This is a tale about homecoming, and a completely unsentimental account of being homeless: It captures what seems most true about what drives these poor souls to the road and what keeps them there.

Six months earlier, he’d opened a fortune cookie that said he was going to have a lucky week. It is the story of Francis Phelan, an alcoholic bum who returns to his hometown, Albany, in 1938. .

And yet Phelan, the eloquent, violent, dissembling bum hero of William Kennedy’s great novel Ironweed (1983), is the master of these hands. There he meets up with his companion of many years, Helen, another alcoholic drifter. Detailed study guides typically feature a comprehensive analysis of the work, including an introduction, plot summary, character analysis, discussion of themes, excerpts of published criticism, and Q&A. I remembered a still of the movie - Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep looking like hobos - and got so het up to read it, I immediately put it onto the top of my list. This won the Pulitzer prize for good reason. Kennedy himself suggested as much to the Paris Review: “People had decided it was a depressing book, set in the Depression, about a bum, a loser, a very downbeat subject. Pleasant it was not though and i found myself skimming and desperately wanting it to end despite the mere 224pp so I could get onto something a bit cheerier. Sites like SparkNotes with a Ironweed study guide or cliff notes. It just gets me excited, not only to read again, but to write again, and to breath again, the dissections have been stifling me. "Go to heaven for the climate, hell for the company. I will always remember "Katie bar the door" and "It's too wet to plow." Ironweed shows vividly what it means to live on the fringes. Give me a bit of escapism any day over a gritty dirge of a book, depsite its literary merits. But does he forgive himself for the accident that killed his infant son? The movie was marginaly more enjoyable with another great Meryl Streep performance. I usually love books about the down and out, and this book is full of some very haunted, guilty and broken people, but it all feels just a bit too melodramatic and humorless for its own good. And surely he changes our lives, enriches our understanding of the madness of one drunk in a fellowship of rock-bottom boozers during the Great Depression. Not so the character of Francis Phelan, who returns to Albany New York in 1937 after 22 years bumming on the road. “How should this man pray?” We are asked. The fiction that I’ve been randomly pulling off my shelves has been really good to me this year. I loved the juxtaposition of those words with the world of "the bum": anything but beautiful. Ironweed, meanwhile, had been rejected by 13 publishers.

I have not read the two preceding works. It does make you think, and in some ways it good to see life from way over the other side of the tracks, to think that these people are all human and have stories to tell and histories and some semblance of a community. However, it certainly caused me to read the rest of the Albany cycle of books. Now I finally got around to reading it, and I am glad I did. Six feet below, the child stirs and decides that Francis' path to redemption and self forgiveness is about to begin. The ethereal brutality of Kennedy's novel is striking--a precursor to Lincoln in the Bardo, perhaps. I'm so tired of that with books, so many people act like they are dissecting a frog when the review these books, there is no passion and I find that disheartening. Comedic, but in a wincing way (sometimes). Reviews tend to be short and light on plot details. Ironweed Summary. Now I finally got around to reading it, and I am glad I did. If you're desperate to find out what it feels like to be a destitute Irish American living in depression-era Albany, go for it. ), the resources below will generally offer Ironweed chapter summaries, quotes, and analysis of themes, characters, and symbols. Fact is, I would probably have done the same thing if it had happened to me. They spend most of their time trying to find shelter, money, and drink. The site is known for a sarcastic, irreverent tone and a strong conservative bent. What an ordeal. The prose of this book is so gorgeous I could almost overlook that it's about a drunk, violent, nasty bum, his bum buddies, and their enablers. How could you resume your life as a responsible, contributing adult after something like that? He’d assumed it was because “I was getting reviewed in about five different major places” – but that wasn’t the half of it.

All Right Reserved. Francis "Fran" Phelan is an ex-ballplayer (a third baseman for the Washington Senators, my favorite team).

He picks up odd jobs as a gravedigger and rag man's assistant. We've got you covered with the buzziest new releases of the day. A very rich and startling Pulitzer prize winner. When he got back, the boy was gone. Where are the muck and the mud and the beauty?

That kind of bouncing around isn't necessarily a bad thing (hell, Malcolm Lowry makes it work great), but it seems like he's just trying to attack everything from every direction at once, which is too bad because when he does linger long enough on a single point of view he creates some really beautiful passages. I am finally deprogramming from all the University horseshit and I got entangled in this great story.

