| Books | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| DVD | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| Music | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| Buying Tools | |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
| How to Order |
|---|
| You can either browse our store directories or search the item you want to know. You can search using keywords, title, publisher, ISBN, artist, and so on. If you see the item you want, click Add to Shopping Cart. After that, you can either Continue Shopping or Proceed to Checkout. After clicking Proceed to Checkout, you can simulate your total charges based on your preferred shipping method and enter the shipping address. When you are done, you will receive instruction where to send your payment and you're done! Simple, isn't it? |
|
|
Home
Books : The Secret Scripture
Back
Binding: Paperback
EAN: 9780571239610
ISBN: 0571239617
Label: Faber and Faber
Manufacturer: Faber and Faber
Number Of Pages: 320
Publication Date: April 24, 2008
Publisher: Faber and Faber
Studio: Faber and Faber
Related Items:
Editorial Review:
Amazon.co.uk Review:
The acclaim that has greeted Sebastian Barry’s The Secret Scripture is varied and enthusiastic, and it's not hard to see why. When Frank McGuiness praised it for âraw, rough beauty’ and described Sebastian Barry's fiction as âunique’ and âmagnificent’, this claim was no hostage to fortune; just a few sentences of the prose here will convince most readers of the justice of those words. As in the best-selling A Long Long Way, Barry is concerned with the imperatives of telling a story, but in a literary form that is rich with both psychological understanding and a skilful conjuring of time and place.
Roseanne McNulty may (or may not) be on the point of nearing her 100th birthday -- but there is little certainty about this fact. In her twilight years, her destiny is uncertain, as the Roscommon Mental Hospital -- her home for so many years of her life -- is on the point of closing. As the fateful hour approaches, Roseanne spends her time of talking to her psychiatrist of many years, Dr Grene. The relationship between the two is strangely interdependent, and the doctor is also attempting to come to terms with the death of his wife. As we learn more about the two principal protagonists, we are presented with a rich and subtle picture of human relationships -- and the (often unintentional) damages that we all do to each other.
The form of the book consists of the separate journals of Roseanne and Dr Grene, and we gradually learn about Roseanne’s family in Sligo in the 1930s. What emergence is a poignant personal history; it is also a subtly ambitious picture of nothing less than the Irish psyche at a particular point in its history. There are echoes here of another great Irish chronicler of the human condition, William Trevor, and The Secret Scripture is no worse for that. --Barry Forshaw
Rating:
- A tale of survival beautifully written
Roseanne Clear is approaching one hundred years of age and has lived the majority of her adult years confined in Roscommon Mental Hospital. As she approaches the end of her life she decides to write about her early years, secretly keeping the manuscript hidden from her psychiatrist.
He is Dr William Grene, who has also has been at Roscommon for a long time, most of his working life in fact. As he approaches retirement, the pending closure of the hospital requires him to make a judgement ... Read More
Rating: - The silent witness
This is the first book I have read by this author and I greatly enjoyed the energetic prose, style and philosophical musings. Barry strikes me as a genius at describing internal landscapes and internal dialogues . This trait however, in my estimation, works to his disadvantage as his scenes based in the external world are not as strong and in some places quite weak, and so create an imbalance in the overall quality of the work. For me, the apparent difficulty in differentiating the two voices was only ... Read More
Rating:
- An Irish Hardy
I read this more as book about the power of fate than a reworking of a theme of anti-Catholicism. In fact, it put me more in mind of Thomas Hardy than anything else. We maybe know where it's all heading but we follow the journey.
It's possible to characterise `The Secret Scripture' - like `The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty' or `A Long Long Way' - as "revisionist", and the book may please or displease some readers according to their political proclivities.
But for me this misses ... Read More
Rating: - The Secret Scripture
Sebastian Barry's Booker 2008 shortlisted The Secret Scripture is the first novel of his I've read. It is written in the form of logs kept by its two main protagonists, Roseanne McNulty, a frail old lady of around 100 years who has been in mental asylums for most of her adult life, and William Grene, Roseanne's psychiatrist, who is approaching retirement. The setting is a small town called Roscommon near Sligo in Ireland.
Roseanne is writing her history - as she remembers it - because ... Read More
Rating:
- Beautifully written, shame about the plot
I can see why this made the Booker shortlist - it's beautifully written with some lovely turns of phrase and observations. Even though it's not the sort of book I usually enjoy, I could appreciate the quality of the prose. The story is written in two voices; that of an elderly woman in a mental hospital, and that of her doctor. The imminent closure of the hospital necessitates a review of the circumstances that had her committed more than 60 years previously.
