how one boy survives and makes his way to North America. Very enlightening.
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Feb 08, 2011
Keiron
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This is fiction at its most powerful and heart-rendering best. Evocative and atmospheric it breathes afresh - the fetid 'blighted' air of the Great Famine period - adding its own perspective and understanding through an unforgettable main character allowing for as convincing a portrait and fictional representation of a time and place as you might imagine historical fiction capable of producing. Gripping and beautifully written. A modern masterpiece - its spellbinding draw is enough to remake you
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Mar 23, 2011
Caroline
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I thought for a while there that I would really enjoy this book, but after a while I got quite bored. At first I really liked the distant, slightly dreamy, introspective nature of the author's writing, but it quickly got repetitive. This had the potential to be a great book, albeit somewhat cliched - it's about a young boy who loses his entire family during the Irish Famine and ends up in Canada, via an Irish workhouse, an almost stint as a male prostitute in Liverpool, a railroad navvy in Wales
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Aug 12, 2009
Jessica
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I don't know if I can even articulate how this book affected me. If you appreciate poetic, poignant and haunting prose, go read this right now. If you like historical novels that are able to balance true storytelling with complex, human/falliable characters, go read this. The book takes place during the Irish potato famine of the 1840s, but it is really about searching, betrayal, risk and courage. I found the writing to beautiful at times that I had to stop and just ponder a sentence. I don
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Jan 04, 2011
Sarah
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I liked the plot, but I wish the editor had scratched out every single spot where the prose abruptly transitioned from third person to second person. Even after the first few chapters, when I figured out that these lines were the interior monologue of Fergus, the main character, I still hated them. Mostly because they don't always make sense and certainly because they add nothing to the story. For example:
She didn't move when he climbed in beside her but lay facing the wall, with herMore...
Jul 02, 2010
Rose
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It still surprises me that this particular story of a boy who travels from his home in Ireland to America is actually based on the author's family history. It makes it even more intriguing that its the story of one so young that has to overcome so many trials in life and figure out the meaning of what it truly means to be alive.
"Law of Dreams" takes place during the Great Hunger of 1847, where a young boy named Fergus O'Brien is displaced from his home and goes on a journey More...
"Law of Dreams" takes place during the Great Hunger of 1847, where a young boy named Fergus O'Brien is displaced from his home and goes on a journey More...
Mar 24, 2010
Melissa
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I read this book and liked it so much that I used it in my English 101 (composition) class this semester. My students LOVED the book.
My university hosted Peter Behrens, the author, for a visit to our campus. He gave a fascinating lecture in the evening and then taught MY class on Friday morning. He was absolutely great. I hope he writes something else soon.
The book is the story of a young man--he's probably 15 or so--who is the sole survivor of the Irish Potato Fa More...
My university hosted Peter Behrens, the author, for a visit to our campus. He gave a fascinating lecture in the evening and then taught MY class on Friday morning. He was absolutely great. I hope he writes something else soon.
The book is the story of a young man--he's probably 15 or so--who is the sole survivor of the Irish Potato Fa More...
Feb 22, 2010
Sean
rated it:
Awkwardly Written
The writing in this book can be very awkward, and sometimes can just be plain bad. The narrative voice is also confusing. E.g.:
{ 'I tell you, one way or another you will be clear of those people. Over population, sir, is the curse of this country.'
And it is the truth. }
So in the above, 'And it is the truth' seems to come from the narrator. So does the narrator really believe that the disaster of the potato famine w More...
The writing in this book can be very awkward, and sometimes can just be plain bad. The narrative voice is also confusing. E.g.:
{ 'I tell you, one way or another you will be clear of those people. Over population, sir, is the curse of this country.'
And it is the truth. }
So in the above, 'And it is the truth' seems to come from the narrator. So does the narrator really believe that the disaster of the potato famine w More...
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Jan 03, 2010
Louise
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This was an okay read. Nothing to write home about but, nonetheless a good way to spend an afternoon or evening.
From back cover:
"Driven from the only home he has known during Ireland's Great Hunger of 1847, Fergus O'Brien makes the harrowing journey from County Clare to Canada, travelling with bold girls, pearl boys, navvies, and highwaymen. Full of vivid, unforgettable characters, THE LAW OF DREAMS is lyrical, emotional, and thoroughly extraordinary."
From back cover:
"Driven from the only home he has known during Ireland's Great Hunger of 1847, Fergus O'Brien makes the harrowing journey from County Clare to Canada, travelling with bold girls, pearl boys, navvies, and highwaymen. Full of vivid, unforgettable characters, THE LAW OF DREAMS is lyrical, emotional, and thoroughly extraordinary."
Jan 04, 2012
Raimo
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This has the feel of a novel that was written with visions of "movie rights" dancing in the author's head. We never really get to know Fergus, the main character, because the plot keeps propelling him on an odyysey chock full of trials and tribulation. The most interesting characters are females that cross Fergus' path. All that being said, it does speak of an interesting historical period and, if you like plot-driven fiction, it is worth a read.
Aug 03, 2010
Jeff
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This is a very compelling historical novel/adventure story. It feels a bit like 'pop fiction' but at the same time also offers a very believable account of Irish immigration during the 19th c. Obviously well researched and I now have a better understanding of the period, or at least an appreciation for the hardship that people faced. Sexy and dark in places, but not overly sensational. Definitely kept me going -- page turner.
