Tipperary: A Novel

by Frank Delaney

Tipperary: A Novel

book data

101 ratings, 3.42 average rating, 45 reviews (more data...)

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published

2007 by Random House

binding

Hardcover, 448 pages

isbn

1400065232 (isbn13: 9781400065233)

description

When Charles O’Brien, an itinerant Irish healer, is summoned to Paris to treat the infamous Oscar Wilde, little does he know that he will also meet ...more

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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 220)

All ratings | 5 stars (24) | 4 stars (27) | 3 stars (27) | 2 stars (13) | 1 star (10) | avg 3.42

all | this edition

Terry

Terry rated it:

10/29/08

Read in October, 2008

I usually devour books but for some reason this took me almost a month to read. I just didn't feel as engaged in the book so I let days pass without reading it. I loved Delaney's previous book, Ireland. My favorite part of Ireland was Delaney's love of storytelling, Irish culture, and Irish history shone through his beautifully-written book.

Tipperary shows his love of Irish culture/history as well, but the storytelling piece suffered a bit. He also recycled almost all of the elements in ...more

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Jen

Jen rated it:

09/17/08

bookshelves: book-group

Read in September, 2008

recommended to Jen by: Book Group

I had a hard time rating this book. Probably somewhere between a 3 and a 4. I loved the history of Ireland that was interwoven into this fictional story. However, I had a hard time keeping up with who was narrating. I kept missing the little knots when they were at the bottom of the page indicating that the narrator had changed. Way too often I found myself rereading the first part of a paragraph because I realized something wasn't quite right with who I thought was narrating. It was frustrating...more

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Di rated it:

10/05/08

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in October, 2008

This book took me forever to read - not because it wasn't beautifully written or interesting, but because it is not the book I thought it was when I bought it. I bought this book because I sawa sign that said "Frank Delaney's follow up novel to Ireland." I LOVE the book Ireland, and without looking at the fly leave, I assumed that reference meant this was a sequel. Looking back, I shouldn't have made that assumption, as it is a follow up in the sense - it is his next book. I have t...more

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Don

Don rated it:

07/03/08

In this well-written and engaging novel, we follow the life story of on Charles O'Brien, born 1860 in Ireland, as he writes his "History" of his life and times. The History is interspersed with comments from the "historian" putting together the History with letters, documents, and journal entries from O'Brien's family and friends to get a good view of who this man was in relation to his times. The main action for O'Brien is the dismissal of him as a suitor by the woman he's d...more

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Jim

Jim rated it:

01/10/08

Read in September, 2007

An author's second novel seldom lives up to the first. Mr. Delaney, though, has served up another gem. In the author's note to his first novel, Ireland, Mr. Delaney points out “Beneath all the histories of Ireland...there has always been another, less obvious, reporter speaking – the oral tradition, Ireland's vernacular narrative, telling the country's tale to her people in stories handed down since God was a boy”.
Wikipedia lists ten castles in County Tipperary, but Tipperary Cas...more An author's second novel seldom lives up to the first. Mr. Delaney, though, has served up another gem. In the author's note to his first novel, Ireland, Mr. Delaney points out “Beneath all the histories of Ireland...there has always been another, less obvious, reporter speaking – the oral tradition, Ireland's vernacular narrative, telling the country's tale to her people in stories handed down since God was a boy”.
Wikipedia lists ten castles in County Tipperary, but Tipperary Castle is either a figment of a fine imagination, an amalgam of other castles, or a combination of the two. Charles O'Brien is born on land adjacent to Tipperary Castle. The story, or history, is O'Brien's. A personal history of a Castle, and the woman, that captivate him.
Charles' story begins “Be careful about me. Be careful about my country and my people and how we tell our story. We Irish prefer embroideries to plain cloth...We love the 'story' part of the word 'history,' and we love it trimmed out with color and drama, ribbons and bows. Listen to our tunes, observe a Celtic scroll: we always decorate our essence.” A description of what love of the land means, roughly a quarter of the way into the book, is memorable - and a description of Irish cuisine a third of the way in is laugh out loud funny
"All seemed gray or black - excellent colors in themselves, but not in meat or potatoes. I thought I was looking at beef until Lady G said 'Why must we always have mutton?'
To which her daughter replied, 'Mamma, this is pork'.

