The Red and the Green

This was nutty, in a very good way—a combination historical novel about the week leading up to the Irish Easter Rebellion in 1916/extremely thwarted bedroom farce, laced through with a big dose of dark Catholic satire: Everyone in it wants to subject themselves to a stern master of some kind, no one gets laid, there is a lot of last-minute martyrdom, and the character who is the most sympathetic (and who is one of the few who makes out well in the end) is the biggest coward. If that sounds mean or tedious, though, it's not. But scathing, yeah, tempered with these absolutely stunning descriptions of the land, the sea, and the houses of Dublin in 1916. Absolutely worth a read, but whatever you might expect from it, it's probably not.

Gobsmacked. A broiling bunch of characters--it isn't easy being in any of their minds--yet in the end I cared very much about their fates. The Easter Rising is more than a backdrop; their relationship to Ireland and to each other as Irishmen and Irishwomen is at the very crux of the book. Painful, yet one I would be sorry to have missed. A favourite Murdoch.

As far as I know this is Murdoch's only foray into historical fiction. You could argue, for her just barely as this would have been her parents' and grandparents' generation experiencing the Easter Uprising of April 1916 (a mad bid for immediate independence). The story covers the week before the uprising and is focussed on an Anglo-irish family with roots deep enough to be (mostly) fully identified with the struggle, albeit with ragged edges. Some of the family has become Catholic, the more Anglo have remained Protestant. The focal point is Pat Dumay, one of the older cousins in this group of interrelated families, there is also Frances, another cousin Andrew and Pat's younger brother Cathal all of them in their teens or early show more twenties. Frances and Andrew (who is in the British army on leave) are assumed to be affianced in all but name, even though they are distantly related. In the older generation there is a still beautiful aunt and a religious aunt, a ne'er do well uncle (Barney, perhaps the character I liked the most, he was quite humorous) and a well-to-do and sensible uncle, a full cast in other words but they are one and all caught up in the swirl of events of that week, helpless to save themselves from the inevitable --not unlike the way the great yellow boulders Murdoch describes along the Dublin shore will destroy anything that gets caught among them. It is a "harder" book than many of Murdoch's in that it really is "about" something definite, and yet it also contains many of the classic Murdochian hallmarks, an enchantress, a charismatic, ruthless, and sexually ambiguous man (Pat Dumay) with whom everyone is secretly obsessed. The story builds also in classic Murdoch fashion to a crisis both comical and sad. And there are many memorable houses each with their own personalities, a Murdoch feature I treasure. Are there some Joycean echoes here and there in loving descriptions of Dublin? I think so, and the cadence at the end recalled to me, "The Dead." To be sure, it is a book for the habituated Murdochian and/or those interested in that moment in Irish history. **** show less

Historical fiction set in Ireland during the lead-up to the 1916 Easter Uprising. It features three primary protagonists and a large cast of supporting characters, many of whom are related to each other. Andrew Chase-White is Irish but has lived in England most of his life and is an officer in the British Army. Pat Dumay is an Irish Catholic member of the Sinn Féin. Aunt Millie tries to seduce her nephews and pretty much any other man in her vicinity, leading to a bit of comic relief when they all show up in the same place at once. It is mostly about relationships between the various cousins, aunts, and uncles of the family.

It is densely written, making it feel longer than its pages, and slow in developing. The family members get show more caught in the vortex and seem to be unable to stop the momentum, which builds toward a tragic event. This book has both sad and humorous moments. For me, it was an uneven reading experience. There were times when I was riveted and other times when I found my attention wandering. I think it would have helped if some of the events told in the epilogue were included in the primary narrative. I liked it but it is not my favorite of Murdoch’s works. show less

Historical fiction set in Ireland during the lead-up to the 1916 Easter Uprising. It features three primary protagonists and a large cast of supporting characters, many of whom are related to each other. Andrew Chase-White is Irish but has lived in England most of his life and is an officer in the British Army. Pat Dumay is an Irish Catholic member of the Sinn Féin. Aunt Millie tries to seduce her nephews and pretty much any other man in her vicinity, leading to a bit of comic relief when they all show up in the same place at once. It is mostly about relationships between the various cousins, aunts, and uncles of the family.

It is densely written, making it feel longer than its pages, and slow in developing. The family members get show more caught in the vortex and seem to be unable to stop the momentum, which builds toward a tragic event. This book has both sad and humorous moments. For me, it was an uneven reading experience. There were times when I was riveted and other times when I found my attention wandering. I think it would have helped if some of the events told in the epilogue were included in the primary narrative. I liked it but it is not my favorite of Murdoch’s works. show less

An intricate plot that enmeshes close family in the week before the Irish Uprising at Easter 1916. The usual mix of types and driven individuals you find in Murdoch's novels. It could almost be described as a historical novel. Irish and Dublin weather, houses, landscapes etc. are all described with an accuracy that is the hallmark of her novel writing. I enjoyed the gathering pace of the novel as the fuse towards the Noon uprising burnt on relentlessly, and the fates of the characters became inevitable.

This large collection of characters, many connected by marriage, live in and around Dublin, Ireland as the 1916 Easter Uprising at the City post office is approaching.

Andrew Chase-White is Irish but is an officer in the British Army who has lived most of life in England. Once he recovers from an injury, he is facing going to France and the trenches. His fiance, Francis, is Irish but prefers to live in England as well. There are the Dumay brothers, Pat and Cathal who are Irish patriots and are ready to fight in the uprising. Aunt Millie is a bit of a upper class tart who in one memorable moment in the narrative had four different men show up one evening to all enjoy her charms even though most if not all were related to her in some show more manner.

There are many humourous moments in the story but it is the descriptions of Irish life especially the dull, drab, life in Dublin that resonates. Even the reasonably well off seem to live in damp drab homes. And it rains a great deal in Dublin

While slow to get moving, the pace definitely picked up about a third of the way into the novel and it then became difficult to put down. show less