Maggie O'Farrell's LAND has been heralded as a sweeping epic of Ireland in the 19th C. O'Farrell's ambitious storytelling mixes in Celtic fables, coming of age story, love story and historic fiction that turned the novel into a blight for me. The coming of age story. where an orphaned boy makes good against all odds by learning the skill of map making and falls for a girl amidst their harsh working conditions in the same orphanage came off as predictable and trite. The Celtic lores became a bore. Add, the love story between the two would make an addicting PBS series. But, seriously there was too many diverting plots that you get lost. The historic fiction could have dealt more with the British colonization into their lands and the devastating years of the famine. O'Farrell proclaimed often on the power of maps. "Maps can be read for many things-geography both natural and man-made-and Tomas made sure that the Great Hunger was inscribed on his drafts, and in his name books, that it was recorded, in symbols and writing, that its effects and scars would be seen, its evidence and testimony unmissable, for all times." O'Farrell should have steered closer to her point instead of veering all over the map making it into a convoluted novel that loses its way. I hope that PBS does pick up this novel making it into a mini-series. I'm sure they'll do an excellent job of editing and producing a lush epic tale that would be appealing to watch. Wait for the series and pass on the book.
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