Items related to Yeats Is Dead!: A Mystery by 15 Irish Writers

Yeats Is Dead!: A Mystery by 15 Irish Writers - Hardcover

 
9780375412974: Yeats Is Dead!: A Mystery by 15 Irish Writers
View all copies of this ISBN edition:
 
 
A series of bizarre murders, a missing manuscript by James Joyce, an investigating detective named Andrew Andrews, and a sheaf of papers bearing a cryptic clue are a few of the ingredients in a mystery written by fifteen acclaimed Irish writers.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:
Yeats is Dead! doesn't seem like a book so much as a protracted pub crawl in the company of 15 hyper-articulate pottymouths. Roddy Doyle, Frank McCourt, Anthony Cronin and a dozen of their lesser-known compatiots have written a literary mystery that isn't terribly literary and doesn't really hang together as a mystery. It is, however, a showcase for riffing by some very clever writers. The novel commences with a chapter from Doyle, wherein a couple of cops on the take raid the trailer of a down-and-outer. They've been instructed to do this by the all-knowing underworld crime boss Mrs Bloom (much given to crying "O yes" in proper Joycean fashion). Unfortunately, the two policemen accidentally kill the resident hobo and in doing so set off a whirlwind of brutality, inner-city intrigue and unlikely romance.

Each chapter is written by a different writer and each writer seems eager to outdo the last by killing off as many characters as possible. This can be good, bloody fun. It can also lead to some creaky exposition along the lines of this passage from Cronin's chapter: "The guard that got shot. What did he think he was up to? And what was his connection, if any, with the Tommy Reynolds murder?" More successful are the writers who altogether give up the ghost of creating a cohesive mystery and instead wallow around in literary references and ridiculously purple prose. Here novelist Joseph O'Connor tries his hand at an action scene: "Gravity and Mrs Roberts had entered into conflict and, as devotees of the late Sir Isaac will confirm, out of such a negotiation may emerge one victor." Not exactly Tom Clancy and a good thing too.

The Irish keep turning out these collaborative efforts, the most recent being Finbar's Hotel and Ladies Night at Finbar's Hotel. (By the way, £1 from the sale of this particular round-robin will go to Amnesty International.) In any case, the format can be tough on the writer who must bundle it all up in the final chapter. Here the task falls to honorary Irishman Frank McCourt and let it be said he does his salty, saucy best. --Claire Dederer, Amazon.com

Review:
"A great romp of a read." -John Banville

"Hilarious. . . . Filled with sharp vignettes amid the bedlam." -Washington Post

"If you've ever wondered, as I have, just how much fun fifteen Irishmen can have while sober, Yeats Is Dead! provides the answer." -Richard Russo, author of Empire Falls

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9780453000109: The Founding Father; the Story of Joseph P. Kennedy, by Richard J. Whalen

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  ISBN 13:  9780453000109
Publisher: Hutchinson & Co. Ltd. London, 1964
Hardcover

  • 9780451027382: Founding Father: The Story of Joseph P. Kennedy

    Berkley, 1966
    Softcover

  • 9780451063007: The Founding Father

    Signet, 1966
    Softcover

Top Search Results from the AbeBooks Marketplace

Stock Image

O'Connor, Joseph [Editor]
Published by Knopf (2001)
ISBN 10: 0375412972 ISBN 13: 9780375412974
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Barnes & Nooyen Books
(Spring, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description hardcover. Condition: New. New Condition, Hardcover Book, Seller Inventory # 2310290011

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
£ 17.50
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

O'Connor, Joseph
Published by Knopf (2001)
ISBN 10: 0375412972 ISBN 13: 9780375412974
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
GoldenWavesOfBooks
(Fayetteville, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New. Fast Shipping and good customer service. Seller Inventory # Holz_New_0375412972

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
£ 18.07
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: £ 3.17
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

O'Connor, Joseph
Published by Knopf (2001)
ISBN 10: 0375412972 ISBN 13: 9780375412974
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Wizard Books
(Long Beach, CA, U.S.A.)

Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New. Seller Inventory # Wizard0375412972

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
£ 21.06
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: £ 2.77
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

O'Connor, Joseph
Published by Knopf (2001)
ISBN 10: 0375412972 ISBN 13: 9780375412974
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
GoldBooks
(Austin, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New Copy. Customer Service Guaranteed. Seller Inventory # think0375412972

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
£ 21.92
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: £ 3.37
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

O'Connor, Joseph
Published by Knopf NY, (2001)
ISBN 10: 0375412972 ISBN 13: 9780375412974
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Front Cover Books
(Denver, CO, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: new. Seller Inventory # FrontCover0375412972

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
£ 23.85
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: £ 3.41
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

O'Connor, Joseph
ISBN 10: 0375412972 ISBN 13: 9780375412974
New Soft cover First Edition Quantity: 1
Seller:
Flash Books
(Audubon, NJ, U.S.A.)

Book Description Soft cover. Condition: New. Dust Jacket Condition: New. 1st Edition. RARE Advance Reading Copy-Uncorrected Proof-Not For Sale. 1st Edition-Stated. 1st Printing per Random House policies. New copy. Never read. Trade paperback format. BEAUTIFUL copy of Book & Cover. COLLECTOR'S COPY. Seller Inventory # 001900

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
£ 40.82
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: £ 2.38
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

O'Connor, Joseph
Published by Knopf (2001)
ISBN 10: 0375412972 ISBN 13: 9780375412974
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
The Book Spot
(Sioux Falls, SD, U.S.A.)

Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. Seller Inventory # Abebooks87004

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
£ 48.17
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

O'Connor, Joseph
Published by Knopf (2001)
ISBN 10: 0375412972 ISBN 13: 9780375412974
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
BennettBooksLtd
(LOS ANGELES, CA, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. New. In shrink wrap. Looks like an interesting title! 1.35. Seller Inventory # Q-0375412972

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
£ 48.32
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: £ 4.07
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds