John the Revelator

by Peter Murphy

This is the story of John Devine — stuck in a small town in the eerie landscape of Southeast Ireland, worried over by his single, chain-smoking, bible-quoting mother, Lily, and spied on by the "neighborly" Mrs. Nagle. When Jamey Corboy, a self-styled Rimbaudian boy wonder, arrives in town, John’s life suddenly seems full of possibility. His loneliness dissipates. He is taken up by mischief and discovery, hiding in the world beyond as Lily’s mysterious illness worsens. But Jamey and John’s nose for trouble may be their undoing and soon John will be faced with a terrible moral dilemma. Joining the ranks of the great novels of friendship and betrayal — A Separate Peace, A Prayer for Owen Meany, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha — John the Revelator grapples with the pull of the world and the hold of those we love. Suffused with family secrets, eerie imagery, black humor, and hypnotic prose, John the Revelator is a novel to fall in love with and an astounding debut.

Genres: Fiction, Irish Literature, Ireland, Coming Of Age, Novels, Young Adult, Contemporary

272 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

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Reviews

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Standards in music journalism ain't what they used to be. Peter Murphy is a music journalist. I probably wouldn't have read this if I'd come across all the promotional wank the publisher had to go with it before finding the book. Faux-gritty peatbog goth trailer (why the f* does a book need a music video?) with Murphy breathily reading a spooky bit over the sound of crows.

Pur-lease. And he had the tree on the cover tattooed on himself somewhere. Why didn't Nabokov think of that? What a demonstration of self-belief!

Sorry, ahem, I'll put my bitch back in the box and say that IF you are going to write about being inside someone odd, it had better be a compelling world view. A lonely teenager with a god-bashing single mam doesn't really cut it, as written here. John Devine (geddit?) is far from a hypnotic central character, so this never reeled me in at all. Not really given enough of John’s interior world – not self-knowing enough and so passive in his "apostolic" role as observer it becomes a problem for the reader – where will we find a toehold for insight? Or interest?

And i'm fed up to the back teeth with drippy-blood rolly-eyed Jesus being some sort of kitsch window dressing to smooth over books with no guts or heart. I was raised with some strange religion, but I can assure you that even in amongst the laying on of hands and praying in unknown tongues, church was mostly as fumbling and commonplace as on Father Ted.

I think Peter Murphy is in love with those American Southern writers crazed on mint juleps and being in love with their sister-in-laws, or whatever. But he's got it a bit wrong. Perhaps Ireland is just too cold and boggy for the fever dream he wants us to share.

[Kathrina · Rating 3 out of 5]

First, hear this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_veQR...

So, that's a great song, and is in no way reflective of the theme, atmosphere, or context of this book. But I love Blind Willie's raspy vocals, and the way the woman trills the "-or" of revelator.
If there was no God, what would the Irish write about? Maybe in Murphy's world there is no God, just churches and altars and communion wafers and old priests and devoted mothers and old, withered beliefs, and what is left at the end of the tunnel is the quick passing of air between your mother's lips, and the crow finds its voice, and the mother walks into the ocean. It is Revelations, a chapter about no-god --anarchy, spaceships, alien invasions-- the conclusion, in fact, of a book pretty much all about God. And the next day breaks and you're still here. Have a hot whiskey.
This is a kind book, kinder than I expected. John is not the bad-ass delinquent that the author's pic may make you believe he'd describe. Even the delinquents are kind enough to spot you a drink. It's not about Revelations at all, or hell, or coming of age, or The Commitments. It's about loving your mom, and losing her, slowly, and how it really, really hurts, slowly, and not having a god, or a bossy neighbor, or a that-kid-is-a-bad-influence, or a traumatic childhood experience to blame it on. It's about you and your mom, and then it's just about you.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cover blurb by Colm Toibin was enough to get me to read this first novel, and by and large, I enjoyed it. I only kept it out of four-star territory because I think the story was meant to be a deeply profound exploration of the protagonist's relationship with his mother, and that didn't come through for me. I also was put off by Murphy's insistence on including dream excerpts that were really much more amateurish than the rest of the novel.

The strong points were his evocation of a small southeastern Irish town and the way the protagonist was drawn to a mysterious new friend, Jamie, who came from a more affluent family and had a gift for writing stories, but who also had a penchant for hanging out with low-level biker criminals, which eventually got them both into serious trouble.

The relationship with Jamie was much more interesting and the crisis caused by one drunken night in the local church was a much better pivot point than the protagonist's relationship with his Bible quoting but sickly mother and her bossy friend, Mrs. Nagle.

