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Star of the Sea

3.95 of 5 stars 3.95 · rating details · 2,480 ratings · 289 reviews

In the bitter winter of 1847, from an Ireland torn by famine and injustice, the Star of the Sea sets sail for NewYork. On board are hundreds of refugees, some optimistic, many more desperate. Among them are a maid with a devastating secret, the bankrupt Lord Merridith, his wife and children, and a killer stalking the decks, hungry for the vengeance that will bring absoluti...more

Paperback, 432 pages

Published March 8th 2004 by Mariner Books (first published January 1st 2003)

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Nov 18, 2008 Simon rated it 4 of 5 stars

A brilliant novel that roams far beyond the boundaries of the ship upon which it's set, Star of the Sea is a gripping tale of murder, revenge, cruelty and love set against the backdrop of The Famine. It's so well written that the complex structure of the book seems natural and the shifting perspectives of the narrative effortless. The three main characters are so well developed and realized that they command your attention from the first page, and the secondary characters are always more than me...more

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Jun 11, 2007 Jess Blackburn rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: EVERYONE! (or lovers of irish history)

this book was amazing! a little difficult to get into at the start, but once the story unravels, it's difficult to put down. you get a great idea of what life was like in famine-stricken ireland in the mid-1800s through the back-stories of several intertwining characters. there's a bit of mystery as you're trying to figure out the reasons behind a murder on a boat full of irish emmigrants bound for new york. i love love loved this book and would love to read it all over again.

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Aug 31, 2007 Susan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: historicalfiction

This book had me sucked in right from the start. Great characters, a good mystery and an interesting though tragic time in Ireland and Englands history.
A very intersting narrative style too which helped keep the historical context alive as well as illustrations from the time period.

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Jan 03, 2012 Luca rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: gialli-thriller

La Stella del mare salpa alla volta di New York per sfuggire alla fame e alla carestia irlandese. A bordo, sia in prima che
in terza classe, ci sono miseria, sudiciume, fallimenti, segreti e pochissime speranze. E tre uomini: un Lord disgraziato
(" a New York le costruzioni non si svilupperanno mai in verticale...per via del vento forte") e diseredato, un giornalista
americano idealista con frustratissime aspirazioni da romanziere ("Dickens sarà dimenticato") e un geniale straccione con un passa...more

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Sep 15, 2007 Lisa Vegan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: historical fiction fans, especially patient readers, as this book improves as it progresses

Shelves: fiction, bookclub, reviewed, novel, historical-fiction, altta

I have to say that this is a time when I really appreciate my book club. I ended up enjoying this book, but it was very slow going for a long time. If I hadn’t been reading it for my book club, I believe I would have put it down toward the beginning and never gone back to it, but I am so glad that I felt obligated to read it and therefore finished it.

My favorite part was the fictional description of how Charles Dickens got the information that led to his writing the book Oliver Twist. I was smi...more

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Aug 21, 2008 Barbara rated it 4 of 5 stars

A seemingly simple murder mystery provides the backdrop for several great character studies and historical accounts of mid-18th century Ireland and England. The murder is about to occur on the Star of the Sea, sailing from Ireland to New York City in the midst of one of the famines. While steerage passengers starve to death daily and first-class passengers enjoy multi-course meals, the action flashes back to the pre-sailing lives of the dispossessed English/Irish aristocrat, his pampered English...more

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May 09, 2013 Greg rated it 3 of 5 stars

A 400 page grim read that was difficult to penetrate. I would not have persevered were it not that a friend had asked me for my opinion on the book, and I had read that other reviewers had struggled with it initially. All that said, it is well written but takes a very long time to explain how the various characters are linked so reads as if it is jumping from one unrelated story to another for much of the first half. I struggled with the style of writing which, at times tries to reflect that of...more

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Apr 12, 2013 Ingrid Verschelling rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010

‘Stella Maris’ is de opener van een trilogie over Ierse immigratie. Oorspronkelijke titel: Star of the Sea.

