Title : The Last Storyteller (A Novel of Ireland #3)
Author: Frank Delaney
Publication date: February 7th 2012
by Random House
Oh, how I glad I am to finally read the conclusion of the Ireland series. I didn't know it is actually a series, I started reading The Last Storyteller last year, went on a few chapters and found something is missing. I did some searching and find out that it is in fact the last book of a trilogy. No wonder I couldn't understand what's going on.
The last Storyteller set during 1950s, about 11 years after the happenings in the second book. Ben was now 42 years old, his mind was still filled with Venetia. Though he was much more mature, he was still same ole' Ben who was too easy to fall into booby trap situation. He found out that Venetia is coming back to Ireland, with another group traveling artists and magician. In on the other hand, after WW II, Ireland was also on its struggle gaining back its pride to be a sovereign country once again.
After World War II, though, and its horrors in France, and bombed corpses, and body parts bagged by men with shovels, I would never again in my life have voted for anything that fire a bullet of thre a bomb, even in the cause of independence or nationalism.
There are many things going on in The Last Storyteller. Compared to the The Matchmaker of Kenmare, this one is gloomier and little sadder. Ben, despite of seeming mentally stronger still has this indecisive trait inside him. His pain is too hurtful for him and it makes him worry too much. Side effect of being older, maybe? Ben also lost a person he loved dearly and it made me very sad. Mind you, I almost never cry over a book no matter how sad it is, but this one hurts my heart, too. Thanks to Delaney's talent of making us the readers care about the character that Ben (the main character) cares about.
Marian continued, "If you've been unable to care for the people you love the most, you need to be reminded what care feels like. And you have probably never been cared for like this is all those years."
This series is also one of the most beautiful love stories I have ever read, despite of the fact that I myself cannot categorize it as romance series. It's more than that. Much more than that, actually and to find out more about it, I strongly recommend you to read them. It is a series far outside my comfort zone, but I love how it surprises me. A thing outside your comfort zone actually comforts you. What's not to love about that?
The ending? Oh, that!. Well, it ends with a bittersweetly. With less bitter part, if you ask me. I believe the characters deserve better, after all they'd been through. But life was tough back then for the people whose nation was affected by World War (although Ireland was on neutral side, the side effect was still there).
"In some countries," he said, "a storyteller can act as a healer. If there's been violence. A Murder, say. And there was a man killed in Templederg recently. Nobody knows who did it, they believe it's a local person, and they'll all be in troubled state.""What do we do?"He said, "We'll go to Templederg, and we'll go to three houses, and in each house I'll tell them a story. It will unite them, and that's a healing process."
5 rating to The Last Storyteller, another 5 rating for the whole series. I strongly recommend this series to those of you whore looking for something different in historical fiction. Delaney's writing would surely sooth your soul. So what have you been reading lately? Anything interesting? Please tell us!
