Gabriel Byrne

A beautifully written and candid memoir, Gabriel Byrne here charts the origins of his career as an actor, his struggles with addiction and with being abused by a priest as a child, and life in a working-class neighbourhood of mid-century Dublin. Byrne’s celebrity is almost incidental—while he does mention a handful of encounters with famous names, this is not a “celebrity memoir” as it’s generally understood.

I was impressed both by the determined intensity of Byrne’s show more self-reflection here, and how lacking in showiness or narcissism it was. You can tell that the issues that preoccupy him—mortality, memory, family, belonging—are things that he’s been thoughtful about for quite some time. Byrne has also an actor’s ear for dialogue and paying attention to what he calls “the theatre of the street”—at a remove of 40 years or more, it’d be a surprise if the dialogue presented here was word-for-word accurate, but it absolutely has the blas of Dublin, and I could hear it as I read. An elegant and tender book. show less

Gabriel Byrne really came to my awareness for his stand-out performance in The Usual Suspects (1995). Although I can't as readily recall any of his many other film roles - he always stands out for a nuanced, understated delivery, to me. So, I was intrigued to read this memoir from him. I expected a typical actor's autobiography: filming locations, behind the scenes anecdotes, characterizations of producers and directors, that sort of thing. This is much different, and much better with show more greater depth. Recalling life up to now, Byrne tells of growing up in Ireland, life in Dublin and some real dark and disturbing incidents climaxing in letting the drink take him just as his career was accelerating. I hope that is some catharsis for Byrne here, and a second volume comes. His writing style is light and nearly poetic - telegraphing well the moods and feelings evocative and formative memories summon in all of us. The luminous, dreamlike recollections explored are moving reading - I literally reeled a bit at the sudden ending as I was lost in the telling. show less

I'm a sucker for an Irish brogue so listening to this was a no brainer. I'd seen Byrne in a few movies so I recognized him but wasn't terribly familiar with his work ("The Usual Suspects" was one movie I knew very well.) But the reviews for the book, and really mostly for the audiobook because the written book could never have the same impact, were absolutely gob smacking. And well-deserved they were. This memoir will probably seal his legacy as an Irish performer, if it wasn't already.

From show more the first few words I was transported to Dublin of the 50s and 60s, where Byrne came of age, living a working class childhood with his five siblings. It's a rough and tumble existence. His father wants him to guarantee his future by having a trade. He wants him to be a plumber. Byrne knows it's not really for him. He loves poetry and drama and when a friend suggests he join a drama club his life is completely changed. But that's just a tidbit because the main story is of his childhood, his abuse at the hands of his priest, his years when he thought he would train to be a priest until he realized it was not who he was at all. His descriptions of his home life bounce around as Byrne travels back and forth in time, settling on his relationship with his father, and his love for this rough man. Hollywood and the celebrities take a back seat to the importance of his early years. Absolutely wonderful! show less

I just finished reading Gabriel Byrne’s “Walking with Ghosts” and I had to pause for a minute, to collect myself. So transported was I into the author’s world, as I devoured this book, that I was left with a huge sense of loss as it ended, which I guess is ironic as this ties directly to the themes explored with grace, compassion, and heart-rending vulnerability in this treasure of a book. The author writes with an ease, a fluidity, that dips and weaves through story after story, show more some poetic as in the pastoral and sublimely descriptive tales of his boyhood in Ireland, to others crackling with vivid characters and often humorous adventures. The tales skillfully cross timelines back and forth in the authors life, winding through the events and relationships that have shaped him, from the uplifting and formative, to those that can only be described as (in the author’s words). “blackness”. Now in his twilight years, the author is thinking about life and big themes like death, memory, escape, fame, identity, imagination, judgement, loss and yearning, and how all have tied into his lifelong quest to belong, somewhere and with someone, in a way that would allow him to live a truly authentic life.

The resulting book, one of the most beautiful I have read in a long while, touched me in a way that illustrates an author, a man, a soul, whose deeply introspected journey, holding nothing back, has succeeded in sparking an intimate and authentic connection with this reader, and no doubt, with all of those who have the great luck to experience it.

5 very enthusiastic stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher Grove Atlantic for an advance copy of this book. show less