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Vanishing Ireland

Authors: James Fennell, Turtle Bunbury
Publisher: Hachette Books Ireland
Category: Book

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Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars

7 reviews
Sales Rank: 15356

Media: Hardcover
Pages: 180
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.8
Dimensions (in): 11.1 x 9.3 x 0.9

ISBN: 034092277X
EAN: 9780340922774
ASIN: 034092277X

Publication Date: September 18, 2006
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: All books available for immediate dispatch.

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Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant portraits and gripping journalism January 29, 2007
8 out of 8 found this review helpful

This is a great two-hander if you like photography books with a little more of the background on their subjects. Fennell's portraits are very good - revealing, touching and poignant. And the stories Bunbury has written for each of the people who appear in the book add an extra, brilliant dimension. Look at the portraits, read the story and then go back and see how much more history you can see written in the faces of these beautiful, stoic people.

Rather than whinge about how life might have changed in a modern country, most of those who sat before Fennell's lens accepted their lot with the same grace and charm with which they have accepted hardship, misfortune and tragedy, as they lived their lives in some of the least clement parts of that fair isle.

What impresses the reader most, is the love for life and great joy these people also experienced in their communities. By focusing on individuals within different hamlets around the country, we get an insight into what life was like long before Ireland became prosperous. It is one of the best treatise I've ever read on how happiness is never measured by the amount of gold in your pocket. That comes from your love of life.

I look forward to reading volume 2

1 out of 5 stars

vanishing ireland January 7, 2007
1 out of 3 found this review helpful

if it is possible to request A. Rogers the recent reviewer of Vanishing Ireland to contact the author of Vanishing Ireland Turtle Bunbury via email at ;tbunbury@gmail.com
Turtle would like to communicate with A. Rodgers,
to discuss some of his comments and ideas,
thank you , declan doyle

1 out of 5 stars

Barely Scratches the Surface December 22, 2006
8 out of 18 found this review helpful

I bought this book thinking it would be a somewhat detailed chronicling of the traditional ways of life in Ireland that are rapidly fading away but it doesn't get under the surface of rural, traditional Ireland at all.

This book is very much an outsiders view of what traditional Irish life is like, even if the author is Irish himself it is quite clear he doesn't have much of a conception of the way of life he is trying to depict. It would also appear that he has not spent a great deal of effort trying to really get to know this way of life so that he can better represent it in his book. His book states that it is attempting to show traditional Irish life that is rapidly fading away with the emergence of the Celtic Tiger when in fact his book is nothing more than a chronicling of some elderly people's lives and a brief summation of their life's history and sometimes their family history. This style which merely describes the lives of some elderly people living out traditional lives is surely not the best way to really get under the skin and really show to outsiders what traditional Irish life is really like. It seems that the author has a certain market in mind and it is not one that really wants to know and find out about traditional Ireland but rather one which is interested in a typical cliched view of traditional Ireland.

The main flaw with the book is that it chooses to depict a traditional way of life through individuals rather than through communities and society. After all this is a large part of what makes traditional life different from modern life, the fact that community spirit was so strong in traditional society. It is simply impossible to represent that in a book that focuses narrowly on individuals and to a lesser extent their families.

The photographs in the book also follow the same style as the narrative, ie they don't really give an accurate representation of traditional life. Almost all of the photos are of individual people. The people they show are always posing in their best clothes, whether they be in front of some landscape or a house or in their homes. Again to draw a parallel with the narrative the photos take the people out of the communities, societies and livelihoods that they live and show them as individuals.

It is quite ironic that this book's main aim is to depict a rapidly disappearing traditional Ireland and that it fails because it is in fact a part of the "brave new Ireland" that is sweeping it away.

5 out of 5 stars

Beautiful December 2, 2006
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

This book moved me to tears, the prose and photography demonstrate a sensitivity and love of an almost vanished Ireland. They have managed to capture what is left of our soul before we sold it to the Celtic Tiger. A must buy and a magnificent book...

5 out of 5 stars

Vanishing Ireland - Excellent ! November 7, 2006
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

I bought this book last week - MAGIC ! Congratulations
I have read it cover to cover - it is such an excellent account on our true Irish people.
I would hightly recomend this book as it gives a great insight into the real charactors of Ireland who will "Vanish" soon.