That they May Face The Rising Sun

LovelyHurling

I saw some programmes on John McGahern after his death a few months ago, and decided to read this. I ahd read Amongst Women and loved it, Moran was the dude!

Im reading That They May Face... at the moment and I just cant get to like it. People say its his masterpiece, but for me its just a sequence of boring, idyllic portraits of rural life with the odd "scandal" that isnt really interesting at all. Am I supposed to be getting more out of this? The relationships are plain and predictable, the characters are not surprising, the whole setting bores me. I actually cant bear to finish it, its pure bull! It reminds me of Joyce's Dubliners but badly written, and too romantic and lofty. This is a disappointment because McGahern's documentary and Amongst Women were in my mind, both very inspiring.

Ive had enough I dont want to finish it. Has anyone else found this, or come to similiar conclusions about books you think are over hyped? (edit: do not say the diary of anne frank!!)

Illkillya

LovelyHurling wrote:

a sequence of boring, idyllic portraits of rural life with the odd "scandal" that isnt really interesting at all.

Exactly why I liked it The observation of the little things that are so true of rural life... like the guy who rolled the car out of the driveway in neutral before starting it to save a few seconds worth of petrol. The story is boring and repetitive but it gives you a great sense of being there beside the lake.

LovelyHurling

Illkillya wrote:

Exactly why I liked it The observation of the little things that are so true of rural life... like the guy who rolled the car out of the driveway in neutral before starting it to save a few seconds worth of petrol. The story is boring and repetitive but it gives you a great sense of being there beside the lake.

But Kavanagh (who in many ways resembles McGahern in style, albeit in a different mode) managed to celebrate 'the habitual, the banal' in a way that was important. He raised the importance of his environment to match that of the events of the Iliad, Shancoduff was the Matterhorn. This guy seems happy to just regurgitate minor everyday tales that barely get a 'hymph' and leaves it at that. I suppose I should read the last 70 or so pages before I give up completely, but its as though he cant be bothered either. I just cant see how so many people seem to love this book. Maybe im missing something.

boidey

it was the only mcgahern book I really enjoyed. Lovely pastoral idyllic settings with very engaging characters.

stepbar

The problem is with a book like this is that if you dont know who the characters are based upon in real life then it could be taken to be a bit boring. One of my favourite books, because of its pure simplicity and the accuracy of the characters he described (which I would have known a few of through hearsay and knowing them to see)

Roskolnikov

I would say, having read all of his novels, that Amongst Women is his opus but Rising Sun isn't far behind, and it depends on which you read first as well I think. The beauty of McGahern, and maybe this is why some people speak of being bored, is that he writes in a manner that is like art concealing art. He records such simple things, and his books are so accessible that you don't realise at times how magnificent his writing is. He brings you into a world in such a subtle manner that often you don't want to come out of it, I know reading Rising Sun that I didn't want the book to end, I wanted to be in that world where nothing happens and everything happens, which I think is at the heart of his writing. He takes a bit from Joyce in that regard.
Definitely the Dark should be compulsory reading for all leaving cert students, it deals with doubt and worry about the wider world in a breathtaking manner.
One thing I will say about all his novels is that I cried at one stage reading everyone, and particularly his Memoir. He describes at one stage his pet dog, though typically too wild for its own good, being taken by his father to be drowned in a bag of stones and the dog somehow manages to escape, finding the young John in a shed out the back of the house crying his eyes out, where the dog puts his front paws up on John's shoulders. McGahern's skill is to bring you the point of being perched on his shoulder in that scene. Amazing.