The Rainbnow Singer

by Simon Kerr

The narrator of this harrowing and hilarious novel is Wil Carson, a former Protestant ex-thug from Northern Ireland. Wils adolescent hatred of Catholics is inherited from his bigoted father, but his... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0786867981
• ISBN13: 9780786867981
• Release Date: June 2002
• Publisher: Hyperion Books
• Length: 279 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.9" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

This is not a YA novel!

...just because a narrator is 14-years-old, it does not automatically make it a young adult novel. Fiction can be written from any perspective, any age. Moreover, the narrator of the The Rainbow Singer is NOT 14-years-old. He is retelling the events that happened when he was 14 from his prison cell fifteen years later. And yes, that does make it a bit of page-turner because you want to know what he did to end up in prison during his trip to America.This novel is so pertinent to the anniversary of September 11 - because it really explores what makes hatred, especially hatred that lasts for centuries. So while the target audience is not Young Adults, it certainly wouldn't hurt them to read the novel.

Simon Kerr's debut novel is a must read!

Simon Kerr's debut novel, The Rainbow Singer, is at once both poignantly funny and tragic. Wil Carson, the book's engaging narrator, is a product of his violence-torn environment, a fourteen year-old boy on the verge of manhood in Ulster, Northern Ireland, hanging around with the UFF--Ulster Freedom Fighters--his gang of Protestant-born mates, terrorizing the "Taig" (Catholic) families in the local neighborhoods. He's fascinated with American movies and heavy metal music and jumps at the unexpected chance to spend a month in the "relative peace of the unwild midwest USA." The catch - the scot-free vacation in the States is courtesy of Project Ulster, a joint effort between the local Protestant and Catholic churches to show a group of unimpressed teenagers (ten Protestants and ten Catholics) that there is a path other than the familiar one of violence, prejudice and hate. From the very beginning of the trip Wil is persecuted mercilessly by two Catholic boys, Seamus and Peter. He makes a halfhearted effort to resist the fighting, antagonistic urges inside, instead throwing himself headlong into the awkward pursuit of Teresa, one of the Catholic girls. A series of run-ins with the Catholic boys on Project outings makes the situation increasingly more volatile. But it's not until he's encouraged by his fifteen year-old American host and friend, Derry "the Hulk," that Wil begins to lose control and the "tit-for-tat" feuding spirals into an inevitable act of horrifying violence. The very heart of terrorism is laid open by the unique, engaging voice of Wil Carson. Simon Kerr has brought to life an intense, sharp-witted boy you'll want to hate, but can't help but love. The Rainbow Singer is a graphic but necessary read.

a butchering boy's story

I read The Rainbow Singer in one go. I found it funny and yet deadly serious at the same time. Heavy Metal fantasies and pop psychology, Loyalist terrorism and pop TV--a strange mixture, but it really works. I tried not to like Wil Carson the narrator, but he reminded me of Pat McCabe's Francie Brady, only more direct, and so I couldn't help it. If you like black humour, and Ireland, it doesn't come of age much better.