The Copper Beech

This is the story of small town anywhere. Everyone knows everyone else and everyone keeps tabs on what is going on, which is why I really loved the way this book is written, because each little story about one character overlaps in the way it should for people in a small town. This was a quick book to read and I really enjoyed the interactions of the characters and the crossing of the lives of the kids as they grew and changed. Some times I was moved, some times I was so angry at a character I wanted to smack them, some times I was smiling ear to ear as a character overcame some low point in their lives to move beyond what was expected and into something wonderful. That is life anywhere and it was enjoyable to see it so well handled here.

Whoever wrote that this was "60 pages, you can read it all in an easy sitting", must have been reading the first section ("Shancarrig School"), not the whole novel, which includes a further eight sections, looking at life from the perspectives of eight young people who left the school in the same year. The eponymous Copper Beech actually plays a relatively small part in their tales, its simply a hook on which to hang the twists and turns of growing up and adulthood, told with Binchy's extraordinary empathy for 'ordinary' people and how unordinary they really are.

Yet another masterpiece by my favorite Irish author. Heartwarming story of Shancarrig, a place where lives and loves intertwine under the shade of the magnificent copper beech. It was especially touching for me, because my three-month-old son has Down Syndrome, and so throughout the book my heart went out to Maura and Michael. I think that Binchy portrayed Michael exceptionally well - she didn't make him seem less or more than what he was, which is how I want people to see my son, as just another little boy, special in his own way.

She presents each chapter from a different character's viewpoint. Amazingly, the reader falls in and out of love with characters, depending upon what other characters say about them. I was surprised to show more discover that I liked some of the characters who seemed so unlovable! But, like Atticus Finch says in To Kill a Mockingbird, (paraphrased) "you can't really understand someone else unless you've stood in their shoes." What a truism, and really, something that Binchy reminds us of in this beautifully written book. show less

I have decided that I like this style of writing where each character has their own story (since discovered it is a vignette) that is profound and delves into the deep emotions, the essence of the character, the life that they live that shapes this character. The Copper Beech is a a novel of vignettes about the Irish village community of Shancarrig and how these people are so different but are so connected. There are people that the reader will resonate with and the emotional heart strings are pulled and your eyes will tear up as you read. The underpinning theme is a community looking after each other no matter how diverse you are. The title 'The Copper Beech' is also so relevant to the reader, how many of us as children or young first show more loves have carved our names into a tree, as a time when the world was ours to discover. show less

I love all of Maeve Binchey's, including this one, The Copper Beech. Each chapter in this book is an expanded vignette of a character.

I loved all of them with the exception of Richard, a spolier fellow who almost got his way with any girls he picked but I like how his life disappointed him.

I loved the story of Eddie Barton who pressed flowers and was extremely sensitive and modest. The one of Maura Brenan who wanted to be like her school teacher, gets pregnant and abandoned after marriage and the birth of Down's syndrome boy. Maura never really had love until she had the baby and gave her son love which he returned to her and he loved the town too.

Most poignant was Leo or Lenora Murphy, her life crippled by mean mother and an ignoring show more father, was to endure horrible years haunted by her parents secret that she never wanted to a part of. The worst of it was that she could never tell the full story to anyone.

There are many more characters and the wonderful old beech tree near the school house where most carved their initials and hopes. show less

The Copper Beech, by Maeve Binchy, is a loving portrait of a rural Irish village told through the lives of its ordinary town folk over a twenty-five year period from the mid-1940s to 1970. There are eight main characters and almost a whole village worth of other secondary characters. If there is one minor fault with this book, it is that readers may find it difficult to keep track of all the names and relationships. At the novel’s core is a huge copper beech tree that stands in front of the old schoolhouse. At some moment in each character’s story, this beech tree takes on an important role.

Each chapter is told from a different character’s point of view, and each forms a delightful and complete story in itself. Subsequent chapters show more dealing with other characters’ lives, manage artfully and subtly—often by mere happenstance—to reveal relevant information about previous characters and events. This new information makes the reader reevaluate and reassess what actually may have occurred in previous chapters. Thus the chapters intertwine artfully to create a unified whole. In addition, we manage to see many of the same events from entirely different perspectives.

Overall, this book was a very satisfying reading experience—a slow novel, with considerable emphasis on realistic character development. Binchy is a master storyteller. In this work, her prose is unpretentious and easy-going, giving the reader the experience of being there, in the village, hearing a series of stories told by a sage old timer. The author is at her best when she delves into the interior emotions of her characters—their hopes, dreams, insecurities, sorrows, fears, and disillusionments. But overall with this book, it is not the characters one falls in love with, but the town. In many ways this novel is a loving lament for a place and time that is vanishing all too quickly in this pace-paced modern world.

This is one of those rare novels that I did not want to end—I wanted the author to continue telling us about the lives of each and every person is Shancarrig and carrying their stories right up to the present day—obviously an impossible task. But the author did manage to put a satisfactory ending on this heart-warming tale, and I closed the last page with a profound feeling of peace, love for humanity, and a twinge of grief for the imaginary people of Shancarrig that I would visit no more. show less

The Copper Beech features a series of vignettes elucidating the lives of people who live in a small, Irish town. The titular tree figures prominently in most of their lives. As the stories unfold, the reader learns more about how these people's lives are intertwined and what they think of each other, dropping juicy tidbits and clues to a central mystery of what's going on in Leo's family. When her story is finally told, it feels like a pay-off.
I really enjoyed reading this. I'm not terribly familiar with this author, though of course I've heard of her and have several of her books on my shelves. I was expecting this to be a romance, and while there are definitely some characters who enter into relationship with each other, it's not a show more typical 'two main characters fall in love with each other" kind of romance book. show less