false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173049588m/241865.jpg 241865 6 The Booker Prize-winning <I>Schindler's List</I> (on which Steven Spielberg based his Oscar-winning film) demonstrated that Thomas Keneally could make history as compelling as any novel. His latest book, <I>The Great Shame</I>, expands upon the achievement of his earlier fiction. This is more than just the story of the Keneally family tree, transported from Ireland to Australia in the 19th-century. It is the story of how Irish men and women came to be dispersed all over the world, and what they made of their lives in their new homes. It is the epic history of a whole people.<p> <I>The Great Shame</I> is hypnotically readable, partly because Keneally weaves his many narrative strands so expertly and touches his story with many moments of beautiful writing, but also because it is all, even at its most extraordinary, completely true. The result is astonishingly vivid. What <I>The Great Shame</I> most resembles is a classic 19th-century novel: Dickens, say, or George Eliot. Readers avidly follow Keneally's characters through their successes and their trials, until the very last sentence in the book when, like a master from the classic age of the novel, Keneally pays tribute to "the piquant blood and potent ghosts of the characters to whom we now bid goodbye." <I>--Adam Roberts</I> 1587784 1998 The Great Shame: And the Triumph of the Irish in the English-Speaking World total:45|5:5|4:21|3:17|2:0|1:2| 45 162 103 11 3 0 false false Wed Oct 21 13:00:55 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 21 13:02:35 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Thu Jan 01 17:08:05 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 11 11:19:46 -0800 2009 3 0 false false Sun May 10 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Apr 04 17:15:13 -0700 2009 Mon May 11 19:52:14 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri May 15 20:52:02 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 14 20:48:00 -0700 2009
Very engaging history shown through the perils and separation of an Irish family. Learning much!]]> 1 0 false false Sun Jan 04 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Jul 31 10:38:03 -0700 2008 Thu Jun 04 15:04:38 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Jan 16 12:03:01 -0800 2008 Wed Jan 16 12:10:31 -0800 2008
The stuff on John Boyle O'Reilly and Thomas Francis Meagher was amazing (the latter: from Irish revolutionary, to Australian convict, to celebrated General for the Union forces in the Civil War,...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Wed Jan 30 13:30:54 -0800 2008 Wed Jan 30 13:35:33 -0800 2008 4 0 false false Tue Jul 29 05:07:56 -0700 2008 Tue Jul 29 05:08:45 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Sat Jan 08 00:00:00 -0800 2000 Sat Feb 23 20:33:07 -0800 2008 Sat Feb 23 20:37:30 -0800 2008 ]]> 3 0 false false Mon Jun 30 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Jun 26 11:09:16 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 30 11:56:47 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Thu Jun 04 18:30:49 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 04 18:31:08 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Nov 11 18:51:08 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 11 18:51:09 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Mon Nov 02 16:21:02 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 02 16:21:02 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sun Oct 25 19:40:53 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 25 19:40:53 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Thu Oct 15 16:56:16 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 15 16:56:24 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Oct 14 23:14:03 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 14 23:14:12 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Oct 07 15:21:18 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 07 15:21:18 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sat Oct 03 17:12:08 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 03 17:12:08 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sat Sep 19 18:36:45 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 19 18:36:45 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sat Sep 19 14:31:20 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 19 14:31:20 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=241865