Dork of Cork

by Chet Raymo

Book Overview

When Frank, an Irish dwarf, writes a personal memoir, he moves from dark isolation into the public eye. This luminous journey is marked by memories of his lonely childhood, secrets of his doomed young... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0446670006
• ISBN13: 9780446670005
• Release Date: April 1994
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 0.77 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.0" x 7.5"

Customer Reviews

Retreive this from oblivion and enjoy....

Chet Raymo's "The Dork of Cork" follows the night sky ruminations and meanderings of Frank Bois, diminutive bastard son of Bernadette Bois, an ambiguously sympathetic character whom you`ll either love to hate or hate to love. She is of a most rare beauty and a rarer-yet ethos and morality, particularly where she and her dwarf son have ended up: in manically-embattled Christian Ireland (and briefly in the dusty Bible Belt of America.) Trapped in his absurd dwarfism and his mother's life of amoral hedonism, Frank takes us along on his life-long quest for existential value and a platonic ideal of beauty. This duality is made all the more profound, poignant, and ironic by the stark contrast between mother and son wherein each complements the other in a sort of yin-yang template of who we all are. Where one is grotesquely stumpy and grounded in his life, the other is breathtakingly aquiline and ethereal in hers. Yet for each, the essence of self belies the exterior image and hones in on the narrative's excellent opening directive: "Begin with beauty." Mr. Raymo, for his part, does, then maintains its presence to the tale's satisfying conclusion.Narrative gems like this, "discovered" after a decade's wait on the shelves, again remind me: Good literature waits for us as long as necessary.

Highly Recommended

Raymo's book is powerful, transporting, humorous and sad all at once. After reading this work, I understand the difference between language and prose.The novel is historical, scientific, human and mythic, budled into a page turning compact work.Fantastic.

unique, poetic and lyrical

I can't say enough about this terrific but little known book. When you read a brief summary of the plot, it almost sounds like a spoof -- come on! An irish dwarf astronomer? But, Raymo is really a great writer and produces an absorbing and magical book that is about everything! It's philosphical, down to earth, magical, all while recounting a fascinating tale. Really it's quite hard to describe Raymo's achievement here, but it is an achievement. Take all the reviewer's word for it and read it yourself. I happen to love astronomy, so I hold it dear to my heart in my list of favorites.

This book will stay in my heart forever.

Every now and then a book gives me a glimpse into the meaning of life. Marquez did it for me in Love in the Time of Cholera, Proulx did it in The Shipping News, Guterson did it in Snow Falling on Cedars. When asked to describe what I mean, I can only say that these are books about "Everything." With his lyrical writing and beautiful characters, Raymo has given me another glimpse into The Everything. Ironically, there aren't enough stars to convey my feeling for this book.

Yes, it makes you think. You have been warned.

I stumbled across The Dork of Cork purely by chance. I was at my local library, researching dwarfism, and this novel popped up amidst the nonfiction titles in the list. What the hey, I took a look, scanned the description on the back cover. Ireland. Hmmm. That resonated with my love of things Celtic. I opened and started skimming the first chapter. That was it. I borrowed it, read it thoroughly, argued with it (and Frank!) all the while, and got a few long journal entries and a decent poem written as a result of my labors. And, of course, I went out and bought a copy of my own. I guess there are some people whose idea of a good time is to just read a book, not to be philosophically engaged by one and analyze the blessed thing to death. But if you are, like myself, one of the latter, do yourself a favor and read The Dork of Cork. It's beautifully written, to boot.