Need another excuse to treat yourself to a new book this week? Depending on the study guide provider (SparkNotes, Shmoop, etc. FreeBookNotes found 7 sites with book summaries or analysis of Ironweed. As a disclaimer: when I finished this book, I discovered it was the last in a trilogy. Cliff Notes ™, Cliffnotes ™, and Cliff's Notes ™ are trademarks of Wiley Publishing, Inc. SparkNotes ™ and Spark Notes ™ are trademarks of Barnes & Noble, Inc. Many years later, I saw a novel by the same name had won the Pulitzer Prize.

Depending on the study guide provider (SparkNotes, Shmoop, etc. But does he forgive himself for the accident that killed his infant son? Comedic, but in a wincing way (sometimes). Some time ago, a man in our area took his little boy deer hunting on a cold winter morning. Sometimes, I think that people in the English profession actually hate books, or at least love to hate them. Francis Phelan, a bum day laboring in an Albany cemetery, inadvertently stumbles upon his baby son's grave.

No, you do not. Whose business is that? This Pulitzer Prize winning novel is just like a Tom Waits song. Francis "Fran" Phelan is an ex-ballplayer (a third baseman for the Washington Senators, my favorite team). That same year, Kennedy would win the Pulitzer prize for Ironweed, sold the film rights (as well as truck-loads of copies) and received almost universally glowing reviews around the world. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of, Published There were some really beautiful lines here and there.

It feels great to love a book! I really liked it. Certain elements of the story, particularly the wrap up, are a little pat but it is still a must read. Also includes sites with a short overview, synopsis, book report, or summary of William Kennedy’s Ironweed. Easily the best novel I've read in years. Well, I'll tell you, they are in this book. It is told in gorgeous imagery and beautiful writing, from the old-fashioned omnipotent point of view. Reviews end with a summary of the reviewer's thoughts and links to purchase options.

GoodReads community and editorial reviews can be helpful for getting a wide range of opinions on various aspects of the book.

The ethereal brutality of Kennedy's novel is striking--a precurs. Francis dropped his baby boy Gerald on his head and killed him twenty-two years ago, and left home in great sorrow and regret. Audiofile Magazine focuses on reviews of audiobooks. Welcome back. The main character Frances Phelan, a miserable alcoholic accidentally kills his own son, probably while in a stupor. I can only imagine the grief this poor man must have experienced. On top of that, he was charged with negligent homicide. Francis dropped his baby boy Gerald on his head and killed him twenty-two years ago, and left home in great sorrow and regret. He's simply a bum. And WE are meant to find the answer, to keep searching for the questions and this book challenges us to do just that.

And that isn't helped by Kennedy, who is a very gifted prose stylist, but just can't seem to settle on what style or perspective he's going to tackle these people's misery from. Six feet below, the child stirs and decides that Francis' path to redemption and self forgiveness is about to begin. I don’t particularly like being around drunks, nor do I enjoy reading about them. The emphasis is on describing the writing style and quality, with a short plot synopsis included.

It was interesting to do them in tandem. “A kiss is an expensive way of life, as is a smile, or a scarred hand.” –Whew! Evocative imagery, poetic language, and a charming main character are the highlights of this Pulitzer winner. He's spent his life running from his problems, but remains likable. In 1987 the book was produced in movie form starring Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson. The novel is almost picaresque. I can only imagine the grief this poor man must have experienced. Just not for me. He's exchanged all of that for a life of poverty, cold. What beauty in those words! Pure light. I was always interested in reading this after learning that William Kennedy was a friend of Hunter S. Thompson. I was surprised to learn this was written in the 1980s because the dialogue reminded me so much of the "hobo literature" of earlier times; most notably. He's simply a bum. He's spent his life running from his problems, but remains likable. However, it certainly caused me to read the rest of the Albany cycle of books. It is a stand alone book. But William Kennedy’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about a down-and-out ex-baseball player, Francis, who sees dead people and is dedicated to his own pain and a life spent running from it, and his cadre of drunks, including his girl Helen, a former musician, is so finely and freely well-written, sometimes funny, and authentic that I read it slowly with pleasure as well as pain. We also see that he has no illusions as to his guilt and his place in how his life has turned out. He takes care of Helen. His work ethic was praiseworthy too; he wrote solidly for 12 years, honing his craft with a creative writing teacher in Puerto Rico until, in 1962, his teacher told him he had finally produced something “publishable”. by Simon & Schuster Ltd. Offers plot summary and brief analysis of book. I am finally deprogramming from all the University horseshit and I got entangled in this great story.

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