[JZP]⇒ Download Charming Billy Alice McDermott 9782264031112 Books

Charming Billy Alice McDermott 9782264031112 Books

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Charming Billy Alice McDermott 9782264031112 Books

Yet another fine novel by McDermott. The tone is absolutely spot on, not at all undermined by sentimentality, yet extremely sympathetic. It is part a result of this tone that these characters come to inhabit not only the pages of this book, but also the readers' own consciousnesses. Another contributor to this effect results from McDermott's incredible eye for detail. A striking example surfaces in her description of a simple kitchen implement, a juicer, giving such rich details that the juicer acquires is own history and thus life force, some of which is transfered onto the character making the observations about it: "Cut oranges and squeezed them under his palm on an old-fashioned glass juicer. The very one, in fact, his mother had used when he was young, in the apartment in Woodside. The very one, washed up on this shore somehow after what he imagined had been a long newspaper-wrapped odyssey, box-bound, from that tiny kitchen in Queens to the basement of Holtzman's house in Jamaica (years passing there, light in the narrow basement window and then darkness, light again, a thousand times over while he himself returned from overseas, met Mary, met Claire, married, had children) until someone--himself? Holtzman? His mother?--hoisted the box marked Kitchen Things and brought it out here to the Long Island house, where it dropped out of his sight for years and then returned again as something he shared with Mr. West while he was still "my mother's tenant" and not yet "my daughter's father-in-law" and then found himself on this morning in April, the second morning with Billy .... surprised and even delighted by the thing, by the things that ride out time."
The character's amazement and delight at the story of the juicer (the juicer acts as a catalyst for then an amplifier of the characters' creation of his own life's story) are the vehicles transferring life from the juicer to the characters and because of our own delight and amusement at such a story, to the readers.
McDermott is particularly adept at such observations and they appear throughout Charming Billy -- it would be worth reading just to enjoy such descriptions. But her story of ordinary, yet so extraordinary lives is so much more.


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Charming Billy Alice McDermott 9782264031112 Books Reviews

I would like to write a review of this book, but it has put me into a comma-like sleep.
I found this book hard to finish. The story of Irish immigrants in New York and Long Island is probably well represented, yet it borders on the boring side. As I had some Irish friends I found some parts more interesting. I'ld look forward to read new books by the author, yet I think this one is boring.
When I finished this book I turned off my light and tried to sleep.

My mind would not let go. After tossing and turning for awhile, I

turned on my lamp, picked up the book and re-read it from start to

finish. This was a first for me - but I was afraid I may have hurried

through it, not doing justice to MS MCDermott's extraordinary and

lyrical writing, and I'm glad I did. It is one of the most touching

and remarkable books I have ever read and I am a prolific reader who

is approaching 70 yrs of age. It is definitely a 5 star in my opinion.
This book offers a thoughtful, poetic dissection of a man's failed life. Okay, it's not exactly the feel-good novel of the year, and any book that starts at the funeral of a man who drank himself to death is probably not in the running for that award, anyway. I found it beautifully written but a bit confusing. Readers looking for plot-driven novels won't like it a bit, as it is about people finding jobs, getting married, making choices, getting sick, dying.

There is a specific way in which this novel excels; while reading it, I was able to visualize people and scenery and sunshine and household interiors as if I were there. This writer evokes physical space in an almost eerie way.

I had no trouble with the timeline, but I did have trouble keeping track of how the people were related to each other. Small parts of the narration are directed at the narrator's husband in the second person, making it clear that this entire book is an attempt to explain Billy, where he went wrong. However, that variation in narrative technique can be oddly jarring.

Some of the reviewers on here seem to have Billy mixed up with his uncle. His uncle was the extraordinarily generous man who gave it all to "Paddy," the ubiquitous Irish relative in need. His cousin also answered the phone day and night, often to help Maeve with Billy. Billy was dramatic and doomed, remembered with love, but he was not "Paddy's" savior.

See what I mean? A bit confusing, but still beautifully written and so very, very atmospheric.
Yet another fine novel by McDermott. The tone is absolutely spot on, not at all undermined by sentimentality, yet extremely sympathetic. It is part a result of this tone that these characters come to inhabit not only the pages of this book, but also the readers' own consciousnesses. Another contributor to this effect results from McDermott's incredible eye for detail. A striking example surfaces in her description of a simple kitchen implement, a juicer, giving such rich details that the juicer acquires is own history and thus life force, some of which is transfered onto the character making the observations about it "Cut oranges and squeezed them under his palm on an old-fashioned glass juicer. The very one, in fact, his mother had used when he was young, in the apartment in Woodside. The very one, washed up on this shore somehow after what he imagined had been a long newspaper-wrapped odyssey, box-bound, from that tiny kitchen in Queens to the basement of Holtzman's house in Jamaica (years passing there, light in the narrow basement window and then darkness, light again, a thousand times over while he himself returned from overseas, met Mary, met Claire, married, had children) until someone--himself? Holtzman? His mother?--hoisted the box marked Kitchen Things and brought it out here to the Long Island house, where it dropped out of his sight for years and then returned again as something he shared with Mr. West while he was still "my mother's tenant" and not yet "my daughter's father-in-law" and then found himself on this morning in April, the second morning with Billy .... surprised and even delighted by the thing, by the things that ride out time."
The character's amazement and delight at the story of the juicer (the juicer acts as a catalyst for then an amplifier of the characters' creation of his own life's story) are the vehicles transferring life from the juicer to the characters and because of our own delight and amusement at such a story, to the readers.
McDermott is particularly adept at such observations and they appear throughout Charming Billy -- it would be worth reading just to enjoy such descriptions. But her story of ordinary, yet so extraordinary lives is so much more.