November 1847 - De Stella Maris is onderweg van Ierland naar New York. Er varen 402½ mensen mee op het tussendek - kinderen tellen half - en vijftien passagiers Eerste Klasse. Ierland wordt geteisterd door onrecht en hongersnood. Aan boord bevinden zich honderden vluchtelingen. Allen wagen zich op de Atlantische Oceaan op zoek naar een nieuw thuis. Op de achtergrond speelt voortdurend de gr...more

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Nov 16, 2012 Satch rated it 4 of 5 stars

From my International Fiction Book Club blog:

It was a cold, blustery, rainy evening. No, that’s not the beginning of a novel, just the weather report from the International Fiction Book Club meeting of October 17, 2012. Star of the Sea by Joseph O’Connor took center stage. Even though it was nasty outside, inside we had a pleasant conversation about a most horrible time in Irish history - the Great Famine. The seeming “present” of the novel takes place on the ship, The Star of the Sea, a freigh...more From my International Fiction Book Club blog:

It was a cold, blustery, rainy evening. No, that’s not the beginning of a novel, just the weather report from the International Fiction Book Club meeting of October 17, 2012. Star of the Sea by Joseph O’Connor took center stage. Even though it was nasty outside, inside we had a pleasant conversation about a most horrible time in Irish history - the Great Famine. The seeming “present” of the novel takes place on the ship, The Star of the Sea, a freighter that is carrying 5,000 lbs. of mercury for the Alabama Mining Co. in 1847. Also on board are hundreds of would-be emigrants fleeing eviction and ruin for the promise of a better life in America. But the present tense is a misnomer. As one member commented, this is a sort of meta-fiction with various narrators including an omniscient voice, the Captain’s log, various letters and passages from an unfinished novel by a character aboard the ship. This character is Grantley Dixon, an American journalist who puts together all of these pieces of the puzzle that make up the final voyage of what becomes a “coffin” ship. He publishes this novel with the aid of an epilogue that clues in readers to the answers of some of the ship’s mysteries on Easter Sunday, 1916, when he is in his nineties. So, we have a book within a book just as the ship’s passengers could be said to comprise a microcosm of the Irish cataclysm in the mid nineteenth century.

Coffin ship, since many die on the voyage. Puzzle, because as the ship moves closer to its destination we gradually find out more and more about the relationships that haunt the group of passengers to which we become familiar. David Meredith has been disinherited twice by his father, Lord Meredith, even though the estate has been sold to sheep herders. David’s position in the House of Lords is no help in this matter and as we discover more about this man we see the embodiment of hypocrisy. Perhaps he represents English guilt. Only when he finds out he has six months to live does he attempt to help the sickly. His first love, Mary Duane, is now his maid and unaware of their true familial bond. Pius Mulvey, referred to as the “ghost”, because of his habitual lurking about the deck, is the central character that ties together the disintegrating threads of both Irish families and society in general. He can be said to embody evil but he also absorbs evil. We know early on that a murder is about to take place. O’Connor deftly fuses Dickensian style intrigue with parodies of both the Romance novel and Gothic suspense while adhering to the principle espoused by David Meredith, “Everything is in the way the material is composed.” History of the subject matter is gained through osmosis when the characters are delineated through their passions and fears. Everyone agreed that the form of this novel fit the subject matter and the epilogue only added to the nineteenth century feel. Thumbs up unanimously.
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Aug 01, 2012 Daniel rated it 5 of 5 stars

If you like literary abandon, great language and inventive story telling, check it out. Joseph O'Connor's Star of the Sea employs hugely crafty ways of weaving a burning tale of famine worn and torn Ireland. O'Connor builds a faux-reality by creating news articles, personal letters, songs, official documents, diary entries, etc. - it is only the masterful language that keeps remindng you that you're not reading fact but fiction. Chapter by chapter you find your assumptions challenged, you'll rev...more

