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The Misremembered Man

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I ache to have these two find true love and happiness obviously with other people.

I want more to this story. There is a lot of promise with this author but she needs to write one more chapter on this one. May 27, Jessica rated it really liked it. I bought the book based on the interesting title and pretty cover and; 2. Amazon's ad executives had another reason to pat themselves on the back for orchestrating another successful attack on my wallet.

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If you'll notice, at no time during the buying process did I stop to read the book description, check the genre or read any of the existing reviews which, at least in this When the cover of the The Misremembered Man by Christina McKenna flashed up on the Kindle's screensaver two things happened: If you'll notice, at no time during the buying process did I stop to read the book description, check the genre or read any of the existing reviews which, at least in this case, may have stopped me from grabbing up the title in the first place.

That would have been my loss. More to the point, if I'd read the severely cut down, vanilla description above I wouldn't have even given this title a chance mainly because it screams 'boring'! Now literary fiction isn't usually my thing anyway - in fact, it's usually my experience that titles with more interesting descriptions than this one can result in some frustratingly mind-numbing stuff. And don't think for a minute that when I finally got around to cracking open The Misremembered Man and realized that it was a staunch member of the dreaded literary fiction camp that I didn't contemplate cutting and running onto the next title on my list.

This desire to move on was amplified by the adjective laden opening chapters. Thankfully though, the overly descriptive style of the first few pages is tampered down once the stage has been set and the stories of both the weathered, rough-edged Jamie, and the spinster Lydia begins. Centered on each of these characters search for companionship using the classifieds section of the local newspaper, McKenna adeptly weaves in a poignant critique of the church and their gross abuses of children in the Irish orphanages in the 's while introducing some truly colorful characters along the way.

Pick up The Misremembered Man if you have an interest in cultural books about Ireland, love this genre, or you liked titles like A Friend of the Family or Mariana, although, in my humble opinion, this title is leaps and bounds better than either of those. Avoid it if you're searching out romance or humor as this title is really has very little to offer in either category even though the too short summary would lead you to believe otherwise.

Love what you see here? Don't miss the weekly book reviews, monthly reading suggestions and free book title giveaways by visiting my blog or by following me on Twitter TheJessle Dec 27, Denise rated it it was amazing. This is wonderful book is really two stories with an unexpected ending. The time is and the two main characters are two lonely people with almost nothing in common. Jamie is bachelor farmer who was raised in a bleak and extremely cruel orphanage in Northern Ireland. He is perpetually depressed because of his lost childhood and the recent death of his adopted father who he refers to as Uncle Mick.

Lydia is a sheltered school teacher still living with her mother at age The mother is whini This is wonderful book is really two stories with an unexpected ending. The mother is whining, complaining and demanding due to her selfish fear that she will be left alone in her old age. The recently dead father was a stern minister and obsessively protective. Lydia is not so much depressed as she is oppressed and unable to change things. The second story which is interlaced in alternating chapters is the painful recollection of Jamie's first ten years of life before his adoption.

He was mentally, physically and sexually abused. Although these parts are hard to read, they shape the story intimately. This book is beautifully written and the characters are very real and you feel deep sympathy with both of them. They are so alone and need a family so much Sep 05, Jayne Bowers rated it it was amazing. Although I finished reading this book about two months ago, I'm still haunted by parts of it, and I suspect I will be for a very long time. Centered around a man named Jamie McCloone, the novel tells of Jamie's earlier days in a Catholic orphanage in Ireland and how these years continue to affect him as an adult.

While parts are the story are amusing, even funny, there's always an undercurrent of sadness. Will he ever find love? What about companionship and acceptance? And what about Although I finished reading this book about two months ago, I'm still haunted by parts of it, and I suspect I will be for a very long time. And what about a dose of self-esteem? The plot is wonderfully thought-out, the scenes are richly described, and the characters are well-developed.

I especially like the way the author skillfully writes about the present and then surprises the reader with a dark passage on Jamie's past. The latter scenes were so brutal and harsh that I skimmed some of them. How can people defile, molest, starve, and brutalize little children to such an extent? I closed the book with a smile. And then I called my brother. Jan 12, Kathy rated it it was amazing.

This is a debut novel?? It has wonderfully developed characters, humor, tragedy, suspense and a surprising twist at the end. The cover on the copy I read proclaimed it to be a "love story" but don't be mislead. It is not a romance but rather a relating of a journey from loneliness to happiness. I loved this book. I laughed and cried. I couldn't put it down. It would make a great book club book. Apr 21, Connie Ava Catherine rated it really liked it Shelves: I love this book about two lonely people who meet through newspaper dating. Jamie, a farmer, is damaged from his upbringing in an Irish orphanage and still suffering from the deaths of his aunt and uncle.

