Items related to Troubles
Synopsis
Set against the backdrop of growing tensions in Ireland in 1919, Troubles, written in 1970, is the first novel in J.G. Farrell's "Empire Trilogy". "Troubles" is set on the east coast of Ireland, largely in the Hotel Majestic, a formerly grand building that has seen better days and now generally houses more cats than guests. The listener is taken back to July 1919, when the 'Major' is visiting the Majestic to reunite with his fiancee Angela, the Protestant proprietor Edward Spencer's daughter. The lovers met in Brighton during the War and have since only corresponded long-distance. The welcome he receives is not quite what he expected. He quickly becomes sucked into the political and sociological ethos of the hotel and its inhabitants, and the story builds tantalisingly until its inevitable dramatic conclusion. A touching, often very funny and yet ultimately rather sad story, which will capture the listener's heart and excite their interest with its themes of Irish politics and love, played out in an unlikely and fragile sanctuary. The reader Sean Barrett is an Irish-born actor who has enjoyed success in the theatre, on television and in film.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author
J.G. Farrell (1935-79) is an English-born novelist of Irish descent. Troubles won the Lost Man Booker Prize in 2010, while another of his novels, The Siege of Krishnapur, won the 1973 Booker Prize.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Search results for Troubles
Stock Image
Troubles
Seller: Saturday Books, Dudley, United Kingdom
Seller rating 4 out of 5 stars
Soft cover. Condition: Good. The book retains something of its new form despite having been read, its covers straight and the pages clean. Seller Inventory # 1081
Buy Used
US$ 4.10
US$ 12.26 shipping
Ships from United Kingdom to U.S.A.
Ships from United Kingdom to U.S.A.
Quantity: 1 available
Stock Image
Troubles
Seller: ThriftBooks-Atlanta, AUSTELL, GA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Paperback. Condition: Good. No Jacket. Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less. Seller Inventory # G0140039732I3N00
Stock Image
Troubles
Seller: Sell Books, Elland, YORKS, United Kingdom
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
paperback. Condition: Acceptable. Water damage to book. Please see the condition note after this for details, if this is missing please consider Acceptable to mean poor quality that could include major staining, water damage, writing, missing dustjacket, etc etc. Our books are dispatched from a Yorkshire former cotton mill. We list via barcode/ISBN so please note that the images are stock images and may not be the exact copy you receive, furthermore the details about edition and year might not be accurate as many publishers reuse the same ISBN for multiple editions and as we simply scan a barcode or enter an ISBN we do not check the validity of the edition data when listing. If you're looking for an exact edition please don't order (at least not without checking with us first, although we don't always have time to check). We aim to dispatch prompty, the service used will depend on order value and book size. We can ship to most countries, see our shipping policies. Payment is via Abe only. Seller Inventory # mon0000062532
Buy Used
US$ 7.32
US$ 16.10 shipping
Ships from United Kingdom to U.S.A.
Ships from United Kingdom to U.S.A.
Quantity: 1 available
Stock Image
Troubles
Seller: Kennys Bookstore, Olney, MD, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: Very Good. 1975. paperback. Good clean copy with minor shelfwear, tanned pages, remains very good. . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland. Seller Inventory # KTS0043741
Stock Image
Troubles
Seller: Kennys Bookshop and Art Galleries Ltd., Galway, GY, Ireland
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: Very Good. 1975. paperback. Good clean copy with minor shelfwear, tanned pages, remains very good. . . . . Seller Inventory # KTS0043741
Buy Used
US$ 15.73
US$ 10.80 shipping
Ships from Ireland to U.S.A.
Ships from Ireland to U.S.A.
Quantity: 1 available
Seller Image
Troubles
Seller: Crappy Old Books, Barry, United Kingdom
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Paperback. Condition: Good. Troubles is one of those novels that begins as a slightly eccentric comedy about an English major and a decaying Irish hotel and then quietly evolves into something far stranger, sadder and more brilliant. J.G. Farrell takes the crumbling end of the British Empire and filters it through peeling wallpaper, awkward social encounters and the growing suspicion that absolutely everything is falling apart simultaneously. Which, as it turns out, is excellent material for fiction. Published here in a 1982 Penguin edition, Troubles drops the reader into the Majestic Hotel in County Wexford during the years surrounding the Irish War of Independence. The hotel itself may be one of the great characters in modern literature: vast, faded, overcrowded with ancient ladies, slowly collapsing into dust and confusion while everybody inside pretends things are fundamentally under control. In other words, a perfect metaphor for empire. Poor Major Brendan Archer arrives expecting perhaps a romantic engagement and some manageable social discomfort. Instead he finds himself trapped inside a sort of surreal Anglo-Irish fever dream populated by decaying gentility, endless confusion and a building that appears to be physically surrendering to vegetation in real time. Farrell is extraordinary at this kind of comedy. The humour in Troubles is deeply dry, slightly absurd and permanently haunted by catastrophe waiting somewhere just outside the frame. People discuss trivial inconveniences while history sharpens knives in the background. The result is hilarious right up until it suddenly becomes deeply melancholy. The novel also contains some of the finest descriptions ever written about institutional decline. Carpets rot. Ceilings sag. Cats multiply mysteriously. Entire rooms drift out of practical existence. Reading it feels rather like wandering through the final days of a civilisation maintained entirely by denial and weak tea. And naturally, because this is British literature, everybody continues attempting proper manners throughout. What makes Troubles especially wonderful now is how modern it feels despite being soaked in historical atmosphere. The sense of systems deteriorating while people cling desperately to routine feels perpetually relevant. Farrell understood that collapse rarely arrives dramatically at first. Often it looks like administrative confusion, leaking roofs and somebody insisting things were much better before. This 1982 Penguin edition is exactly the right format for the novel. A proper literary paperback from the era when intelligent fiction lived comfortably beside ashtrays, pub lunches and mildly intimidating university bookshelves. Condition is Good, meaning this copy has survived admirably despite decades of probable ownership by readers who liked words such as ?elegiac? and occasionally stared moodily out of train windows. ISBN 0140039732 is included for those who enjoy bureaucratic certainty, unlike almost everyone inhabiting the Majestic Hotel. A magnificent tragicomic masterpiece about decline, delusion and imperial decay, wrapped in a satisfyingly worn Penguin paperback. Funny, haunting and quietly devastating, like overhearing civilisation apologising politely while sinking into the wallpaper. THIS BOOK BEARS THE CRAPPY OLD BOOKS STAMP. IF THAT IS UNDESIRABLE PLEASE DO NOT BUY THIS. THE STAMP MARKS WHICH IS USUALLY TO THE FRONT AND BACK INNER PAGES SAYS SOLD BY CRAPPY OLD BOOKS WITH WEB SITE URL. IT IN NO WAY DEMINISHED FROM THE READING. IF YOU WANT A PRISTINE BOOK, PLEASE FIND ANOTHER BOOK IN BETTER CONDITION SOMEWHERE ELSE. Seller Inventory # 6545
Buy Used
US$ 4.78
US$ 26.57 shipping
Ships from United Kingdom to U.S.A.
Ships from United Kingdom to U.S.A.
Quantity: 1 available