An colm bán

Úrscéal ciorclach, timpeallach atá sa saothar seo, é lonnaithe i bPáras; dhá thréimhse ama – tús an 20ú hAois, agus tús an 21ú hAois – agus dhá scéal á bhfí ina chéile.

‘A novel of the highest order’ – The Irish Times.

14.00

Stoc ar fáil

Úrscéal ciorclach, timpeallach atá sa saothar seo, é lonnaithe i bPáras; dhá thréimhse ama – tús an 20ú hAois, agus tús an 21ú hAois – agus dhá scéal á bhfí ina chéile. Úrscéal liteartha. Bronnadh duais Oireachtas 2013 ar an leabhar seo. ‘A novel of the highest order’ – The Irish Times.



Meáchan 250 g
Foilsithe

2014

Leathanaigh

265

Clúdach

bog, crua

John-Paul McCarthy, Tuairisc.ie 9 Deireadh Fómhair 2014

‘Tóraíocht chasta siceolaíochta is ea úrscéal nua Liam Uí Mhuirthile, An Colm Bán/La Blanche Colombe (Cois Life), a bhfuil éirim as an ngnáth ag roinnt leis agus dhá thréimhse ama fite fuaite lena chéile ann.’

Is féidir an léirmheas iomlán a léamh ach brú anseo.


Micheál Ó hAodha, The Irish Times 11 Aibreán 2014.

‘Situated in Paris and straddling two historical periods, the early-1900s and the early 21st century, Ó Muirthile has gone in search of a real and engaging narrative about a woman (Nóra Buckley) who loves to dance… Ó Muirthile has walked the tightrope between the known and the unknown that fashions great fiction. In doing so, he has achieved what many people had deemed impossible; he has re-located the Irish language and its people back in the cultural fulcrum of the European imaginary once more… a novel of the highest order.’

Is féidir an léirmheas iomlán a léamh ach brú anseo.


Books Ireland, Meán Fómhair/Deireadh Fómhair, 2014

‘Ach mura mbeadh ann ach an cur síos a dhéanann Ó Muirthile ar Pháras b’fhiú an leabhar a léamh. Éacht ann féin é mar a d’éirigh leis atmaisféar idirnáisiúnta na cathrach sin san am i láthair agus san am atá thart a athchruthú, agus blúirí eolais faoina stair agus a muintir a fhí isteach go healaíonta ann. Agus má fhágtar an léitheoir agus ceisteanna fós aige nó aici faoi bheatha Nóra Buckley is mar sin freisin a fágadh an té a bhí ag iarraidh a scéal a scríobh. Is fada ó léigh mé úrscéal a thug oiread ábhar macnaimh agus sásaimh dom is a thug an ceann seo.’


Mairéad Ní Chinnéide, Feasta, Bealtaine 2014.

 

Is féidir an léirmheas iomlán a léamh ach brú anseo.


Caitríona MacKernan

Feathers fly in a tale of love and fame.

Ó Muirthile successfully conveys Elizabeth Bowen’s world and style in Irish, the ambience of Paris and the folklore of West Cork. ‘Banríon an Tobair’ (the queen of the well’) is a beautiful folktale that can be read alone, as can many of the chapters in An Colm Bán – so much so that for the first few chapters I wondered whether this was a collection of stand-alone essays, memoirs and stories. Once Nora entered, the novel tensed, but I did look forward to suspending the suspense of the storyline so that I could, unhindered, enjoy Ó Muirthile’s poetic prose and rich contemporary vocabulary with help from Foclóir Uí Dhónaill…But enough of these quibbles; they are the spice of women’s book clubs. An bhfuil ceann Gaeilge ann? There is an appendix with five of Ó Muirthile’s poems. One, le Joola, about a 2002 shipwreck off the coast of Senegal in which about 2,000 people drowned, is moving and will, I suspect be paired with Ó Raiftéire’s Anach Cuan.