Searing, affecting, heart-breaking.

books:


	• At Swim, Two Boys: A Novel Jamie O'Neill Scribner, 2003 - 576 pages average customer review:based on 98 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Searing, affecting, heart-breaking.

Despite its daunting length and (at first) unfamiliar vernacular, this book will creep steadily up on you, just like an old blanket would, as one gets swept into its compassionate core. Foremost it remains a love story, with every wrenching shred of angst one might expect - but like all great art it refuses a single category. Meditations on History, Politics, Religion, Family, Community, Friendship, and of course Love between Men are right at home beside a stirring narrative of events leading up to the 1916 Easter Rising, where Ireland begins its painful tumble toward independence.

But it's in the characters that a novel lives by (least thats what I hear), and it's in their brutal yet loving portrayal that this story really shines. The particular yearnings of Jim and Doyler for each other, of the wounded MacMurrough for a spirit at peace, of Ireland for her dignity, even of Jim's father for the 'good life' - ring as true for them as for any of us.

Reading 'At Swim' has made me believe that it is still possible a book can come along and change your life. For each to find a nation of one's own, is this story's great hope for its readers, and I'm inspired to find mine.

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Beautiful and Heartbreaking

It is a rare novel that allows one to run the entire gamut of human emotions. It is rarer still the novel that elicits such an emotional attachment to the characters that the reader not only feels for them but feels with them.

The love that is shared by Jim and Doyler is the kind of love that all people strive for, pure, passionate, undying and true. You feel their love grow and blossom through the beautiful images that O'Neill paints with his confident wielding of words and phrases.

True, this novel does not belong to one genre but the main themes of love, passion and reconciliation of self is what touched me the most. The love of Jim for Doyler, Doyler for Jim and MacMurrough's love for both boys. The passion that they share for the things that are most important in their lives and the slow but profound finding of the place where the were truly meant to be, and their life-changing coming of age, rang as truly with me as any of my own life experiences.

The ending is poignant, achingly horrifying and more than enough to make the stoutest of hearts break with overwhelming grief... more than once. (Believe me, I cried three times and for about twenty minutes all told)

This book is a must read for one and all.

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Not just a "gay" book.

I rarely review anything on this site--not books, not movies, not CDs. I never feel that strongly about a product. But this book is different. When I bought it, I was skeptical about all the hype. Usually with a book that is so universally loved you are setting yourself up for a disappointment. Not so with this. It surpasses the hype in so many ways.

First of all--yes, the three main characters are gsy, but this is in no way a "gay book". It is a romance novel, a war novel, a coming-of-age. It is epic, and purely Irish in its nature. Don't give up after the first few chapters. This definitely isn't American English. It isn't even British English. It's *Irish* English. The prose is dense but lyrical, and reads like a song or a poem. Even if you absolutely hate the characters or plot, I can't imagine anyone who bothers to read past chapter two not completely awestruck by Jamie O'Neill's use of language. This book was ten years in the writing, and it shows.

You probably already know the plot, so I won't annoy you with that. But this book will break your heart into a million little pieces and haunt you for the rest of your life. So read it. Right now.

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Deeply, deeply touched

I discovered this novel in Listmania under gay fiction, and as I'm always on the hunt for well-written gay fiction rather than the soft-porn that parades itself as fiction, my interest was piqued. I feel so fortunate for this discovery.

I consider this achingly tender book one of the finest novels that I've ever read and would recommend it to anyone who searches for excellent writing. Though the story and characterizations are exquisitely drawn, I was most impressed with the prose. It seemed that every word was written with the utmost care to leave a rich impression. The style of writing is very unusual but the author trusts himself and never condescends to his readers with explanations or excuses. Reading this novel was like floating (or swimming!) to me. It was like floating in and out of the characters' thoughts and witnessing a little-known (at least to me) time in world history.

I encourage everyone searching for great writing to read this novel. I must caution you that the style of writing is different, so please be patient to find the lyrical qualities and rhythm of the writing. I re-read the first three pages numerous times with little comprehension. But the beauty of the words kept me reading. I realized it is the author's intent to create an atmosphere and language unique to the novel and understanding always arrives in a very short time. In other words, just push forward. The reward is tremendous. I expect the characters will haunt me for ages to come and the almost cinematic ending nearly shattered my heart. I was deeply, deeply touched.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Set during the year preceding the Easter Uprising of 1916 -- Ireland's brave but fractured revolt against British rule -- At Swim, Two Boys is a tender, tragic love story and a brilliant depiction of people caught in the tide of history. Powerful and artful, and ten years in the writing, it is a masterwork from Jamie O'Neill.

Jim Mack is a naïve young scholar and the son of a foolish, aspiring shopkeeper. Doyler Doyle is the rough-diamond son -- revolutionary and blasphemous -- of Mr. Mack's old army pal. Out at the Forty Foot, that great jut of rock where gentlemen bathe in the nude, the two boys make a pact: Doyler will teach Jim to swim, and in a year, on Easter of 1916, they will swim to the distant beacon of Muglins Rock and claim that island for themselves. All the while Mr. Mack, who has grand plans for a corner shop empire, remains unaware of the depth of the boys' burgeoning friendship and of the changing landscape of a nation.

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