Mr. Delaney puts the O'Brien family in the upper middle class, and after his education Charles becomes an itinerant healer; there were not enough doctors to cover rural Ireland. Charles travels the country, mingling at all levels of society, from poor tenant farmers to the Anglo-Irish in the country for hundreds of years, to recent more English immigrants.
In Charles' travels he is called to Paris to care for Oscar Wilde, who is on his death bed. Wilde is cared for my many others, including April Burke. With only a few days to live, Wilde tells a tale of another April Burke, an actress in a troupe and former shady lady, that owned Tipperary Castle. During the time in Paris, Charles, stricken by April, tries desperately to get her attention and does, but not in the way he hopes – she threatens to have the police throw him in jail as a stalker if he doesn't quit following her around.
O'Brien resolves that the way to get noticed is to make the ancestral connection to the Actress April Burke. So begins a quixotic quest. Along the way are strewn other well known Irish names – William Butler Yeats, George Bernard Shaw and Michael Connor to name a few. Throw in a castle restoration of monumental proportion, accomplished during the Irish Civil War (that breaks an imperial yoke), with a genealogical mystery mixed in and you end up with is a finely embroidered and thoroughly enjoyable tale.
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Ann

Ann rated it:

12/25/07

I love historical fiction and love books about Ireland, so I was pretty excited about this. Unfortunately, the excitement didn't last. Not only did I want to slap the two main characters (a very immature 44 year old man who falls head-over-heels for an 18 year old ice princess), but the structure is annoying - continuous back and forth between first-person recollections of the main character and third-person narrative by the person who supposedly discovered the journals of this guy. It is a way ...more

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Jeanne

Jeanne rated it:

12/18/07

bookshelves: historical, ireland

Read in December, 2007

It's a long way to Tipperary, and it took a long time to read this book!

This dense historical novel takes place in late 19th and early 20th century Ireland. Charles O'Brien is a gentleman and healer, and he is madly in love with two things: Tipperary Castle (and Ireland in general) and April Burke. When April Burke takes possession of the castle, Charles becomes even more obsessed and manages to help April restore the big house to its former glory. But that doesn't make her love him. Or eve...more

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Bill

Bill rated it:

05/06/08

Read in May, 2008

I love history, Ireland and learning about both from the perspective of the people living through them. Having been to Ireland and the Rock of Cashel, I so wanted to like this book. As others have pointed out the confusing back and forth of the narrators, and then the voices of several characters as well as going back and froth from the present to events over the past 150 years, ultimately proved too confusing to me. There were some great folk story diversions and Irish language explanations tha...more

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Karen

Karen rated it:

08/31/07

Read in April, 2007

Out of the complex and rich tapestry of 19th century Irish history, author Frank Delaney carves a lovely old-fashioned novel with a fascinating cast of characters. The protagonist is a "good man" who spends his life in the attempt to secure the woman he loves and an ancient house. In spite of what seems to be overwhelming odds, he perseveres and reveals the strength and nobility of his personality. There are wonderful cameo appearances by Oscar Wilde and W.B. Yeats and exploration into...more

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Joan

Joan rated it:

11/21/08

Read in November, 2008

I love reading Frank Delaney's books. The words are so enjoyable and need to be savored. Clues are revealed slowly. Characters are developed and loved. History and famous persons are brought into the plot in believable ways and I just felt satisfied when I finished this book. And if you are interested in Ireland for family history this book provides a real feeling for the Irish soul.

