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A Mass for Jesse James: A Journey Through 1980's Ireland
Libro usado en buenas condiciones, por su antiguedad podria contener señales normales de uso
190 pages, Paperback
First published August 15, 1995
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 6, 2016
This book is a collection of previously published articles in one book which shows the narrow width and shallow breath of his exploration into diverse subjects.
Even the title is misleading and stupid, deriving as it does from the parish of Asdee in North Kerry where the outlaw Jesse James' grandfather originated, O'Toole purports to say that a mass is offered annually for Jesse James' family. He seems to think that if the family are from there they are not entitled to pay respect to their dead. Talk about the sins of the fathers! Of course to O'Toole it can only mean one thing for a Dublin sophisticate like him and his readers. Oh ho ho ho, how Oirish.
Since my family originate from the same small parish I take grave offense at the selective picture he tries to portray. The clueless reporter goes on in much the same way in every article. One suspects he seeks out people and situations he can mildly ridicule who don't hold his peculiar narrow worldview. Naturally he gravitates towards extremes to make his position seem so 'normal'. A worldview he more recently espoused as one where people who disagree with his position on social issues shouldn't be allowed to have a voice. There were words for people in the 20th century who denied others their rights by ridiculing them in the public square but Fintan is beyond introspection or addressing his own prejudices which are many.
I almost see books as sacred, tied in with the right to free speech and am conscious of how people under totalitarian regimes were in danger of their lives for having banned books in their possession. But this is the first book I actually tore up and put into my compost bin. I decided, taking a lead from Fintan, that some views are best kept from the public square and I helped the environment at the same time. A win-win. Interestingly enough, apart from the dust jacket, it decomposed really well in just three weeks.
An early study in one's mans personal discovery of his own selective view of Irish life. Incredibly O'Toole is still whinging on about the same subjects. The times have changed but Fintan is still tilting at the same windmills, still creating the same straw men. Essays displaying the author's enormous and self-justifying chutzpah.
Even the title is misleading and stupid, deriving as it does from the parish of Asdee in North Kerry where the outlaw Jesse James' grandfather originated, O'Toole purports to say that a mass is offered annually for Jesse James' family. He seems to think that if the family are from there they are not entitled to pay respect to their dead. Talk about the sins of the fathers! Of course to O'Toole it can only mean one thing for a Dublin sophisticate like him and his readers. Oh ho ho ho, how Oirish.
Since my family originate from the same small parish I take grave offense at the selective picture he tries to portray. The clueless reporter goes on in much the same way in every article. One suspects he seeks out people and situations he can mildly ridicule who don't hold his peculiar narrow worldview. Naturally he gravitates towards extremes to make his position seem so 'normal'. A worldview he more recently espoused as one where people who disagree with his position on social issues shouldn't be allowed to have a voice. There were words for people in the 20th century who denied others their rights by ridiculing them in the public square but Fintan is beyond introspection or addressing his own prejudices which are many.
I almost see books as sacred, tied in with the right to free speech and am conscious of how people under totalitarian regimes were in danger of their lives for having banned books in their possession. But this is the first book I actually tore up and put into my compost bin. I decided, taking a lead from Fintan, that some views are best kept from the public square and I helped the environment at the same time. A win-win. Interestingly enough, apart from the dust jacket, it decomposed really well in just three weeks.
An early study in one's mans personal discovery of his own selective view of Irish life. Incredibly O'Toole is still whinging on about the same subjects. The times have changed but Fintan is still tilting at the same windmills, still creating the same straw men. Essays displaying the author's enormous and self-justifying chutzpah.
April 7, 2014
A mark of the high quality of Fintan O'Toole's writing is the fact that although this book is a series of essays and articles on Ireland in the 1980s, written in that decade, nearly all of the essays in the book retain their interest, insight and relevance, a generation after the book was published. O'Toole's knowledge of a mass of diverse areas is immense, but when this is used to illustrate points he wishes to make, it is done in a manner that is remarkable for being neither abstruse or pretentious, nor patronising to those of us who may be less familiar with Greek Tragedy, Carribean Calypso music or early Irish history.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews