At Swim, Two Boys (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780743222952)

Praised as "a work of wild, vaulting ambition and achievement" by Entertainment Weekly, Jamie O'Neill's first novel invites comparison to such literary greats as James Joyce, Samuel Beckett and Charles Dickens.Jim Mack is a na?e young scholar and the son of a foolish, aspiring shopkeeper. Doyler Doyle is the rough-diamond son--revolutionary and blasphemous--of Mr. Mack's old army pal. Out at the Forty Foot, that great jut of rock where gentlemen bathe in the nude, the two boys make a pact: Doyler will teach Jim to swim, and in a year, on Easter of 1916, they will swim to the distant beacon of Muglins Rock and claim that island for themselves. All the while Mr. Mack, who has grand plans for a corner shop empire, remains unaware of the depth of the boys' burgeoning friendship and of the changing landscape of a nation. Set during the year preceding the Easter Uprising of 1916--Ireland's brave but fractured revolt against British rule--At Swim, Two Boys is a tender, tragic love story and a brilliant depiction of people caught in the tide of history. Powerful and artful, and ten years in the writing, it is a masterwork from Jamie O'Neill.

Author: Jamie O'Neill
ISBN-10: 0743222954
ISBN-13: 9780743222952
Publisher: Scribner Book Company
Language: English
Published: 03/04/2003
Pages: 576
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.07lbs
Size: 8.12h x 5.40w x 1.31d

Review Citation(s):
New York Times 02/23/2003 pg. 28
Booksense '76 Mar/Apr 2003 03/01/2003 pg. 1