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Yeats is Dead! A novel by fifteen Irish Writers in aid of Amnesty International
by
Roddy Doyle,
Anthony Cronin, Owen O'Neill, Hugo Hamilton, Pauline McLynn, Joseph O'Connor, Charlie O'Neill, Donal O'Kelly
,
more…
Yeats Is Dead doesn't seem like a book so much as a protracted pub crawl in the company of 15 hyper-articulate potty-mouths. Roddy Doyle, Frank McCourt, Anthony Cronin, and a dozen of their lesser-known compatriots have written a literary mystery that isn't terribly literary and doesn't really hang together as a mystery. It is, however, a showcase for riffing by some very...more
Paperback, 298 pages
Published
June 6th 2002
by Vintage
(first published January 1st 2001)
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“Yeats Is Dead!” is a hilarious romp through the Irish countryside as various factions try to get their hands on or unload a secret document reputed to be James Joyce’s last work, an unpublished manuscript written about the poet Yeats.
Written by 15 of the most preeminent and irreverent voices out of Ireland today, this novel is a mystery in which there is no mysery, as a man dies and the reader immediately knows who the murderer is. This isn’t a whodunit; it’s a whatthef**kisit as the myriad ch...more
Written by 15 of the most preeminent and irreverent voices out of Ireland today, this novel is a mystery in which there is no mysery, as a man dies and the reader immediately knows who the murderer is. This isn’t a whodunit; it’s a whatthef**kisit as the myriad ch...more
I found this secondhand in the Boulder bookstore so the fact that it was released to raise money for Amnesty was I guess not helped by my purchase (I feel like I may have had this conversation with Pierce before but I don't know if it was this book or whether it was on the internets or in real life or maybe just deja vu. Anyway.) I read it on the way back from Boulder to LA and it made me laugh out loud on the bus and the plane which always makes me feel a little crazy but I like it. So it was d...more
Oct 26, 2009
Bettie
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
amusing,
britain-ireland
There are many, many one liners in this to rock yer chops but after a while the lack of a story that you can keep a tabs on begins to gall. I am sure that I would have loved this to death earlier in my life but have had to discard it for something/anything else.
Chapter One is by Roddy Doyle - "I think he was dead before I shot him"
Chapter Two by Conor McPherson On the surface Gary Reynolds was being very decent
Chapter Three by Gene Kerrigan Garda Sergeant Joe Roberts looked Detective Superintend...more
Chapter One is by Roddy Doyle - "I think he was dead before I shot him"
Chapter Two by Conor McPherson On the surface Gary Reynolds was being very decent
Chapter Three by Gene Kerrigan Garda Sergeant Joe Roberts looked Detective Superintend...more
view all 5 comments
Really I should have given this 2.5 stars - 3 is too much but 2 isn't enough. This book is quite enjoyable, if only for the idea behind it. 15 Irish writers, each taking one chapter, write a book together. Proceeds went to Amnesty International at the time.
It's fun to read, some of the characters are very weird (yet utterly, believably 'Oirish') and there are some hilarious, laugh out loud scenes in the book. But the book's strength (the many different writers) is also its weakness - it's hard...more
It's fun to read, some of the characters are very weird (yet utterly, believably 'Oirish') and there are some hilarious, laugh out loud scenes in the book. But the book's strength (the many different writers) is also its weakness - it's hard...more
Jan 04, 2009
Sharon
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
humor,
popular_fiction
I read this book a couple of years ago, but I only read a few pages at a time and totally lost the thread--fatal since the plot is not exactly coherent. I decided to give it another try before I gave it away, and i did enjoy it well enough as a light read.
There is a classic "Saturday Night Live" parody ad for a product that is both dessert topping and floor wax. I was reminded of that as I read this book, because this book can't decide on its own genre. This is, of course, understandable, since...more
There is a classic "Saturday Night Live" parody ad for a product that is both dessert topping and floor wax. I was reminded of that as I read this book, because this book can't decide on its own genre. This is, of course, understandable, since...more
Fünfzehn irische Autoren schreiben zusammen einen ziemlich skurrilen Kriminalroman. Jeder ein Kapitel, bei dem sowohl die Leser als auch die einzelnen Charaktere rätseln müssen was die Formel Y8S=+! bedeutet und wofür sie überhaupt gut ist.
