A Long Long Way is an excellent sleep aid. Unfortunately, I was trying to read it on the bus, where falling asleep just makes you miss your stop, rather than in bed, where falling asleep gets you a good night's rest.

This book is the story of young Willie Dunne, born in the closing years of the 19th century, son of a Dublin policeman. We get the story of his childhood in a few short pages at the start of the book; then we jump straight into Willie's volunteering to go and fight in the British trenches in 1914. He then proceeds to spend an interminable number of pages (and years) sitting in trenches scratching lice and seeing fellow Irish die. This appears to be interspersed with randomly spaced visits home, where he argues with his father over the events in Ireland at the time - the Easter Rising, and all the political tension both leading up to and arising from the British screwups handling it. Although to be honest, I'm not entirely sure how that impacts the storyline, because by the time it showed up, I was skipping fifteen to twenty pages at a time, skimming through to try and pick up any threads of storyline that might actually be worth reading through the intervening pages for. I didn't find any.

If you're looking for a good read, don't pick up this book. If you're looking for a cure for insomnia - might as well try it, it's surely not good for much else.



Marianne (Australia) (2012/08/11):
A Long Long Way is the 8th novel by Irish author Sebastian Barry. It tells the story of Willie Dunne, a young Dublin man who joins the British Army as a Private in the Royal Dublin Fusiliers. He leaves his much loved, widowed father, James and three younger sisters, as well as Gretta, the girl he wants to marry, to fight the Germans in Belgium during the First World War During his time in the army, he faces much and learns a lot about himself and the world. He witness the death of comrades at the hands of the Germans, sees many casualties end up in unmarked graves and witnesses an execution after court martial. He describes the horrors of mustard gas, the nuisance of lice and ringworm, the misery of homesickness, the distress of hunger and cold as well as the camaraderie and love for his fellow soldiers, the joy of letters and parcels from home, reading, dancing, plays and singing. Willie encounters firsthand the discrimination of British Officers against Irish enlisted men. The myriad of thoughts and feelings that pass through a man’s mind during the heat of battle are expressed in language appropriate for Willie’s education and background, giving it a most authentic feel. As Willie begins to wonder about his place in the war, his doubts affect the relationship with James. Barry touches on some provocative topics: rape and other atrocities committed during wartime and conscientious objection. Using highly evocative prose, Barry slowly builds a wonderfully moving story of depth and emotion enough to bring me to tears.