It's an original enough premise and ... Read More
Antiquarian, Rare & Collectable • Art, Architecture & Photography • Audio CDs • Audio Cassettes • Biography • Business, Finance & Law • Calendars, Diaries, Annuals & More • Children's Books • Comics & Graphic Novels • Computing & Internet • Crime, Thrillers & Mystery • Fiction • Food & Drink • Gay & Lesbian • Health, Family & Lifestyle • History • Home & Garden • Horror • Humour • Languages • Mind, Body & Spirit • Music, Stage & Screen • Poetry, Drama & Criticism • Reference • Religion & Spirituality • Romance • Science & Nature • Science Fiction & Fantasy • Scientific, Technical & Medical • Society, Politics & Philosophy • Sports, Hobbies & Games • Study Books • Travel & Holiday • Young Adult • e-Books •
The Secret Scripture
by: Sebastian Barry
Price: 262,884.60
Prices excluding shipping charge.Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
EAN: 9780571239610
ISBN: 0571239617
Label: Faber and Faber
Manufacturer: Faber and Faber
Number Of Pages: 320
Publication Date: April 24, 2008
Publisher: Faber and Faber
Studio: Faber and Faber
Related Items:
Editorial Review:
Amazon.co.uk Review:
The acclaim that has greeted Sebastian Barry’s The Secret Scripture is varied and enthusiastic, and it's not hard to see why. When Frank McGuiness praised it for âraw, rough beauty’ and described Sebastian Barry's fiction as âunique’ and âmagnificent’, this claim was no hostage to fortune; just a few sentences of the prose here will convince most readers of the justice of those words. As in the best-selling A Long Long Way, Barry is concerned with the imperatives of telling a story, but in a literary form that is rich with both psychological understanding and a skilful conjuring of time and place.
Roseanne McNulty may (or may not) be on the point of nearing her 100th birthday -- but there is little certainty about this fact. In her twilight years, her destiny is uncertain, as the Roscommon Mental Hospital -- her home for so many years of her life -- is on the point of closing. As the fateful hour approaches, Roseanne spends her time of talking to her psychiatrist of many years, Dr Grene. The relationship between the two is strangely interdependent, and the doctor is also attempting to come to terms with the death of his wife. As we learn more about the two principal protagonists, we are presented with a rich and subtle picture of human relationships -- and the (often unintentional) damages that we all do to each other.
The form of the book consists of the separate journals of Roseanne and Dr Grene, and we gradually learn about Roseanne’s family in Sligo in the 1930s. What emergence is a poignant personal history; it is also a subtly ambitious picture of nothing less than the Irish psyche at a particular point in its history. There are echoes here of another great Irish chronicler of the human condition, William Trevor, and The Secret Scripture is no worse for that. --Barry Forshaw
Average Rating:
Rating:
- A tale of survival beautifully writtenRoseanne Clear is approaching one hundred years of age and has lived the majority of her adult years confined in Roscommon Mental Hospital. As she approaches the end of her life she decides to write about her early years, secretly keeping the manuscript hidden from her psychiatrist.
He is Dr William Grene, who has also has been at Roscommon for a long time, most of his working life in fact. As he approaches retirement, the pending closure of the hospital requires him to make a judgement ... Read More
Rating:
- The silent witnessThis is the first book I have read by this author and I greatly enjoyed the energetic prose, style and philosophical musings. Barry strikes me as a genius at describing internal landscapes and internal dialogues . This trait however, in my estimation, works to his disadvantage as his scenes based in the external world are not as strong and in some places quite weak, and so create an imbalance in the overall quality of the work. For me, the apparent difficulty in differentiating the two voices was only ... Read More
Rating:
- An Irish HardyI read this more as book about the power of fate than a reworking of a theme of anti-Catholicism. In fact, it put me more in mind of Thomas Hardy than anything else. We maybe know where it's all heading but we follow the journey.
It's possible to characterise `The Secret Scripture' - like `The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty' or `A Long Long Way' - as "revisionist", and the book may please or displease some readers according to their political proclivities.
But for me this misses ... Read More
Rating:
- The Secret ScriptureSebastian Barry's Booker 2008 shortlisted The Secret Scripture is the first novel of his I've read. It is written in the form of logs kept by its two main protagonists, Roseanne McNulty, a frail old lady of around 100 years who has been in mental asylums for most of her adult life, and William Grene, Roseanne's psychiatrist, who is approaching retirement. The setting is a small town called Roscommon near Sligo in Ireland.
Roseanne is writing her history - as she remembers it - because ... Read More
Rating:
- Beautifully written, shame about the plotI can see why this made the Booker shortlist - it's beautifully written with some lovely turns of phrase and observations. Even though it's not the sort of book I usually enjoy, I could appreciate the quality of the prose. The story is written in two voices; that of an elderly woman in a mental hospital, and that of her doctor. The imminent closure of the hospital necessitates a review of the circumstances that had her committed more than 60 years previously.
It's an original enough premise and ... Read More
Antiquarian, Rare & Collectable • Art, Architecture & Photography • Audio CDs • Audio Cassettes • Biography • Business, Finance & Law • Calendars, Diaries, Annuals & More • Children's Books • Comics & Graphic Novels • Computing & Internet • Crime, Thrillers & Mystery • Fiction • Food & Drink • Gay & Lesbian • Health, Family & Lifestyle • History • Home & Garden • Horror • Humour • Languages • Mind, Body & Spirit • Music, Stage & Screen • Poetry, Drama & Criticism • Reference • Religion & Spirituality • Romance • Science & Nature • Science Fiction & Fantasy • Scientific, Technical & Medical • Society, Politics & Philosophy • Sports, Hobbies & Games • Study Books • Travel & Holiday • Young Adult • e-Books •
