About this title: The title of this Irish epic refers to Flann O'Brien's brilliant comic novel AT SWIM-TWO-BIRDS (1939), and the story, set in Dublin, involves the widowed Boer War veteran Arthur Mack and his adolescent son, James, who is drawn into a plot by his friend--and eventual lover--Doyler Doyle to swim to a nearby island and plant a flag in order to make a ...
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Description: Very good. Book has appearance of light use with no easily noticeable wear. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Very Good. Great condition for a used book! Minimal wear. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Acceptable. Dust jacket has a few marks/spots. Dust jacket has a little wear at edges. Corners and edges are a little bent/rounded on hardcover. Spine has light. read more
Description: Good. 0743222946 Former library item may have library binding and show stamps, stickers or other marks. Items not meeting quality expectations may be returned. Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. read more
Description: Good. 0743222946 Former library item may have library binding and show stamps, stickers or other marks. Items not meeting quality expectations may be returned. Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. read more
Description: Good. 0743222946 Former library item may have library binding and show stamps, stickers or other marks. Items not meeting quality expectations may be returned. Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. read more
Description: Good. 0743222946 Former library item may have library binding and show stamps, stickers or other marks. Items not meeting quality expectations may be returned. Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. read more
Description: Good. 0743222946 Former library item may have library binding and show stamps, stickers or other marks. Items not meeting quality expectations may be returned. Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Scribner Book Company
Date Published: 2003
ISBN-13:9780743222952ISBN:0743222954
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 576 p. Audience: General/trade. Great condition; no marks. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Scribner
Date Published: 2003-02-25
ISBN-13:9780743222952ISBN:0743222954
Description: Like New. May be shiny, in some instances dust jackets are not included, no missing pages, no damage to binding, may have a remainder mark. read more
Description: Good. 2003-Paperback----Used-Good-Hall Street Books proudly ships from Brooklyn, NY. All orders are processed and shipped within 24 hours, M-F. 100% money back No-Worry guarantee with expedited delivery and delivery confirmation available. read more
"Now this was a good book! It's not like any of the gay novels that I've read before, and believe me, I've read quite a few. At Swim, Two boys was a little tricky to read at first because of the language. The book takes place in Ireland, and so I assume that a lot of the words that I did not understand were not words ordinarily used in the English dictionary. But it was a joy to read, anyway. The writing style was impressive, and once you get in the swing of understanding the language, it becomes very pleasurable to indulge in.
I say this book is not like any other gay novel I've read because it isn't. There is a genuine story here, with so many more elements than just gay youth coming together. There was a real story here, and it was filled with a lot of sadness, but also comedy. Mr. Mack, a father that is both difficult to deal with, but also very loving, is interesting to read about. His son, Jim, can be considered the protagonist, but the author wrote in the eyes of several different characters, probably so as to keep the audience from getting bored. I try doing that a lot in my own novels, and I think it is very effective.
What I would like to know is if any of the events that occured in this novel actually happened. i know that it is a work of fiction, but the setting is true enough- World War One in Ireland, with the Irish soldiers being shipped off to Ireland's mother country of Great Britain to join in the war against Germany. There are some uprisings involving the Volunteer militia, and there are plenty of secrets in Dublin of the Socialist party. Whatever the case, it would be beneficial to know whether or not Jamie O'Neill knew much about Ireland's history. Ha, of course, the author probably IS from Ireland, though the book was published in America, according to the title page.
I recommend this book to anybody who is tired of gay novels with the same silly elements- teenage boys developing crushes, desiring some other boy, and then being abused by society and their parents for their lifestyle. Not that any of those are necessarily bad- I do enjoy them occasionally- but this novel was definitely a breath of fresh air for me. Something new. Not to mention that you'll feel pretty smart after finishing the book- it really can be difficult to understand at first!"
"i always feel a little bad for the books that come after amazing reads. am i comparing them? should i be comparing them? this book got better as it went along, is that because i was still on such a high from my last read that my expectations were too big at the start of this one? i don't know.
what i do know is that based on content, you'd think i'd love this book. it deals with things like revolution, socialism, classism, homosexual coming of age, gender bias. but i really, really didn't like the way it was written, even with his clever twisting of words and the way he made up words, combinations and otherwise. (i think this is probably why he is compared to james joyce, especially since they're both irish.) and i also really don't like the way he wrote about prostitution and rape. parts of the story kept me reading, but others i was less interested in.
but, here's something good to take away from it:
"Will he never learn 'tis the mark of a gent, not that hats are lifted to him, but that he lifts his hat to others?"
"The universality of things abstracted him. That, for instance, there should be smoothened surfaces for the use of traffic, and that these roads should come from the country and, meeting the city, should turn into streets. ... But come sir, enough of the paving: what of the people? Let the people be classified into sexes, of which there shall be two, male and female. The criterion shall be generative function, though please to note, this function is ideal and not actual: the prepubescent, the celibate, the emasculate, the nulliparous, the non-generative for whatever reason, shall yet be classified by sex. They shall be male or female. Female or male shall they be, though the greater shall be male. Come come sir, enough about gender. The people shall further be graded according to wealth, and - humorous touch this - the more obviously a man labor, the more stinting shall be his reward; the more he work in the out-of-doors, the thinner his clothing shall be; the more his labor filthy him, the less water shall he have to wash. ...""
"I wish "no rating" were an option. Maybe I should give the last page some time to settle before putting down thoughts, but having just freshly finished, I feel I'll never forgive O'Neill for writing something so keenly upsetting in every possible way.
The one-star-rating is not to suggest that it's poorly written. You can taste the ambition of every word of it, and there are some dozens of dazzling passages. I did, here and there, narrow my eyes with skepticism, but more often the squinting was in response to how familiarly and casually the text went about embroidering someone else's tragedy into me 'till I was raw and aching with it all over."
"Gorgeous! So well written. The point of view shifts among the main characters but doesn't go into first person narration, it's more like the omniscient narrator accesses the characters' thoughts. The language Jamie O'Neill uses changes to reflect each of the characters personalities and backgrounds. Mr Mack's sections are wandering, slightly muddled and unsophisticated, while Madame MacMurrough's are full of French phrases and reflective of her staid bourgeoisie morality. These shifts in language are subtle and evocative enough that they are in service of the novel and the characters, not intrusive or flashy. O'Neill also uses all sorts of unusual or possibly made-up words but they're not flashy either, they're more joyous. Reveling in language and expression. It also has that epic quality that I love, because it's set against the backdrop of WWI and the Easter Rising.
The only thing I didn't like was the ending; it was sort of depressing. Not even epically depressing, like the end of Wuthering Heights."
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