The Divine Ryans
by Wayne Johnston
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From the author ofThe Colony of Unrequited Dreams, "An absolute stunner--achingly funny, needle-sharp, and packing an unexpected wallop...the literary equivalent of a small-budget movie masterpiece with heart, soul, and brains"(Time Out). The Ryans of St. John's, Newfoundland, are a large and deeply eccentric Irish-Catholic family in the dual business of newspaper-publishing and undertaking--"one-hundred years of digging up dirt of one kind or another," as Uncle Reginald puts it. Enough show more Ryans also become priests and nuns to earn them the sobriquet "Divine." The youngest member of the family is nine-year-old Draper Doyle Ryan, whose passion for the Catholic Montreal Canadiens in their battles against the Protestant Toronto Maple Leafs is matched only by his perplexity over his recently deceased father's regular reappearances, hockey puck in hand, in the house next door. How he comes to make sense of these visitations, his gently screwy relatives, and his own burgeoning sexuality forms the matter of this droll, wise, and effortlessly funny coming-of-age novel. Soon to be a major motion picture from the producer of Love and Death on Long Island, and starring Oscar®-nominee Pete Postlethwaite. From the Trade Paperback edition. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
This won the first Thomas Head Raddell Award for the best Atlantic Canadian adult fiction in 1991.
Set in St. John’s Newfoundland during the 1966-’67 hockey season, it centres on Draper Doyle Ryan, age 9, and the extended family in his home. They are known throughout St. John’s as the Divine Ryans because there were so many priests and nuns in the family. Our last family reunion, Uncle Reginald said, was known to the rest of the world as Vatican II.
His father died recently and Draper Doyle is seeing his ‘ghost’. Not to fear: the ghost is not the least bit supernatural, but rather psychological. Draper Doyle has “lost” a week of his life around his father’s death and funeral, and over this winter, in long talks with his show more Uncle Reginald, he (& we) discover the truth of what happened that week.
The Divine Ryans is a warm, funny and moving book about a boy’s coming to terms with his father’s death, and with his place in his family. I highly recommend it.
Read this if: just read it. 5 stars show less
Set in St. John’s Newfoundland during the 1966-’67 hockey season, it centres on Draper Doyle Ryan, age 9, and the extended family in his home. They are known throughout St. John’s as the Divine Ryans because there were so many priests and nuns in the family. Our last family reunion, Uncle Reginald said, was known to the rest of the world as Vatican II.
His father died recently and Draper Doyle is seeing his ‘ghost’. Not to fear: the ghost is not the least bit supernatural, but rather psychological. Draper Doyle has “lost” a week of his life around his father’s death and funeral, and over this winter, in long talks with his show more Uncle Reginald, he (& we) discover the truth of what happened that week.
The Divine Ryans is a warm, funny and moving book about a boy’s coming to terms with his father’s death, and with his place in his family. I highly recommend it.
Read this if: just read it. 5 stars show less
I have mixed feelings about this book. It has one of the funniest beginnings I've ever read, but it somehow does not sustain the zest and freshness it promises. Having said that, it provides an interesting window into Newfoundland and Canada of the mid 20th century. I feel richer for reading it, but wish that it was somehow different.
Very amusing book that ties hockey to Catholicism in ways I had never before imagined.
A great book that tells the story of the Ryan Family, strict aunts, nuns, the family funeral home, and the ghost of a young boy's father.
Charming, funny.
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Author Information
14+ Works 3,105 Members
Wayne Johnston was born in Goulds, Newfoundland in 1958. He graduated with a B.A. in English from Memorial University of Newfoundland in 1978. He worked from 1978-1981 as a newspaper reporter with the St. John's Daily News. In 1981, he decided to write fiction full-time. In 1983, he graduated with an M.A. in creative writing from the University of show more New Brunswick. His first book, The Story of Bobby O'Malley, won the W.H. Smith/Books in Canada First Novel Award in 1985. His other works include The Divine Ryans, which won the 1991 Thomas Head Raddall Award and was adapted into a movie, Baltimore's Mansion, which won the Charles Taylor Prize, The Colony of Unrequited Dreams, The Navigator of New York, and The Custodian of Paradise. (Bowker Author Biography) Wayne Johnston was born and raised in Newfoundland and now lives in Toronto. show less
Awards and Honors
Notable Lists
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Divine Ryans
- Original title
- The Divine Ryans
- Original publication date
- 1990
- Important places
- Newfoundland, Canada
- Related movies
- The Divine Ryans (1999 | IMDb)
- Dedication
- For my sisters, Cindy and Stephanie
- First words
- Our house must be sold to help keep The Daily Chronicle afloat.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Tom, you cartoon hellhound, wait for me.
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 195
- Popularity
- 167,309
- Reviews
- 5
- Rating
- (3.67)
- Languages
- Dutch, English, German
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook
- ISBNs
- 10