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Feb 14, 2011 Moloch rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mondolibri-euroclub, narrativa, narrativa_britannica_e_irlandese, romanzi_storici, no_isbn, viaggi, epoca_vittoriana

L'idea non è affatto male, e il libro è scritto molto bene, alcuni passi, come quelli dedicati alle condizioni dei passeggeri di terza classe o alla terribile carestia che colpisce l'Irlanda, sono proprio belli. Insomma, si vede che non è il solito prodotto da letteratura di consumo. Però, però... L'autore spinge un po' troppo sul pedale del melodrammone strappalacrime! Ci sono proprio tutti gli ingredienti: amori impossibili, conflitti padre/figlio, ragazze traviate, adulterii, ricongiungimenti...more

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Dec 28, 2009 trishtrash rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, favorites

This novel has made it onto my rather slim list of favourite reads this year; it has certainly raised the bar of my expectations of historical fiction. The quality of writing, the rich soup of firmly believable characters all intertwined and seemingly doomed by their connections, the choice of narrative styles, the feeling of low tragedy told as high adventure, the ravaging journey which is somehow preferable to the shuffling starvation that has overwhelmed Ireland, the murder mystery told almos...more This novel has made it onto my rather slim list of favourite reads this year; it has certainly raised the bar of my expectations of historical fiction. The quality of writing, the rich soup of firmly believable characters all intertwined and seemingly doomed by their connections, the choice of narrative styles, the feeling of low tragedy told as high adventure, the ravaging journey which is somehow preferable to the shuffling starvation that has overwhelmed Ireland, the murder mystery told almost backwards, building a quite astonishing tension… I am firmly smitten with O’Connor’s style, which grants a rapport between the reader and the meanest, lowest character within the pages – whoever you might deem that person to be.

The Star of the Sea sets sail for America bearing its handful of first-class passengers and its steerage section crowded with destitute, starving Irish men and women; some bearing a murderous resentment for Lord Meredith, fleeing bankruptcy with his wife and their two sons, for his perceived role of evicting landlord. The family’s maid, Mary Duane sails with them, her cargo a personal history that embroils Meredith (no saint, but a strangely sympathetic sinner) with Pius Mulvey, a prison escapee who, despite his back-story of abhorrent misdeeds, is also more compelling to the reader than repellent; such is O’Connor’s gift for character. Also aboard is the book’s ‘author’, American journalist (and aspiring novelist), Grantley Dixon, lover of Laura Meredith, whose presence torments Lord Meredith equally for the man’s relentlessly touted social conscience, and relationship with the Earl’s wife.

Entwined with the unfolding drama, like another character, is the atmosphere of a famished Ireland and her people, and the conditions those lucky enough to be fleeing to a new life must survive or perish more miserably, perhaps, than if they had remained on shore, and the way the one tragedy colours the story, motives, and drama of the other is O’Connor’s primary accomplishment here.(less)

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Aug 06, 2011 Mathieu rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: novels

"Star of the Sea" is the name of ship sailing from Liverpool to New York in the year 1847, terrible year for famine-torn Ireland. On board, as first-class passengers are Lord David Merredith, his wife and children, and the children's nanny, an Irish peasant girl, Mary Duane; Yankee abolitionist journalist and aspirant writer Grantley Dixon; a strange maharaja and his butler; a minister. In the steerage are hundreds of paying passengers fleeing the hunger and dreaming of the Promised Land, most o...more "Star of the Sea" is the name of ship sailing from Liverpool to New York in the year 1847, terrible year for famine-torn Ireland. On board, as first-class passengers are Lord David Merredith, his wife and children, and the children's nanny, an Irish peasant girl, Mary Duane; Yankee abolitionist journalist and aspirant writer Grantley Dixon; a strange maharaja and his butler; a minister. In the steerage are hundreds of paying passengers fleeing the hunger and dreaming of the Promised Land, most of whom will die of fever or other ailments during the crossing. Among those, Pius Mulvey, fugitive and reluctant planned murderer, watched by an Irish nationalist secret society.

