Map of Ireland: A Novel

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Map of Ireland is a slender and engaging I read the whole thing on an intercity bus ride work about a queer teenager who falls in adoration with her Black French teacher during the first year of busing, , in South Boston. The French teacher is not what she seems to be, and the general confusion and animosity in their part of the city lead to events beyond what happens in the usual coming-of-age tale.

There is a lot of good writing here, including a strangely romantic and erotic encounter an Map of Ireland is a slender and engaging I read the whole thing on an intercity bus ride work about a queer teenager who falls in adoration with her Black French teacher during the first year of busing, , in South Boston. There is a lot of good writing here, including a strangely romantic and erotic encounter and some pointed and complex characterizations especially of Ann's mother. But I was sorry about the ending. Ann proves that she can't yet? I was disappointed with the book itself after reading through Ann's final decisions and actions, but on reflection I think it was admirable of the author to choose a somewhat unusual perspective and denouement for her story.

Ann at the end of the book is just as clueless about her role -- both symbolic and specific -- in a racially divided and changing society. Although she is herself from an insular ethnic community that inspires both fear and fascination, she can't comprehend why there might be a movement for Black separatism, much less why anyone would take part in struggles that have nothing to do with their own people. And while she's the center of her story, and, by extension, the reader's, she can't see that she's not actually the story here.

As one character scolds her, "White people were always asking Black people to bear witness to their lives, to their humanity The jacket copy makes a sentimental stab at having Ann "[embark] on a journey that leads her Dec 22, Naitasia rated it did not like it Shelves: This book did not need to be written. I hate this book. I read the acknowledgments, did this author consult any black people or any non-white resources?

The MC is a tragic case of white savior complex wrapped in white privilege and selfishness and filled with excuses. It has very little to do with busing in Southie. There has to be something wrong with those blacks for their subgroup and not wanting to forgive Ann, of course. Aug 13, Kathryn Bundy rated it liked it Shelves: There are things I really like about this book its honesty, grittiness, the consistent voice of a questioning, confused teenager.

There are other things that I had trouble with cultural assumptions not shared with the reader, some flat, unavailable characters, the cluelessness of the main character at times when it would seem she should have been learning or observing more keenly. I think what struck me most was the underlying theme of white privilege. That speaks to the cluelessness, so There are things I really like about this book its honesty, grittiness, the consistent voice of a questioning, confused teenager. That speaks to the cluelessness, so I'm going to assume the author was going for that characteristic.

She was the perfect example of the "fish swimming in water" analogy; I spent most of the book wanting to slap her around.

• Map of Ireland - A Novel (Paperback);
• Ireland - The North: Belfast, Londonderry, The Sperrins, Armagh & the Kingdoms of Down (Travel Adventures).
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But then I would remember that she's only 16 and has been immersed in the culture of South Boston all her life, so in spite of her outsider position from being a lesbian, she still wasn't able to generalize that experience to the issue of race. There were gems buried in this book. Every so often I had to reread a sentence or a paragraph because it struck me so forcefully. Overall, I'm glad I read it, but I sure don't want to meet any of these characters in real life! Oct 23, Mary rated it it was amazing. Painful, cleanly written story of a year-old Irish-American kid from Southie, and her inner and outer struggles in Boston against the people her people fear, and her people themselves.

She smacks into the discomfort of deeply inculturated racism as it seeps into her home life and her attempts to understand and realize her own unspooling sexuality. Cliche free, no easy answers, beautifully written. I know the author, who also wrote The Passion of Alice. Apr 13, Kelly rated it liked it. This is decent coming of age novel set in south Boston in It has more YA than adult appeal, I think, and deals with the topics class, race, and sexuality in somewhat interesting and accessible ways.

Mar 17, Holly rated it it was amazing Recommends it for: This book blew me away. Aug 17, Lisa rated it it was ok Shelves: Not a book I would have finished had it not been for the book club I am in. I felt there were many issues that could have been addressed in deeper detail yet the author skimmed over the top of many. More discussion around racial issues, sexuality, adolescence, finding your voice, standing for justice, etc.

Jan 11, KJ rated it really liked it. The ending was entirely unsatisfying, because it was not at all what I wanted. But it was realistic. More than that, it's what would have happened in this imperfect world. Sometimes, the protagonist does not learn her lesson in the course of pages, but she might get a little bit closer to understanding.

Just the tiniest bit. Ann Ahearn is a frustrating protagonist - she is crafted perfectly to represent the racist Irish Catholic of s Boston. As an Irish Catholic Bostonian in the s, I The ending was entirely unsatisfying, because it was not at all what I wanted. As an Irish Catholic Bostonian in the s, I saw so much of myself and my community in Ann, especially our most prominent flaws that are rarely recognized. Map of Ireland was an excellent exploration of busing and desegregation in the North, where racism was supposedly solved long before Martin Luther King, Jr.