I hope Murphy keeps trying because he has a gift for short stories -- even if he is not quite up to the task of a decent novel yet.

[Elaine · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were periods of good writing that shows promise, but the overall impression was of a creative writing class -- stuff being experimented with that didn't really hang together. Things didn't make sense -- the age of John's mother, who at first seems a very young mother, run away from home to follow a band and have a baby, but by the time John is 16 is described as "not a young woman." Her illness -- mental? physical? - remains opaque. Perhaps the greatest offense to narrative logic is John's "hot for teacher" seduction which comes from nowhere and bears no indicia of real life (although a lot of teenage fantasy). The uneasy nightmare sequences and Jamie's "stories" seem like more writing class tricks -- playing with different voices rather than knowing how to use them. Maybe I just missed teh point.

[Chris - Quarter Press Editor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one didn't really work as a "novel" for me, as I didn't really feel the overall arc of the story. However, Murphy has a wonderful voice and one that I read with pleasure. Even if the book had gone on for another 100 pages, I would've followed his voice right along.

Really, his voice carried this book for me. While I liked what was going on--as he definitely kept things lively and his plotting worked well--it just didn't fully click for me as a traditional story. Who knows, though, maybe that's a good thing.

Definitely on the quieter side of the literary world, but a wonderful read nevertheless.

[Yusuf Nasrullah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quirky, magical, dark, disturbing! Quite the debut novel from a musical artiste!

[Tim · Rating 2 out of 5]

This poignant coming of age tale is mostly about the atmosphere. Some things happen, and the main character (a teenager growing up in modern day Ireland) weathers them all, but his reaction to these things is so understated that it's hard, as a reader, to empathize with him. My favorite character was actually the mother–she seemed to have a deep wisdom that her son had not yet developed.

Though the book is relatively short, I had a hard time getting through it. Its similar to some French movies I've seen: good imagery, deft use of the medium of the written word, hints that there are important things going on beneath the surface, but overall a deliberate holding back on the part of the author, a refusal to commit to any real judgment about the story he's telling.

[Shullamuth Ballinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well for starters, in Murphy's John the Revelator, coming of age is not a matter of experience with sex, drugs, or even Rock and Roll. It isn't propelled by betrayal, madness, or corruption.

That's not to say that the protagonist, John Devine, doesn't experience all of those things-- he does in some spectacular and horrifyingly human ways. However, they don't transform him so much as push him further and further into himself.


For John, a world caught between the crows that fly too high to help, and the worms that start eating us while we're still alive, initiation comes only with death's attendant grief. It spurs him to pick-up his cross-bow and take a stand against petty evil's encroach.

[D. Eric · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although I enjoyed parts of this book, it was more for the relationship of the title character with his mother than any other parts of the story. I could never really tell where this story was going. John's relationship with his friend is odd, to say the least, but never really resolves itself. Likewise, the dream sequences, though interesting, lacked motivation.

Overall I never understood where John was coming from nor where he was ultimately heading.

[Mary Lou · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the basis of Colm Toibin's encouraging words on the front cover and the writer's appearance at the Belfast Book festival, I got stuck into this one. While the writing and themes are high quality, the purpose became blurred and the concentration on crows and their symbolism overtook everything else. Maybe I should just avoid male coming of age books.

[Carl Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

A modern Irish adolescent coming of age story. Some _Catcher in the Rye_, add a healthy dose of _A Separate Peace_, flavor with _The Outsiders_, stir with a positive mother-son relationship......not a shabby read at all.

[Saleh MoonWalker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Onvan : John The Revelator - Nevisande : Peter Murphy - ISBN : 571240208 - ISBN13 : 9780571240203 - Dar 254 Safhe - Saal e Chap : 2009

