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Summary: Soulfully depicted: the quintessence of love and Irishness
Review: If the Irish soul did not exist it would be necessary to invent it...The tenderness, variety and fragility of love can only be depicted by people who truly understand it. The author is one such person. Through his eyes one sees Irish love - a luminous martyred butterfly - battered by circumstances, leaving its trail of perfumed love dust floating in the wind of our senses. Divine.
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Summary: FOUR LETTERS reaffirmed my hope in love triumphing at last.
Review: Instead of another depressing book about the Irish troubles, Williams has written a beautiful and hopeful story about love in a world that is terribly flawed. Faith is the only way to find this love, and by the end of the book you believe that it really is possible. Several stories of hard, hard lives in tumultuous Ireland that eventually bring together two young people whose entire lives have been preparing them to love each other. It sounds cheesy but for some reason it isn't--instead it is blissfully perfect. Niall Williams has endeared himself to me forever for the beauty of his language in this work, both in the service of good things and the heart breaking. The most memorable line says, of Peter and Isabel, that the moment she fell in love with him be fell out of love with her.
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Summary: Incredible and mystifying...
Review: It is no doubt one of the best books I have ever read. I came across this book by chance, and once I had it in my hands, was unable to put it down. The story is crafted beautifully, and the intrigue is, in part, due to the fact that Nicholas and Isabel do not even cross paths until much later in the book. I found this book haunting and lovely; a wonderful edition to anyone's bedside bookshelf.
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Summary: Miracles that might filter your dis-beliefs
Review: Many of the pages of this beautifully written book drew me into the moments of miracles which occured throughout. The island off Galway came alive for me as did the characters who eventually dispelled my cynicism.
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Summary: Trys to hard
Review: Niall Williams admits in the interview he tried to make every sentence perfect in an attempt to get this book published. As I writer myself, I know that you can try too hard and rewrite too many times. Williams' writing and sentence structure taken in small doses are dazzling but grouped too closely together, the shine is lost. The plot and characters are also veiled by the flowery, gem-like sentences one after another. As for the ending, it lacked a strong finish to satisfy the imagination.
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Summary: Lyrical prose in narrative form
Review: Niall Williams captures the heart of all who struggle to examine themselves. In this particular work, he brings forth such imagery that the reader cannot help to be transcended to that particular moment and the feelings that he wants his readers to feel are evoked with these ease of master's paintbrush. The literary piece is truly masterful yet in some instances difficult to follow as the character's lives are interwoven like bits of thread in a gallant tapistry. Once immersed in the character's lives, a hunger emerges to read on and discover their outcome. I found it like lyrical prose in narrative form, he is truly an artist!! I look forward to reading more.
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Summary: Beautifully Written
Review: Niall Williams has a gift. He can describe eternity from the Irish point of view. Four Letters of Love is an eminently Irish story. It assumes a Catholic or Christian perspective of man as destined for eternity and guided by Providence even though it succumbs to fatalism. Mr. Williams aptly takes one through the journey of two similar souls that begin very much apart but converge towards each other in subtle, Providential ways. What distinguishes this book from many a story of two souls is the author's rare ability to describe life through "kairos" -- that Greek word for time signifying the convergece of time and place that resembles eternity -- rather than by "chronos" (or chronological events). And that, by itself, makes Four Letters of Love a truly poetic and human story. A story of love, true Irish love. By the end on the book one feels as Irish as the characters themselves, tossed by the tides of the sea much like the Irish coasts that play such an important role in the book. Mr. Williams' grammar is a joy to read and this book should be a must in the collection of ambitious writers and those seeking to understand the Irish a bit more. I recommend it for its rare purity and for its magnificent use of the English language.
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Summary: Spellbinding, Lucid, Picturesque, Permeating!
Review: Oh, how did I not find this book until now?
I'll give the very FEW downfalls, first.
It felt rushed towards the end, and I feel some of the most key events should undoubtedly been elaborated.
Next, WHY?? (is this not a movie YET??)
Incredibly moving, life changing.
The characters are so very well fleshed out, the smells, sounds, sights... were all so very REAL, I not only could see, smell, hear it all happening, most often it felt even deeper than that!
I felt like I knew the characters more than myself.
A perfect blend of tragedy, transendence, wonder, mystical beauty, a bit of wit, and life changing philosophical prose.
DO NOT~ pass this book up.
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Summary: Extraordinary Insight
Review: One may judge the characters and the events of the separate sub-plots and how they come together in this book any number of ways. I enjoyed the creativity and the spiritual implications. But what I found extraordinary about "The Four Letters of Love" was the insight Williams has into human beings - the emotions and the sensations in particular, but also the choices we make in living every day, as a result of hundreds of moments (split second events) that occur all the time, which test and shape our character. For reasons we rarely understand, these moments open and close doors which have huge consequences on our lives. I found myself going back and re-reading certain sections, either to enjoy them again, or to make sure I understood. The "quality per square inch" (I just made that ratio up) is about as high in this work as any I've ever had the pleasure to read. Anyway, I thought the book very well written, each page a justification in its own right. My thanks to the author.
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Summary: Every sentence and paragraph a gem
Review: Part of my reading discipline is to keep an ongoing list of titles recommended to me by friends or reviewers, and keeping this list with me at my library and bookstores. Irish writer Niall Williams Four Letters of Love appeared on this list some time last year, and I somewhat hesitantly checked it out of my library when it last became available. Given the title, I thought it would be too much of a "women's book." What a delight!! This is a story of a young man (Nicholas) whose father is told by God to quit work as a bureaucrat and paint. Off an island of Ireland, a young boy (Sean) falls mute and lame while playing with his sister, Isabel, and Isabel goes off to the mainland for school and, it seems, a loveless marriage. Through serendipity, Nicholas comes to the island to recover the painting of his now-dead father given as a poetry prize to Isabel's father, somehow cures Sean, then falls hopelessly in love with the now-married Isabel. Although Isabel's mother destroys the love letters written by the pining Sean to the unhappy Isabel (the "Letters of Love"), William's vision -- sort of a combined Irish folklore and magical realism -- makes clear that the love of Isabel and Nicholas is inevitable, and nothing her mom (or anyone else) might do will keep them apart. Every sentence and paragraph of this fine book is a gem. William's powers of description and characterizations are so strong that I believe he would make a dictionary interesting. That he applies these formidable skills to this beautiful story redounds to the reader's great pleasure. Savor this book, its language and characters, and its most satisfying ending!
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