When his friends encourage him to seek a mate through the newspaper, he complies because he has a deep desire for love and joy in his life. Lydia, a teacher, is a spinster who has spent her life caring for her demanding mother. Since her father died last year, her mother is even more harsh and g I love this book about two lonely people who meet through newspaper dating. Since her father died last year, her mother is even more harsh and grasping, demanding complete devotion from Lydia.

Yearning for love and freedom, Lydia eventually meets Jamie. They are from different worlds; however, they are both searching for love and joy. This is a beautiful book set in Ireland. I love the plot, the language, the characters, the town; I love everything about this book!

Chinatown Justice (Angel Eyes Book 4);
The Misremembered Man - by Christina McKenna, Irish author.
The Misremembered Man 4 – The End | My Reading Journal;
Anchored in Christ.

I cannot wait to read the next book by Christina McKenna. I shall not forget her name. View all 4 comments. Mar 22, Kasey rated it it was ok. I'm glad this was a free book through the Kindle lending library, because I wouldn't have wanted to pay for it. I struggled against my urge to quit reading it multiple times and was happy when it finally ended. The contrast between the alternating chapters was jarring and it didn't even seem like they were from the same book or even author. It made for quite a disconnect between the child Jamie and adult Jamie characters.

The present-day chapters were particularly annoying because they dragged o I'm glad this was a free book through the Kindle lending library, because I wouldn't have wanted to pay for it.

The present-day chapters were particularly annoying because they dragged on and on with useless details and stories that had nothing to do with the plot. I now hope to "misremember" this book and read something much better! Una breve vacanza al mare fa incrociare le loro strade prima ancora che si arrivi all'incontro fatidico, il naturale evolversi dell'inserzione. Entrambi sognano, aspirando ad una vita diversa. Una storia dolce, quasi una favola, che pian piano viene ricostruita tramite incursioni nel passato.

Lettura leggera, ma gradevole.

Dec 19, Cheryl rated it really liked it Shelves: This book is an excellent read. McKenna does a wonderful job defining her characters. I know them as well as I might know my neighbors. I can see the Irish setting, hear the lilting speech patterns, visualize even the minor characters There were terrible parts of the story I didn't enjoy.

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Such places as the horrific orphanages actually existed, and the ugliness of that reality isn't easy to read about. But to balance out, there were times I laughed out loud. When farmer This book is an excellent read. When farmer Jamie becomes depressed after being left alone with his farm and its animals to care for, his friends decide he needs a good woman.

When schoolteacher Lydia gets out for the summer, her friend gives her something to look forward to besides remaining at the beck and call of her widowed, ailing mother. This is not a romance, even though it sounds like the beginnings of one. It's a reminder of how inhumane caretakers of children can warp lives. It's also a portrait of how hope is an integral part of the human character.

It's also a story of how strange life can sometimes be. May 15, Kim rated it liked it Shelves: A short while into this book I did roll my eyes and wonder if everyone in Ireland had a terrible childhood filled with Catholic-fuelled abuse. And then I began to care about the characters and got really caught up in their simple rural Irish lives. Jamie, one of the two main characters is a lonely and sad man with very few social skills.

The cause of this becomes apparent throughout the book and the sense of hopeless he feels is very believable and real. Lydia, the other main character, is a woman A short while into this book I did roll my eyes and wonder if everyone in Ireland had a terrible childhood filled with Catholic-fuelled abuse.

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Lydia, the other main character, is a woman trapped in a life with her mother, beholden forever. The dusty despair which permeates her life is also very real and as the reader you can almost feel the cloying demands of her mother. Despite the apparently doom and gloom foundation, this book is actually a wonderful celebration of the inner human light that exists and can survive, regardless of the shit life throws at you. Towards the end of the book I was reading as fast as I could to see what would happen.

Sitting on the edge of my seat I hurtled towards the resolution. Because the book is about the grittiness of life as well as the possible joy to be found, whether the end was going to be happy or not was not clear, until it was revealed. As a postscript the books informs that the type of orphanage described in the book continued to exist in Ireland until as late as A very readable book despite, or because of, being very real, gritty and harsh.

Dec 24, Bunnythymes rated it it was amazing. I am not from Ireland, and have never been there. I am sure this novel is not representative of rural Ireland. I am sure that there were wonderful orphanges which sheltered Irish children.

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Start by marking “The Misremembered Man (Tailorstown #1)” as Want to Read: Jamie McCloone's early years in a grim, cruel orphanage have left him wary of people and anxious of change. Play Book Tag: The Misremembered Man – Christina McKenna - 4 stars. The Misremembered Man. Christina McKenna, Author. Toby $ (p) ISBN Tweet. The Misremembered Man.

But that is not the point of this story. Yes, the orphanage portrayed in the book was cruel and inhumane. However, it is a sad reality of life that places like this exist up to now for children around the world. It is a sad reality of life that the adults in the story still look at unwanted children in the same I am not from Ireland, and have never been there. It is a sad reality of life that the adults in the story still look at unwanted children in the same way the nuns viewed the orphans in their care. And it is a sad reality of life that there are some adults around us now who grew up in such a situation, whether they were a James or a Lydia.

But the sadness or downbeat tone of the story is not the point of this review. I just loved the way Ms. This is a story with lush description of the characters: This was a great way to spend the Christmas holidays: Thank You, Christina McKenna! May 15, Bmankiewicz rated it liked it Shelves: This is a harsh story of abuse in the Catholic orphanages of mid-century Ireland. But the delightfully and sympathetically depicted characters of "present" time soften the difficult subject matter and pull the reader into the lives of the lonelyhearts at the core of the story.

Jaimie leads a careful life, set in a secure pattern where he minimizes interactions with others. He is recovering from the death of his loving, adoptive father, and even at the age of 40, carries the deepest wounds o This is a harsh story of abuse in the Catholic orphanages of mid-century Ireland.

KIRKUS REVIEW

My mother knew girls who were sent to Magdalene Sister facilities and what they endured. I now hope to "misremember" this book and read something much better! I found this book on sale on Amazon for my Kindle -- but it would have been worth the full price. The plot sounded very interesting. Mar 30, Deacon Tom rated it it was amazing. Lydia Devine, on the other hand, grew up the daughter of a stern, pleasure-shunning preacher and his equally frosty and forbidding wife. Jamie is a lonely bachelor in 70's Ireland, grieving over the recent loss of his Aunt and Uncle.

He is recovering from the death of his loving, adoptive father, and even at the age of 40, carries the deepest wounds of abandonment and abuse from his childhood in an orphanage. Lydia has lead a sheltered life under the iron rule of her minister-father and conformist mother. Each at a crisis point of loneliness, they connect through a newspaper personal ad. The novel works in part because the harsh flashbacks of Jaimie's childhood are tempered with the delightful, loving interactions of Jaimie's caring neighbors, an older couple who coax him through his tentative dating venture, the humorous depictions of Lydia's aunt.

What looks like a simple romance has some surprising twists, and the company of the delightful and earnest characters keep the reader happily following along in the small-town milieu. Apr 06, Courtney Allen rated it really liked it. The Misremembered Man was Remebered in the end.

This is an intriguing tale of an Irish caricature named Jamie McCloone, colorfully painted with words, descriptions, and the clever usage of old Irish dialect. Furthermore, this is the heartbreaking story of this man who subconsciously desires to overcome the dark past of his orphanhood and goes in search of someone who will help him overcome this oppressive heartache. In the beginning, the grown Jamie McCloone is resigned to a life of miserable loneliness while living on a rural farm he's recently inherited from his family in Ireland.

But some hope remains for Jamie when a respected family friend stops by his farm "one fine class of a morning" to offer some good advice -- that he should need a wife and that he could find one in the personal want-ads in the local newspaper. Thus, the book entails a rich contrast of Jamie's rugged rural life and the woman he eventually meets, Lydia Devine, and her cultured city life of cleanliness and refinement. One of the disheveled Jamie and one of Lydia who lives under an oppressive mother and the moral compass instilled in her by her deceased father.

They meet and an intriguing romance begins to bud in this touching story of companionship set in rural Ireland's darker times. The story holds both tragedy and humor, family love and the cold hearted cruelties suffered by children in earlier English orphanages. The reader senses a predictable ending but this story has twists and turns and unexpected moments that are both surprising and conclusive. What a sad life he has until he finally finds happiness. This is a good book for those seeking a heartwarming story in a period setting. This was a fortunate find for me: Dec 27, Adri rated it really liked it.

I feel a kinship with the Irish for no known reason, so I am always looking at books set in Ireland. This is what attracted me to the book in the first instance. Poor, poor little boy! Poor Jamie was so depressed and disappointed in life that he tries to commit suicide. Thankfully, the joist which he tied the rope around was rotten and broke with his weight. And then Paddy finds him and takes him to Lydia, who is ready to embrace her newly-found brother.

I wish the author had shown us that encounter. And it seems these two solitary people might not be so lonely in the foreseeable future; they have found each other, and it seems that the doctor is interested in Lydia and has invited to have dinner with him, and Gladys, the lady at the post station seems to be interested in Jamie. You are commenting using your WordPress. You are commenting using your Twitter account. You are commenting using your Facebook account. Notify me of new comments via email.

Notify me of new posts via email. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Thoughts and notes about the books I am reading. My entries are not book reviews but just my personal thoughts and opinions about what I'm reading at the moment. I am a novelist and screenwriter. New novel 'Good Girls Don't Die' out now! What a wonderful story! It has humour and tragedy, and both elements are balanced wonderfully.

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