The Banyan Tree

Rating:
Summary: Hurrah for purple prose
Review: A wonderful story ruined by the author's constant attempts to come up with original and oh-so-clever descriptions (which in my opinion is the case with many poems). A few such sentences sprinkled throughout the book could have been tolerated, but practically every paragraph was just too much.

Rating:
Summary: C. Nolan: An artist at work
Review: Christoper Nolan painted this story as an artist paints a masterpiece. With each stroke of the pen, he etched in my mind the events of the past and present of the characters.

Rating:
Summary: C. Nolan: An artist at work
Review: Christoper Nolan painted this story as an artist paints a masterpiece. With each stroke of the pen, he etched in my mind the events of the past and present of the characters.

Rating:
Summary: Today's Answer to James Joyce
Review: I am interested in reading books by modern day Irish authors, and I did not regret having selected Christopher Nolan's book. What got me interested was in learning that the author is physically challenged, but Mr. Nolan is a literary genius.

There might be some inaccuracies in the time and the dates in the story line, but with the prose, and literary style of Mr. Nolan, the reader floats through this wonderful book.

Rating:
Summary: Today's Answer to James Joyce
Review: I am interested in reading books by modern day Irish authors, and I did not regret having selected Christopher Nolan's book. What got me interested was in learning that the author is physically challenged, but Mr. Nolan is a literary genius.

There might be some inaccuracies in the time and the dates in the story line, but with the prose, and literary style of Mr. Nolan, the reader floats through this wonderful book.

Rating:
Summary: The lush prose of a simple woman's life
Review: I read this brilliant novel thanks to an Amazon friend, entirely unfamiliar with this gifted author. From the first page, I willingly immersed my imagination in his uncommon phrasing and particular eye for description, where the ordinary becomes extraordinary and the plain beautiful. A simple tale of a mother's last years of widowhood and patient wait for worldly release becomes a transforming journey through the corridors of her soul, one not unlike the hidden beauty of my own mother's heart, perhaps, eventually, even of mine. For Minnie O'Brien is, at the core, the essence of motherhood at its most elemental and complex. We learn of her marriage and children through a loving wife and mother's eyes, she who remembers those precious childhood moments, when such sweet intimacy can pierce a heart with pain and joy in equal measure.

From the start, Minnie and Peter O'Brien form a love match that sustains them through the years, raising three children. Brendan, the first-born, is enamored of a life in the Church, begun as a missionary, leading ultimately to a position as a Bishop. Their daughter, Sheila, has set down her own roots in England, established her own family. And the youngest O'Brien, Frankie, has heard the siren-call of wanderlust, impatient to begin his vague pursuit of worldly travel. Each of the O'Brien children step impulsively into their own futures, but of all, Minnie's heart refuses to relinquish the hope that Frankie, the prodigal son, will one day return. Into her eighth decade, she wills her aching bones and weary mind to keep moving through the daily necessities of their small farm, frequently lost in reverie, dancing over the fields of yesterday, reliving the passions of her youth.

THE BANYAN TREE pulses with extravagant language, reforming archaic definitions, rendering sentences fresh and beautiful as the Emperor's New Clothes. The pages resonate with a passion for life, the intransigence of beauty, and, of course, the ultimate expectation of forgiveness. Don't read this book unless you love the taste of words on your tongue, or the turn of phrase as sensitive as a lover's glance that spreads across your face like fire. This novel is a treasure for those with an insatiable thirst for the road less traveled, the impulse to scale walls of words that become fanciful towers of impossible heights... and, as well, a willingness to abandon reasoning to genius.

Rating:
Summary: What an Stunning Novel
Review: I stumbled onto this novel by accident one day surfing around the Amazon site and I am so happy I picked this book up. It's an amazing story told by a man with an equally amazing story. I only hope we don't have to wait another 12 years for Nolan's next novel. The Banyon Tree pulls you in immediately and keeps you reading until the last page with prose that will take your breath away. Nolan's characters, especially Minnie, the 80-something protagonist are so real. They are normal people but Nolan tells his tale in such a way that they become extraordinary. Minnie has three children, and waits patiently for 40 years for the youngest, the one who left one day at age 18 to return to the family's Irish farm. She keeps the farm for him, living simply, thinking every day he will come back. She, and we, don't know his fate until almost the end of the book. This is a story of family, of love, of truth, of denial. There is something magical in Nolan's storytelling, something that hints at the stories untold that circle around the story we are reading. I highly, highly recommend this book. It's a treasure.

Rating:
Summary: Words, words, and more words
Review: Not to sound hard, but a novel should stand on its own merits despite the afflictions ot the author. There is a wonderful story hidden in the purple prose. These characters could have been so incredibly moving if only Christopher Nolan had not been in love with words--and often the wrong ones. When he gets more deeply into the story, his style becomes more lilting and descriptive--the rest of the time, the language gets in the way of the story and real communication. At times, I moaned aloud at the ridiculous overuse of words just to use words, and yet, I did love Minnie and her love for her land. I would have liked to have heard more from her--the earthy, honest woman--and less from the author.

Rating:
Summary: Intoxicating
Review: Other reviewers have commented on the plot. I will focus on but one aspect of the novel - the intoxicating language. Nolan makes words sing. His descriptions are arresting, his figures of speech spellbinding, and his attention to sound value utterly astounding. If adventurous language choices delight you, read this book and then spread the word. Nolan's novel deserves far more attention than it has received.

Rating:
Summary: Ireland lives
Review: This is very much a book about Ireland and the beginning is tough to read, given the colloquialisms and use of the Irish lingo But then it relaxes and becomes a very wonderful book. The story itself might not be the novel of the century. But the way the author handles the language, inventing, reinventing and fusing it to create the most beautiful images, truly is a thing of joy. Much has been said about the author's affliction. That should not enter in a judgement of the novel. It truly is beautiful. It sings.