Goodreads Ireland discussion

This is the discussion thread for those members who wish to discuss the novel Troubles without posting spoilers.

I look forward to discussing the novel in depth with you all.

Declan. :)

I loved this book. There was nothing I disliked about it and lots I found brilliant.

I loved how Farrell's portrayal of Edward made very sympathetic towards him in spite of his bigotry and pigheadedness.

And by the end I fell head-over-heels for the stout-hearted old ladies rushing to the Major's rescue.

I always find myself with far less to say when I enjoy a book this much.

I read this a while ago and loved it too. What I love is the way he can be funny and absurd then suddenly veer into darkness and drama.

It's a while since I read it but I reviewed it at the time https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

I'm looking forward to listening to the podcast about JG Farrell mentioned on the other thread - thanks to Allan for sharing it.

Great review, Kate.

And the podcast comes highly recommend by me and others.

Thanks!

What the heck is this book? I started reading this last night and thought what have you guys gotten me into? Is this for real?

Oh dear, Susan! I absolutely loved it, as did a few others as you can see from the posts, but I know Kate gave up on it, so it isn't to everyone's liking. It is quite farcical at times, but perhaps the humour doesn't translate across the Atlantic? :)

I don't know but it's not really interesting to me. There's a girl in a wheelchair who can walk, a girl who doesn't seem glad to see her fiancée and strange, strange people in a strange, strange place. I can tell you if I opened my night stand and there was a dead sheep's head with maggots, I'd be out of there. You may be right. I didn't find any of that funny. I'll try a little longer but I'm afraid I'm going to be like Kate.

Susan wrote: "I don't know but it's not really interesting to me. There's a girl in a wheelchair who can walk, a girl who doesn't seem glad to see her fiancée and strange, strange people in a strange, strange pl..."

Susan - I love your summary of the book (especially the sheep's head bit) - I think they should put it on the cover! Just shows how subjective humour is.

I feel like the kid who is missing the joke. You know when you're in group and everyone is laughing and you just don't get it. So many raves and then me standing there saying, "What?" I am 100 pages in now where Declan says he was hooked and I am still bewildered.

Susan wrote: "I feel like the kid who is missing the joke. You know when you're in group and everyone is laughing and you just don't get it. So many raves and then me standing there saying, "What?" I am 100 page..."

I know that feeling!

Life at the Majestic is pretty bewildering. The places is falling down around their ears but none of them seem to give a damn. They're an outlandish bunch, but they have no idea how different they are, as they're so sheltered from the outside world. They're all anachronisms.

Even the sheep's head in closet has it's significance. Edward can't afford to run the hotel as he once had and the place is becoming a ruin. A dog left that head there for lord knows how long and it hadn't been found because no one had even gone into the room since.

I wondered how the sheep's head got there. So disgusting with maggots and everything. For some reason I could never warm up to this book. I have switched to Sonia Sotomayer's wonderful memoir.

I'm sorry you didn't enjoy it, Susan. It's always nice to have another opinion in the discussions, but life's too short.

I may have enjoyed this only slightly more than Susan, but for the most part, I found it pretty dull. While I liked many of the characters and did see some of the humor, It just wasn't very interesting. I did finish it, but grudgingly!

It's always a little difficult to understand why people don't love a book as much as you do. This was one of my favourites of last year.