Foolish Mortals

by Jennifer Johnston

All families are complicated, but some are more complicated than others. And Christmas can only make matters worse. After Ciara's estranged father is nearly killed by his second wife in a car accident - or was it an accident? - Ciara begins, gingerly, to reenter his life. As her troubled family gather for the holidays, is it too much to hope that they begin to find peace at last? Of course it is. With cross-dressing twins, new loves and an unpredicatably monstrous matriarch, Christmas was never going to be easy. But it proves both more disastrous and happier than any of them could have guessed.

Genres: Irish Literature, Ireland

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Jennifer Johnston was an Irish novelist. She won a number of awards, including the Whitbread Book Award for The Old Jest in 1979 and a Lifetime Achievement from the Irish Book Awards (2012). The Old Jest, a novel about the Irish War of Independence, was later made into a film called The Dawning, starring Anthony Hopkins, produced by Sarah Lawson and directed by Robert Knights.

Reviews

[Rainy Rose · Rating 1 out of 5]

First of all, I'm quite confused. The synopsis at the back of the book started with "Ciara's father", so my first thought was that this book was from Ciara's POV. But, it turned out that the whole book was from her father and mother's POV instead. Ciara's POV only takes two short parts. Second, the whole plot was quite bland for me. I found no excitement in reading this book, but the story is still bearable I guess? And I expected more from the ending. Lastly, I don't think the title really explained the whole book, I guess.

[A. Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perhaps if I reread this book, I would like it more. That's what happened with The Gingerbread Woman. Johnston is not the most predictable writer, and sometimes it takes some effort to accommodate to her plotting. Then again, maybe I just found too much dysfunction in this family. I think maybe she goes a quirk too far, for me at least. Every world has its own logic and has to abide by it, and I don't think this one does. Nevertheless, by the time I reached the end, I cared. That's a testament to Johnston's skill, that she succeeds even when it doesn't seem she should.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This author never fails to produce deft but compelling domestic narratives. The novel centres around a character who is plunged into amnesia after a serious car crash. Themes of identity, love and family are expertly woven together, bound partly by Shakespearean motifs of gender confusion, partner-swapping and the recurring title quotation. Johnston's ear for and ability to produce credible dialogue are, as usual, both excellently displayed and prominent, and the denouement is typically moving and brilliantly orchestrated.

[Chrissie]

************************
*The Railway Station Man 4 stars
*The Captains and the Kings 4 stars
*Shadows on our Skin TBR
*This Is Not a Novel TBR
*The Old Jest TBR
*How Many Miles to Babylon? TBR
*The Gingerbread Woman TBR
*Foolish Mortals TBR
*Fool's Sanctuary TBR
*Grace And Truth TBR

[Sylvaine Yvenou · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dublin, Henry, la cinquantaine, se réveille dans un lit d'hôpital après un très grave accident de voiture. de ses blessures , jambe et côtes cassées, il se remettra vite. par contre il a occulté l'accident et les évènements qui l'ont précédé.. Peu à peu au gré des visites de Stéphanie, son ex-femme, de ses enfants quelques pièces du puzzle se remettent en place. Il y a eu des brouilles, des scènes, des ruptures mais où, quand, comment, pourquoi? .... Et puis ce fort bel homme qui lui rend visite. Qui est-il ? ...
Stéphanie, l'ex-compagne, Donough, le fils, Cilia, la cadette, laissent tomber les griefs et entourent Henry. Seule Tash, la mère d'Henry, du haut de ses quatre-vingt ans bien tassés, reste égale à elle-même, un peu plus excentrique, voir loufoque, le plus souvent éméchée mais pas question de médecin ... plutôt mourir!
Bientôt les choses reprennent leur place . Noël approche et tous seront présents..
Après un début très lent, la narration trouve son rythme et une fois encore je me suis laissée séduire par la plume de Jennifer Johnston. Les personnages sont tout à la fois agaçants, un brin désarmants de naïveté, sentimentaux, romantiques et assument leur mode de vie et leur choix du compagnon. Nous sommes en 2007, l'homosexualité n'est dépénalisée que depuis 1993 .
Une famille certes un peu particulière mais une famille où trois générations sont réunies autour de la table.

[Alistair · Rating 3 out of 5]

Christmas provides splendid fodder for novelists of imagination and Johnston certainly sets up a tantalizing tableau.
The cast: Henry wakes in hospital after a car accident that has killed his wife Charlotte; was her intention to kill them both? Henry has, after all, embarked on an affair with Charlotte's brother, the "beautiful " Jeremy.
Then there is Stephanie, Henry's first wife, mother of his two estranged children, Donough, who's just come out to his mother, and the self-obsessed teenage Ciara.
George, Henry's younger brother has fled to Canada to escape familial connections, because Stephanie chose Henry over George.
And Tash, monstrous mother, loving mother when the mood takes her; also, painter and alcoholic.
Stephanie thinks it might be a good idea if everyone spent Christmas together.
The problem with Henry as principal narrator is that he spends most of the novel either unconscious, asleep or grumpy, so it was hard to get a handle on this man who had inspired the love of three people.
Also, I did feel Johnston squibbed the ending, but that would be a spoiler!

