COSTA BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD WINNERLONGLISTED FOR THE 2017 MAN BOOKER PRIZE“A true leftfield wonder: Days Without End is a violent, superbly lyrical western offering a sweeping vision of America in the making.”—Kazuo Ishiguro, Booker Prize winning author of The Remains of the Day and The Buried GiantFrom the two-time Man Booker Prize finalist Sebastian Barry, “a master storyteller” (Wall Street … Prize finalist Sebastian Barry, “a master storyteller” (Wall Street Journal), comes a powerful new novel of duty and family set against the American Indian and Civil Wars
Thomas McNulty, aged barely seventeen and having fled the Great Famine in Ireland, signs up for the U.S. Army in the 1850s. With his brother in arms, John Cole, Thomas goes on to fight in the Indian Wars—against the Sioux and the Yurok—and, ultimately, the Civil War. Orphans of terrible hardships themselves, the men find these days to be vivid and alive, despite the horrors they see and are complicit in.
Moving from the plains of Wyoming to Tennessee, Sebastian Barry’s latest work is a masterpiece of atmosphere and language. An intensely poignant story of two men and the makeshift family they create with a young Sioux girl, Winona, Days Without End is a fresh and haunting portrait of the most fateful years in American history and is a novel never to be forgotten.
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A true leftfield wonder: Days Without End is a violent, superbly lyrical western offering a sweeping vision of America in the making, the most fascinating line-by-line first person narration I’ve come across in years.
An epic story of the American west before and after the Civil War. The young narrator has wisdom and determination to survive injustice and the horrors of war. Beautiful language. I will be haunted by the story but feel rewarded for discovering the work of Barry.
I am pretty sure I cried a few times during this reading. In fact, I used the audio book and the narrator had an Irish accent to go with the first person POV. That made it even more real. It’s violent, tragic, and somehow sweet on the side. The author sure put his characters through some rough and sobering times. There is a sequel I keep planning on reading.
Rich!
An amazing read. One of the most enjoyable books I’ve read in a year.
This is such an extraordinary book. So beautifully written. Two young immigrant boys dressing up as women to entertain miners in the wild west might ordinarily be only mildly intriguing, but the innocence and application of manners in a harsh world are wonderfully evoked. Innocence is then stripped away as the boys grow up, join the army and have a part in the massacres of native Americans and see more horrors in the civil war. But humanity and enduring relationships are at the heart of the story. This is the best book I’ve read in the last couple of years.
Didn’t like book!
Mr. Barry writes like no other; poetic, lyrical, and utterly absorbing. The story is told from the viewpoint of a poor Irish immigrant to the United States in the 1850’s who ends up joining the Army, basically because it is a job. After the Civil War, he goes west with the Army in the fight against the native Indian population. It is a dark moment in this nation’s history but the indomitable will to survive and build some kind of a life makes this still a moving story.
War is hell, no matter the war. Somehow two men made a family with an orphaned Indian girl child. A very hard read due somewhat to style of long paragraphs with little punctuation. Still, a beautiful book
Interesting, off-beat western of two gay guys.
An extraordinary book. Set in 1850’s, the protagonist fights in both the Indian Wars and the Civil War. A trump of storytelling.
It was a realistic in showing life in the Army (Calvery) the USA in the 1800’s, in the West with Native Americans and then the same characters in the Civil War fighting for the North.
I cared about the characters and the hardships and cruelty of their experiences.
I feel it was sadly realistic, expressing the cruelty that is still very evident in today’s world.
There is a plot twist to the story that was unexpected (although revealed fairly early on) that makes this a bit different from your typical Western historical novel. The writing was solid and the character development was strong for the main characters, but there were some characters who could have benefited from greater depth and the novel seemed to rush to the ending in the second half of the book.
Beautifully written!
This book was an absolute waste of time. I made it through half the book before deciding to delete it from my library. Unredeeming characters with no moral compass.
I lost interest as the character seemed disconnected from his experiences.
I did not enjoy this book
Great characters, insights into our growth as a nation. A wonderful family response to a situation that will always exist. Loved John Cole.
I couldn’t get through this book, probably because of my own background. It’s hard to read credible recreations 19th century attitudes of whites toward Native Americans. Also, I found reading the narrative written in argot a bit difficult to get used to. No doubt, this is a worthy book, it just wasn’t for me.
Not really worth my time to read.