This novel is actually a collection of extracts from another novel (by Dixon), press clippings and extracts from the captain's log book. With these complementary narratives, we discover that many characters have loads of secrets which will be slowly revealed over the course of the novel. Because of this, O'Connor manages to maintain our interest in the book and the multiplicity of narratives never seemed dull (which was a risk). O'Connor's other strength lies in some very powerful scenes he offers: the final fight between Lord Merredith and his father, the doomed love between David and Mary, the prison escape of Pius. In following his characters, by successive strokes, O'Connor depicts a tableau of the Ireland at the time of the famine and its people's complexity, never falling into the trap of generalization.

However, this novel also suffers from some flaws. O'Connor's style is efficient but at some times lacking in the undefinable something which would make it the hallmark of a great writer. Also, if it's good that he elected to have archetypal characters, sometimes, they lack the depth required of them in order not to fall into the pit of the slightly cliché.

Nevertheless, I have greatly enjoyed reading "Star of the Sea" and I recommend it to anyone who likes Ireland, history and powerful narratives.(less)

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Mar 26, 2012 Karyl rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: interlibrary-loans, 2012

OK, it's official -- I am not a fan of Joseph O'Connor. Granted, Star of the Sea is far and away a much better novel than Redemption Falls, but for me, O'Connor's method of stitching together a narrative by using pieces from supposedly contemporary material (all of which was written by him, of course) just doesn't work. There are bits of this novel which shine, the parts in which O'Connor really focuses on one character and develops him or her thoroughly. Supposedly this book was written by a jo...more

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Aug 12, 2007 Larrah rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: great-reads, my-fave-reads

I love this book. It's not a very well-known book, but I think its popularity is growing from word-of-mouth. Finely written, with vividly-rendered scenes that have stayed with me through the years (and will probably continue to stay with me). Made me think about the horrors we humans are capable of inflicting on each other, how we can reduce one another to animals, but then also how we can raise one another with forgiveness. Very special book to me.

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Jan 06, 2013 Andrew Russell rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, 2013

Set against the background of the Irish famine in the year 1847, with writing that is at times beautifully evocative of the time, this novel is worth the read;if you persevere with it. The reason I've added the caveat at the end of that sentence is simple. The book doesn't really get going until a third of the way through. The pace suffers due to constant switching between perspectives. For example, for five or ten pages we hear the story of Pius Mulvey, followed by a letter written by Lord King...more Set against the background of the Irish famine in the year 1847, with writing that is at times beautifully evocative of the time, this novel is worth the read;if you persevere with it. The reason I've added the caveat at the end of that sentence is simple. The book doesn't really get going until a third of the way through. The pace suffers due to constant switching between perspectives. For example, for five or ten pages we hear the story of Pius Mulvey, followed by a letter written by Lord Kingscourt. This switching back and forth between various characters continues for far too long. It is only when we are told of Pius Mulveys descent into crime and degeneration that the book really came alive, with an almost Dickensian feel to the words on the pages. Fantastic characterisation, story which held onto me and seemed unwilling to let go and language which quite brilliantly brought to life the smells, visions and sounds surrounding the main characters, all helped to speed the story along and make it a damned good read. Another achievement of O'Connor was conveying the plight of both those who were affected by famine and those who were travelling in steerage on the Star of the Sea; the listing of passengers who had perished in steerage was a clever means of aiding the latter.

The style of writing reminded me in some ways of Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. Writings from a variety of sources and in a number of different styles looked to me like self indulgence - 'look at what I can do as an author, aren't I fantastic?!' Where Cloud Atlas succeeded and this book did not was that the former left a cliffhanger at the end of each chapter. This not only ensured that the reader remembered the events of that chapter, but made it a more addictive read. Conversely, Star of the Sea wove the various sources of material and the different characters tales more tightly into a single, cohesive story.

