ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 31, 1996 TAG: 9603290116
SECTION: BOOKS PAGE: F5 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: BOOK REVIEW
SOURCE: REVIEWED BY KATHERINE GRIMES
THE LUCK OF THE IRISH: Our Life in County Clare. By Niall Williams and Christine Breen. Soho Press. $11.
Niall Williams and Christine Breen, authors of four books about life in the west of Ireland, say, "[W]e have come to realize that we must write about our life in order to continue living it." "The Luck of the Irish" is their most recent book. Williams, an Irishman who emigrated to New York and Breen, a second-generation American with Irish roots, left the United States for rural Ireland where they rear their two children, garden and contribute to activities in Kiltumper, a nearby town in County Clare.
"The Luck of the Irish" might remind readers of Peter Mahle's Provence books. However, whereas Mahle writes of the French with amused detachment, Williams and Breen respect their neighbors and struggle with them through cold winters, rainy summers and underemployment. They really must sell their books to make ends meet.
This book is about change, both good and bad. The authors celebrate the progress that frees farmers from back-breaking labor, yet they mourn the passing of the family farm and of skills such as cutting turf by hand.
Williams and Breen can charm readers with stories about a chess-playing bread deliveryman, an 11-year-old playwright and a foal's birth without glossing over the hardships of people in a depressed area of a poor country. Those of us living in the rural South or whose grandparents were farmers can feel a kinship with those struggling to hold on to a life which agribusiness and technology will probably overtake in our lifetimes.
Katherine Grimes teaches English at Ferrum College.
LENGTH: Short : 39 linesby CNB