Did not enjoy this very much at all. It's a patchy, unfocused work, thick with uninteresting family crises and bitter, unpleasant, irritating characters. The resolution isn't strong enough to make up for the pages of uninteresting guff you have to wade through to get there. The one thing this book could have had that would have made it interesting-- more on what it was like to be gay in Ireland in the later decades of the 20th century-- was simply not there. There were two chapters where two men told thier stories, but it was a bit thin, and left me wondering why Colm Toibin hadn't fleshed that out more.

Worst of all, the main character, Helen, is one of those 'sensitive modern woman'-people who I am now beginning to recognize as a character archetype I hadn't known about before I started reading all of this contemporary fiction. She's one of those successful ladies, a leader in the workplace, who also has a gorgeous little family and a perfect life, but whose inner metal space is shot through with poorly-explained self-doubts and neuroses. We see very few of her thoughts, particularly when she's in company. She could do with being a bit more unique. But Toibin is relying on his readers to say "oh, I know people like that," and fill in the blanks for themselves. But because most of the books I read are not about sensitive modern women, I don't have the literary background to fill these details in for myself, and the archetype coes across to me as just what it is-- an irritating stereotype. I find these characters highly annoying. Give us some people with character, for crying out loud! I'm sick of sad broken silent ladies. I'm sick of books about painfully normal 30-year-old ladies, basically. If she had some wit to her, some kind of insight, it would be a joy to read about her, but she has none, and she's depressing. Male writers make their modern female heroes so god-damned boring and typical these days, and I have no idea why.

I have no idea whether Toibin's written anything more interesting than this, but this is pretty dull, and I wouldn't waste my time on it. ( )

Great stuff. Loved how people cross themselves before they go for a swim in the ocean. Had a bit of difficulty with suspension of disbelief about whether someone would jump in a car with a complete stranger because he said her brother was in hospital and asked to see her....but then ...perhaps you would...obviously stranger danger was drilled into me!!!! But once I got over that was fascinated by the relationships - siblings, mother/daughter, grandmother/grand-daughter, husband/wife. Tis the Irish in me I know. Nothing like a good going over of entrails - the eternal search for truth.

It is Ireland in the early 1990s. Helen, her mother, Lily, and her grandmother, Dora have come together to tend to Helen's brother, Declan, who is dying of AIDS. With Declan's two friends, the six of them are forced to plumb the shoals of their own histories and to come to terms with each other.

Shortlisted for the Booker Prize, The Blackwater Lightship is a deeply resonant story about three generations of an estranged family reuniting to mourn an untimely death. In spare, luminous prose, Colm Tóibín explores the nature of love and the complex emotions inside a family at war with itself. Hailed as "a genuine work of art" (Chicago Tribune), this is a novel about the capacity of stories to heal the deepest wounds.

Lately, the name of Colm Tóbín has been popping up in reviews and articles about Irish Literature. I did a little looking and I found out that this title was short-listed for the Booker Prize, so I pounced. Very glad I did! Now, all his other titles are on my Amazon wish list.
Tóbín’s sparse style reminds me of Hemingway – virtually no adjectives, but I had no trouble feeling the colors, textures, sights, sounds, and smells of this tale set in contemporary Ireland.
The story is about three generations of women who are drawn together to nurse the brother, son, and grandson suffering from AIDS. The women have their own problems, which each must face and resolve. These women have a history, and Tóbín is as reluctant to admit to the details of the conflict as is Helen, the sister and principle character.
The ending was completely unexpected – not entirely satisfying, but I feel the characters are on the road to repair the damage the years have inflicted on this group of women survivors. I can’t wait to get to the next Tóbín title. Five stars.
--Chiron, 12/26/07 ( )

Helen, her mother, and her grandmother, come together after years of estrangement to care for her dying brother. This is the story of family relationships, communication, and the need to find meaning in a sometimes-seemingly random world. The writing is good, in this the author’s fourth book. ( )