[Pani Tau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hlavným ťahúňom tohto románu je predovšetkým autorov autentický štýl písania, vďaka ktorému som mu verila každé slovo. Murphy vytvoril uhrančivú atmosféru a ja som sa tak nemohla od knihy odtrhnúť, aj keď mi približne v polovici príbehu prebehla hlavou myšlienka, že čítam nezmysel. V danej chvíli, keď ma desili opisy Johnových nočných môr, nachádzajúce sa na konci každej kapitoly, sa mi román mohol javiť ako zmes halucinogénnych bludov, ale veľmi som autorovi krivdila, pretože príbeh bol stále lepší a lepší, a aj nočné mory v ňom mali svoje miesto. Hoci som záver očakávala a vôbec ma neprekvapil, predsa len ma zaskočila jeho skutočnosť.
Murphyho román je plný realizmu, ku ktorému spoločnosť chová značný odpor. Myslím, že väčšinu ľudí by prostredie nudného malomesta, v ktorom sa príbeh odohráva, odradilo od čítania. Mne sa však na románe páčilo práve to, že autor nič neprikrášľoval. Malomestá bývajú nudné a plné predsudkov, mladí chlapci sú pred prvým sexom nervózni a nevedia, kam položiť ruky, slobodné matky sa snažia ako môžu, ale stále sú len ľudské bytosti a občas ich premôže život a priatelia odchádzajú. Po všetkých tých young adult príbehoch, ktoré činia z dospievania dobrodružnú jazdu na horskej dráhe, plnú sladkých bozkov a vzrušujúcich chvíľ, som uvítala román, ktorý nepreháňal a nebol na skutočnosti len postavený, kdeže, on totiž skutočný naozaj BOL.
Prostredníctvom knihy som neprežila nič fantastické, nič nové a vzrušujúce, a možno práve preto sa mi tak veľmi páčila. Hlavní hrdinovia boli obyčajný ľudia, akých denne vídam na každom kroku, prežívali obyčajné veci, ktoré nie sú v dedinskom prostredí ničím výnimočným.
A predsa ma tento silný príbeh dokázal očariť, predovšetkým tým, že nepotreboval kozmetické úpravy romantizmu a výplody autorovej predstavivosti, bol zaujímavý sám o sebe.
Tento jav je v modernej literatúre skôr výsadou, než pravidlom a ľudia vlastne ani nechcú čítať o skutočných veciach, oveľa radšej sa ponárame do fantázii, či už do snových svetov alebo do romantiky. Táto románová novela však prostredníctvom láskavého rozprávača ukazuje, že aj v realite všedných dní sa stále ukrýva istá krása.

[Benjamin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started to read this as I sat down to my lunch; that was a mistake, the narrator John Devine is fascinated by worms and parasites and provides in the opening pages many a lurid description of the subject of his interest. John Devine lives with his mother in the house she inherited from her parents. He is something of a loner but feels hemmed in by the Irish small town attitudes. When John is in his sixteenth year the hip and articulate Jamie moves into town and makes a friend of John on the spot, instantly confiding in him. John's life is suddenly opened up by this new friendship.

But John has his problems to cope with, a bombastic domineering local spinster, Mrs Nagle, intent on moving into and taking over John's and his mother's life; a local and possibly corrupt Guard officer; and some local heavies with criminal tendencies. He has to cope also with his own inner turmoil, troubled by dreams dominated by a large black bird, an old crow; what does it mean? But his biggest worry is his chain-smoking mother's failing health, and as he tries to care for her needs he gradually learns of her past, and his origins.

The story covers John’s life from his very early years to his mid-teens; it is eloquently told and beautifully conjures the troubles of youth. Into the fabric of the main story Murphy ingeniously interweaves other short or very short stories. John quickly engenders one’s empathy, and as the story entwines and unfolds towards its mournful yet ultimately positive conclusion one’s heart will ache for our young hero.

I did not much enjoy my lunch, but I did immensely enjoy John the Revelator; its humour, its re-creation of small town Ireland, its portrayal of friendship, but above all its evocation of the turmoil of youth.

[StoryOfDro · Rating 3 out of 5]

,,Es heißt immer, was dich nicht umbringt, macht dich stärker. Glaub das bloß nicht. Was dich nicht umbringt, macht dich krank, so sieht's aus. Und was dich krank macht tötet dich." ~Lily Devine
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John, 16, lebt zusammen mit seiner Mutter in der irischen Provinz, man trinkt, man raucht und der Plastik-Jesus auf dem Amaturenbrett im Auto sieht ungerührt beim ersten Sex zu. In seiner vom Katholizismus geprägten Welt passiert nicht gerade viel. Er hat eine fast schon morbide Zuneigung zu Würmern und anderen Parasiten. Bis er eines Tages Jamey kennenlernt. Die beiden freunden sich an, aber diese Freundschaft findet ein jähes Ende als die beiden bei einem nächtlichen Einbruch in der Kirche erwischt werden.
Johns Welt verändert sich.
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Das Buch hat mich verwirrt und ich hab mir immer noch keine hundertprozentig klare Meinung bilden können. Sowohl Johns als auch Jameys Leben erinnern mich so sehr an mein eigenes, dass ich mich manchmal echt gefragt habe, ob ich das ganze Buch vielleicht doch nur träume. Das Ende war im Großen und Ganzen zwar recht vorhersehbar, hat mich aber doch sehr berührt. Eine der wenigen Dinge, die ich auszusetzen habe ist, dass die Kapitel so unendlich lang sind, dass man nach einer gewissen Zeit einfach nicht mehr weiter lesen will und das Ende herbeisehnt. Das hätte man meiner Meinung nach besser machen können.
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An und für sich eine Geschichte die ganz in Ordnung ist. Mehr aber auch leider nicht.
3 von 5 Sternen ✔✔✔❌❌

