Waiting for the Healer: A Novel

By Eamonn Sweeney

Book Overview

Paul Kelly is the manager of a successful pub in southeast London, but his life has become a constant drunken binge since his wife's death. When Paul's brother Johnny is murdered, their mother calls... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312200463
• ISBN13: 9780312200466
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Picador
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.2" x 0.9" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

Excellent Read

This was the first time I've read Eamonn Sweeney and I was very impressed. I look forward to his next novel. "Waiting For The Healer" might be difficult for Americans because of the slang and allusions, but the book is worth the effort. The short clipped sentences are strange at first, but after a bit work well. His depiction of modern Ireland might not fit well with many people, and is not PC (Travellers are not all nice) but is quite believable and convincing to anyone from there or someone who has visiting more than the popular ruins.If you like Dennis Lehane, you will like Sweeney.

Tough Love

Like many Irish novels, this is a bittersweet read, featuring the familiar themes of drink, revenge, and coming home. Paul left Ireland years ago and has become a success in the London pub business, he has a young daughter, a bright Kiwi girlfriend, and the strong inner demon of a dead wife haunting him. He is called back to his village home by the murder of his younger brother, and reluctantly arrives with 4-year old Kaya in tow. He spends most of his time in pubs with old acquaintances, brother-in-law, and so forth. At one of these excursions, a man walks into the pub and kills his brother's best friend, Beetlejuice. Soon, Beetlejuice's brother Bumper gets in touch with Paul and ropes him into a scheme to kill whoever killed their brothers. Paul agrees, more because he feels like he should, than any desire to kill anyone. The revenge themes are not new, but Paul is an interesting a sympathetic figure who, by the end of the book, is ultimately at a better place. A word of caution, the book has loads of Irish slang which may mystify those not familiar with the vernacular. If you like this, also try Eureka Street and Joseph O'Connor's The Saleman.