Auf dem Weg zur Lösung des Falles kommen einige Menschen zu Tode, andere finden neue Identitäten oder Lebensphilosophien. Und mittendrin der wohl berühmteste irische Dichter James Joye.
Zuallererst muss ich mal sagen, dass ich vom Schreibstil her nicht so gro...more
Auf dem Weg zur Lösung des Falles kommen einige Menschen zu Tode, andere finden neue Identitäten oder Lebensphilosophien. Und mittendrin der wohl berühmteste irische Dichter James Joye.
Zuallererst muss ich mal sagen, dass ich vom Schreibstil her nicht so gro...more
Downloaded from Audible.com
Narrator: Ciaran O'Reilly
Publisher: Random House Audible, 2001
Length: 7 hours and 48 min.
These Irish writers did a 'chopin manuscript' six years ago! This was a very enjoyable audiobook.
Publisher's Summary
"I think he was dead before I shot him."
With these auspicious words begins a murder mystery so utterly unlike any other that it took 15 of Ireland's finest writers (working well below their peak) to bring it to its unlikely conclusion. The plot involves a mad search f...more
Narrator: Ciaran O'Reilly
Publisher: Random House Audible, 2001
Length: 7 hours and 48 min.
These Irish writers did a 'chopin manuscript' six years ago! This was a very enjoyable audiobook.
Publisher's Summary
"I think he was dead before I shot him."
With these auspicious words begins a murder mystery so utterly unlike any other that it took 15 of Ireland's finest writers (working well below their peak) to bring it to its unlikely conclusion. The plot involves a mad search f...more
A very funny book! Each chapter written by a new writer, who has to use the characters & scenario already introduced by the previous writer(s) - and allowed to introduce new characters - the story revolves around the untimely murder of a down-and-out in his caravan & the solving of the crime investigation. It's a pity there was only 15 writers involved - or maybe that was a blessing, the story would never end!
Scritto da 15 autori irlandesi, "Yeats è morto" è un giallo in chiave comica ambientato nelle strade di Dublino. Sebbene lo stile sia scorrevolissimo e nel complesso il libro non risenta in modo negativo della presenza di ben 15 scrittori diversi e, di conseguenza, di 15 stili diversi, la storia non mi ha coinvolto, non l'ho trovato particolarmente divertente e mi ha lasciata un po' delusa.
Three stars may be pushing it. This silly mystery is a party game between 15 modern Irish writers, each taking a chapter, each taking the plot to ever nuttier lengths. The contributions by McCourt and Doyle are notably more polished than the others. The writers have a good time, but the reader may feel a little bit had by all.
Continuo a pensare che solo i Luther Blissett/Wu Mng/whatever siano in grado di scrivere un romanzo a più mani. Gli autori in questo caso ci sono e sono MOLTO in gamba (il primo e l'ultimo in particolare li adoro) però il non aver fatto un progetto comune fa sì che la narrazione scorra ingarbugliata...
Meno male che c'è McCourt a tirare le fila e meno male che si tratti di 15 folli irlandesi!
Meno male che c'è McCourt a tirare le fila e meno male che si tratti di 15 folli irlandesi!
Pretty funny, not to mention a bit nonsensical. Set in Dublin, and actually very hard to describe. The plot revolved around the accidental killing of a man who turns out to have the last unpublished work of James Joyce, and who also may have created either an anti-aging cream or a paper-aging formula.
by Joseph O'Connor, Anthony Cronin, Roddy Doyle, Conor McPherson, Tom Humphries, Gina Moxley, Marian Keyes, Gene Kerrigan, Hugo Hamilton, Charlie O'Neill, Owen O'Neill, Donal O'Kelly, Pauline McLynn, Gerard Stembridge, Frank McCourt
15 Irish writers to write 1 detective story.
15 Irish writers to write 1 detective story.
Il fatto che quindici autori diversi abbiano deciso di scrivere un libro insime senza avere idea della storia è un colpo di genio, ma forse il romanzo un po' ne risente.
http://lostingoodbooks.blogspot.it/20...
http://lostingoodbooks.blogspot.it/20...