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a strange read. It is one of those books that is hard to categorise, being a slice of life in small-town Ireland seen through the yes of a young boy who grows up through the course of the book into a teen. It is not exactly a coming of age novel though. A series of events are tied together by stronger themes that tie this book into something very clever, and at points quite moving.

Beware John's fascination with worms. But that does kind of set the mood of the story. Earthy, realistic and not always right for the squeamish (but don't worry, it is not too bad on that score).

I loved the realism of this book, and the way it evokes a sense of time and place. Also the way the reader can really get into John's head, and feel what he feels whilst seeing what he sees.

[Kent Hayden · Rating 4 out of 5]

An Irish exploration into Church and Family. We meet John as a small boy and follow him up to 19 years. He's a lost child and trying to do the right thing but messes up horribly and his best mate get sent up for something John did but never snitches on him.

Since this is all in the 80 and 90s there's a nostalgic air in the events but there's poetic descriptions and philosophical rumination that make this a great read.

[Brian Krouse · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not sure what to say about this book. The writing style seemed different, and the plot was interesting, but funky. The crazy thing, I read the book very quickly, and did enjoy it. It is a story I would recommend, but with the warning to expect something different.

[David Gagen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a well written coming of age style novel. The relationship between John and his mother is central to the story, but there were a few loose ends that could have been explored in more depth. Add half a star for the language.

[Eric C 1965 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Irish brogue on the audible version is cool. The story is less so.

[Syikinyunus · Rating 1 out of 5]

I can’t relate with this book. Disjumbled disjointed plot and phrases. I just can’t.

[Christine Paiva Stewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lyrical and melancholy ,
Poetic and thought provoking,
Well worth the read.

[Nestor · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing really wasn’t half bad in this one. Now, if only Murphy actually delivered on any of the loose narrative threads he had set in order...

[Corey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marvelous. A first person voice that sounds both gritty and poetic, and often like the howl of real life.

[Terri Tywater · Rating 3 out of 5]

Life Goes On

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very lyrical. Not a wonder the author wrote for the music industry. Thought Jamey was a main character but then he faded and only his stories remained.. it was certainly odd but good writing

[Karyl Rice · Rating 4 out of 5]

For those of you on the fence about whether or not to embark on reading this novel or not I have one word : audiobook
Gerard Doyle’s narration is sublime.

[Soho_Black · Rating 4 out of 5]

Up until now, I'd only ever heard of ''John the Revelator'' as a song. Judging from the several mentions of the song in the story and given that author Peter Murphy works in the music press, I suspect that's where the title of this novel came from as well. How much I enjoy the song depends on which version of it I hear, but with no such concerns with the book, I was able to enjoy it fully without worrying if someone had done a better version elsewhere that I was missing out on.

John Devine is a teenager stuck in a small Irish town with a single mother, no real friends and a rather worrying fascination for bodily parasites, mostly intestinal worms. His only human contact is with his mother Lily, Mrs Nagle, an elderly neighbour and Harry Farrell, a local jack-of-all-trades. His only break from the house and from school is Sunday Mass. Not exactly the life of your average teenage boy and not the kind of life any teenage boy would want to live.

Things start to change when Jamey Corboy comes to town. For John, Jamey opens up a world he could never have imagined, introducing him to a life outside his own house. John takes up smoking and drinking and starts growing up and having a life. As he does, however, his mother becomes more and more ill and eventually Mrs Nagle has to come and look after them both. ''John the Revelator'' is the story of John Devine growing up from being a teenager to becoming a young man and all that he discovers about himself and about life in general as this happens.

