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Amongst Women

3.88 of 5 stars 3.88 · rating details · 925 ratings · 83 reviews

A tie in with the television collaboration between RTE and the BBC, a story about an Irish Republican who, in old age, reflects on his life of struggle and fighting, and seeks to come to terms with his past. From the author of THE BARRACKS, THE DARK and THE LEAVETAKING.

Paperback, 192 pages

Published May 18th 1998 by Faber (first published 1990)

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Nov 02, 2011 matt rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: eire, underrated, worldly-lit, miniature

Really top notch. I only say underrated (McGahern has won several noteworthy prizes) just because I hadn't heard of him and didn't think he'd gotten the recognition he deserves this side of the pond.

The writing is beautiful- humane, poised, distant, appraising, tender, complexly simple, Chekovian, minutely realized, lucid, almost translucent in its knowingness, and the characters are drawn as near to life as you can get. They have inwardness- McGahern shows, he doesn't tell, and you see them as...more Really top notch. I only say underrated (McGahern has won several noteworthy prizes) just because I hadn't heard of him and didn't think he'd gotten the recognition he deserves this side of the pond.

The writing is beautiful- humane, poised, distant, appraising, tender, complexly simple, Chekovian, minutely realized, lucid, almost translucent in its knowingness, and the characters are drawn as near to life as you can get. They have inwardness- McGahern shows, he doesn't tell, and you see them as they fluctuate amid each other.

The title is from the rosary, of course, but its also the quietly frustrated, occasionally bitter and abusive state of affairs of Moran, the main character. Moran is a widower but he is also an ex-IRA solider, a fine and intelligent one at that, whose war is over in everywhere but the arena of his bitterness. He's surrounded by women- his three daughters, the middle aged Rose who, undaunted by his gruff, irascible, brittle broodingness, forthrightly agrees to marry him. Indeed, Moran would be the last one to admit it, but she does him the favor of his life by not only making the first move but consistently and selflessly devoting herself to the attention, friendship, and responsibility of Moran's only castle- Great Meadow, his proud and distinctly distant home, and his family where he is equally loathed and respected. It's so true to life. How many times has a friendly, wise, personable woman decided to align herself with a man who is anything but? McGahern captures this real-life paradox with knowing distance (she's a pushover, more times than she should be) and gentleness (she knows there's a better man deep inside Moran, if she could only cull him from Moran's piety, repressed self-hatred, and murky piety). There are two sons, Luke and Michael, who each have warred with the man (figuratively and metaphorically) and found some struggle of tenuous peace. Peace, I should add, which does NOT come dropping slow...

What started to really take over for me, as a reader, and maintained its pull was how I read this novel with that sort of hazy clarity which reminds you of moments in your own life which you'd forgotten or repressed for one reason or another. I hate to quote a book blurb, but I really do have to hand it to John Updike's luminous praise, given as the chair of an award panel: "McGahern brings us the tonic gift of the best fiction, the sense of truth- the sense of a transparency that permits us to see imaginary lives more clearly than we see our own."

When Moran is angry, disappointed, emotionally wounded, or confused he does what so many men (especially in the era in which Amongst Women takes place, the 50's) automatically do: with stoicism and almost unconscious deliberation, they go to the "cave", as it were. Be it the den, the tool shed, the bar, the garden, the tv room, whatever- they do not run away so much as stomp around inside themselves, mending or fixing or sitting somewhere alone and staring off into space. Moran tends to the fields- it's his cave, it's where he goes to puzzle things out, let off steam. it's where his privacy won't be violated. It's of course the once place where he doesn't violate the privacy of others, which is his curse, but it's also where he takes people in.

It reminded me of my grandfather, a stoic, pleasant, repressed, uneducated first-generation Swede who never said much of anything by way of conversation and was maddeningly trite when he did. I think I literally had 2 or 3 5 minute plus conversations with him about anything, and I tried, as did my mother and siblings, in the thirty years I knew him. Not a bad man, or a hard one, as Moran certainly is, but inscrutably... ordinary . One day we were standing on the carpet next to the tv when he said, apropos of nothing, "want to look at my tools"? Uh, sure, let's go. We walked down into the cool, dry, mostly empty basement. He opened the door to his 'shop', pausing to nod at the newspaper clipping taped to the door of soldiers raising the flag at Iwo Jima. "I was there when they did that" he said, ambling towards the shelves. (He wasn't, I have on good authority) We stood there as he pointed out his plastic shelves of tiny screws, different lengths of nails, and so on. He showed me his saws, hammers, screwdrivers, one by one. He explained how long they were and how one fit with its proper tool. I didn't say anything- I didn't have anything to say. He turned at one point and said it was his favorite place. "You could get lost in here". That's it. We walked upstairs and that's all I remember.

Moran hides in his fields, in his solitude, because the country he fought for is taken over by "small minded gangsters", he refuses his government pension, he barks insults at the daughters whose futures he is frightened of and mistrusts. His constant insistence on praying the rosary is equally as intense as his "who cares, anyway" remark, which he makes on matters relating directly to him and to those around him. He's caught between an indifference he feels politically from the country he was proud of fighting for and has now somehow gone past him and the proud, sullen self-sufficiency he has spent a lifetime accumulating. He has the insecurity about appearances which equally, indelibly marks the intensely private and the deeply embarrassed (not the same thing). I don't know as much about 20th Century Irish politics as I ought to, but the point has been made to De Valerain Home Rule (enclosure, rural insularity, fetishization of old fashioned home and hearth).

It does seem interesting, going through the novels which came before, how true it indeed is that the best and brightest seem to feel it existentially necessary to get the hell out of the emerald isle. Exile is a literary theme (and, often enough, political necessity!) all over the 20th Century. I wonder- is Mother Ireland (old sow, farrow-devouring) a microcosm? Or a symptom?

(less)

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Mar 26, 2012 Stijn rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book was a gift from an Irish friend some years ago. I only picked it up two weeks ago and started reading it: I shouldn't have waited that long, this is a great book.

It's not an 'easy' story though: a former Irish war hero, Moran, lives in the Irish countryside with his four teenage children (one boy and three girls, the oldest son Luke moved away to London after a personal conflict with his father) and Rose, his second wife. We follow the life of the family: how Moran lives alone with the...more This book was a gift from an Irish friend some years ago. I only picked it up two weeks ago and started reading it: I shouldn't have waited that long, this is a great book.

It's not an 'easy' story though: a former Irish war hero, Moran, lives in the Irish countryside with his four teenage children (one boy and three girls, the oldest son Luke moved away to London after a personal conflict with his father) and Rose, his second wife. We follow the life of the family: how Moran lives alone with the children, gets to know Rose and marries her, the often difficult relation with his children: his second son follows his brother’s example and migrates to London. This book is a character sketch of a stubborn, dominant, but also loving father. At first sight, not the type of book where the reader easily identifies with one of the characters. Nevertheless, in a subtle way the story draws you into the life of this traditional catholic family. The underlying theme is universal: intergenerational troubles and difficult inter-human relations. Some things never change, no matter the time period or location.

The book is very well written. Despite the setting being extremely ‘uncool’ in its setting (key words: rural, traditional, poor, hard-working…), I never lost interest in learning more about the characters and the dynamics of their relations. The book succeeds very well in describing the remote life on the farm with Moran dominating the other family members' lives. It creates an almost claustrophobic atmosphere. As a reader you understand why also Moran's second son runs away. The women - including Rose - react differently: equally irritated at times, but never questioning his authority and remaining loyal. Yet, and this is the major strength of the book, I developed a growing sympathy for Moran. It's not easy to be a father and a husband, especially if your EQ isn't too high. ;-)

Definitely not a feel-good story but one that made me understand more about human nature and with a surprising sad but nevertheless upbeat ending. An ode to family. (less)

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Feb 23, 2012 Roger Pettit rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ireland has produced many fine novelists - William Trevor, Brian Moore, Colm Toibin, John Banville, Jennifer Johnston, Maeve Binchy and John Boyne, to name just some. And here is another (hitherto unknown to me) to add to the list: John McGahern. McGahern died in 2006, having produced 6 novels and 4 short story collections. On the evidence of this gem of a book, it is a great shame that he did not write more.

Amongst Women is an excellent novel. It is a sort of Tennessee Williams play, transport...more Ireland has produced many fine novelists - William Trevor, Brian Moore, Colm Toibin, John Banville, Jennifer Johnston, Maeve Binchy and John Boyne, to name just some. And here is another (hitherto unknown to me) to add to the list: John McGahern. McGahern died in 2006, having produced 6 novels and 4 short story collections. On the evidence of this gem of a book, it is a great shame that he did not write more.

Amongst Women is an excellent novel. It is a sort of Tennessee Williams play, transported to rural Ireland of the 1950s. It tells the story of Michael Moran, who had fought in the War of Independence and in the Irish Civil War in the 1920s. The story opens with his imminent demise. Then in a series of flashback narratives (without any chapter headings or structure of that sort), the novel tells the story of this controlling, sometimes violent but always family-oriented man and of his relationship with his second wife, Rose, and with his three daughters and two sons. Moran can be both verbally and physically abusive. There is one chilling scene in which his teenage son Michael runs away rather than experience the corporal punishment that his father is about to hand out to him for missing school to spend time with his girlfriend. The story ends with Moran's death.

Amongst Women is a quiet, unostentatious novel that addresses a number of important themes. These include: the power struggle between parents and children as the latter grow older and become adults themselves; family loyalties; and the role of women in society generally and, in particular, in the family structure. It is written in beautifully clear prose. The characterisation and sense of time and place are spot on. And it is a story in which the reader cares about all the characters - including the often angry, unpredictable but strangely likeable Moran. This brilliant novel is well worth reading - as, I imagine, on this evidence, is the rest of McGahern's small oeuvre. 10/10. (less)

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Dec 07, 2010 Amy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A gritty and realistic look at a man reflecting on his past and dealing poorly with the present. The author really focuses on the immediate family and rarely does a scene take place outside of the man's home or town. I appreciated the small scope that the author took. It lent to the book's gravity and didn't allow the reader to be at ease at any moment, therefore forcing the reader to feel what his family member's were feeling. The rarest of lighthearted moments gave you a false sense of securit...more

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Aug 23, 2009 Eric rated it 4 of 5 stars

Many significant Irish novels published during the 80s and 90s (I think, in particular, of Colm Toibin's wonderful The Heather Blazing) seem to feature characters and plots that struggle to reconcile the revolutionary ideals of the early twentieth century with the soullessness and disenchantments of some aspects of the new state that finally came into being. McGahern's memorable patriarch and former IRA man, Moran, is emblematic of such characters. Although rarely likable, Moran is nevertheless...more

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Oct 19, 2012 Dem rated it 4 of 5 stars

Amongst Women by John McGahern is an excellent look at a family’s life in rural Ireland in the 1960s. McGahern writes a quiet sort of novel and yet he address a number of important themes.

Moran is an old Republican whose life was forever transformed by his days of glory as a guerrilla leader in the War of Independence. Now in old age, living out in the country, Moran is still fighting but this time with his family, his friends and even himself.

I find John McGahern’s sense of time and place exce...more

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Apr 02, 2011 planetkiller rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Apr 22, 2013 Róisín rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: irish-literature

I had to read this years ago for my Leaving Cert but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

It is set in the rural midlands of Ireland in the 50s and centers around Michael Moran, the embittered patriarch of the Moran family. He is a former IRA member and fought in the War of Independence and the Irish Civil war in the 1920s who thinks that the war was the best part of his life. Although he can be tender towards his family he is angry, stubborn and strong-willed, he dominates the lives of his wife and children...more

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Jan 28, 2012 Dylan rated it 4 of 5 stars

A narratively straightforward story about family and understanding guided by emotion.

Boring? I don't think so. What I like about this book is that I'm able to think back to moments within and fail to see any relevancy toward a specific arched plot. It is much like one would look back on their own life and just see events for what they were: experiences that just happened and solidified who you were, are, and will be into the future. The tragedy, if there is one, is that life moves on and the si...more

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Oct 02, 2012 Lhart rated it 4 of 5 stars

Grouchy controlling old man who spends more time worrying about what others think than the wellbeing of his family. Very dark book but well written and hard to put down.

Amongst Women by John McGahern

Grouchy controlling old man who spends more time worrying about what others think than the wellbeing of his family. Very dark book but well written and hard to put down.

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Aug 12, 2012 Kathrina rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: irish, nyrb-intro-authors

A short book, but claustrophobic in its persistent domestic dysfunction, its unrelentingly dissatisfied central character, its unsympathetic disdain for chapter breaks. Irish Catholic patriarchs are a breed apart, but a specific breed nonetheless -- my childhood best friend's father was the living manifestation of Moran, at sea in a household of mostly women, who turned to him for direction and a sense of purpose, needing him to feel necessary and connected while at the same time resenting it. M...more

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Apr 20, 2013 Stacey rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: used-books

In comparison to what I have read of John McGahern up to this point, I think this novel in particular emphasizes the importance of space and time. By that, I mean that Mr. McGahern is masterful at expressing mortality, the tension and love involved in family, and the ways in which a place can hold all the complexities and power of an idea, philosophy, whatever you want to call it. I liked this book less than By the Lake, but only because I can more completely put myself in the place of outsiders...more

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Feb 13, 2013 J. rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: irish

This is a solid story, very small in scope, sparse prose writing. Simply put it is about the life of an irish family living in rural Ireland, Leitrim to be exact, during the 50's 60's. The main character is the head of the family Moran a difficult man who finds it hard to let go of the past. You don't have to distill this book, it is 100% Irish. I can see why it is on the Irish English reading curriculum for secondary level students, however with few defining themes I think it would be very diff...more

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Oct 11, 2010 Dpdwyer rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is my idea of a good, solid novel. No fancy plot tricks, just complicated characters dealing with life's changes. The father, Moran, works his farm with the help of three soon-to-be-adult daughters and a younger son. A older son lives in London and refuses contact with his father. Moran's wife is dead. At the beginning of the book he marries a younger woman and brings her home. Moran sets high moral standards for all and has a volatile temper that all fear. Yet they manage to respect and lo...more

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Apr 21, 2013 Barbara Green rated it 4 of 5 stars

Amongst Women was recommended to me by a book club member. I didn't initially find it an easy read but found as I persisted that I was drawn into it. The writing is crafted and characters believable. The main character Moran a widower is an ex-IRA soldier and like many old soldiers he doesn't want to talk about his experience. He is the mainstay of his family but also in some ways the persecutor. He has little or no emotional intelligence but his hard exterior hides a vulnerable soul. Moran loom...more

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Apr 18, 2010 Kristel rated it 5 of 5 stars

Amongst Women (1990), Irish Times/Aer Lingus Literary Award (1991), GPA Award (1992), nominated for the Booker Prize (1990).
Moran is the father of three daughters and two children. He is an embittered Irish Republican soldier. Moran marries Rose, his second wife. Everyone lives their lives in step with Moran's moods which change quickly without warning. Everyone except the one son who leaves before the story begins.

I enjoyed this novel very much. I think the author's best achievement was to des...more

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Mar 20, 2013 Nancy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: acclaimed-fiction

Wonderful. The characters were very reminiscent of the first book of his that I read over the weekend (The Dark); enough so that I've checked out his memoir from the library; it's got to be his own upbringing he is writing about/through. Beautiful. Reminded me quite a bit of some Virginia Woolf (less lyrical); similar (mrs. dalloway? to the lighthouse?) in that the house is filled with people that are so very much in tune and aware of each other's moods, and how to live&love anyway. This guy...more

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Jul 21, 2012 Rachel Allen rated it 2 of 5 stars

Recommended to Rachel by: Fiona Gavin

Shelves: recommended-to-me

Not the best book I've ever read, but it is a spot-on, intimate look at a rural Irish family from the 50's.

SPOILER:

I really found the main character hard to love. And even though a soft spot started to grow, it was constantly beat down by his hard-headed stubbornness. I can sympathize with the girls... growing up with a man like that is tough. And I was just like Luke, running away at the first opportunity and never looking back. I think it's a painful read at times, so if you're not down with...more

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Jun 03, 2011 Coleen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Coleen by: NPR

Shelves: 2011

I learned about John Macgahern through an article by Colm Toibin on NPR. Colm Toibin said of Amongst Women " It is the sort of book which you can give anyone of any age and know that they will be changed by it." Although it's a tough book to read in that there are no chapters and long paragraphs it is an excellent book. Michael Moran is an ex IRA fighter who is the dictator of his own world. He in turn charms and terrorizes his family and as harsh as that sounds I found myself admiring him in so...more

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May 14, 2013 Elizabeth Quinn rated it 3 of 5 stars

What do parents owe their children, and what do children owe their parents? John McGahern's 1990 novel about Michael Moran and his five children left me pondering those questions. Moran was one of the IRA's hard men during Ireland's fight for freedom, masterminding an infamous slaughter of English soldiers, but by the late 1950s time period of the novel his country has disappointed him: "Look at the country now. Run by a crowd of small-minded gangsters out for their own good." In the intervening...more

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Feb 23, 2011 Frank rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: irish-authors

John McGahern is in familiar territory: There is the central father-figure of Michael Moran, a domineering, pathologically oppressive authoritarian whose shifting moods and fits of anger strike quaking fear into his children and second wife. This is the same father figure of The Barracks, The Dark and other earlier novels in McGahern’s works. Moran has alienated his eldest son permanently, and one-by-one each of the younger children fly the nest and flee the terror, though not without "baggage"...more John McGahern is in familiar territory: There is the central father-figure of Michael Moran, a domineering, pathologically oppressive authoritarian whose shifting moods and fits of anger strike quaking fear into his children and second wife. This is the same father figure of The Barracks, The Dark and other earlier novels in McGahern’s works. Moran has alienated his eldest son permanently, and one-by-one each of the younger children fly the nest and flee the terror, though not without "baggage" of varying types. In his complete break with his father and the home place, the eldest son inherits a legacy of stubbornness. For each of the three daughters, however, the situation is more complicated. In spite of all, they are fiercely loyal to their father, his contempt for the greater society beyond his few acres of land and sense of superiority. Their terror and shame is mitigated ultimately by time and distance for the most part.

And so it would seem is McGahern’s. While no less scathing a portrait of domination and oppression than in the earlier works, Amongst Women presents, if not a more sympathetic rendering, than at least a more nuanced one. As a veteran of the Irish War of Independence and Civil War, Moran himself feels oppressed by the condition of the state and nation he helped create. "What did we do it all for?" he asks. In taking both a longer and wider view of Moran and his personal history, McGahern comes to some kind of truce with the character that has dominated his fiction. It is not forgiving, but neither is it without understanding at some level.

There is also a sense of "comeuppance". The beginning and end of the novel find Moran in his dotage, weakened and wearied by age and now in fear of his daughters and long-suffering second wife particularly. While his internal rage is undiminished, it is mitigated by a reluctant resignation that things have changed and things will not change. Finding himself amongst women and totally dependent upon them, Moran finds some semblance of peace with his family and they with him.(less)

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Jan 05, 2013 Atul rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, all-i-own

Wonderful read.

Amongst Women has been lying with me for sometime now and I have no idea why I ever picked it up or why I took so long to start (and finish) it. As far as searching and delving into human understanding goes - this has to make the list.

This books a sine-wave-form of emotions of a family - very simply presented. But at almost every paragraph there is a subtle, in-depth exploration, which, as you progress along, you discover is never long-lasting. It's a tease, almost, that leaves yo...more

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May 31, 2009 John rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to John by: Dennis Okada

Shelves: bookcrossing

The book is well written but a little boring. Not too much happens and what does happen is fairly repetitive. Probably close to real life. At times Moran was hard to like. He was definitely head of the house. to the point where his children all left home as soon as possible. To his credit they did keep coming back.

