After my original review disappeared from here this is Re-post of it which I found in an old notebook. :)For a slim volume,a little over 200 pages, this is a book of quite some substance. From the first page the weight of the words consumes you. This is an eloquent tale of a sons search for his parents history. His beautiful Mexican 'Mam' and his Irish father.There is not a plot to be had, but the language and the characters are more than your heart can stand anyway. How anyone can express thems...

I should have a list of books that were more deserving of attention and care than I bestowed upon them. But sometimes life just interferes with my reading. Yet, I did love this book, even though I had put it aside for days on end. This is my first book by Colum McCann and I know there will be more. In here he tells a story that is never black and white, as the most important relationships in our lives aren’t. A son returns to visit his aging and dying father while he reminisces on their life and...

One of my favorite authors—his first novel, which is a harbinger of his coming works. The short book covers a week-long visit of a son with his aged father, contrasted with scenes from the lives of his parents when they were beginning their relationship. McCann shows compassion, but is never treacly.

This odd little book held my interest and created some interesting characters. In it, a young man follows his father's photos to search for his mother who abandonded him at a young age. The story takes place in Ireland, Mexico, San Francisco and Wyoming. There are some very touching scenes as the young man cares for his aging father for a short time.

It’s a decent story but the writing is reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy if he took some antidepressants for a few weeks before settling into writing. Less bleak but still overwrought. I like the attempts at fresh turns of phrase but it quickly becomes tiresome. Sometimes older people walked hunched over, they don’t have to be paying homage to the ground or in communion with the grass or whatever. The jazz notes copulating in the air had me rolling my eyes; I think I strained an ocular connection a...

I had to remind myself that this is Colum McCann's first novel. It is so rich and complete and lyrical and courageous. Like his more recent masterpieces, McCann is toying with themes of memory and personal history, but in this case the story is very small -- just one man searching for his parents, one of whom is physically present, one of whom is physically missing.The story moves back and forth in time which was a bit confusing at first, but once I gave in to his storytelling, I realized its br...

It is so very hard to describe the vividness and richness of McCann's writing to those who have never read him. He describes scenes and people so incredibly well that one can picture being there and watching everything as his story unfolds. This is a family novel, a son searching for the truth about his parents, though he knows where his father is, he needs to understand their story and find out the truth about his mother. His father was a photographer, during the Spanish war and the horrors of

Nearly every sentence feels perfect - not a wasted word . I found myself reading paragraphs again. But it's always so much more with McCann - not just the language but the story, all of it. I've read several of McCann's later works and I consider him to be one of the finest contemporary writers so I was curious about his first novel. I was not disappointed. Returning to his home and his father after five years, a young man who has been in search of his mother who left when he was 12, discovers t...

[3.4] A contemplative novel about a man's visit to his father and childhood home, interspersed with memories of his parents and childhood. McCann writes breathtakingly beautiful prose that frequently stopped me in my tracks. But for me, this novel felt static with too much description.

3.5 Stars Songdogs is Colum McCann's first novel, It is a multilayered story and written with McCann's usual sharp writing style and eloquence of prose.The story is set around Conor Lyons who just returns from abroad to Mayo in Ireland after a five year trip to visit his aging father. He spends the week going over his fathers past life as a photographer when he spent time wandering through war torn Spain and then through Mexico where he meets and marries his wife(Conor's mother). After a period

ETA: It bothers me that I don't explain more about the theme of the story, but I don't know how to explain without giving the whole thing away. In addition I am pretty darn sure that others may not interpret this story as I do. What I think is so tragic and beautiful at the same time is that the father, the photographer, being who he is and (view spoiler)[loving his wife beyond all else, simply HAD to take the photos he took of his wife. Those photos destroyed his wife and his relationship with

Just great! Colum McCann is some writer. The prose is brilliant. The descriptions of Mexico and Wyoming are so vivid. The story is very deep and sad and the characters are so real. It was a very engrossing book to read that was hard to put down. Highly recommend.

This book somehow ended up in my bedroom at my parents' house (probably cast off by my dad after he was finished with it) and I just sort of fell into reading it. Because of its random appearance I didn't expect much from it and I was pleasantly surprised. It's the story of a son who traces his father's life through scraps of letters and old photographs. From Ireland to Mexico and back again, Collin follows his father on the journey of his life and loves. If this book ever finds its way into you...

Just brilliant. I struggled with the story line a bit at first, just not too keen on it, but the writing made it all worthwhile. For the week or so I was reading it, I felt like I was continually being pulled under by waves of linguistic imagery. Probably sounds trite, but there you are.

Twenty-three-year-old Conor has come back to Ireland after years of looking for his mother in North America, only to find his father, a failed photographer who worked as a roofer, subsisting in filth and rather incapacitated by a smoker's cough. As he stays with his father and tries to make his life a little more comfortable, Conor reminisces about his childhood and his travels, and grows closer and more understanding toward his father. Loved this book! McCann’s writing is almost lyrical. Wonder...

Yeah, so. This is a great example of how a writer has significantly improved with age. As a huge fan of McCann’s recent work, particularly “Let The Great World Spin” and “Transatlantic”, this early novel is a disappointment. His prose is overly flowery, his adjectives just too stretchy, and his dialog just flat. You can see the promise of a future star, but I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone but a diehard fan who must read everything from a particular writer.

4.5 starsThis book began awkwardly for me. I typically settle in early with how I approach a book, for language or for content. This book stymied me for a while. I found there to be long dry patches interspersed with pages and pages of magnificent prose. The farther along I got, the more tightly wrought the language and content became.I like the way this book treats the complexity of personality and relationship. It’s a sad book in a matter of fact kind of way. It’s never maudlin or melodramatic...

Nonlinear narration at its most cogent. I applaud the choice of developing the main narrator mostly in the form of outlines: his function, and our function as curious children, is peering stupefied into the happier past of our parents. I didn't realize this was Colum McCann's first novel until just now. Byjesus.

I reread this by mistake, but must admit that I had no recollection of a prior reading! It is Colum McCann's first novel. While the writing is quite good, it is not of the same caliber as that in Let the Great World Spin or his most recent Apeirogon. It was a bit overwritten at times. As the Kirkus review (https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-re...) says, "Ably written in its particulars yet loose-leafed in the assembly: a work of promise having parts far greater than the whole."In my first review...

I had read McCann's "Let the Great World Spin" and really liked it so I thought this would be a good choice. In fact it was wonderful. This is his first book and it is so touching and poignant. It jumps back and forth in the life of a young Irish man searching for his Mexican mother, exploring each culture beautifully and his parents amazing story and journey to the present. I listened to this book in audio form and the reader, Paul Nugent, did such a great job with the accents. Beautiful book!