The Gamal

This was a fence-rider for me. I think it is literary brilliance; it has all the hallmarks of a great post-modern novel: an unreliable narrator, lots of profanity, stream of consciousness, and a strong cultural milieu. I read about 120 pages before I decided to give up.

What was the problem? Ciaran Collins made me work too hard. I might be able to come back to this novel sometime in the summer after my teacher-brain has had a chance to crash and reboot. Until then it was asking a bit much for me to translate Gaelic phrases and piece together the ramblings of a mentally ill protagonist, who also happened to be quite a disruptive student. (You can imagine my guttural reaction to that facet of the Gamal, which means "fool" in Irish.)

If you have time to fool around with this book, you should certainly read it, especially if the thought of a Catcher in the Rye written by James Joyce sounds appealing to you. As for me, we'll have to see.