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golivia's review against another edition
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.5
Gorgeous writing, made me interested in westerns
ruminating_blayne's review against another edition
4.5
Barry manages to shadow Cormac McCarthy's simplicity and precision of the West, with a lyrical touch to the narrator's rudimentary cadence and vernacular, flowering into an unexpected love story within the violence of civil war Era America.
mr_rogers_el_camino's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
medium-paced
3.0
This book was....honestly I don't know, weird maybe, disturbing definitely. I'll try and explain it and let you get an idea of what I'm talking about. It follows two Irish immigrants who take jobs in a calvary/militia killing Indians up and down the plains. Men, women, children all are slaughtered in bloody frenzy and methodical planning. The two main characters often feel bad for the evil they commit, but because it is state sanctioned they are able to excuse it. Eventually they have had enough of the killing and start a drag show in a local saloon. The miners of the town love it and they become local celebrities. But their stint with fame is short lived due to unforeseeable circumstances, namely the Civil War. Dragged into events much bigger than themselves they attempt to stay alive by any means necessary. Evocative of Cormac McCarthys Blood Meridian due to the bleak stylish prose combined with unrelenting savage violence it is definitely an acquired taste.
casebounder's review against another edition
3.0
Last week I figured it was finally time to read Days Without End, the much-lauded, Irish-authored, queer-featuring American western novel long-listed for the Man Booker and awarded the Costa Book Award in 2016. And it was an experience! I found the writing - a feverish almost stream-of-consciousness - to be a challenge to dip into while commuting on the train, but each time I did get into the rhythm of the novel, it was fascinating. Barry's pacing leads you barreling through not one but two wars, all the while following the love shared between two men.
Barry's Irish immigrants make for interesting windows into the racial violence during the Native American "war" and the American Civil War. These closeted queer characters feel their "otherness" in their sexual orientation, gender expression, and racial discrimination, and are therefore more apt to empathize with those who are being murdered, pushed out of homes, and forced into warfare. Which is not to say they don't participate. They are complicit. But there are moments of strange beauty amongst their part in the harsh American story.
Overall I rated this one four stars, slightly lower than my Goodreads friends who've raved at five stars. So if this book tickles an interest for you, I recommend it.
Barry's Irish immigrants make for interesting windows into the racial violence during the Native American "war" and the American Civil War. These closeted queer characters feel their "otherness" in their sexual orientation, gender expression, and racial discrimination, and are therefore more apt to empathize with those who are being murdered, pushed out of homes, and forced into warfare. Which is not to say they don't participate. They are complicit. But there are moments of strange beauty amongst their part in the harsh American story.
Overall I rated this one four stars, slightly lower than my Goodreads friends who've raved at five stars. So if this book tickles an interest for you, I recommend it.
r_holland's review against another edition
5.0
A veritable parade of misery and suffering that found a way to be beautiful. I went into this book knowing almost nothing about it and I'm so glad of that. One of my favourite books of the year so far.
syan22's review against another edition
i was absolutely enchanted, particularly when winona joined them. the last few chapters had me feeling a multitude of nervous and joyful emotions and i honestly could not put the book down until i found out their fates at the end . their little family was so sweet.
the writing was simple enough but i ached.
Spoiler
and i sighed with relief during my commute this morning when thomas was "set free like a mourning dove" and marvelling at the "whole way sparkles with the beauty of woods and fields" as he makes his way home to john cole and their daughter winonathe writing was simple enough but i ached.
oldfairencrow's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
linda_1410's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Narration: 5 stars
Story: 3.5 stars
Final rating: 4 stars
It was my week for strange stories. This isn't even a story in the traditional sense. This reads more like a rambling memoir but with language so intimate and lush that I could easily forget that I was only really getting broad brushstrokes for the bulk of the story. This is mostly a summation of a young man's life as he figures out some hard-won truths.
Told from the POV of Thomas McNulty, an Irish immigrant, as we follow him and his friend turned lover John Cole across America in the mid-1800s. Survivors of the famine, they come to America with nothing, practically starved to death, and start to figure out how to survive from one day to the next, whether that's playacting as girls in a stage show or joining the Army to fight in the Indian Wars and eventually the Civil War.
This book doesn't shy away from the harsh reality of this time period in American history, nor does it give us safely and comfortably progressive-minded MCs to filter that reality through. Thomas and John Cole might not be outright hateful of anyone but they don't stop to ask why they're being given the orders they're given nor do they spend much time if any contemplating the morality of the slaughter of the First Peoples. Not at first. As Thomas notes at one point, no soldier fully understands the war he fights in; he only knows his one part in it.
I was most interested in Thomas's and John's non-Army days, while they were living together and eventually with their adopted daughter Winona, a Sioux orphan, but those parts were sparse safe harbors in between all the violence and war of those times. The ending, such as it was, is more open-ended than anything else.I would have preferred a reunion between Thomas, John and Winona instead of just Thomas looking forward to it.
The narration by Aiden Kelly was truly amazing. He captures Thomas's bewildered voice perfectly and truly makes this oddly mesmerizing story come to life.
Story: 3.5 stars
Final rating: 4 stars
It was my week for strange stories. This isn't even a story in the traditional sense. This reads more like a rambling memoir but with language so intimate and lush that I could easily forget that I was only really getting broad brushstrokes for the bulk of the story. This is mostly a summation of a young man's life as he figures out some hard-won truths.
Told from the POV of Thomas McNulty, an Irish immigrant, as we follow him and his friend turned lover John Cole across America in the mid-1800s. Survivors of the famine, they come to America with nothing, practically starved to death, and start to figure out how to survive from one day to the next, whether that's playacting as girls in a stage show or joining the Army to fight in the Indian Wars and eventually the Civil War.
This book doesn't shy away from the harsh reality of this time period in American history, nor does it give us safely and comfortably progressive-minded MCs to filter that reality through. Thomas and John Cole might not be outright hateful of anyone but they don't stop to ask why they're being given the orders they're given nor do they spend much time if any contemplating the morality of the slaughter of the First Peoples. Not at first. As Thomas notes at one point, no soldier fully understands the war he fights in; he only knows his one part in it.
I was most interested in Thomas's and John's non-Army days, while they were living together and eventually with their adopted daughter Winona, a Sioux orphan, but those parts were sparse safe harbors in between all the violence and war of those times. The ending, such as it was, is more open-ended than anything else.
The narration by Aiden Kelly was truly amazing. He captures Thomas's bewildered voice perfectly and truly makes this oddly mesmerizing story come to life.