This is a book that has a place on anyones shelf, with flashes of brilliance that would be hard to find elsewhere. I loved both the character of Pius Mulvey and the telling of his story. The barrier between this being a very good book and being a great book, or even a masterpiece, was the writers leap from character viewpoint to character viewpoint, often at intervals which were far too short for the reader to become engrossed. This was a deep shame, as the language and characterisation was unusually good;its just that the writers self indulgence got in the way of a good story and the pace at which it reads.(less)

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Feb 29, 2012 Doreen rated it 4 of 5 stars

There were so many good things about this book that it feels kinda greedy to want more. The setting is so rich with detail, and many of the passages come alive with the craftsmanship of Joseph O'Connor's prose. But I felt it was all a bit soapy, and wasn't terribly impressed with Dixon's contributions to the proceedings, which is especially bad since his narrative is supposed to pull the whole piece together. He was actually my least favorite character of the assemblage, especially when compared...more

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Jan 14, 2010 Becky rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Star of the Sea is set amid the Irish potato famine of the mid-nineteenth century. My personal interpretation is that the book is more of a character study. The characters who make the voyage on the ship Star of the Sea to America. It isn't a story of hopes or dreams. There is no sense that reaching the destination will bring a good change. I guess I'm not entirely sure what the message was in this book which is an illustration of the confusing writing style and changing viewpoints. I was readin...more Star of the Sea is set amid the Irish potato famine of the mid-nineteenth century. My personal interpretation is that the book is more of a character study. The characters who make the voyage on the ship Star of the Sea to America. It isn't a story of hopes or dreams. There is no sense that reaching the destination will bring a good change. I guess I'm not entirely sure what the message was in this book which is an illustration of the confusing writing style and changing viewpoints. I was reading this book for the staff book group so I felt I had to finish it.

The story seems to begin several times. The first half of the book tells the story of each character. There is Mary Duane who falls in love with a young David Merridith. There are the brothers Pius and Nicholas Mulvey. Two boys who couldn't be more different in personality. There is Dixon, Laura Markham, and Merridith again. This opening was the most difficult to follow, convoluted and pretentious way to begin a novel that I have ever had the misfortune to read. I felt that Joseph O'Connor was trying to demostrate his brilliance in the genre of literary fiction rather than write an interesting mystery. I should probably mention that the whole way through the book you know there is going to be a murder. Interpersed with all this is the Captain's log of the ship. So every once in a while you learn that more passengers have died in the steerage class from various diseases.

The only part of the book that I actually enjoyed was the story of Pius Mulvey as he travels around nineteenth-century London committing many thefts that become increasingly ingenious and daring. It is his time in Newgate prison that was the most fascinating aspect of the book. During my degree, I specialised in literature of the city during the eighteenth and nineteeth century so I related to this part of the book because it drew on my prior knowledge. Sadly, this part of the book was perhaps only ten pages.

The book, including the highly boring epilogue, was 405 pages long. I enjoyed perhaps ten of those. The only people who I can think will enjoy this book are those who read ridiculously pretentious literacy fiction or have a particular interest in the Irish potato famine. Perhaps you need to be a more serious reader to enjoy this. I'll be intrigued to hear what the rest of the staff in the book group think of this. Without a doubt, this book was not for me. I wonder if I should be concerned that my husband enjoyed reading it...

http://www.thebookette.co.uk/(less)

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Sep 02, 2011 Ness rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Chose because of setting - 19th century coffin ships bearing Irish emigrants across Atlantic. And I hate it.

About the book: it's bit more purple adjective + self consciously writerly than I anticipated (should I have expected this to be so overwritten? I've read some of his journalism which is often funny, always interesting; he can make FOOTBALL interesting which is some kind of miracle) Am finding the voice of the author distracting me from the story told. He's mimicking victorian english and...more

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May 15, 2008 Cornmaven rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: hs-adult

I loved this book. Great historical novel about the Irish potato famine and the response by the English. Definitely a one-sided view, damning the English. I could not put this book down; the characters were all ones about whom I cared. The misery of that time is clearly portrayed. Plus it has an element of murder mystery to it. Gaelic words are defined in footnotes.

