Beatlebone Pdf Summary
A searing, surreal novel that blends fantasy and reality—and Beatles fandom—from one of literature’s most striking contemporary voices, author of the international sensation City of Bohane
It is 1978, and John Lennon has escaped New York City to try to find the island off the west coast of Ireland he bought eleven years prior. Leaving behind domesticity, his approaching forties, his inability to create, and his memories of his parents, he sets off to calm his unquiet soul in the comfortable silence of isolation. But when he puts himself in the hands of a shape-shifting driver full of Irish charm and dark whimsy, what ensues can only be termed a magical mystery tour.
Beatlebone is a tour de force of language and literary imagination that marries the most improbable elements to the most striking effect. It is a book that only Kevin Barry would attempt, let alone succeed in pulling off—a Hibernian high wire act of courage, nerve, and great beauty.
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Beatlebone Review
HALL OF FAME
4.0 out of 5 stars “How many more times are they going to ask me to come on the [effing] Muppet Show?
”Reviewed in the United States on January 14, 2016
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(4.5 stars) On his way to Dorinish, the tiny Irish island which he bought ten years before, John Lennon, now thirty-seven, is in the midst of a personal crisis. It is 1978, and the Beatles have not been together for eight years. Lennon has watched his first marriage crumble and his son Julian disappear from his life. His second marriage, to Yoko Ono in 1969, has endured a separation of eighteen months. He has not written any music since 1975, and he feels as if he has lost his way, both musically and personally, but he now feels that if he can get away and spend time alone for only three days on Dorinish, that he might become newly inspired.
Author Kevin Barry, who has shared some of Lennon’s own experiences, from living in Liverpool for two years (“one of the most sentimental cities on earth,”) to traveling to Lennon’s island, comes as close to illustrating the idea of “channeling” as it may be possible for an author to get, and in his hands, Lennon becomes real on all levels – his hopes, dreams, insecurities, frustrations, and even his arrogance as he returns to Ireland from New York. Lennon has hired a car and driver, Cornelius O’Grady, whose primary job is to get Lennon to the island while avoiding the press, and in O’Grady, Barry has also created one of the great literary characters, endowed with consummate charm, wild humor, a sense of irony, and an appreciation of nature’s “magic,” the perfect foil for Lennon with his intense self-analysis.
Miserable weather and atmosphere, described in bleak but nevertheless lyrical passages, lead to complications and cause several delays for the trip to the island. On one occasion, Cornelius persuades Lennon to play the role of his cousin Kenny and, in disguise appear at a small, strictly local pub, where the next morning he does not remember singing. On another occasion, they stay at a local hotel in Achill, run by a “guru” who conducts “rants” for those who have already done Primal Scream Therapy. Frustrated, Lennon escapes, later occupying a cave overnight and talking with a seal. Gradually, through these mystical experiences, he begins to feel some of his lost inspiration.
Barry spent much time studying Lennon’s intonations and speech patterns, some of which appear here in Lennon’s poor grammar. Barry also identifies with Lennon’s search for answers to the mysteries of life with all its supernatural elements, asking himself, “How do you bring up the fact of ghosts in reasonable company, especially the reasonable company of one’s readers?” The conclusion, which is a bit weaker than the rest of the novel, suggests that despite the opportunities which Lennon believes have opened to him on this trip, and despite the new understandings which Barry suggests Lennon has come to, that his hopes of creating something new and exciting will be dashed. Lennon never produced the “Beatlebone” album which he sketched out – or any other new album. Insightful, atmospheric, and filled with lyrical, vibrantly descriptive, and often vulgar language, Beatlebone will warm the hearts of those who love Irish novels while also fascinating those who have always been fans of the Beatles.
3.0 out of 5 stars A surreal adventure as seen through the eyes of John Lennon.
Reviewed in the United States on June 27, 2016
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This review originally published in […] Rated 2.5 of 5
It is the late 1970’s and John Lennon has left New York to seek refuge and solace in an island that he purchased off the coast of Ireland. But getting to the island is an adventure when he relies on the local shape-changing guide to get there.
This is not a light, easy-to-read book. It is surreal. Think of The Beatles’ <em>Magical Mystery Tour</em> film and how it makes a sort of off-beat sense if you want it to, but it mostly seems like a series of strange encounters, with music. Take the music and three of the Beatles out, and we’re left with <em>Beatlebone</em>. This is a stream-of-conscience writing, but as if it were coming from the often high Lennon. It’s a real trip and the reader needs to be prepared for it.
And along with the stream-of-conscience style of writing comes the lack of punctuation (in my ARC, at least) – which has never impressed me. It strikes me as arrogant on the author’s part. As if the writer is saying to the reader, “My words are too good for me to bother thinking about giving you what you need to know to read this.”
About two-thirds of the way through the book, the narrative changes VERY suddenly and instead of the story of John Lennon looking to get away from the drudgery of his life as a famous musician who hasn’t produced any notable works in years, we suddenly get a ‘prologue’ or ‘epilogue’ (I suppose it would be called a ‘mesologue’) of author Kevin Barry telling the reader about the research he did for this book. This section is really quite interesting. And just as suddenly as the mesologue appeared, it is gone and we’re back with Lennon in is surreal life.
The only reason that this works, this surreal storytelling, as well as it does is because it does feel as though it might come straight from Lennon’s own thoughts. But just as the reader starts to feel comfortable with it, we’re interrupted by the author. I’m not quite sure why we need to be taken out of the story when we were. The dialog (when you can tell that it’s dialog), does sound like John Lennon – or the John Lennon that we feel we know from his public appearances.
I’ve noted before that literary works that play with form tend to win awards, as this one has done.
I’m glad to have read this, but it won’t stick with me and it’s not something I would recommend to the average reader.
Looking for a good book? <em>Beatlebone</em> by Kevin Barry is a surreal adventure as seen through the eyes of John Lennon.
About Kevin Barry Author Of Beatlebone pdf Book
Kevin Barry is the Author Of Beatlebone pdf Book. He is is an Irish writer. He is the author of two collections of short stories, and the novel City of Bohane, which was the winner of the 2013 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.
Beatlebone pdf, Paperback, Hardcover Book Information
- Publisher : Doubleday; First Edition (November 17, 2015)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 320 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0385540299
- ISBN-13 : 978-0385540292
- Item Weight : 15.2 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.22 x 1.18 x 7.8 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,390,257 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #3,049 in Alternate History Science Fiction (Books)
- #9,720 in Psychological Fiction (Books)
- #59,234 in Literary Fiction (Books)
- Customer Reviews: 3.8 out of 5 stars 259 ratings
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