Anyone who has lived in Boston knows that's not true. And this book is a testament to what people experienced in the 70s in the wake of the Civil Rights Movement and what many continue to experience in our imperfect community of racists and bigots. More than anything, this book frustrated me, because the character of Ann Ahearn was real. Her actions - though cowardly - were exactly what so many Bostonians would have done and did. The book was true. In so many ways. What golden nuggets there were. And, of course, a queer character?

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I need more of those in my historical fiction. Overall, I highly recommend this book. It will frustrate you. It will bother you. It will make you want to dive into its pages and explain racism to Ann Ahearn. But if you are white and you are from Boston and you want to know the tiniest sliver of history about our Town and race relations, then this is the book for you. If you like queer historical fiction, then this is for you.

Map of Ireland: A Novel - Stephanie Grant - Google Книги

If you want to understand the inner-workings of a racist sixteen year old lesbian, then this is for you. Feb 09, Paul Pessolano rated it liked it. The story, although fictional, is based kon the racial upheaval that took place in Boston in the 's. Ann is coming into her own as a young lady and is facing the many questions that all of us have faced during this period in our lives. Although she is Catholic, she has come to the realization that she does not believe in a God, but maintains a facade for her mother.

She is also faced with her own sexu The story, although fictional, is based kon the racial upheaval that took place in Boston in the 's. She is also faced with her own sexuality and feels that she is more attracted to girls than boys. All of this is happening during the social upheaval in the predominately poor Irish Catholic community in South Boston. Mothers are protesting the integration of the schools and teenagers are raising havoc in the streets.

Ann becomes infatuated with her French teacher, who is an exchange teacher from France and who is black. Ann, again, findws herself at another crossroads in her life when she realizes she seems to have more in common with the black community than in her "Southie" community. Ann finds that her French teacher may be more than just a teacher and may have ties to the Black Panther organization. When the teacher has her car torched by young Irish gang members, Ann is approached to identify a gang member. When she refuses she is shunned by those who she thought were her friends.

The story is well told and explores the plight of these two different ethnic groups through the eyes of a young girl. A word of caution to the reader in that there is some sexual content to the story. Apr 12, Betsy rated it really liked it. Stephanie Grant has created a flawed and quite believable character in Ann Ahern whose world of South Boston erupts when black students begin to be bused in from neighboring predominantly Black area of Roxbury and Jamaica Plain.

Ann has always been an outsider in her own community. Having acknowledged her lesbianism, she is ostracized and beat up on a regular basis by classmates and even her older brother. Through all of this somehow her Irish Catholic mother has never learned about her sex Stephanie Grant has created a flawed and quite believable character in Ann Ahern whose world of South Boston erupts when black students begin to be bused in from neighboring predominantly Black area of Roxbury and Jamaica Plain.

Through all of this somehow her Irish Catholic mother has never learned about her sexual identity even though everyone is Southie knows everyone else's business. Ann becomes even more of an outsider when she develops a crush on her new French teacher, Mademoiselle Eugenie an exchange teacher from France who is of African descent.

When Ann and a black classmate take an unauthorized road trip to see Mademoiselle Eugenie who is hiding out with friends on Cape Cod after being forced by fanatical Southie boys to witness the torching of her car, Ann learns things about herself that make her both more comfortable in her skin and extremely uncomfortable. What kind of a stand can she take when to rat someone out she will be completely ostracized from the only community she knows and if she doesn't speak up, is she just as bad as the boy who struck the match?

There are no easy answers in this story which makes it both genuine and uncomfortable. Grant's work is a quick read but leaves the reader with much to ponder. Ann Ahern is 16 and living in South Boston. Her pale skin, blue eyes, red hair and freckles are as clear an indication of her Irish heritage as a map of Ireland.

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Ann explains how she came to be serving a month sentence for burning down the house of a friend. It happens when she was only just beginning to learn about the fires of passion; she gets a crush on her Senegalese French teacher, Madmoiselle Eugenie, and falls in love with Rochelle, a Black teammate on her basketball team.

The fact tha Ann Ahern is 16 and living in South Boston. The fact that Ann is romantically interested in her own sex is not such a big thing for her, because she has been attracted to girls for a long time, but the colour barrier is a big one. Ann's mother is one of the women kneeling with rosaries in front of the busses, praying that the Black students will go back to their own neighbourhood.

