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The story of Cyril Avery, a homosexual man growing up in the 1950's and 60's in Ireland. The book visits Cyril's life every seven years, though the first chapter is really the story of his mother and his birth. Cyril is adopted by Charles and Maude Avery and he lives in country where he is told there are no homosexuals. There is a lot of humor in the book but also places where I cried my eyes out, especially the chapter set in the 1980's and the end of the book. A wonderful story of love, family
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After reading this book I have a much better understanding on what it was like to grow up in strictly Catholic Ireland as a gay man.
I loved how the book follows one man’s life from when he was born in mid 1940’s until 2015 when same-sex marriage was legalized in Ireland. All his struggles and most significant life events are described in a way that really made me care about him and the people in his life. 1980’s and the AIDS epidemic was also covered - and it was a really good reminder on how d ...more
I loved how the book follows one man’s life from when he was born in mid 1940’s until 2015 when same-sex marriage was legalized in Ireland. All his struggles and most significant life events are described in a way that really made me care about him and the people in his life. 1980’s and the AIDS epidemic was also covered - and it was a really good reminder on how d ...more
Ugh. I loved the first half of this book. LOVED IT. And then... then the main character stayed too abandonedly selfish and cowardly. No growth. And more and more punishment heaped upon him. But by then I was in it. IN IT TO WIN IT. I cared too much about a few of the other minor characters.... and was it worth it? Was it worth the last 200 stupid pages? Probably not. Because I still had to witness the main character bumble through his thoughts and happenings which often seemed to only exist for
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It took me two tries to get into this book but once I did, I was hooked. The book has definite flaws: some of the plot is too pat, some of the scenes go on for too long. But the characters and their predicaments are so memorable and often hilarious that it all makes up for the flaws. One particular scene had me laughing so hard, there were tears in my eyes. Boyne reminds me of an Irish John Irving.
Despite the author's obvious anger at the Catholic Church, it did seem to me that there were some B ...more
Despite the author's obvious anger at the Catholic Church, it did seem to me that there were some B ...more
This was a wonderful 5 star book for me. Although it started out kind of strangely for me - TMI on what a gay adolescence entails. But then there was so much clever dialog and humor - I started laughing - a lot - the scene in the bar with Mary Margaret and Brendan Behan is hysterical - and then i just grew to love each chapter. There were some tough scenes, but Cyril (the main character) is so endearing with all the things he had to endure and all his unusual family relationships. I cared for hi
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Enjoyed it the second time as much as the first. Found little charming details I missed the first time .