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Patty

Patty rated it:

06/03/08

Excellent story of Ireland through the eyes of several people. Charles O'Brien, a country healer; his mother,and a friend of Charles' Harney all keep journals about the events from the 1880's through the 1920's. The story is told my Michael who turns out to have a vested interest in the lives of the family. The story also involves the rebuilding of Tipperary Castle, the "Troubles" and the founding of the Irish Republic. Charles, as naive a person ever born, somehow meets Oscar Wild...more

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Laurie

Laurie rated it:

12/02/08

bookshelves: staff-suggestions

You learn about Irish history through the story of the restoration of an Irish castle and the love of one man for its owner.

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Barbara

Barbara rated it:

(review of isbn 0739333704)

02/01/08

bookshelves: audiobook

Read in January, 2008

I listened to this audiobook because I loved Ireland by Delaney. He reads both of them and, because he has experience as in radio and television, he does an outstanding job. The writing in Tipperary, however, did not engage me much until the end when it became involved in the Easter Rising and the creation of the Irish Republic. Delaney's painstaking job of creating his characters contributed to the success of the ending. However, I think he could pared the process down and bee...more

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Austin

Austin rated it:

(review of isbn 0812975944)

07/31/08

Read in July, 2008

It is a steady story. For the first two or three hundred pages the story washes forward with continuous but not incredibly exciting action. The quickly alternating narration breaks up any intensity the story builds before the middle of the book. But the ending is riveting and serves very well to captivate and entrance the reader. And there is a point of revelation when the reader and author gain more interest in the story about halfway through that best explains this shift in excitability.

U...more

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Omphale23

Omphale23 added it

10/20/07

Read in August, 2007

Advance copy--I'd recommend as the sort of thing to get from the library when it's released, because the central story is interesting enough. Delaney gets the atmosphere right, and he creates a few characters that I love. But there are some serious flaws with the ending (random plot twist and a character that really isn't necessary at all) and for all that I adore unreliable narrators, this one is just a little too bluntly telegraphed for my taste.

I've recommended it to people, but haven't dec...more

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Cindy

Cindy rated it:

07/14/08

bookshelves: historical-fiction, historical-romance

Read in July, 2008

recommends it for: this interested in Irish history

I didn't love the format of this book, back and forth between the voice of the "main character" and that of the "editor/author". I was afraid I wasn't going to like it at all, but once I got used to the format, I was really able to enjoy the story. I love historical fiction, and this one included lots of interesting factual information about Ireland trying to win it's freedom from England. If course, my main interest is always the love story. It was long and complicated, ...more

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Laura

Laura added it

04/01/08

Read in March, 2008

Frank Delaney consistently tells great stories, and this book is no exception. The book has two narrators, whose text is interwoven throughout the book. One narrator is a historian who has located the manuscript of the (now-deceased) second narrator. It tells the story of Ireland leading up to and during the fight for independence, but not as a history. Instead those events are the context for the bigger story, a story about the restoration of a grand estate and a long unrequited love affair. V...more

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Philip

Philip rated it:

09/25/08

Read in September, 2008

So I finished the book
It started off slow and I was enjoying it in parts. I wasn't too keen on the narrative reporting style but this took a shift mid way through the book and completely changed my mind.
It is as good as the book Ireland.
Delaney has a way of creating connections between characters and the reader and in this book my connection with the main characters was very strong.
The book is historical fiction, full of adventure and action, romance and comedy. Its a great read!

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Jennifer

Jennifer rated it:

09/02/08

This is a novel that fits right in to my favorite genre - historical fiction, of course! The book follows the main character, Charles O'Brien, through his life through a series of journal entries written by his mother, other friends, as well as his own "History". Most of the drama in the story takes place as a result of events surrounding the Irish War of Independence, the restoration of the large castle in Tipperary, and Charles's life-long love interest April Burke. A decent read.

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Art

Art rated it:

08/18/08

bookshelves: ireland

Read in May, 2008

recommends it for: Interested in Ireland

Second book by Frank Delaney. This book attempts to weave several parts of the Making of the New Ireland w/it's men and women of government, the arts and the rebels.
I got a third of the way into the book and put it down and haven't picked it back up yet.

The book doesn't have the stories as the book; "Ireland" has.

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