''John the Revelator'' is essentially a slice of small town Irish life as seen through the eyes of a teenage boy. As with most of life, it's pretty slow moving, but it's also surprisingly gripping. As a fan of thriller books, quite often a story with a slow pace can make me lose interest, but there was none of that here. I think it was the style of the story that kept me interested, as Murphy frequently switches between John's telling of the story, interspersed with some strange dreams he's having and often dropping in stories that Jamey has written to help illuminate the actions of some of the other characters.

The other aspect that kept me interested is that the story was very much just snippets of a life, rather than the detail, which does mean only the interesting parts are covered. Whilst this gives no real indication of how John Devine may cope with the boring parts of life, it does help speed things along. Whilst there is a lot going on, the period is quite long, so it never feels that Murphy is giving John Devine too much that would be unrealistic. Everything he goes through, with his mother's illness, events with Jamey and even the sometimes strange dreams John Devine has, seem perfectly plausible and very real and this is much of the appeal of the story. Every adult was once a teenager and the process of growing up is one of discovery. In John Devine, Peter Murphy has created a character who explores himself and who we can sympathise with entirely, largely because we can possibly remember a time when we were much like John Devine.

Part of the enjoyment certainly comes from Murphy's writing style. He's not a particularly visual writer, but he is a very emotional writer. So whilst you don't always get a clear idea of what the characters and locations may look like, you do get a very clear picture of what they're feeling. Given that your average teenager is a ball of hormones as they grow up, this is far more important. John Devine goes through many emotional experiences as his life changes virtually completely from one end of the story to the other and you get to feel every one of them.

I enjoyed "John the Revelator" a lot more than I'd expected to after the early pages. Once it had passed the opening where we were meeting John Devine for the first time and I'd settled into the slow pace of the story, I suddenly found myself gripped by the tale. The amount of emotion shown and the interesting changes of pace provided by Jamey's stories made for a wonderful combination and I found myself reading huge chunks of the story at a time. It didn't suck me in as completely as Donna Milner's ''After River'', but it's still an emotional and engrossing read.

This review may also appear, in whole or in part, under my name at any or all of www.ciao.co.uk, www.thebookbag.co.uk, www.goodreads.com, www.amazon.co.uk and www.dooyoo.co.uk

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

John The Revelator is Peter Murphy's first novel and has been nominated for the 2011 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.
A short novel at just over 250 pages, it is narrated by John, a fifteen year old boy who lives with his Mother in rural Ireland. Lily, John's mother spends her time alternating between smoking, quoting from the Bible and telling John stories. John himself is a strange, somewhat mixed up boy, with an obsession with worms and who suffers from nightmares.
There is something strangely compelling about this novel. It's the sort of writing that grips the attention, sometimes so explicit that you cringe and with characters that are so well drawn that you feel as you are personally meeting them. However, although there is a plot line, and there is some action, the story is very slow-paced and quite confusing in places. It's difficult to work out just when the novel is set - there is a mention of mobile phones, yet the story has a distinct feel of the 1960s.
Woven between the chapters are the descriptions of John's nightmares - when he sees himself as a black crow. These, whilst written beautifully just added to my confusion to be honest. It's quite difficult to express my thoughts about this one - on the one hand there is no doubt that it is skilfully written with a cast of great characters andsome fabulous dialogue; especially from Lily, but after finishing it I was left wondering just what was it all about??
Interesting, unusual, definitely quirky and leaves the reader with lots to contemplate.

[Alex V. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book didn't really hook me until its second half, where the burden of being Irish finally went from a trickle to a river, eventually eroding the lives depicted therein. The way it speaks to our inability to prepare for the inevitable is sweet and believable. Things generally went down hill the way gravity ordains, and I appreciate that in a narrative. The dialogue was intimate without forcing the reader to don the character as a costume.

That said, I had a hard time placing this book in time until certain cultural details emerged and then I wasn't really sure. Also, I didn't really understand the extraordinary things that happened in the book; perhaps if I was more familiar with the Seven Seals and all their reasoning might become painfully clear, but they did serve to shake the story as one does a pinball machine, to the verge of tilting, just so that goddamn ball will get in just the right place.

So why four stars for such a hmmmmm review? I don't put books up against each other but instead look at how well they achieve what I believe they set out to do, and this one cleverly and warmly splashes a little mystic color on the grays of life without too many spills and brushstrokes, and yet is not the obvious exercise in "restraint in the name of restraint" that can be found in a lot of the books to which I'm drawn. It reminds me that a good book is a good book unto itself, and this is a good book.

Plus, if you can pack Revelations and the Irish into a book without making it totally corny, you've done a good thing. Can't wait to read his next book.