In this ambitious and arresting novel, Stephanie Grant's searing prose, powerful storytelling, and richly drawn characters bring tumultuous moment in American history into perfect focus. Hardcover , pages. Published March 4th by Scribner first published Boston, Massachusetts United States.
To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Map of Ireland , please sign up. Lists with This Book. Set during the desegregation of Boston's public schools, when buses sent white kids to "black" schools and black kids to "white" schools, Map of Ireland is the story of an Irish-American living in the very Irish neighbourhood of South Boston, who loves to set fires and whose colouring of red hair, white skin and freckles is called a "map of Ireland".
Ann Ahern is sixteen. It's and she observes with little opinion the white Catholic mothers throwing stones at buses of black children.
She's mo Set during the desegregation of Boston's public schools, when buses sent white kids to "black" schools and black kids to "white" schools, Map of Ireland is the story of an Irish-American living in the very Irish neighbourhood of South Boston, who loves to set fires and whose colouring of red hair, white skin and freckles is called a "map of Ireland". She's from a family of five; her father has been gone for years. Life isn't easy, but above all Ann's filled with a yearning, as well as unsettled confusion. But when one of the two black girls on her basketball team, Rochelle, offers Ann the chance to see the French teacher she's so infatuated with, she leaps at the chance - and at the adventure and discovery that comes with it.
While it's a short novel at less than pages, it reads long because it has so much to say - even though, upon reflection, not all that much really happens. It's Ann's commentary - on life, on white-black relations, on this moment in history that she barely understands, on her own urges and desires - that propels the novel. Perhaps it's Ann's incredibly real voice, but you feel, while reading this, that you've been swept back in time. It's gritty, it's sympathetic, and it's the closest you might be able to come, if you weren't around in the 70s or in America, to knowing what it must have been like during desegregation, especially how people thought at the time.
The book doesn't pass judgement - it doesn't need to - but it doesn't shy away from "telling it like it is" or was , as they say. Ann is a great character - as one reviewer said I like this quote: This urgency fuels the novel and makes her unforgettable - unknowable, but unforgettable. It's harder to capture the style, Ann's voice, how she injects herself into every word.
It's unpretentiously written, and finely crafted. I want to share a glimpse of it, so I've randomly picked a paragraph to quote: Beyond the living room, were two doors. I figured, maybe, the Black bedrooms. I felt inexplicably sad. In ninth grade, when I got in trouble for tonguing Laura Miskinis in the ear, the headmaster had called me a pervert. I knew then, he had the wrong word. What I'd done was simple, straightforward: A lone White in a Black house.
This is also a great work of lesbian fiction, and even though it's not marketed as YA it would be a great teen read as well. Aug 20, MRM rated it really liked it. This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Map of Ireland is a slender and engaging I read the whole thing on an intercity bus ride work about a queer teenager who falls in adoration with her Black French teacher during the first year of busing, , in South Boston. The French teacher is not what she seems to be, and the general confusion and animosity in their part of the city lead to events beyond what happens in the usual coming-of-age tale.
There is a lot of good writing here, including a strangely romantic and erotic encounter an Map of Ireland is a slender and engaging I read the whole thing on an intercity bus ride work about a queer teenager who falls in adoration with her Black French teacher during the first year of busing, , in South Boston. There is a lot of good writing here, including a strangely romantic and erotic encounter and some pointed and complex characterizations especially of Ann's mother. But I was sorry about the ending. Ann proves that she can't yet?
I was disappointed with the book itself after reading through Ann's final decisions and actions, but on reflection I think it was admirable of the author to choose a somewhat unusual perspective and denouement for her story. Ann at the end of the book is just as clueless about her role -- both symbolic and specific -- in a racially divided and changing society. Although she is herself from an insular ethnic community that inspires both fear and fascination, she can't comprehend why there might be a movement for Black separatism, much less why anyone would take part in struggles that have nothing to do with their own people.
And while she's the center of her story, and, by extension, the reader's, she can't see that she's not actually the story here. As one character scolds her, "White people were always asking Black people to bear witness to their lives, to their humanity The jacket copy makes a sentimental stab at having Ann "[embark] on a journey that leads her Dec 22, Naitasia rated it did not like it Shelves: This book did not need to be written. I hate this book.
