Review of Books

A selection of recently published books of Irish and Irish-American interest

Breaking Night
    In Liz Murray’s honest and moving memoir, Breaking Night, she recounts her journey from a child who subsisted on egg and mayonnaise sandwiches and chapstick while her parents used their welfare checks on cocaine to an accomplished Harvard University student. Her experiences in the years between included staying up until all hours of the night  waiting for her parents to come home from drug runs, skipping school, watching her parents’ relationship dissolve, sleeping in different houses and subway cars every night, and losing her mother to AIDS. Murray eventually found Humanities Preparatory Academy in Manhattan and teachers who did not give up on her. Murray does not ask for the reader’s pity although many might feel that her experiences warrant it. She speaks of her love for her parents and her perseverance to rise above the circumstances she was born into. What Murray has overcome in her life gives hope that other children in similar circumstances will use her experiences as a guide and as inspiration. Her fortitude is simply remarkable.
    – Kerman Patel (249 pages / Hyperion / $25)

Non-Fiction
   
Daniel Patrick Moynihan: A Portrait in Letters of an American Visionary
    In addition to being a gifted statesman and sociologist, Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (1927-2003) was also a writer – a fact made clear by the close to twenty books he authored or contributed to. A dedicated writer of letters, the four-term senator also approached his personal writings with equal enthusiasm. These letters have been carefully compiled and introduced by Steven  Weisman, a journalist and friend of Moynihan’s, in the late 2010 release Daniel Patrick Moynihan: A Portrait in Letters of an American Visionary. They span an impressive period of time – from a 1951 letter Moynihan wrote to apply for a job while completing his Fulbright, to a  brief, contemplative memo from the month of his death, detailing what he learned during his years in office. The letters in between range from political writings to his contemporaries to personal correspondences, from musings to humorous dispatches to The New Yorker. What emerges is a vivid portrait of Moynihan’s many sides.
    – Sheila Langan (708 pages / Public Affairs /$35)
 

Children’s Literature

Tales of Irish Enchantment
    The stories of Cuchulain and Finn Mac Cool have been passed down through generations and are among the most well known Irish legends. Patricia Lynch adapted these tales, along with other classics, so that young children could learn about the heroic myths of  ancient Ireland. Combined with vivid illustrations by Sara Baker, a Northern Ireland native and mother of two who won the Mercier Press Illustrators’ Competition, Lynch’s stories come alive to a whole new generation of readers. Baker uses her skills as an artist to hold the reader’s interest with her illustrations, which liven every page of the book. The images are somewhat reminiscent of the animation in the 2009 film The Secret of Kells, and are sure to capture the imaginations of both children and adults.
    Lynch had the ability to keep true to the original legends while also adding a child-friendly spin to the story. Tales of Irish Enchantment is the type of collection that can be read in chapters by parents to their young children or devoured in one sitting by eager young readers.     

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