A Long Long Way By Sebastian Barry

ISBN 0-571-21800-8



From the Cover Blurb:-
"Barely eighteen years old, young Willie Dunne leaves Dublin in 1914 to fight
for the Allied cause, largely unaware of the growing political and religious
tensions festering back home."

Willie Dunne, son of an inspector of the Dublin Metropolitan Police answers the call,
as he sees it of his country and backed by the call of John Redmond, along with
many many other Irish lads joins the army to help save Belgium. He leaves behind the
girl of his dreams, Gretta Lawlor and goes off to war. He joins the Royal Dublin
Fusiliers and after training is posted to France and Flanders just in time to
be on the receiving end of the gas attack at Ypres. There he sees his Captain , a
son of the Irish gentry, killed by it along with dozens of his fusilier pals.
He carries on, goes through the usual stints of trench duty and danger,
boredom and hard work and settles in to army life with his mates in a tight
knit group.
When he gets leave however, he returns to a Dublin wracked by division
and about to boil over. His leave starts off well, a good spoiling at home and he
declares his love for Gretta which is reciprocated. As he boards the boat, he is
dragged off and into the fray against the rebels holding the area around Dublin
Post Office. He sees a rebel killed in front of his eyes and now he truly realises
just how divided his country is becoming. He meets a fellow soldier Jesse Kirwan
who makes it plain that his sympathies lie with the rebels, and starts to wonder
which side he truly is on and this causes a rift with his staunchly loyalist father .
On return to Belgium, he is invoved in another gas attack during which he kills
a German in hand to hand combat. He meets Jesse Kirwan again, who is now on trial
for his life for refusing to fight for as he puts it "a foreign king". Jesse is convicted
and shot a dawn. These events play on his mind for a long time afterwards.
Willie and his Battalion then take part in the attack at Guillemont on the Somme,
Messines and Third Ypres, all the while hearing rumours of disquiet from home,
whilst being treat with suspicion by the army. His biggest shock comes on leave in Dublin
once more, being spat at and stoned in the streets as a "Tommy *******".
Gretta also has bad news for him, and with his life unravelling,he has to
return to the front for the new year 1918 and the wars denouement.

The book is a beautifully written, poignant piece of fiction. I do not know enough
about the history of the Irish regiments to comment on the historical side, but if
liberties have been taken, it is for the sake of the overall story.
It's strongest point is the sense of the plight of the Irish Volunteers, fighting at the
behest of their country's leaders, yet reviled by their own countrymen after the Uprising,
is strong. The confusion and isolation they must have felt, the temptation to chuck it all in.

The description of the first German gas attack is particularly good.

hello,

I have just finished reading this , it is excellent!.

Have just read it.

It is an excellent book. Thre are one or two obvious factual errors but generally it is well researched and has the right 'feel'. The story follows a volunteer for the 2nd Royal Dublin Fusiliers and is expertly written.

Genuinely moving and far better than 'Birdsong' or any of the Pat Barker trilogy in my opinion.

I would highly recommend it, though be willing to stick with it for 40 pages or so as it is a little slow to take off.

I think this was discussed before on GWF. Some people didn't like "the voice" in the narrative. But it I found it OK as its a voice I would know. It sounds very 'Dublin' to me.

I like Barry as a writer.


Peter

I read this a month or so ago and have been meaning to post since then. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and although there are a few errors in the historical accuracy of events, I would wholeheartedly recommend it as a good read. Good to see some decent Great War fiction being written by a talented author.

I didn't find the writing style annoying in any way (as has been mentioned on the GWF in the past) and was genuinely kept awake by the book, finishing it in two sittings. Highly recommended.

I think this is a fantastic book. Barry has a real connection with the feelings and emotions felt in the war and it come across so well. It's a very passionate book which explores much of the pain within caused by war.
A fantastic read!

I thought this was a good read but I feel the most important thing about the book was that it was written at all. By that i mean the central character, Willie Dunne, a Dubiln nationalist, son of an RIC man, who joined the army at the behest of his political and religious leaders, has been absent from discussion in Ireland on WW1 for most of the past 90 years. He represents thousands of young men who were just written out of history by the new state in the south or whose motivations were glossed over by the new state in the north. I think Sebastian Barry has made a huge contribution to our understanding (in Ireland) of that period and the decades that followed and has caused many people to re-examine their understanding of that period which was always presented to us in a simplistic Us versus Them manner. Over the past couple of years I have met a number of people who said the starting point for them looking again at WW1 was Barrys book. Fair play to him.

Quite weird this, my grandfather joined the Royal Dublin Fusiliers and he was the son of an Inspector in the Dublin Metropolitan Police!

Anyway I have just got the book and am starting on it at the weekend.