Der Eiscremekönig

by Brian Moore

Libro usado en buenas condiciones, por su antiguedad podria contener señales normales de uso

Genres: Fiction, Ireland, Historical Fiction, Irish Literature, War, Novels, 20th Century

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1965

About the author

Brian Moore (1921–1999) was born into a large, devoutly Catholic family in Belfast, Northern Ireland. His father was a surgeon and lecturer, and his mother had been a nurse. Moore left Ireland during World War II and in 1948 moved to Canada, where he worked for the Montreal Gazette, married his first wife, and began to write potboilers under various pen names, as he would continue to do throughout the 1950s.

The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (1955, now available as an NYRB Classic), said to have been rejected by a dozen publishers, was the first book Moore published under his own name, and it was followed by nineteen subsequent novels written in a broad range of modes and styles, from the realistic to the historical to the quasi-fantastical, including The Luck of Ginger Coffey, An Answer from Limbo, The Emperor of Ice Cream, I Am Mary Dunne, Catholics, Black Robe, and The Statement. Three novels—Lies of Silence, The Colour of Blood, and The Magician’s Wife—were short-listed for the Booker Prize, and The Great Victorian Collection won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.

After adapting The Luck of Ginger Coffey for film in 1964, Moore moved to California to work on the script for Alfred Hitchcock’s Torn Curtain. He remained in Malibu for the rest of his life, remarrying there and teaching at UCLA for some fifteen years. Shortly before his death, Moore wrote, “There are those stateless wanderers who, finding the larger world into which they have stumbled vast, varied and exciting, become confused in their loyalties and lose their sense of home. I am one of those wanderers.”

Reviews

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gavin Burke is 17-years old and has failed his leaving exams and so cannot go to university (Queens) until he retakes them and passes. He comes from a middle class Catholic family in the Falls Road neighborhood of Belfast, and World War II is raging. His father, a solicitor, and socialist of sorts, wants Hitler to win the war. In the Falls Road, the Catholics, reportedly, refuse to strictly follow the lights out orders at night hoping to guide Nazi planes. Gavin decides to join the A.R.P. who are supposed to help with first aid and such in case of enemy attack. He has a uniform which his families and friends seem to despise, but at least he hasn't joined the (British) army.
The book jacket bizarrely compares him to Holden Caulfiend (Cathcher in the Rye) and refers to him wandering the shady areas of Dublin (like Leopold Bloom in Ulysses). He is not ever in Dublin and resembles Caulfield only in that he is male, a teenager and full of normal angst. He perpetually lusts after his girlfriend, a student nurse, who unfortunately is also Catholic, thus won't let him "try it on" with her.
A couple of things made this a worthwhile read for me, though I am not very interested in teenage male angst. It was the portrayal of Belfast of the time, the sprinkling of references to poems, poets and writers, and the end of the book which made it well worth reading.

[Tina Tamman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have visited Belfast but did not know that the city was heavily bombed in 1941 (and later in the war) until I read about it in this novel. But this is what I like about fiction: it makes me research, in this case even look up Wallace Stevens and read all of his poem that the title comes from.
I have been a fan of Brian Moore's for a long time and still treasure a couple books ("Silence of Lies" and "The Temptation of Eileen Hughes") on my shelf. I also enjoyed his "The Great Victorian Collection" - ever so different! - and am grateful to his contribution towards making me understand Irish Catholicism. "The Emperor" is not his greatest book but worthwhile reading nonetheless. He sums up Northern Ireland beautifully in his choice of characters. And Gavin Burke, his young hero, is finely drawn. I particularly liked the scene when he sees Belfast burning and is exhilarated by the picture.

[A. Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it. The novel is set during the first two years of World War II. It's a literate book with a literate protagonist who is failing school, disappointing his parents and his girlfriend, and just struggling to find his way. He wants sex, he drinks, and he rebels. His growing up happens in a wave of German bombing in the Spring of 1941. His story is completely engaging, and the secondary characters are fully developed and compelling supports for what's going on inside Gavin Burke. A thorough pleasure.

[Dom Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Take from the dresser of deal,
Lacking the three glass knobs, that sheet
On which she embroidered fantails once
And spread it so as to cover her face.
If her horny feet protrude, they come
To show how cold she is, and dumb.
Let the lamp affix its beam.
The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream”
(Wallace Stevens)

“If you love me it means there’s some hope for me” (p. 31)

Went into this completely blind as a thrift store impulse buy - promise my copy has a nicer cover. Turned into a really nice coming-of-age story centred around the historically under-explored Blitz of Belfast.

While Gavin’s horniness and traditional male-gaze-driven interactions turned me off (lol) in the first half of this book, I felt like this phased out through the second half and denouement of the plot as Gavin developed a bit more.

Particularly related to aspects of this - particularly the protagonist’s floating around pubs worrying about one’s place and future, wondering about the lives of older companions. The final chapter’s setting of a traumatised/matured Gavin alone and afraid in his empty and condemned childhood home presents a beautiful picture of young adulthood in his isolated vulnerability to a shattered world.

Overall, a satisfying coming of age story, with good character development and some deeper historical and religious currents.

Fun little read to end to year :)

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gavin Burke is 17 years old, Catholic, and lives in Belfast. It is 1941 and Northern Ireland, as part of the UK, is the enemy to the Nazis. He has failed to pass critical exams that will allow him to go to university. He takes a job in the Air Raid Precautions (ARP) Unit in Belfast. His co-workers are overall losers, and misfits. His descriptions of their daily routines are comic. Many people in Belfast, including members of the ARP don't believe that Hitler is a threat to them. They think they are too far for their planes to reach.

