Gaff Topsails

by Patrick Kavanagh and Patrick Kavanagh

Book Overview

In this ambitious first novel, author Patrick Kavanagh chronicles a single day--June 24, the Feast of Saint John the Baptist--in a remote village in remote Newfoundland. June 24 is also Sweethearts... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140281398
• ISBN13: 9780140281392
• Release Date: March 1999
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Length: 464 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.2" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

Pure insight

This book tells a story that sounds specific to a niche population in a remote place, but reverberates with all of life's important issues: birth, maturity, sex, relationships, honesty, morality, spirituality, death. It focuses on a single day of life, yet explores the origins of a community over the prior twenty five generations. The writing style is unlike anything I've read before: lucid and rich in riveting imagery of both the beauty and squalor of subarctic living. Imagine an afternoon of teen recreations on a dangerously melting iceberg! Anyone with an interest in Newfoundland life will find this book essential reading. But I think this is also true for anyone with an interest in Irish emigration and new world settlement, or just Maritime humanity.

The most ambitious debut novel in years.

Gaff Topsails announces the arrival of a major new talent, Patrick Kavanagh. The verbal richness of the novel is breathtaking; Kavanagh takes you on flights of literary fancy that will make your heart soar. Yes, there are moments when Kavanagh overdoes the verbal pyrotechnics (see the Kirkus Review), but give him credit for shooting for the stars. At a time when most novelists try to be safe and pander to their reader's mediocrity, Kavanagh's epic ambitions should be trumpeted. I loved the book for its Joycean devotion to language and its deep understanding of the lives of average people. It's not an easy read by any means, but it brims with treasure. A must for lovers of serious fiction.