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The Temporary Gentleman

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About this listen

Jack McNulty is a 'temporary gentleman', an Irishman whose commission in the British army in the Second World War was never made permanent. In 1957, in his lodgings in Accra, he sets out to write his story. He is an ordinary man, both petty and heroic, but he has seen extraordinary things. He has wandered the world - as a soldier, an engineer, a UN observer - following his childhood ambition to better himself.

©2014 Sebastian Barry (P)2014 W F Howes Ltd Fiction Historical Fiction United Kingdom Africa

Critic reviews

"Fascinating and Moving, [it] shows Sebastian Barry to be one of our finest novelists – daring, accommodating and humane" (John Banville)
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Would you consider the audio edition of The Temporary Gentleman to be better than the print version?

I haven't read the print version but audio is so good I would heartily recommend

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Temporary Gentleman?

When he meets May first.

Which scene did you most enjoy?

When he meets May's family

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

No

Beautiful prose wonderfully narrated

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I have heard that this author is known for his dense literary style of writing and this is certainly a true example. I get the sense that every sentence has been worked on over and over again until it is honed to perfection. By and large this works as a masterwork but I did think the result was a little too self conscious to draw me into the story. This is probably fortunate as this is a grim tale of lives destroyed by alcoholism and gambling and a woman's descent into misery and self destruction.

I have heard Sebastian Barry's books are very good so I am a little sorry I started with this one. Overall this was not for me but I can understand why he is so widely admired.

Poetic and melancholy

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Loved it, would highly recommend it. Excellent story telling again my Sebastian Barry, narrator was spot on also with tone and dialect.

Very enjoyable story and narration

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Yo don’t read Barry expecting a happy ending! It is the evocative prose and extraordinary lives of ordinary people which attract. He can recount life as an officer in bomb disposal without recourse to melodrama and the horror of it is the more meaningful and (in the original sense) awful. The marriage of Jack and Mai starts propitiously (mostly) and its mutually destructive progress till death parts them is gradual.

Hope and love blighted

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This is a work of pure genius. Sebastian Barry is a wonderful poetic novelist. Sometimes the beauty. Of a phrase or sentence takes my breath away. The story plumbs the depth of tragedy. I identified deeply with Jack and Mae . I think this is the best of all of his novels as it does not have the dreadful violence that his war books have. I'm Squeamish . Beautifully and perfectly narrated. If only I could find more books of this calibre I would be so happy

Utterly brilliant

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