Parents throw rocks at busses containing young students. A group of boys lights Madmoiselle Eugenie's car on fire. This is a short, gripping novel about coming-of-age in a complex situation. It has been marketed as an adult novel, yet has very much of a YA feel to it. Grade 9 and up. Jun 15, Rebecca rated it liked it. This author spoke at the library where I work a couple of years back, which is when I bought the book and she signed it. Her reading and discussion of the book were very compelling at the time, but then I just never got around to picking this up until now.

It was a good, quick read; I liked the narrator character.

Map of Ireland

So it was interesting to see the parallels between the true story and this one -- in fact, because the other one was about real people, I had to stop several times during this book to remind myself that this was NOT a true story. Anyway, it offered an interesting perspective on that time period in Boston's history and a neat, albeit brief, glimpse of Northeastern University in the '70s. The graphic lesbian love scene in one chapter, I maybe could have done without, though, and I found the book's ending somewhat unsatisfying. Still, it was worth reading and I'm glad I finally got around to it.

May 19, Tori Rickard rated it liked it. In Maps of Ireland I found I enjoyed quite a few areas of her book where difficult topics were addressed, including some pointed and complex characterizations especially of Ann's mother. But I was almost disappointed about the ending. Ann proves that she can't rise above the influence of her predominately white Irish community, even though her lesbianism has cast her out of its inner embrace. I was disappointed with the book itself after reading through Ann's final disheartening acts, but on r In Maps of Ireland I found I enjoyed quite a few areas of her book where difficult topics were addressed, including some pointed and complex characterizations especially of Ann's mother.

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I was disappointed with the book itself after reading through Ann's final disheartening acts, but on reflection I think it was admirable of the author to choose a somewhat unusual perspective and denouement for her story. What bothers me the most about this book, Ann at the end of the book is just as clueless about her role both symbolic and specific in a racially divided and changing society, as she was in the beginning.

Although she is herself from an insular ethnic community, It bothers me that she can't comprehend why there might be a movement for Black separatism, as if it is not in her scope of understanding, much less why anyone would take part in struggles that have nothing to do with their own immediate community. Aug 17, Katie rated it liked it.

You have a tom-boy lesbian who is struggling with her sexuality, her pyromania, and her fascination with black people she is white. Of course all kinds of tension are present and our heroine Ann just kind of goes for it. Ann grabs on to life whenever the opportunity presents itself. Her pyromania is really just an expression of her repression and her inability to effectively connect with anyone.

Stephanie Grant really puts it all out there. She makes some brave choices and Ann is a fully realised character. Apr 03, Nancy rated it really liked it Shelves: Set in Boston in the early 70s, this is the story of a city torn apart by racial hatred exasperated by newly introduced school desegregation, and of a white teen struggling with racism, her sexuality, her crush on her Senegalese French teacher, and her sexual initiation with one of the black girls on her basketball team. Ann wants to think that she can at least be friends with her teammate, if not girlfriends, but an episode of racial violence directed at her French teacher, in which she could na Set in Boston in the early 70s, this is the story of a city torn apart by racial hatred exasperated by newly introduced school desegregation, and of a white teen struggling with racism, her sexuality, her crush on her Senegalese French teacher, and her sexual initiation with one of the black girls on her basketball team.

Ann wants to think that she can at least be friends with her teammate, if not girlfriends, but an episode of racial violence directed at her French teacher, in which she could name the assailants but refuses to do so out of a sense of ethics which prevent her from doing so, causes an irreparable rift between them. The details of time and place, as well as the ethical and emotional struggles of Ann all ring true. Jun 01, Annie rated it really liked it Shelves: I spent much of this book wincing at the assumptions and racism present in the situations the characters were enmeshed in.

That sort of awkwardness and discomfort can be extremely appealing when much of our world is sugar-coated and pc-ified. For a first novel, I thought the author did an excellent job of having a main character who grew up, but not so much that I was disbelieving of everything she said and thought. This stunning novel takes on race and sexuality with beauty, grace, and humanity.

When Ann Ahern, a year-old born into a tight-knit Irish-American community, begins her junior year of high school South Boston is in a tumult - Catholic mothers are kneeling in the streets blockading buses of black children from the public schools and teenagers are raising havoc. Ann, an outsider in her own world, is infatuated with her French teacher, Mademoiselle Eugenie, a woman of African descent. Spurred by her adoration for Eugenie, Ann embarks on a journey that leads her beyond South Boston, through the fringes of the Black Power movement, into love and ultimately to the truth about herself.

Stephanie Grant's searing prose, powerful storytelling, and richly drawn characters bring this turbulent moment in American history into perfect focus. Paperback - Trade Pages: Review This Product No reviews yet - be the first to create one! Subscribe to our newsletter Some error text Name. Email address subscribed successfully.

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