STILL NO SPOILERS!Done. Not one of my favorite books. I think lots of other people might like it. The history clearly chronicled in ythe last 100 pages was a plus. For me the characters had no depth. What you get is a story of Ireland's history through the 1800s and up to the beginning of the Great War. The tone is negative from start to finsih. The troubles will not end, the battles will continue forever. That is the message. I DO understand Irish history better after reading the book. That is why historical fiction is good - if the story doesn't grab you well then you can at least learn something.Through page 528 of 751:I feel like I am the odd-ball. I can see why so many like this book. You come to understand the plight of the Irish situation. However this wasn't news to me when I started. For me the main character is just too GOOD. Nothing can deter him. When he falters, his friends are there to quickly nudge him back. I do not believe in PATRIOTISM. I know Irish feel a great love for their country. Russians too, but me I see good and bad things in all countries. I could never say I must live in just THAT one country. There are countries I might NOT choose to live in, at least not for more than a short time, but there are lots of countries where I would be happy. This all encompassing adoration for the country of your birth is hard for me to understand. On a lighter note - I really need the character Caroline in this book. She gives a breath of fresh air. She laughs, thinks and is practical. You do get to really know several characters in this book, the same characters return time and time again. I don't think anybody should avoid this book if you want a long, gripping story of the Irish experience. IF you think what is bothering me would also bother you, then maybe think twice.Through page 458: Actually my previous comment is wrong. I do care about these people. The whole situation is so horrible. Even the strongest of the Irish themselves say that part of the probelem is the Irish themselves. They have been misstreated so long and so terribly that they have no will any more. It is hard to watch. It is so depressing when the strongest of them "fills up his friend's glass with ale", when they give up, when they accept defeat, when all that is enjoyable is another drink, when the two buddies accept to never see each other again. I have a hard time accepting such defeat. I know enough history to know that others too have gone through equally hard times and they have not succumbed to liquor. They have not accepted defeat. Maybe it is necessary to die fighting, but at least you go on fighting. This is so depressing. OK, maybe I am suppose to feel the horror so I can accept how some of the Irish have resorted to terrorism and violence. And the humor in thiz book is only sarcastic; there is no joy visible ever in these poor people's lives. Throgugh page 410: What is happening is simply horrible. I ought to care more. I don't know whose fault that is - the author's or mine! But we all know what has happened to the Irish people is horrendous. Through page 375: If you like a good, long epic story about a family I recommend this book. I have no trouble understanding why lots of people like it. Escape into that family and time and place. But I find it rather predictable. No, I don't know EVERYTHING that is going to happen, but when something happens I just think: OK, fine,that happened. I don't really care terribly much. I do not want to discourage people who like this kind of STORY. It is simply a GOOD story. Somehow that isn't enough for me."In the ensuing half hour Brigid made full disclosures (to Father Cluny), which included rolling in the grass and hay with him(her boy friend), pressing her body to his deliberately and enjoying it to the point of allowing further liberties on her breasts and three times between her legs, however with clothing in between.Since the death of Father Lynch, Father Cluny had been receiving a great number of retroactive confessions. Some were more serious than this, some were better. He was thinking in terms of declaring a general amnesty rather than have half the parish serve penance. Their crops might rot what with all that praying." Through page 250: I AM learning Irish history. I DO like some of the characters. Here is another book where the antics of the church make me happy I am NOT religious. BUT, when you start looking at how many pages you have read and how many are left AND when I keep going back to GR to check out other books rather than reading this - well then there is something wrong. It is a good story, but I am simply not emotionally engaged. Through page 124: I wouldn't say the characters are terribly nuanced. Some, partucularly Caroline Weed, are amusing. She is so outspoken. The relationship between her and her father is as direct as it could be. Would a daughter act as she acts in the 1880s? I think it is possible, although not usual. It IS amusing. On a completely different issue, that of how the British viewed the Irish, I cannot help but make a comparison to how, today, the Jews in Israel look upon the Palestinians. Both the British and the Israelites see the indigenous people as being lazy, good-for-nothing scoundrels. They feel they have brought prgress and knowledge to the uncultivated, uneducated and lazy people from whom they took their land. Of course I am generalizing here; not every one behaves so badly. I personally have heard this view from a woman I know currently living in Israel, so the comparison just smacked me in the face.Through page 60: I had mixed feelings when I started this book. First of all I HAD to read it and that is not a good way to start a book. I am getting into the book, and I am enjoying it. It follows two struggling Catholic families living in the small village Ballyutogue situated on Lough Foyle in Ulster. You learn about the family ancestors and their role in Northern Ireland's history starting at the beginning of the 19th century. The reader clearly understands the antagonism between the Scotts who were Presbyterian, the Irish Catholics and the ruling English(Anglicans). The Scotts were kicked out of England and came to get a better life in Ireland, but there they never had the high status of the English. The English encouraged the Catholics and Scotts to see each other as enemies. The winner was of course the English. Then the potatoe famine of the 1840s brought terrible suffering to the peasants, both the Catholics and the Presbyterians. Uris does a vey good job of allowing the reader to understand the horror of the potatoe famine. It is September and all the stored potatoes turn black. This is the peasants ONLY source of food through the coming winter and how could next year's crop be owed if all was destroyed. These people had nothing to begin with and then also no food. How do you feed your children. Can you imagine the horror? Then of course those who should help don't. This is a scenario we see that continues today. The history is clear. Some may say it is black and white, but this is a general description of what happened. Obviously some Englsih did try and help, but they were in any case few and far between, and not enough to turn the tide of disaster. On another issue, you learn alot about Irish customs, superstitions and village life. The wake at a funeral was fun to read about - the importance of spirits and fairies, the partying and lamenting are all rolled together. Another plus are the wonderful maps all throughout the book.Xmas present from my Mom who is Scotch - Irish. She says that is where we got our tempers from.
I loved this book - I had to finish it by checking it out of the library because my particular edition was missing about 100 pages in the middle of the novel. I can't say enough good things about this book. What I learned in public school and on the news about the conflict between Catholics and Protestants in Ireland was spare and more from the Protestant's perspective. Reading this book gave me a rich context for understanding the issues from the Catholic's perspective. Although it is fiction, historical events, laws, policies, and figures (from William of Orange and Oliver Cromwell to Winston Churchill) are part of the novel. Uris manages to develop so many characters, even those who make brutal decisions with devastating consequences. Some I wanted to hate but I did not because of Uris' approach to developing those characters. Uris weaves in the history of the laws as they applied to the Irish over the centuries and the relationships are complex - issues of class, religion, land ownership, corruption of Church officials, manipulation of Protestant congregations and use of the Bible to stoke criminal behavior, the Industrial Revolution, and the universal themes of sibling rivalry, pleasing one's father (as well as challenging the father), the inspiring strength of a mother's love and the terrible fate of woman in a man's world, sexuality, challenging authority of Church/State, what makes a leader, bravery in the face of certain death, the quest for freedom, and doomed love affairs. Because the novel spans many years and tells the history of Ireland's struggle for Home Rule from many perspectives, it is simply brilliant. I imagine few authors could do what Uris did, comparable to what George Eliot did in Middlemarch and Tolstoy did in War and Peace. Although it is tragic in many ways, and I don't know that Uris intended this, the novel is uplifting and hopeful - how people can gather their strength to fight a battle that will result in a defeat simply to make that defeat glorious and inspiring so others will fight too -that to me is the power the dream of freedom carries for the individual. The themes of this book connect to every culture that has ever been colonized, demonized by its colonizer, and devastated by disease, loss of cultural heritage, and loss of family.
What do You think about Trinity (2006)?
I am in fact oscillating between 4 and 5 stars. I think the book is indeed an amazing story, well written and documented [as far as I read], with lots of suspence and critical points. It made me cry and smile, be outraged and overwhelmed, hopeless and then hopeful. What I didn't enjoy so much were the seemingly isolated parts of industrial details, but I guess if I had more patience and interest I'd have seen their proper integration in the plot and overall image.Just like in Exodus, there are several strong characters, outstanding, brilliant, and I'm wondering now if it's an Uris characteristic or not... The point of view is that of the Irish, and it often made me wonder about the degree of subjectivity, but then all zoom-in's on different historic moments are subjective in a way or the other, and power/influence/richness and oppression come more often together than apart. I was abhorred and disgusted by the manipulation done by the church, both Catholic and Protestant, but at the point when I thought I could go no further, there were examples that brought light and grace into the picture. I also liked the concept of different callings, ideas and ideals, and the diversity of human nature portrayed with weaknesses and strengths, and their sometimes conflicting concept of right and just. I liked the idea of a person's spark (pg. 359), the coming alive of one person's full being, true soul.I must mention I started enjoying the book after the first 100-150 pages, when the general gloom started wearing off a little.
—mirela Darau
I don't know how I forgot to record this book...I just found it in my garage, one of the few that escaped garage sales or Goodwill! I keep it around hoping to one day re-read it. I recall running late for work, or returning from lunch, during the time that I read this book because I simply had to wrench myself away from the story (often making a bathroom stop to dry my eyes and reapply mascara). My dull review could never do it justice. It's a story about a family in Ireland, following their lives through 3(?) generations. The day-to-day lives of the family is intertwined with the decades of cultural, political turmoil, famine; and incredible violence and hatred between the Protestants and Catholics that evolved through British occupation and colonialism. I've always been drawn to everything Irish, but the way the story unfolds, by focusing on one family, through generations, sucks the reader in on such a personal level that you feel as if you've lived the modern history of Ireland... all the joys and sorrows of being there. When I finally finished I promised myself I would seek out more of Leon Uris, who authored other historical fiction books.
—Cheryl
November 8, 2013Finished re-read of TRINITY. Everything I want to say about the book is diametrically opposed to everything I want to say about the book. That is my best description of Ireland in that day. This book covers the civil unrest in the span of time from the latter 19th century until the second decade of the 20th century. More unrest, such as The Troubles, tis yet to be played out in Ireland's history. The year 1917 is a settling down date for much of the strife in Europe and Asia, although the world war would not end until 1918. The author led us to that date in TRINITY. Conor Larkin is an imaginary character that somehow represents the 'everyman' real heroes that we love, hate or have no feeling for at all.The story could have ended when the central characters were no longer destitute, or when a love interest came to fruition, or after the Sixmilecross plan went awry. It could have ended any number of places if the author had in mind to only write a best seller. That the story was told in whole is indicative of Mr. Uris' dedication to writing history in full.Thematically, the story was rich. Oppression, discrimination, civil rights and the tenacity of the human spirit are but a few of the themes I found in the book. The book spoke about whiners and losers and people of true grit. The author made me think about different ethnic groups and how their stories stack up against the history of the Irish who longed for, fought for and died for freedoms fundamental to the very core of who they were. I wonder where I would fall or stand in the context of TRINITY.
—Linda
