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A Furious Devotion

The Life of Shane MacGowan

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About this listen

Punk protagonist, legendary drinker, Irish musical icon. The complete and extraordinary journey of the Pogues' notorious front man from outcast to national treasure has never been told - until now.

A Furious Devotion: The Life of Shane MacGowan vividly recounts the experiences that shaped the greatest songwriter of his generation: the formative trips to his mother's homestead in Tipperary, the explosion of punk that changed his life, and the drink and drugs that nearly ended it.

As well as exclusive interviews with Shane himself, author Richard Balls has secured contributions from his wife and family and people who have never spoken publicly about Shane before: close associates, former girlfriends, and the English teacher who first spotted his literary gift. Nick Cave, Aidan Gillen, Cillian Murphy, Christy Moore, Sinead O'Connor, and Dermot O'Leary are on the rollcall of those paying tribute to the gifted songwriter and poet.

©2021 Omnibus Press (P)2021 Tantor Entertainment & Celebrities Celebrity
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good story about Shane , his upbringing, his irishness, and the time with the pouges, I would put him up with the likes of Dylan and van morrison.only gripe I have as an Irishman is why oh why did you need to try and take off the awful attempt at an Irish accent it was terrible.

a story about a flawed genius

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An interesting book but the choice of narrator makes listening to this a chore.
The women’s voices (amongst all the others) are particularly dreadful…Shane’s sister and cousin (based in Tunbridge Wells) do not have Irish accents, or what passes for an Irish accent in this context. Every female is made to sound like a simpering idiot…which they most definitely are not!

Awful narration

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A fantastic book but a truly awful narration. The narrator continuously mispronounces names and places throughout the book. The book deserves to be read by someone with even a passing familiarity with The Pogues or with normal place names in Ireland or just people’s names in general. The shambolic effort to pronounce so many words such as Sally MacLennane, Howth, Deirdre, O’Mahony, Cillian, Ranelagh, Cuchulainn, Tralee, Castlebar etc… completely detracts from the story and the “begorrah” Irish accent put on throughout the book was an aural reminder of old Punch cartoons. Listening to an English accent making a hames of both the Irish accent and pronunciations has similar racial undertones as a white man dressing up as a “black face” character. For years Irish people would be portrayed on British TV and radio as the “thick Paddy” and would be derided, I don’t think that this was the aim of the production company, or of the narrator, but if this story was set in India or Pakistan would the narration be different? It’s obvious that the narrator didn’t put an ounce of research into the book which takes from the book’s credibility. Incredibly disappointing but the book is still a magnificent read.

Great book - awful narration.

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It is not hard to tell an incredible story. This story is incredible.

Very disappointed at how many Irish words and terms are mispronounced in this audio book.

Shane

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Hard to listen to all the cod accents and mispronunciations. I think a little more thought should be given to the choice of reader ☹️

Great content, woeful delivery.

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