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A History of Loneliness: A Novel by John…
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A History of Loneliness: A Novel (original 2014; edition 2015)

by John Boyne

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4543554,374 (4.21)42
"The riveting narrative of an honorable Irish priest who finds the church collapsing around him at a pivotal moment in its history. Propelled into the priesthood by a family tragedy, Odran Yates is full of hope and ambition. When he arrives at Clonliffe Seminary in the 1970s, it is a time in Ireland when priests are highly respected, and Odran believes that he is pledging his life to "the good." Forty years later, Odran's devotion is caught in revelations that shatter the Irish people's faith in the Catholic Church. He sees his friends stand trial, colleagues jailed, the lives of young parishioners destroyed, and grows nervous of venturing out in public for fear of disapproving stares and insults. At one point, he is even arrested when he takes the hand of a young boy and leads him out of a department store looking for the boy's mother. But when a family event opens wounds from his past, he is forced to confront the demons that have raged within the church, and to recognize his own complicity in their propagation, within both the institution and his own family. A novel as intimate as it is universal, A History of Loneliness is about the stories we tell ourselves to make peace with our lives. It confirms Boyne as one of the most searching storytellers of his generation"-- "An honorable priest recalls his life and ultimately confronts his own complicity in the heinous acts of his best friend from the seminary"--… (more)
Member:Bookish59
Title:A History of Loneliness: A Novel
Authors:John Boyne
Info:Farrar, Straus and Giroux (2015), Edition: 1st, Hardcover, 352 pages
Collections:Wishlist
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A History of Loneliness by John Boyne (2014)

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» See also 42 mentions

English (32)  Catalan (1)  Dutch (1)  Spanish (1)  All languages (35)
Showing 1-5 of 32 (next | show all)
An Irish priest reviews his life, his profession revered in his youth & reviled in his middle-age. A beautifully written, compassionate denouncement of a twisted religion, that pushed silence, ignorance, fear & loneliness. ( )
  LARA335 | Mar 5, 2024 |
Good god. What a fascinating glimpse into this world. ( )
  nogomu | Oct 19, 2023 |
This is the third John Boyne book I've read, and another 5 Star read.

Boyne digs deep into the pedophilia scandal in the Irish Catholic church and spares no one.

But the book also reveals a slice of middle class life in Ireland from the 50s, 60s and 70s that is both charming and chilling. And also full of stereotypes - the failed father drinking all the money, ultra-religious mother forcing her son into the priesthood.

( )
  sriddell | Aug 6, 2022 |
5 plus stars.' A History of Loneliness' may be my new favorite John Boyne novel, this gave 'The Heart's Invisible Furies' a run for its money. His characters are always flawed and authentic...always relatable which allows you to like them, despite some questionable decisions or actions. Typical Boyne, he starts out light and amusing, then starts building, no person or institution escapes exposure, and you are left wondering, have I ever done what Odran subconsciously has done? ( )
  almin | Jul 6, 2022 |
A fascinating John Boyne book where he famously draws the reader in page by page. ( )
  dugmel | Jan 11, 2022 |
Showing 1-5 of 32 (next | show all)
St Thomas Aquinas considered "wilful ignorance" a grave sin against faith, and this is the indictment that Boyne builds against Odran, and against the priests who knew, might have known, must have known the reasons for some of their number being moved by the hierarchy "from Billy to Jack". Odran is named after a saint, the charioteer of St Patrick and first martyr of Ireland. This is surely ironic, for his namesake avoids confrontation wherever he can. The paedophiles are on trial at last, but the silent enablers of crime are also indicted. This scorching novel takes the reader to a wasteland, "a country of drug addicts, losers, criminals, paedophiles and incompetents", as Odran finally admits that he has not been telling us the whole story, and that the confiding tone of his voice is not to be trusted. John Boyne writes with compelling anger about the abuses of power and the dangers of submission.
added by ozzer | editThe Guardian, Helen Dunmore (Oct 3, 2014)
 
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Life is easy to chronicle, but bewildering to practice.

E. M. Forster
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I did not become ashamed of being Irish until I was well into the middle years of my life.
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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"The riveting narrative of an honorable Irish priest who finds the church collapsing around him at a pivotal moment in its history. Propelled into the priesthood by a family tragedy, Odran Yates is full of hope and ambition. When he arrives at Clonliffe Seminary in the 1970s, it is a time in Ireland when priests are highly respected, and Odran believes that he is pledging his life to "the good." Forty years later, Odran's devotion is caught in revelations that shatter the Irish people's faith in the Catholic Church. He sees his friends stand trial, colleagues jailed, the lives of young parishioners destroyed, and grows nervous of venturing out in public for fear of disapproving stares and insults. At one point, he is even arrested when he takes the hand of a young boy and leads him out of a department store looking for the boy's mother. But when a family event opens wounds from his past, he is forced to confront the demons that have raged within the church, and to recognize his own complicity in their propagation, within both the institution and his own family. A novel as intimate as it is universal, A History of Loneliness is about the stories we tell ourselves to make peace with our lives. It confirms Boyne as one of the most searching storytellers of his generation"-- "An honorable priest recalls his life and ultimately confronts his own complicity in the heinous acts of his best friend from the seminary"--

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Father Odran Yates is a good man. Dedicated to his vocation since entering Cloncliffe College seminary at seventeen, he has lived through betrayal, controversy and public condemnation of some of his dearest friends. Through all of this, he has remained firm in his belief.

But something plagues his mind as the years pass. A feeling that there were things he didn't see, chances he missed. People he has let down. Is Father Yates as blameless as he 's always thought himself to be? And what of the Church he has given his life to?

It has taken John Boyne fifteen years and twelve novels to write  about his home country of Ireland, but he has done so now in his most powerful book yet. A History of Loneliness is a courageous, deeply moving account of a nation and a man living through a period of cataclysmic, irreversible change.
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