The blurb on the back of the book about being a guerrilla leader and coming to terms with the past is a bit of a red herring. It is barely mentioned. I hate it when the synopsis on the...more

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Aug 03, 2010 Sweetman Sweetman rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: readers, those who love Irish literature

Recommended to Sweetman by: library find

Shelves: classics, great-find, irish-literature, library-find

Dry, sparse, dark but very well written.
I hate to read stereotypical novels and I think this falls into the stereotype of the overbearing Irish father who either bends his children until they nearly break or cuts them off forever if they don't comply. It leaves me sad and hollow.
That is the beauty of this book. It's burdened with heavy darkness. The language is perfect, evocative. This book has sparked some intense conversations and debates, I'm certain. It says so much in so little.

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Nov 01, 2010 Yvonne rated it 4 of 5 stars

As I read this I thought a lot of my own father and his many ideas and beliefs. I often felt sorry for Moran, thinking that the war really did a number on him and then I just came to terms with the fact that this was a man who was left unprepared for raising a houseful of children alone and was not comfortable with sharing his burden with the towns people. Yet, in the end he raised strong, independent men and women despite his lack of relationship with his oldest son.

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Aug 04, 2008 John rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: people from a rural background (esp Irish)

Shelves: irish-interest

This was an interesting read. I liked it but I don't know if I would ever read it again or recommend it to someone else unless i knew them very well. It's good but slow. What it said on the blurb on the back back of the edition that I have (not the one pictured) bares little resemblence to the actual story of the novel at all. It promised an entirely differnt story, so I was kind of annoyed that I didn't turn out like what I was expecting. That may have coloured my enjoyment of the story.

Being...more

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Oct 17, 2010 Julie rated it 4 of 5 stars

4 1/2 stars
I have been starting books and not finishing them at an alarming rate. I have owned this book for years and am so glad I picked it up. A wonderfully written story of a family in Ireland- the women are Moran's second wife and his three grown daughters. He is a retired veteran who is at times both loving to his family but also impossible to please and very hard on them. A great book.

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Jan 13, 2011 Lindsey added it

This story truly broke my heart. The characters felt so real and the family was like one living breathing organism. You learn a lot about how the decisions we make when younger in regards to who we are will shape our lives as adults and the people we bring into our homes. I fell in love with sympathy for the children and father.

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Jan 15, 2010 Gail rated it 5 of 5 stars

A simply wtitten simply beatutiful book about an Irish family complete with the testy, unpredictable and pride-driven moods of the (in my opinion) typical irish father. Lovely descriptions a la Thomas Hardy of farm life, but with the complications of family and fathers/sons/daughters which seem particularly Irish. A lovely little book.

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Apr 16, 2012 Clodagh added it

Shelves: irish-fiction

Pretty Famous book I think. Little happens but you still want to keep reading. An excellent insight into an irish mentality, personified by Moran, which i'd like to think is dying out. I work with a woman like Rose, who effortlessly lifts the spirits of all around her without them realising what is happening.
I enjoy McGahern's depictions of the beauty of the Irish countryside and his descriptions of what the characters eat usually has my mouth watering(common to all his books)

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About John McGahern

McGahern began his career as a schoolteacher at Scoil Eoin Báiste (Belgrove) primary school in Clontarf, Ireland, where, for a period, he taught the eminent academic Declan Kiberd before turning to writing full-time.
McGahern's novel 'The Dark' was banned in Ireland for its alleged pornographic content and implied clerical sexual abuse. In the controversy over this he was forced to resign his teach...more

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“For the girls the regular comings and goings restored their superior sense of self, a superiority they had received intact from Moran and which was little acknowledged by the wide world in which they had to work and live. That unexplained notion of superiority was often badly shaken and in need of restoration by the time they came home.” — 3 people liked it

“To leave the everpresent tension of Great Meadow was like shedding stiff, formal clothes or kicking off pinching shoes.” — 2 people liked it

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