[Bea · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is revealed that a man recovering from an accident has fallen in love with his sister's fiance. He also had a gay son. Too much anger, divorce, dysfunction.

[Diane · Rating 2 out of 5]

It took me a while to get into this book. The book was too depressing for me.

[Kate Warner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed everything about this lovely book. Well written great characters good chat.

[Louise T H · Rating 2 out of 5]

Struggled with this, didn't particularly warm to any of the characters, not for me

[Gilles Russeil · Rating 2 out of 5]

Roman pas désagréable mais totalement dispensable.

[Chris Edmondson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every time I read one of Jennifer Johnston's novels I want to read more. Terrific.

[Christine Terry · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very slow to start but an average read in the end. Nothing special.

[Hjwoodward · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the pace and character development in this book. Immensely readable.

[Kitty McManus · Rating 2 out of 5]

Confusing, an OK read

[Claire Dacher · Rating 2 out of 5]

Je n'ai pas accroché avec l'histoire, j'ai trouvé que les personnages n'étaient pas du tout attachants. La traduction en français fait sûrement perdre en authenticité.

[Niamh · Rating 2 out of 5]

The dialogue seems so stilted and just strange. Sons calling their mother "darling" for eg....? I've never met any of these characters before. I can't relate.

[Bea · Rating 2 out of 5]

A man recovering from an accident has been having an affair with his sister's fiancé and he also has a gay son with some problems. This is in the first few pages. Too much family disfunction for me. Looks like it will have some explicit homosexual scenes for those who like that.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jennifer Johnston is always brilliant and this is her best book yet. She manages to tell the story from different points of view and with different voices, yet it flows naturally and it's not until you sit back and think about it that you realise just how clever it is. According to the blurb, Ciara is the main character, but for me it was kindhearted Stephanie who tries to juggle all the elements of this disfunctional, but loving family, as she comes to terms with the realisation that not only her son but also her ex husband is gay.
The only character I felt was unconvincing was Jeremy, whose dead sister is a malevolent presence in the background.
It's rather unfair to compare this superb writer with anyone else, but Stephanie has elements of Ann Tyler's long suffering heroines.

[Kate North · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always enjoy a Jennifer Johnston, and was pleased to pick this up in a charity shop a while back. A great portrait of a rather disfuntional family in the lead up to Christmas - a very quick read, partly because it's very readable, but also, there's lots of dialogue, which reads quickly. Not much to say about it, except the characters are well drawn and ring true (in a novelistic, slightly over the top, Irish Character way in some cases) and the whole thing, while somewhat High Drama also feels quite real.

(Thinking about it later, the title is obviously from Midsummer Night's Dream, and the whole thing does have a bit of a feel of the faeries messing around with people's lives and the madness thus ensuing to it...)

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author has received an impressive number of awards and reviews from the quality press. But I could not be bothered with either the slight storyline nor any of the characters, with the possible exception of Stephanie, juggling the demands of her dysfunctional family - ex husband Henry recovering from an accident and now in a gay relationship, teenage daughter Ciara, and ex mother in law, the eccentric Tash. There was a distinctive style to the writing, but you had to be sharp to pick up who the "He" was at the start of each section. I finished it - and that is all I can say! More a 2.5 than a 3.

[Clare O'Beara · Rating 3 out of 5]

An older man in hospital enjoys the cheerful company of nurses and looks back over his life, having gradually to make decisions for the future.

This is nicely written and gentle, but perhaps too slow as there is no action or sense of urgency at any time.

[David Bowles · Rating 2 out of 5]

I suppose this book is ok for what it is. A book about mixed up people trying gto make the most of their circumstances. There is a reason why I don't read this type of book, I remembered whilst I read it. I think I'll go back to tried and tested....

[Cindy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hard to get though

[Maria Casey · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thank god I'm finished this book...

[Lyra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful.

[Alma Castro · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was entertaining at best. It was kind of looking in on the everyday day lives of others. The omniscient narration made it interesting but hard to get through.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

very good, was found in second hand store and pleasant suprise so will be finding more books by this author!

[Prudence STAVELEY-TAYLOR · Rating 3 out of 5]

a slow burn...

[Lena · Rating 4 out of 5]

J'ai bien aimé le côté destins croisés de tous les personnages, histoire émouvante, simple et belle