I read the acknowledgments, did this author consult any black people or any non-white resources? The MC is a tragic case of white savior complex wrapped in white privilege and selfishness and filled with excuses. It has very little to do with busing in Southie. There has to be something wrong with those blacks for their subgroup and not wanting to forgive Ann, of course. Aug 13, Kathryn Bundy rated it liked it Shelves: There are things I really like about this book its honesty, grittiness, the consistent voice of a questioning, confused teenager.
There are other things that I had trouble with cultural assumptions not shared with the reader, some flat, unavailable characters, the cluelessness of the main character at times when it would seem she should have been learning or observing more keenly. I think what struck me most was the underlying theme of white privilege. That speaks to the cluelessness, so There are things I really like about this book its honesty, grittiness, the consistent voice of a questioning, confused teenager. That speaks to the cluelessness, so I'm going to assume the author was going for that characteristic.
She was the perfect example of the "fish swimming in water" analogy; I spent most of the book wanting to slap her around. But then I would remember that she's only 16 and has been immersed in the culture of South Boston all her life, so in spite of her outsider position from being a lesbian, she still wasn't able to generalize that experience to the issue of race. There were gems buried in this book.
Edgy and erotic, Grant's second novel (after The Passion of Alice) runs a complex story of urban racial conflict through a YA-feeling filter. The year is , and. Set during the desegregation of the Boston public schools in , Map of Ireland is a funny and tender coming-of-age story and a brave and ambitious.
Every so often I had to reread a sentence or a paragraph because it struck me so forcefully. Overall, I'm glad I read it, but I sure don't want to meet any of these characters in real life! Oct 23, Mary rated it it was amazing. Painful, cleanly written story of a year-old Irish-American kid from Southie, and her inner and outer struggles in Boston against the people her people fear, and her people themselves. She smacks into the discomfort of deeply inculturated racism as it seeps into her home life and her attempts to understand and realize her own unspooling sexuality.
Cliche free, no easy answers, beautifully written. I know the author, who also wrote The Passion of Alice. Apr 13, Kelly rated it liked it. This is decent coming of age novel set in south Boston in It has more YA than adult appeal, I think, and deals with the topics class, race, and sexuality in somewhat interesting and accessible ways. Mar 17, Holly rated it it was amazing Recommends it for: This book blew me away. Aug 17, Lisa rated it it was ok Shelves: Not a book I would have finished had it not been for the book club I am in.
I felt there were many issues that could have been addressed in deeper detail yet the author skimmed over the top of many. More discussion around racial issues, sexuality, adolescence, finding your voice, standing for justice, etc.
Jan 11, KJ rated it really liked it. The ending was entirely unsatisfying, because it was not at all what I wanted. But it was realistic. More than that, it's what would have happened in this imperfect world. Sometimes, the protagonist does not learn her lesson in the course of pages, but she might get a little bit closer to understanding. Just the tiniest bit. Ann Ahearn is a frustrating protagonist - she is crafted perfectly to represent the racist Irish Catholic of s Boston.
As an Irish Catholic Bostonian in the s, I The ending was entirely unsatisfying, because it was not at all what I wanted. As an Irish Catholic Bostonian in the s, I saw so much of myself and my community in Ann, especially our most prominent flaws that are rarely recognized.
Map of Ireland was an excellent exploration of busing and desegregation in the North, where racism was supposedly solved long before Martin Luther King, Jr. Anyone who has lived in Boston knows that's not true. And this book is a testament to what people experienced in the 70s in the wake of the Civil Rights Movement and what many continue to experience in our imperfect community of racists and bigots.
More than anything, this book frustrated me, because the character of Ann Ahearn was real. Her actions - though cowardly - were exactly what so many Bostonians would have done and did. The book was true. In so many ways. What golden nuggets there were. And, of course, a queer character?
I need more of those in my historical fiction. Overall, I highly recommend this book. It will frustrate you. It will bother you. It will make you want to dive into its pages and explain racism to Ann Ahearn. But if you are white and you are from Boston and you want to know the tiniest sliver of history about our Town and race relations, then this is the book for you. If you like queer historical fiction, then this is for you. If you want to understand the inner-workings of a racist sixteen year old lesbian, then this is for you.
Feb 09, Paul Pessolano rated it liked it. The story, although fictional, is based kon the racial upheaval that took place in Boston in the 's. Ann is coming into her own as a young lady and is facing the many questions that all of us have faced during this period in our lives. Although she is Catholic, she has come to the realization that she does not believe in a God, but maintains a facade for her mother.
She is also faced with her own sexu The story, although fictional, is based kon the racial upheaval that took place in Boston in the 's. She is also faced with her own sexuality and feels that she is more attracted to girls than boys. All of this is happening during the social upheaval in the predominately poor Irish Catholic community in South Boston. Mothers are protesting the integration of the schools and teenagers are raising havoc in the streets. Ann becomes infatuated with her French teacher, who is an exchange teacher from France and who is black.
Ann, again, findws herself at another crossroads in her life when she realizes she seems to have more in common with the black community than in her "Southie" community. Ann finds that her French teacher may be more than just a teacher and may have ties to the Black Panther organization.
When the teacher has her car torched by young Irish gang members, Ann is approached to identify a gang member. When she refuses she is shunned by those who she thought were her friends. The story is well told and explores the plight of these two different ethnic groups through the eyes of a young girl. A word of caution to the reader in that there is some sexual content to the story. Apr 12, Betsy rated it really liked it. Stephanie Grant has created a flawed and quite believable character in Ann Ahern whose world of South Boston erupts when black students begin to be bused in from neighboring predominantly Black area of Roxbury and Jamaica Plain.
Ann has always been an outsider in her own community. Having acknowledged her lesbianism, she is ostracized and beat up on a regular basis by classmates and even her older brother. Through all of this somehow her Irish Catholic mother has never learned about her sex Stephanie Grant has created a flawed and quite believable character in Ann Ahern whose world of South Boston erupts when black students begin to be bused in from neighboring predominantly Black area of Roxbury and Jamaica Plain.
Through all of this somehow her Irish Catholic mother has never learned about her sexual identity even though everyone is Southie knows everyone else's business. Ann becomes even more of an outsider when she develops a crush on her new French teacher, Mademoiselle Eugenie an exchange teacher from France who is of African descent.
When Ann and a black classmate take an unauthorized road trip to see Mademoiselle Eugenie who is hiding out with friends on Cape Cod after being forced by fanatical Southie boys to witness the torching of her car, Ann learns things about herself that make her both more comfortable in her skin and extremely uncomfortable.
What kind of a stand can she take when to rat someone out she will be completely ostracized from the only community she knows and if she doesn't speak up, is she just as bad as the boy who struck the match? There are no easy answers in this story which makes it both genuine and uncomfortable. Grant's work is a quick read but leaves the reader with much to ponder.
Ann Ahern is 16 and living in South Boston. Her pale skin, blue eyes, red hair and freckles are as clear an indication of her Irish heritage as a map of Ireland. Ann explains how she came to be serving a month sentence for burning down the house of a friend. It happens when she was only just beginning to learn about the fires of passion; she gets a crush on her Senegalese French teacher, Madmoiselle Eugenie, and falls in love with Rochelle, a Black teammate on her basketball team. The fact tha Ann Ahern is 16 and living in South Boston.
The fact that Ann is romantically interested in her own sex is not such a big thing for her, because she has been attracted to girls for a long time, but the colour barrier is a big one. Ann's mother is one of the women kneeling with rosaries in front of the busses, praying that the Black students will go back to their own neighbourhood. Parents throw rocks at busses containing young students. A group of boys lights Madmoiselle Eugenie's car on fire. This is a short, gripping novel about coming-of-age in a complex situation.
It has been marketed as an adult novel, yet has very much of a YA feel to it. When Ann Ahern, a year-old born into a tight-knit Irish-American community, begins her junior year of high school South Boston is in a tumult - Catholic mothers are kneeling in the streets blockading buses of black children from the public schools and teenagers are raising havoc. Ann, an outsider in her own world, is infatuated with her French teacher, Mademoiselle Eugenie, a woman of African descent. Spurred by her adoration for Eugenie, Ann embarks on a journey that leads her beyond South Boston, through the fringes of the Black Power movement, into love and ultimately to the truth about herself.
Stephanie Grant's searing prose, powerful storytelling, and richly drawn characters bring this turbulent moment in American history into perfect focus. Paperback - Trade Pages: Review This Product No reviews yet - be the first to create one! Subscribe to our newsletter Some error text Name. Email address subscribed successfully. A activation email has been sent to you. Please click the link in that email to activate your subscription.