By some distance the worst “big” film I’ve ever seen. Truly terrible. I can’t believe Speilberg had anything to do with this feast of boredom. Maybe the idea and message weren’t so bad in hindsight but the plot and denouement were so bad it was criminal.

McGahern captures the human condition like no other writer I know of. The book is easy to read and can be finshed in a matter of days but it echos in the readers mind for years. Probably the best book I’ve ever read.

An excellent piece of writing. An anti-novel of sorts in the way O’Brien abandoned the idea of a plot and concentrated instead on structure and performance. Brimming with literary devices and language. A must for lovers of words and a hell of a laugh into the bargin.