Pick it up!

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Oct 31, 2012 Penny rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I was not sure about this book to begin with, it took me a while to get into it and work out who was who! I found it confusing when the author kept calling Lord Kingscourt, David Merridith sometimes and Kingscourt at others, it was a while before I realised that they were one and the same! But when I had worked out who was who and what part they played in the story I did started to understand it better!!
The Star of the Sea is a ship sailing to America from Ireland at the time of the famine. The...more

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Jun 16, 2011 Mae rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ireland

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I thought I liked Ghost Light, I did, but wow, I loved loved Star of the Sea. O'Connor has this rhythm in his writing that makes one feel we are being read to. The Star of the Sea is a must read, for anyone interested in the history of the famine, its horrors and its heroes. Because, any tragedy is also the source of heroism. O'Connor is particularly successful in his creation of the Characters (in capital letters). Pius Mulvey, Mary Duane, Captain Lockwood, Dixon-- the journalist, the lover, th...more

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Jul 26, 2011 MyBookAffair rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I took this book on holiday to the wilds of County Donegal and it is fair to say that I lived every word. It filled my waking hours, my sleeping dreams and everything in between. Around every bend I saw the fleeting shadows of its characters; every ruin was the abandoned home of Mary Duane or Pius Mulvey; and every mouthful of potato tasted like a blessed gift. The historical backdrop of this novel is the Irish Famine, the immensity of this event being such that it colours the entire text: the p...more

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Nov 28, 2009 pinknantucket rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ms-readathon-2007

Really I picked up this book because it was on sale (only $3.95!) and because the cover blurb mentioned something about a monster stalking the decks of a ship, at night. So naturally I thought it would be about vampires. Really, there should be some kind of government inquiry into book jacket blurb writers because needless to say this book has nothing to do with vampires. OK, possibly I am obsessed with vampires, but what would you think the word “monster” is meant to represent, particularly whe...more Really I picked up this book because it was on sale (only $3.95!) and because the cover blurb mentioned something about a monster stalking the decks of a ship, at night. So naturally I thought it would be about vampires. Really, there should be some kind of government inquiry into book jacket blurb writers because needless to say this book has nothing to do with vampires. OK, possibly I am obsessed with vampires, but what would you think the word “monster” is meant to represent, particularly when associated with “night”? (Apart from werewolves, maybe).

Lack of vampires not withstanding, this book was actually very absorbing. When I am trying to recommend a film to someone, I might say “I wouldn’t mind paying full price for that” or “Cheap Tuesday flick, man” or “Wait for it on video, bud” or just a bald “Don’t bother”. I think Star of the Sea classifies easily as a Cheap Tuesday book, possibly even a “Wouldn’t mind paying full price”, so feel free to ask for a lend of my copy.

The Star of the Sea is actually about the Irish potato famine. There are many characters involved, one of whom is a poor Irish peasant who has been appointed the task of murdering an Irish aristocrat on the trip over the Atlantic to America. Though the present-day plot is set on board, there are many flashbacks, in order to highlight who the characters are and how they got that way. It is very successful in showing the reality of the famine and how shocking it must have been; also the realities of travelling by ship back then and how yucky that must have been; also also some of the realities of immigration, and how enormous a decision this must be.

There is even a bit of post-modernism in there (I think it’s post-modernism, anyway, you post-modernists will have to tell me) where the aspiring author character despairs of writing a novel about the famine because it is impossible to write about something so terrible. And yet – we are reading a novel about the famine!! How post-modern.

