Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
Temporary Gentleman
Temporary Gentleman | Sebastian Barry
10 posts | 6 read | 8 to read
A stunning new novel from the two-time Man Booker shortlisted author of The Secret Scripture.Sebastian Barry's latest novel, Days Without End, will soon be available from Viking. Irishman Jack McNulty is a temporary gentleman an Irishman whose commission in the British army in World War II was never permanent. Sitting in his lodgings in Accra, Ghana, in 1957, he s writing the story of his life with desperate urgency. He cannot take one step further without examining all the extraordinary events that he has seen. A lifetime of war and world travel as a soldier in World War II, an engineer, a UN observer has brought him to this point. But the memory that weighs heaviest on his heart is that of the beautiful Mai Kirwan, and their tempestuous, heartbreaking marriage. Mai was once the great beauty of Sligo, a magnetic yet unstable woman who, after sharing a life with Jack, gradually slipped from his grasp. Award-winning author Sebastian Barry s The Temporary Gentleman is the sixth book in his cycle of separate yet interconnected novels that brilliantly reimagine characters from Barry s own family."
Amazon Indiebound Barnes and Noble WorldCat Goodreads LibraryThing
review
Kazzie
The Temporary Gentleman | Sebastian Barry
Pickpick

So many feelings with this book. Anger and frustration with the protagonist. Sadness about the terrible waste and suffering with the lack of communication. Story about grief and racism and inter generation trauma and substance use and colonialism and war. Enjoyed and recommend

review
lauralovesbooks1
The Temporary Gentleman | Sebastian Barry
post image
Pickpick

This was my first book by Barry, but it won't be the last. I really loved the way the story unfurled -- moving from the present to the past and back again. Jack McNulty is looking back on his past in Ireland in the late 1950's from his post in Africa. He is an unreliable narrator at the beginning, becoming more honest as the book progresses.

review
SharonGoforth
The Temporary Gentleman | Sebastian Barry
post image
Pickpick

Not Barry's strongest novel (IMO), but who cares when it is written with such beautiful prose. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

54 likes2 stack adds
quote
SharonGoforth
The Temporary Gentleman | Sebastian Barry
post image

blurb
SharonGoforth
The Temporary Gentleman | Sebastian Barry
post image

Start another book late on a Sunday night? Why, don't mind if I do!

Sace Right there with you... as soon as I decide exactly which book. 8y
SharonGoforth @Sace I hear you - it took me over an hour to pick one! 8y
Sace @SharonGoforth it's an important decision that can't be rushed. Almost like buying a house! 😂 8y
SharonGoforth @Sace 😀😀 8y
62 likes4 comments
review
zsuzsanna_reads
Temporary Gentleman | Sebastian Barry
post image
Pickpick

Just as good as the Secret Scripture, though took me longer to get into it. Looking forward to 2 more McNulty family books!

14 likes1 stack add
blurb
zsuzsanna_reads
Temporary Gentleman | Sebastian Barry
post image

According to an interview in the Guardian, the narrator of Temporary Gentleman is based on the author's grandfather, who fell out with him over "the literary airing of family secrets".

The fur cushion in the background is in fact a dog.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/feb/01/sebastian-barry-costa-book-award-2...

blurb
Autolycus
The Temporary Gentleman | Sebastian Barry
post image
3 likes1 stack add
blurb
zsuzsanna_reads
Temporary Gentleman | Sebastian Barry
post image

Having enjoyed the Secret Scripture, I am really looking forward to this. Although Jack McNulty (the narrator) wasn't exactly a sympathetic character in the earlier book.

Redheadrambles You might need to read his latest after this to get more on the McNulty family. I want to read this one - I quite enjoy his style 8y
zsuzsanna_reads @Redheadrambles I haven't even read the first one about Aeneas McNulty yet. I've got a lot to look forward to :-) The Tom McNulty from days without end has already been referred to in Temporary Gentleman. 8y
11 likes2 comments