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MY DREAM OF YOU
by Nuala O'Faolain
a review by Donna Denn
My Dream of You...the title fits so marvelously. Stop
for a moment half way through this book and close your
eyes. Now take a deep breath. Go on, go
ahead. Keep your eyes closed. There it is. There, can you smell
it? That's Ireland. From the crispness of the air to
the damp of the bogs.....from the
songs of the birds to the smoke of burning peat....
What a wonderful journey this story has been, from the
first page to the last. I
didn't want it to end. I
want to know what happens next. Kathleen became so
human, so real, that I could feel Ireland through her
hands, see Ireland through her eyes, imagine the pain
of the Great Hunger through her heart.
Nuala O'Faolain has created a book that joined the New
York Notable list. I say she's created a book that
will stay with you long after you've read it.
Penguin Putnam (thank you!) put up a reading guide for this
title at http://www.penguinputnam.com/guides which
gives even more food for
thought after you've read it.
The first one involves something Kathleen deBurca
says. "I knew all about the act of love as a
non-event, but I still believed it was the act in
which one person can truly learn another, and truly
build on what they learn." I think this belief defines
Kathleen in the most essential way.
In her youth, Kathleen learns of a story from shortly
after the time of the Famine in Ireland, about an
English lady of the manor, Marianne Talbot, and
an Irish coachman, William Mullen. This story touches
Kathleen on several levels, and after the death of her
best friend, she decides to go off on her
own, to do some investigating, and perhaps to write Marianne and
William's story. But can she write it as it happened?
What is the truth of the matter? It is from this story
of Marianne and William, and the search for their
truth, that we begin.
This means a return to Ireland, home to Kathleen, but
one she left long ago, vowing never to return. What
she discovers there about her family, her home, and
about herself are a journey of self discovery that I
found myself involved in on a personal level. I think
the same would happen to anyone reading this.
You find yourself asking, "What would I have done? How would I
have felt?" If you answer yourself honestly, do you
think you will be surprised at the answers?
Kathleen has several friends who she interacts with,
each in a different way. Her family, too, are present.
Alex, her boss, has some secrets of his own. Caroline,
a friend who seems similar and yet different at the
same time. Dan, her brother, with demons of his own,
and his wife, Annie, a woman I would love to call a
friend. Nora, the sister who escaped to find her own
way in the world. And we pick up some new friends as
well. I like the little village of Ballygall.
I know what I thought would happen at the end of this
story. I was surprised.
At first the lack of quotation marks threw me off a
little. It wasn't until I got going that I realized
how that same lack added something different. I think
it gave it voice, made it all more personal somehow. I
don't understand why it
should be that way, but it
feels right to say that.
Another thing that feels right to say is, I want more.
I found myself wanting to
learn more of Irish history
because of this book, and I know a few books I would
like to start with. I want to read "Are You Somebody".
Perhaps my reaction is my own. Maybe it's not. I can't
imagine anyone reading this story
and not finding themselves invested in it somehow.
My Dream of You lifts you along with Kathleen through
her trials and tribulations, her elations and
memories. It would be impossible not to like
something that speaks to you in a voice so honest and
compelling. Walk along with Kathleen and listen to the
dreams woven and given wings. You won't be
disappointed.
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