Rating: 
Summary: Nuala's Long Journey
Review: This is the first book by Nuala Faolain that I read so I don't have anything to compare it with. I am also a middle aged woman so many of the statements she made hit me right in the chest.
I could feel her pain. Although I related to her story, I found the book tedious at times. I would not recommend this book for everyone. I don't believe that women in their twenties or thirties would fully appreciate Naula's story.
Rating:
Summary: Nuala's Long Journey
Review: This is the first book by Nuala Faolain that I read so I don't have anything to compare it with. I am also a middle aged woman so many of the statements she made hit me right in the chest.
I could feel her pain. Although I related to her story, I found the book tedious at times. I would not recommend this book for everyone. I don't believe that women in their twenties or thirties would fully appreciate Naula's story.
Rating: 
Summary: Beautiful and Brutal
Review: This is the first book I have read by author Nuala O'Faolain, but it far from the first autobiographical piece I've read. The latter part of my opening comment allows me to state without reservation that I have never read a more brutally and painfully candid work. Using the word beautiful may seem contradictory but it is her unstinting honesty about everyone, herself most of all, that makes this such a remarkable memoir. I don't think I would have gotten through the book if she had only been candid about everyone except herself. Her willingness to place herself, fears, regrets and anger out on view for the world to read is nothing short of remarkable.This book covers about 6 years from her first memoir which apparently had the same sort of candor although she did offer it to people who were included prior to its publication. How much she may have changed is not entirely clear, but judging by what was included here I doubt she changed very much. The book is also a philosophical exercise by a woman who has seen the majority of her life and is brutally honest about what she is and is not willing to do with the balance of the 16 and three-quarter years the actuarial tables allot to her. Initially the most startling part of the book was toward the end when she spoke of the 8 year old daughter of her partner. At first I was put off, and then my reaction changed completely. If there has ever been a case of the truth hurts, and the truth will set you free, in a manner of speaking, this lady has written it. I don't know how many males will read this book but they should. Much of what she discusses is not bounded by gender, and when there are gender specific issues there are plenty of issues that males can plug in. This is not an easy book to read but when I finally finished I found myself hoping for all the best for Ms. O'Faolain and anyone else who has experienced the pain she has. If we all could view our lives with such honesty, my guess is the level of pain in most lives would be greatly diminished. Ms. Nuala O'Faolain, I wish you all the best!
Rating:
Summary: AN INTIMATE CONVERSATION IN THE AUTHOR'S INIMITABLE VOICE
Review: This moving, thought provoking, warm, witty reflection by Irish journalist Nuala O'Faolain become an intimate conversation with a friend as it is read in the author's inimitable voice. "...I believed myself a failure....., " Ms. O'Faolain opines. "I hadn't acquired any of the usual rewards of the middle of life - I didn't have anyone to love or to love me. I had no child, no other achievement, no money. I quietly drank a bit too much wine every night." These words follow the break-up of a 14 year relationship with Nell, an Irish feminist. Despairing of ever maintaining a loving relationship, Ms. O'Faolain seeks solace in reading, classical music, an adopted mongrel pup, and, of course, her work. Throughout "Almost There" is a recurring theme: the search for love. Following Nell Ms. O'Faolain embarks on an affair with Joseph, an unlikely paramour if there ever was one. He is an ordinary older man with silver hair, a married truck driver who left school at 11, and found no need to be literate. Joseph is succeeded by John, a Brooklyn lawyer whom she met through an online dating service. She is now 61. He is twice divorced, the father of an 8-year-old daughter. Of her late-in-life new love she remarks that it is a time when "good things matter to their fullest extent, because you know exactly how rare they are." Some material found in "Are You Somebody" is revisited in this follow-up memoir. She reiterates the price to be paid for speaking out in a country that "put the lid on things." For the Irish, she writes, "Silence was the defensive strategy of a people who did not believe situations can be changed and did not imagine they could ever get away from each other...." And there again is the crux of the matter: the belief that she will forever be haunted by her mother's neglect. With the book's closing lines the author paints an imaginary reunion: her mother is sitting on a barstool, and moves over to make room for her daughter. Just as she does Ms. O'Faolain turns her back and walks out the door.
"Almost There" is rich, passionate, and ribboned with sadness. It is an uncommon examination of human longing and loneliness often sparked by Ms. O'Faolain's wry, self-effacing humor. It is tribute to a country written and read by one still searching for her home. - Gail Cooke
Rating:
Summary: AN INTIMATE CONVERSATION IN THE AUTHOR'S INIMITABLE VOICE
Review: This moving, thought provoking, warm, witty reflection by Irish journalist Nuala O'Faolain become an intimate conversation with a friend as it is read in the author's inimitable voice. "...I believed myself a failure....., " Ms. O'Faolain opines. "I hadn't acquired any of the usual rewards of the middle of life - I didn't have anyone to love or to love me. I had no child, no other achievement, no money. I quietly drank a bit too much wine every night." These words follow the break-up of a 14 year relationship with Nell, an Irish feminist. Despairing of ever maintaining a loving relationship, Ms. O'Faolain seeks solace in reading, classical music, an adopted mongrel pup, and, of course, her work. Throughout "Almost There" is a recurring theme: the search for love. Following Nell Ms. O'Faolain embarks on an affair with Joseph, an unlikely paramour if there ever was one. He is an ordinary older man with silver hair, a married truck driver who left school at 11, and found no need to be literate. Joseph is succeeded by John, a Brooklyn lawyer whom she met through an online dating service. She is now 61. He is twice divorced, the father of an 8-year-old daughter. Of her late-in-life new love she remarks that it is a time when "good things matter to their fullest extent, because you know exactly how rare they are." Some material found in "Are You Somebody" is revisited in this follow-up memoir. She reiterates the price to be paid for speaking out in a country that "put the lid on things." For the Irish, she writes, "Silence was the defensive strategy of a people who did not believe situations can be changed and did not imagine they could ever get away from each other...." And there again is the crux of the matter: the belief that she will forever be haunted by her mother's neglect. With the book's closing lines the author paints an imaginary reunion: her mother is sitting on a barstool, and moves over to make room for her daughter. Just as she does Ms. O'Faolain turns her back and walks out the door.
"Almost There" is rich, passionate, and ribboned with sadness. It is an uncommon examination of human longing and loneliness often sparked by Ms. O'Faolain's wry, self-effacing humor. It is tribute to a country written and read by one still searching for her home. - Gail Cooke
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