The Mangan Inheritance

by Brian Moore

Book Overview

Not so long ago James Mangan was a brilliant young poet. These days, however, he toils as a journalist and shivers in the shadow of his glamorous movie-star wife. And now she has left him for her... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0374201943
• ISBN13: 9780374201944
• Release Date: January 1979
• Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
• Length: 335 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Search for identity

In this novel the wife of Canadian poet Jamie Mangan has just walked out on him and he feels totally abandoned and lost. He decides to go back to his homeland, Ireland, and to look into his family origins, especially that of his look-alike poet grandfather. What he discovers is not so encouraging: he meets relatives who are pretty low in character; but he also meets the 18-year-old Kathleen, with whom he becomes totally smitten. He is not too sure what to make of this Mangan inheritance, some of it rather motley, but he also comes to realize that it's what he does in his life that will ultimately define who he is. Moore has often been concerned with characters and their search for identity in his fiction, and Jamie's search is made quite fascinating and enlightening by the author.