This mystery novel has a new author for every chapter. It is a somewhat interesting conceit, but the end result was a mess. I enjoyed the first two, maybe three chapters, then the succession of new characters and plot twists, not to mention the incoherence of the shifting style, made me walk away.
Really fun and quirky until the dreadful last chapter (of course that one is by Frank McCourt...never liked his style, but it also just takes a super weird, unbelievable turn).
A strange read with 15 different authors, each introducing some new improbable character and twisted plot device. However, Frank McCourt (RIP) managed to tie everything up in a neat bow.
I thought it would be interesting to read a book where each chapter was written by a different author. But it was not. I had trouble keeping track of the characters and each chapter was more bizarre than the next. Lots of murders occur. I can't say that I would look to read any of the books written by the various authors.
Todas las historias muy buenas, sobre todo la de Frank McCourt, desde el gordo Buck Mulligan que no me reía tanto con un personaje como lo hice con Gary Reynolds
Great summer read - a bawdy romp written by some fantastic Irish authors.
Ein Wahnsinnig cleveres Buch. 15 Autoren erzählen eine Gesichte.
May 14, 2011
Stina Leicht
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
anthology,
general-fiction
I suspect I'm just going to have to admit defeat re: James Joyce. I can't even handle the stuff that's riffing off him a lot of the time. (Although, I loved the film The Brothers Bloom and McKinty's The Bloomsday Dead.) I listened to the audio book, btw, and was bright enough to catch one or two references. For example, Professor Dúnan Doras (however it was spelled. in Irish "Dún an doras" means "Close the door!") But for the most part, the whole thing was both over my head and just not my thing...more
I am several chapters in and it is fascinating to see the different writing styles as each Irish writer takes a chapter in the mystery.
I'm having a hard time with this one (too many cooks...?) but decided to stick with it for now.
Well, I did finish it. Didn't grow on me, though.
The writers involved seemed too keen to put in twists (the most ridiculous introduced by Pauline McLynn IMO) and add new characters (and thus keeping the reader from making connection to any of them) for their successors to work out that the overall story suffered immensely.
The second star is for the idea.
Well, I did finish it. Didn't grow on me, though.
The writers involved seemed too keen to put in twists (the most ridiculous introduced by Pauline McLynn IMO) and add new characters (and thus keeping the reader from making connection to any of them) for their successors to work out that the overall story suffered immensely.
The second star is for the idea.
Doyle only contributed a portion to this book. It was okay but not riveting.
Apr 01, 2008
Nia
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
those who like sinister humour.
This book is unavoidably rambling, as the authors of each chapter make things harder and harder for whoever comes next. Don't expect a cute, nostalgic or commedy-of-manners Irish caricature, although the kind of humour is definitely recognisable. It is also a lot more violent than I expected, so it reads sometimes like a novelised Quentin Tarantino movie, making fun of its own gore and not even trying to make any sense.
This book reminded me of the movie Waking Life. Y'know the one in which a bunch of different animators got together and each drew a different segment. Each transition was jarring and took a while to get used to and by the time you had another segment was up and the process started all over again. The concept is good but the execution, lacking.
Non voglio nemmeno immaginare quanto deve essere stato difficile coordinare 15 autori per scrivere un giallo così complesso e pieno di colpi di scena! L'ho trovato ben strutturato e divertentissimo, a distanza di tre anni dalla prima lettura non mi ha delusa.
The idea was good - a different Irish author for each chapter. But the story was too goofy. At times it was funny, but it seemed that the authors were trying too hard to be more crazy than the one before. I liked the ending.
Good fun, if a bit nonsensical. Couldn't keep me glued to the pages though, since as each writer takes their turn, the plot gets a bit derailed and also you need to be in a certain mood to appreciate the randomness.
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Roddy Doyle (Irish: Ruaidhrí Ó Dúill) is an Irish novelist, dramatist and screenwriter. Several of his books have been made into successful films, beginning with The Commitments in 1991. He won the Booker Prize in 1993.
Doyle grew up in Kilbarrack, Dublin. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from University College, Dublin. He spent several years as an English and geography teacher before becoming...more
More about Roddy Doyle...
Doyle grew up in Kilbarrack, Dublin. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from University College, Dublin. He spent several years as an English and geography teacher before becoming...more
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