Midlife Irish: Discovering My Family and Myself

by Frank Gannon

Book Overview

Exploring the themes of family love, loss, and national identity, the author describes his journey to Ireland to reconnect with his Irish identity, rediscover his parents' past, and define its links to his future.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0446526789
• ISBN13: 9780446526784
• Release Date: February 2003
• Publisher: Warner Books (NY)
• Length: 243 Pages
• Weight: 1.02 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

In 1990,there were 70 million Irish living outside Ireland.

I had never seen nor heard of this book or its author when I picked it up.I must admit, it didn't do much for me,particularly in the first quarter of the book.Like another reviewer, it also hit me as disjointed and in need of a lot of editing.As a matter of fact, I nearly gave up on it.That would have been a big mistake.After finishing it,I still feel the book gets a lot better,from every respect,the further you get into it. I have been to Ireland three times and find it an absolutely fascinating country.The people,history,landscape,music,literature and all, fail to amaze me. Gannon is impressed with the Irish skill in the use of language as I am and he is a writer,and he should know.What the Irish can do with language does not come from a book,can't be taught in school;it comes from the soul--and as far as I can tell-it has to come from an Irish soul. I was really taken by Gannon's concept of "thin places".He mentions several and made me think of some too: Sitting on the base of Molly Malone's statute talking to a couple of street people,Kennys Bookstore in Galway,A stroll up Fall's Road in Belfast,B & B at Trinity College,Blarney Castle,Grafton Street,Gogarty's in Temple Bar,Shop Street in Galway,Sitting in the Lord Mayor,s chair in Belfast,Joseph Plunkett's cell and the Chapel where he married Grace Gifford before being executed in Kilmainham Gaol in 1916,just to name few. You'll surely enjoy this book if you've ever been to or plan to visit Ireland.

surprisingly touching and funny.

I recieved this book as a present. I thought of it as a sort of travel book, but it's something much different. It's a very funny, personal and touching book. It's not a "fact book", and I don't think it pretends to be. But it is very memorable, very funny , and very entertaining. Just a lovely read. At the end I was genuinely moved

A delightful read

This book is a pleasure. It was very funny, yet also inforrmative (and very well written). In parts it moved me emotionally. I was sorry when it was over, my highest compliment for a book. It has to be the funniest, and just plain best, book I've read this year.

hilarious and touching

I was surprised and delighted by this book. My wife, Briget, has Irish folks, so I picked it up. I thought it was going to be a sort of travel book. I was shocked when I started reading it, and I couldn't put it down. It has to be the funniest book I've read in years, but it is, in parts, very touching. All in all, a marvelous book, one anyone would love.

A unique book

I highly recommend this book. Midlife Irish defies easy characterization. It is not a typical travel book; nor is it a book about midlife crisis. Midlife Irish is about dreams. Frank Gannon has had visions of Ireland since childhood, and in midlife he finally has the chance to chase those dreams to ground in the homeland of his parents. With a mixture of wry wit and touching candor, Gannon takes us along on his journey in search of Ireland, of his parents, and of why his childhood was as it was. In the end, Gannon's journey is a meditation on the mystery of life and place and time, and on the way that place and time shape not one life, but the lives of the generations that follow.