Mary and O’Neil Pdf Summary
Mary and O’Neil pdf book frequently marveled at how, of all the lives they might have led, they had somehow found this one together. When they met at the Philadelphia high school where they’d come to teach, each had suffered a profound loss that had not healed. How likely was it that they could learn to trust, much less love, again?
Justin Cronin’s poignant debut traces the lives of Mary Olson and O’Neil Burke, two vulnerable young teachers who rediscover in each other a world alive with promise and hope. From the formative experiences of their early adulthood to marriage, parenthood, and beyond, this novel in stories illuminates the moments of grace that enable Mary and O’Neil to make peace with the deep emotional legacies that haunt them: the sudden, mysterious death of O’Neil’s parents, Mary’s long-ago decision to end a pregnancy, O’Neil’s sister’s battle with illness and a troubled marriage. Alive with magical nuance and unexpected encounters, Mary and O’Neil celebrates the uncommon in common lives, and the redemptive power of love.
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Mary and O’Neil Review
3.0 out of 5 stars Not a total waste of time, but there are hundreds of books I’ve enjoyed a lot more than this one….
Reviewed in the United States on September 14, 2015
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Most books I finish because I can’t wait to keep reading them, but not so with this one; I basically finished it because I had paid for it, and because it was downloaded onto my Kindle for desktop so I could access it without an Internet connection. 🙂 Also, because it’s a set of stories rather than a true novel, the author refers, throughout the book, back to major events in the plot as if the reader were unaware of them. This is a flaw in the editing, and could/should have been corrected as it really undermines the “novel” form. Although I wouldn’t recommend this book (novel? story collection?) to friends, I am intrigued enough by the writing to check out a later novel by the same author: The Passage. Based on its reviews (and the book’s popularity) it sounds like he managed something special with that one, and I’m looking forward to reading it.
I can make one positive point about Mary and O’Neil — the descriptions of cancer treatments are quite realistic, including the camaraderie one can experience in the chemotherapy rooms and the cumulative nature of the fatigue / side effects. While I have not had to endure this myself, someone very close to me has, and the cancer treatment scenes in this novel more or less accurately reflect his experiences.
Back to negatives, however, I found the book’s discussions of abortion to be a unrealistically over-the-top — the author makes it sound like every woman who has ever had an abortion is later traumatized by it, which in fact is far from true. Also, I wondered if Mary was heading toward psychosis at some point — based on things she experienced and saw in the book (I won’t give details here) — but I suppose you’ll just have to read it if you want to know what I’m talking about, since I don’t want to give spoilers….
Also, the descriptions of physical locations in this book lacked important detail. For example, I’m from the St. Louis area, and when one of the characters is trying to tell a child about St. Louis he doesn’t even mention Busch Stadium, or the Mississippi River / the Riverfront, or the ARCH, for goodness sake. To me this shows a lack of research or at least a lack of observation about important aspects of the book’s settings.
And finally, character development — there were a lot of inconsistencies. Kay is first depicted as quite cold and “mysterious”, but then turns out to be this heroic, always loving and always supportive sister to O’Neil — that’s weird. The mom (I have already forgotten her name) is portrayed as suffering from a reverse Oedipal complex toward her son, but then reverses that when she meets her son’s very Renaissance-woman girlfriend — who is possibly the most likable character in the book, though she only appears on a few pages. O’Neil’s mother also seems shrewish toward Jack, Kay’s husband, and comes off as pretty unappealing as a result of all that, and then her husband (O’Neil’s dad) comes off as a cold fish who wants to cheat on his wife, but perhaps doesn’t have the courage (or something like that?). The plot device involving them seems unrealistically dramatic too (again, I won’t give details). The total effect is that it’s hard to embrace these characters, as it’s difficult to really know them. I also don’t feel like I know much about Mary at all, even though her name appears in the title of the book…. and so on.
That said, I admire anyone who can pen a readable first novel, and Mr. Cronin has accomplished that — it just seems that, with more thorough editing and plot/character/form/setting development, this could have been a much better book.
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Best Books I’ve Read in a Long, Long Time
Reviewed in the United States on August 14, 2020
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Wow! Mary and O’Neil is the first book I’ve read by Justin Cronin but it won’t be the last. I was completely knocked out by Cronin’s prose. In fact, I re-read the first seven paragraphs over and over, trying to figure out how certain writers craft sentences in such a way that they are like poetry. So full of imagery and meaning…such aching, overwhelming beauty. How do they do it when other writers just set down facts? Cronin makes you see, feel, smell, and taste. And with such(!) economy! Within the first two pages, he’s painted a brilliantly clear picture of the characters, and he’s so convincingly grabbed your attention and caring for them that you can’t wait to keep reading, to find out more! Amazing. (I read this book in two long sessions.)
While the book is titled “Mary and O’Neil”, you also get to know the other characters so well that until the very end of the book it remained a mystery to me why the title focused only on those two. Every person in the story is key to that understanding.
Oh, and the book’s ending! It was one of the most beautiful scenes I’ve ever read! Like that beginning seven paragraphs (and many times throughout the book) I re-read the last few pages over and over, marveling at how Cronin pulled it off.
About Justin Cronin Author Of Mary and O’Neil pdf Book
In 2010, Justin Cronin’s Mary and O’Neil pdf book was a phenomenon. The unforgettable tale that critics and readers compared to the novels of Cormac McCarthy, Michael Crichton, Stephen King, and Margaret Atwood became a runaway bestseller and enchanted readers around the globe. It spent 3 months on The New York Times bestseller list. It was featured on more than a dozen “Best of the Year” lists, including Time’s “Top 10 Fiction of 2010,” NPR’s “Year’s Most Transporting Books,” and Esquire’s “Best & Brightest of 2010.” It was a #1 Indie Next Selection. It sold in over 40 countries and became a bestseller in many of them. Stephen King called The Passage “enthralling… read this book and the ordinary world disappears.” Now, PEN/Hemingway Award-winner Justin Cronin bring us the conclusion to his epic trilogy with The City of Mirrors. For the last time, Amy—the Girl from Nowhere, who lived a thousand years—will join her friends and face down the demons that threaten the last of humanity. Justin Cronin is also the author of Mary and O’Neil (which won the PEN/Hemingway Award and the Stephen Crane Prize), and The Summer Guest. Other honors for his writing include a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and a Whiting Writer’s Award. A Distinguished Faculty Fellow at Rice University, he divides his time between Houston, Texas, and Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
Mary and O’Neil pdf, Paperback, Hardcover Book Information
- Publisher : Dial Press Trade Paperback; Reprint edition (January 29, 2002)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 256 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0385333595
- ISBN-13 : 978-0385333597
- Item Weight : 9.6 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.5 x 0.56 x 8.2 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,334,962 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #16,224 in Contemporary Literature & Fiction
- #19,975 in Short Stories (Books)
- #57,805 in Literary Fiction (Books)
- Customer Reviews: 4.3 out of 5 stars 237 ratings
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