But in April and May 1941, the German planes arrived. The Belfast Blitz was devastating, and it is a part of WWII history that many people, including people in Northern Ireland and Ireland don't know.

[Kevin Darbyshire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Difficult to read at times due to the opinions that were expressed. Wonderful, characters who really come to life. I loved the poetry references throughout the book. The ending was shocking and moving.

[Anthony Weir · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book's title led me to Wallace Stevens, which is almost sufficient praise. I stole and read it many years ago as a young man brought up in in the 1940s in middle-class protestant East Belfast, whose reaction to the (ultimately successful) Civil Rights for Catholics movement in the 1960s was to go to Irish classes on the Falls Road.

I loved the humour and lightness of touch. It was also the first book I ever read which featured Belfast, and I think it was the first to put that dismal city on the literary map. Dismal with lovely suburbs; dismal but (like Sheffield in England) incredibly easy to get out of, even by municipal ('Corporation') bus. Farms without electricity and with lovely pigs, calves and goats existed a boy's bike-ride away from where I lived, and also, on the other (north) side of town where Brian (pronounced as in Irish to rhyme with Behan and Ian) Moore lived. The edge of the basalt Antrim plateau (Cave Hill, Black Mountain) were (and still are) rapidly accessible from the top of the Falls, Springfield and Crumlin roads.

This book captures the schizophrenic mind-set of Irish Catholics in World War Two. Many Ulster Catholics joined the British Army along with pro-British Protestants because it was a job they could suddenly do without too much contumely and shame, since it was the pitiful houses of working-class Belfast that suffered most from the two episodes of German bombing in 1941-2. Many Catholics in the then Free State also slipped across the Border to enlist in Belfast, Derry or Enniskillen. After the war, they were treated as badly as the Dutch and the French treated (poor, working-class, especially female) collaborators.

It is certainly not as powerful or as harrowing as The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (the film version of which is superb), but it is a very original work, unjustly neglected.

[Nick Bomba · Rating 4 out of 5]

A somewhat grim soul searching affair ( for Gavin ) for the first two thirds of the book – the last third of the book then is fast paced exciting / entertaining / life changing for everyone and then finally very touching.
Freddy sorta steals the show actually – a very likable , positive attitude character.
You definitely want these two guys in the bunker with you. ( Gavin and Freddy )
SPOILER – Even at the very end Sally just couldn’t look outside the square – shame – Moore captured this perfectly – such an important moment in the book actually imo.
The book also, is a great history lesson – the WW2 bombing of Belfast, I don’t think is widely known outside of the UK ???
And yes, its fiction I know, but I like the way Moore’s characters discuss / really think about their war-time politician’s.

[Patrick Barry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gavin Burke joins the First Aid Party of the Air Raid Precautions in Belfast during the second World War. His family objects to this as Catholics have been repressed by the government. Through the war Gavin has conversations with the White Angel sitting on his right shoulder, who advises him to do “the decent thing”, and the Black Angel on his left shoulder, who “pleaded the devil’s case”. He struggles with his family and girlfriend. Working with the ARP group he encounters Protestants and rejects the sectarianism of his country. He sees things more clearly and at books end he is ready to make his way inn the world, realizing that his once enemies are his opportunity to escape the sectarian pit of Belfast.

[Derek Bridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of Moore's novels. This one is not, to my mind, one of his best. But it was still packed with interest. War time Belfast. Many a character is faced with reality.

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know Brian Moore is in fact well known, but he should be BETTER known. He gets inside his characters so beautifully well.

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

old school but quite entertaining

[Niall Balmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of a teenager, from a strict Catholic background, coming to terms with life in Belfast, as it is about to be hit by the blitz.

[Rand · Rating 1 out of 5]

A truly awful appropriation and a horrid little bildungsroman to boot. A more egregious waste of a great title than Norwegian Wood.

The main character's predilection for poetry seems tacked-on in a tawdry manner. The narrative actions lack in realism, which in this case is very bad in that it presents itself as Being Real.

For those interested in the historical events depicted herein, check out the The Belfast Blitz.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This seems as good a place as any to document my admiration for Brian Moore, an extraordinarily gifted writer. His best-known work is probably "The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne", though I liked this book a little better. Thus far, however, pretty much anything of his that I've tried has been a terrific read.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book I have read by this author. I enjoyed it and plan to read others. I did not know that Belfast had been bombed in WW2.I thought the different characters that Gavin meets in the ARP center were especially interesting. The author resolved the book on a positive note which was a relief!

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

not only the title of an excellent poem by wallace stevens, but a novel that borrows from and incorporates that poem seamlessly, telling an excellent story in an engaging voice. one of my favourite belfast literary discoveries.

[Joje · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is better writing, I find, than Lies of Silence, and a hero of a different sort. I may put it on the to read list someday, when there are less in my piles...

[Daryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read it in Nam. As I recall, it is a about a young man in Belfast. Read several other books by the author and enjoyed them. Will re-read it soon.

[Ilona · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written and the characters were interesting and worked to keep the plot moving. However, the plot was simple and I felt it ended rather suddenly.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book;

[Noel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this coming of age story set during WWII in Belfast. I laughed and came as close to shedding a tear as I have with a book.

[Jonny Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great written scenes of guerrilla warfare that I still remember every-so often

[Aj · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gavin Burke lives in Belfast and doesn't know what he is doing with his life. He longs for excitement in general and intimacy with his on-again off-again girlfriend. He joins the Air Raid Patrol and sees it as a waste of time and hopes for action to fulfill his romantic notions of becoming a hero. He has little adventures into parts of society previously unknown to him, but nothing turns out to be as easy, glamorous or satisfying as in his imagination. When the Germans start bombing Belfast, the novel really gets good, though sadly that is a very small part of the book.