The book is written as if it is a “piecing together of the facts”, well after the events occurred, and so is written from many different viewpoints and includes parts written as the Captain’s Log, unpublished memoirs or fiction by some of the characters (drawing heavily on actual factuals, of course) and so on. Also, in between each chapter the author has included an extract from letters written by Irish immigrants to the US. Chapters are subheaded things like “In which are sketched certain recollections of The Star of The Sea; the condition of her passengers and the evil which stalked among them”. (Seriously, stalking evil-doers? That can only mean vampires!). I found this all a bit of overkill and distracting from the story; I think it would have worked much better had the author left out all the frilly clever bits. All the chopping and changing made the story seem a bit overworked and diminished its credibility, rather than adding to it. I think the author did A Lot Of Research for this book and By Gad He Was Going To Use It All.

Still – it did make me stay up past my bedtime.
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Apr 26, 2012 John rated it 5 of 5 stars

Dickensian in scale, this is a heart-rending, intimate, tense, funny and important page turner of a book that will stick with me for a long time [especially since I read it while living in Ireland!]. It seems nearly unimaginable that anyone could write anything remotely entertaining about the senseless tragedy of the Great Irish Famine that claimed one million souls or the "coffin ships" that carried another million of the Irish diaspora to America and beyond--or that anyone would even hazard it...more

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Jun 13, 2012 S rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

Takes a while to get into this book because of the way it's written. Different sources, different points of view etc. but stick with it because once you're in you're in!
It's surprising that the Irish Famine isn't the basis of more fiction but I imagine it would be very hard to do without offending one side or the other. Star of the Sea manages to walk the line between Britain and Ireland very well without pointing the finger too much, but at the same time manages to point the finger just enough...more

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Jul 25, 2011 Tamara Epps rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I wasn't sure about the style of this book when I began it and I found the changes of styles a little confusing. However, I found it to be very interesting and informative about the conditions on vessels on their way to NY, USA from Ireland. The story is unravelled by revealing the lives of a few select passengers aboard the Star Vessel - each interlinking with another. This is not my usual type of book, and I've never really seen any fiction that presents completely as factual clippings before,...more

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Jan 04, 2012 Graham rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 19th-century, literature, mystery

This isn't a bad book at all, even if it does get a bit self-consciously 'literary' in places. I love Victorian-era fiction and I love the author's way of setting the time and place with lots of little extra touches - pictures, ship's logs, letters, stories, etc. It certainly breaks up the narrative which would be otherwise overwhelming.

My problem is that the blurb misadvertises this as a ship-board murder-mystery when it isn't anything of the sort. Instead, it's a slow and long-winded explorati...more

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Oct 08, 2012 Luciabo rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: romanzo

Grande capolavoro di O'Connor. Racconta la disperata fuga degli Irlandesi dalla loro terra devastata nel 1847 dalla Potato Famine (morirono due milioni di persone) verso l'America, verso New York la città che forse poteva loro offrire una nuova opportunità. Emigranti disperati di terza classe e viaggiatori di prima classe, tutti però accomunati da segreti,colpe, dolori, speranze.
Il capitano della nave, mediante il suo Diario di bordo, ci dà notizia degli avvenimenti che accadono a bordo della St...more

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May 02, 2010 Marus Jastrow rated it 5 of 5 stars

Wow this was a book and a half. This was an Irish number one bestseller that Bill bought when we were in Ireland years ago and I decided to pick it up and try it. It is the story of a ship that crosses the ocean to take about 500 people to America during the potato famine. 401 of them are in "steerage", dying every day, diseased and pitiful. The others are in 1st class where life is better. The characters intertwine and unfold. It was difficult to read because much of the English is Irish-Englis...more

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About Joseph O'Connor

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Joseph O’Connor was born in Dublin. He is the author of the novels Cowboys and Indians (short-listed for the Whitbread Prize), Desperadoes , The Salesman , Inishowen , Star of the Sea and Redemption Falls , as well as a number of bestselling works of non-fiction.

He was recently voted ‘Irish Writer of the Decade’ by the readers of Hot Press magazine. He...more

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“Love and freedom are such hideous words. So many cruelties have been done in their name.” — 21 people liked it

“Everything is in the way the material is composed.” — 4 people liked it

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