TransAtlantic by Colum McCann

This book is far from perfect, but I really enjoyed it.  It tackles a sweeping subject, the relationship between Ireland and the United States over the course of the 19th and 20th century, which is no small task to complete in a 300-page book, so where is occasionally falls flat, it has bit off more than is probably realistic to chew. 

I am working my way through the Man Booker Prize 2013 long list, and while there are not that many of those books available in the U.S. at this point, this one is, and I chose it because I liked his last book, 'Let the Great Wolrd Spin'.  McCann is a writer that is all about the prose.  He writes beautifully (which is a characteristic of the Man Booker Prize), which again helps when the story is more lossely put together.

The story shifts between three starting points, all of which are fact based--they are, in chronological order, Frederick Douglass' trip to Ireland shortly after he escapes slavery in 1845 (which is also at the beginning of the Great Potato Famine), the first transatlantic flight that was done by British pilots Brown and Alcock in 1919, and the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, which was a major step forward in the Northern Ireland peace process.  From each of those starting points a story moves forward in time, so that there is essentially overlap between them all, and there are characters in each narative that are related to someone in the other ones--four generations of women are the glue that holds the narrative together. The story is pleasurable to read, and gives one something to think about once it is over.  Ireland is a complex place, and the book allows us time to ponder that.