Second Book Completed, Book Skipped, Book Commenced

I finished reading 'Troubles' at 11:45 last night - talk about cutting it close! For reasons which had nothing to do with the book, I had a difficult time maintaining a reading schedule this week, resulting in a 'mad sprint' to read over 200 pages in the last day and a half. Hardly fair to the novel, which was Fantastic and deserves to be savored! I don't usually re-read books, but I can tell you that I will most definitely be revisiting the Majestic!

For me, this novel was everything that a great piece of 'literature' should be, with the added attractions of being funny and set in Ireland. I enjoyed the lyrical phrasing and the 'news paper' breaks, which provided a broader view of the situation. I enjoyed rooting for the Major to win the girl. In fact, I loved all the characters.

I particularly liked the parallels of the Majestic and the country both crumbling around their respective residents. There were problems when the Spencers/British took over, but rather than working to correct these problems they just went along their merry way, until the situation was so far gone there was no help for it. It was a beautifully rendered allegory that brought depth to the story without overburdening it.

Most importantly, though, I enjoyed reexamining my own opinions of the Troubles, particularly in the context of post-WWI Britain. I've never given much thought to how it must have been for a veteran of the Great War to find himself caught in such an intangible civil war. It's really quite horrific. I still firmly side with the "Shinners" but it has given me a broader view of the social ramifications of the 'war'. I've usually thought of the conflict in terms of Sinn Fein/IRA versus the Black and Tans, but of course each side also had civilians. While it is easy for me to see the side of the Irish, I appreciate the viewpoint of the colonizing British a bit more now.

Anyhow, I absolutely loved, and I would most definitely recommend, J.G. Farrell's "Troubles" - and I'm looking forward to reading the second book of his so-called 'Empire Trilogy' in a couple of weeks!

For now, continuing with my reading list, I had to skip ahead chronologically again, having been unable to lay my hands on a complete copy of V.S. Naipaul's short story collection, "In A Free State". All I could locate was a volume of "Selected Short Stories" which only contained part of the collection, which is no good to me. I will, of course, come back to it as soon as possible. In the meantime I have moved on, so my third book is "G." by John Berger. I am not previously familiar with this title, so I'm looking forward to it. Read on!