The Edge of Sadness

Rating:
Summary: Not to be missed
Review: Edwin O'Connor is truly a wordsmith. He takes the reader into the thoughtful world of Father Kennedy, and by the end of the book each character is known and cherished for his or her own individuality. O'Connor recognizes that everyone has redeeming characteristics - the oafish curate is an example of someone who earns our respect for his unflinching honesty and loyalty. I was deeply touched by several characters and their deceptively simple presentation by O'Connor. This is a book that will stay with the reader - its values are timeless.

Rating:
Summary: Not to be missed
Review: Edwin O'Connor is truly a wordsmith. He takes the reader into the thoughtful world of Father Kennedy, and by the end of the book each character is known and cherished for his or her own individuality. O'Connor recognizes that everyone has redeeming characteristics - the oafish curate is an example of someone who earns our respect for his unflinching honesty and loyalty. I was deeply touched by several characters and their deceptively simple presentation by O'Connor. This is a book that will stay with the reader - its values are timeless.

Rating:
Summary: The Necessity for Meaning in Life
Review: Edwin O'Connor wrote about the Irish. Not the near mythical folk of the Emerald Isle, but the gritty, down-to-earth, American Irish of which he was one. They say a writer of fiction must write about that which he knows best, and O'Connor has clearly demonstrated in such books as "All in the Family", "The Last Hurrah", and especially "The Edge of Sadness"--my personal favourite--that he knew the Irish immigrant community of Boston as well as anyone.

Parochial American Irish culture and society in the 1950's and 1960's provide the intricately detailed back-drop for all his stories, but this book in particular has much greater depth and applicability. The specific tale of Irish-American Roman Catholic priest Hugh Kennedy is nothing more than the subtext for the broader human search for the meaning of life! In this case compelling Faith (or the disturbing loss thereof) is the stuff of meaning for Father Hugh, and the books tracks his course through callow youth and subsequent middle age as he eventually comes to terms with his religion and its place in his life. Throughout this rambling journey of self-discovery, it's the frequently aggravating, sometimes venal, often blindly prejudiced, and ultimately very entertaining menagerie of ethnic characters that gives context to a drifting existence. (O'Connor comes perilously close to stereotyping much of the time, yet his pure literary virtuosity and unfailing grasp for vernacular Irish dialogue saves him every time!) It is these Irish Americans themselves that ultimately provide the sustenance and direction and support that allows Hugh Kennedy to make his uneasy peace with the world.

The Irish it seems are a sad and melancholy lot. But then aren't we all, if we can't find a place in the universe where we can ultimately find happiness and contentment. Here's to you, Father Hugh, who walked to that abyssal edge of despair and had the courage to draw back and go on living! And here's to you, Edwin O'Connor, who has written a marvellously moving and engaging novel!

Rating:
Summary: The Necessity for Meaning in Life
Review: Edwin O'Connor wrote about the Irish. Not the near mythical folk of the Emerald Isle, but the gritty, down-to-earth, American Irish of which he was one. They say a writer of fiction must write about that which he knows best, and O'Connor has clearly demonstrated in such books as "All in the Family", "The Last Hurrah", and especially "The Edge of Sadness"--my personal favourite--that he knew the Irish immigrant community of Boston as well as anyone.

Parochial American Irish culture and society in the 1950's and 1960's provide the intricately detailed back-drop for all his stories, but this book in particular has much greater depth and applicability. The specific tale of Irish-American Roman Catholic priest Hugh Kennedy is nothing more than the subtext for the broader human search for the meaning of life! In this case compelling Faith (or the disturbing loss thereof) is the stuff of meaning for Father Hugh, and the books tracks his course through callow youth and subsequent middle age as he eventually comes to terms with his religion and its place in his life. Throughout this rambling journey of self-discovery, it's the frequently aggravating, sometimes venal, often blindly prejudiced, and ultimately very entertaining menagerie of ethnic characters that gives context to a drifting existence. (O'Connor comes perilously close to stereotyping much of the time, yet his pure literary virtuosity and unfailing grasp for vernacular Irish dialogue saves him every time!) It is these Irish Americans themselves that ultimately provide the sustenance and direction and support that allows Hugh Kennedy to make his uneasy peace with the world.

The Irish it seems are a sad and melancholy lot. But then aren't we all, if we can't find a place in the universe where we can ultimately find happiness and contentment. Here's to you, Father Hugh, who walked to that abyssal edge of despair and had the courage to draw back and go on living! And here's to you, Edwin O'Connor, who has written a marvellously moving and engaging novel!

Rating:
Summary: One of my "Top 5".
Review: Every now and again I'm asked to list the 5 best books I've ever read. My list always starts with The Edge of Sadness. O'Connor's story is simple, but beautiful. Most readers will relate to it on some level and will have a better appreciation and understanding of the people in their lives who "are" O'Connor's characters. Don't be surprised if this book has a subtle yet profound effect on the way you perceive and interact with the people in your life. You will most likely understand them and their lonely struggles much better. This book will stay on your bookshelf for many years to come and you will undoubtedly return to its pages often.

Rating:
Summary: A beautiful read!!
Review: Frank O'Connor's Edge of Sadness gives a gentle and wry look at Irish Catholic society in the 1950's. The narrator, a priest who overcame alcoholism, is one of the more remarkable characters in the book: humble and compassionate in telling about his own failings and the strengths and failings of the colorful characters around him. Not a fast plot, but one that stays with one.

Rating:
Summary: love this book
Review: I love this book. Whenever I see a copy, I buy it and give it to a friend. Some words that come to mind are touching, familiar, hilarious and nostalgic. While nothing much happens in the book, O'Connor's ear for dialogue and his sense of the absurd keep you turning the pages eagerly. I felt that I had already met all these improbable characters in real life. I am Irish and a priest and I felt that he knows more about me than I know about myself. This book won't ever be reprinted because of the overt views of his characters on political and ethnic developments as they affected Irish America - so grab a copy if you see one!

Rating:
Summary: This is a fabulous book
Review: O'Connor has written a strongly character-driven, bittersweet novel which explores many very raw human emotions - lonliness, despair, love, frustration, desire to be loved...all themes which are just as modern today as when first written. Which isn't to give the impression that the book is a dry or moralistic account of people's lives - on the contrary, it is fast-moving and very real. It explores the life of Father Kennedy and his own private struggles, and the lives of the Carmody family of his childhood, and by the end of the book, you wish O'Connor would have continued for another 200 pages telling us more about what happens to each character...excellent reading.

Rating:
Summary: "The Edge of Sadness" is a great novel by a forgotten writer
Review: The "Edge of Sadness" reflects the lives of a family and a recovering alcoholic priest in a undetermined New England city. (Personally I think it's O'Connor's hometown of Providence, Rhode Island.) The priest, Hugh Kennedy, reconnects with a family he knew well before his alcoholism forced him to leave his parish. The patriarch, a conniving man in his eighties, invites Kennedy to a party celebrating his alleged eighty-second birthday. (He's actually eighty-one.) O'Connor masterfully portrays the family during the celebration. Over time Kennedy draws closer to the patriarch and his eldest son, an old friend of Kennedy's. O'Connor also sharply portrays the varied characters in Kennedy's new parish, an old, decaying church in a slum of the unnamed city. O'Connor deftly weaves the tale of Father Kennedy with the unexpected trials and tribulations facing the family. This is a worthy book. It won the 1962 Pulitzer Prize in fiction; O'Connor was the first Irish-American writer to win this prize.