An original and wicked first novel set in the post-War years, by an author shortlisted for the 2000 Booker Prize.
Ambrose Feeney has seen his hopes and ambitions dashed by others’ influence and his own inertia. His Limerick is an old siege city of walls, both real and psychological. As Ambrose descends into lunacy he paints a starkly sane portrait of one family’s life in an Ireland unsoftened by the mists of legend.
The Life and Times of a Teaboy begins with the recollection of a Christmas past and ends with the entrance of the principal character into a lunatic asylum; a crisis in personal growth that mirrors the nation’s.
‘He is one of the most exciting talents to have emerged not only from Ireland but anywhere in recent decades’ The Times
Ambrose Feeney has seen his hopes and ambitions dashed by others’ influence and his own inertia. His Limerick is an old siege city of walls, both real and psychological. As Ambrose descends into lunacy he paints a starkly sane portrait of one family’s life in an Ireland unsoftened by the mists of legend.
The Life and Times of a Teaboy begins with the recollection of a Christmas past and ends with the entrance of the principal character into a lunatic asylum; a crisis in personal growth that mirrors the nation’s.
‘He is one of the most exciting talents to have emerged not only from Ireland but anywhere in recent decades’ The Times
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Reviews
A style so arrestingly visual it hijacks the reader's concentration; dazzling with the energy and originality of the language
Collins is a considerable stylist . . . his prose has a thoughtful, sinewy quality, a kind of subliminal toughness of mind
Collins is undoubtedly an exciting talent, capable of writing razor-sharp prose and he has produced a gripping, stylish novel that deserves to be read
One of the most exciting talents to have emerged not only in Ireland but anywhere in recent decades
[Collins] is a stylist, blessed with the gift of having something worth saying