The Lie of the Land:Irish Identities
This collection of essays is drawn from Fintan O'Toole's writings over two decades. Its portraits of people - talk-show hosts, priests, children, pop stars - and its reports of social and political upheaval, reveal a country still in search of itself, but more at ease with its complexities.
The Lie of the Land is a highly engaging study of Ireland’s fractured and shifting identities by one of its most talented writers. From its sometimes confused sense of place, caught somewhere between Europe and America, Ireland has redefined itself in the 1990s. Fintan O’Toole highlights the contradictions and the mythologies at work in Ireland’s ever-changing idea of itself.
Reviews
Scintillatingly intelligent journalism ... Fintan O'Toole is one of Ireland's most talented journalists.
O'Toole's weapons are laconic wit, a finely tuned sense of the ridiculous or anomalous and a spare, beautiful style. The concentrated energy of these essays, the richness of reference, their mordant humour can only be indicated in quotations: they demand to be read and re-read.
[O'Toole] argues his case with much insight, wry humour and a touch of the blarney
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[The Lie of the Land] is both acute and liberating. The debunking of national myths, so often the favourite pastime of academics and the intelligentsia, is nowhere more needed than in Ireland... O'Toole's work will be lapped up by those who enjoy living with paradox and irony.
, Literary Review -
Full of insight ... O'Toole peers into the soul of Ireland and the Irish: he finds paradoxes on every street, in every field.
, Financial Times -
A series of elegant essays on Irish identities...Such is O'Toole's way with metaphor that [these essays] shine brilliantly.
, Scotsman -
A riveting and curious look at the state of Ireland at the end of the century. Heartfelt and passionate. O'Toole's ruminations effectively map a changing Ireland.
Kirkus Reviews