We Don't Know Ourselves

Taylor reviewed We Don't Know Ourselves by Fintan O'Toole

Review of 'We Don't Know Ourselves' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

A nice mix of random events in the second half of the 1900s. The author chooses cultural topics he feels were important in defining the country, in an effort to understand the how the current cultural mindset (his thesis) developed. It really is an impressive piece of work and historical writing, but it also lacked Irish humor and really any levity at all. It was quite a bleak and critical look at the country, which is fine, but 600 pages of bleakness wore on me a bit.

Martin Holland reviewed We Don't Know Ourselves by Fintan O'Toole

Astonishing book about the modern history of Ireland

5 stars

This is one of those rare books, that show you the complete picture of a country. Ireland is certainly not in the centre of my attention, and I learned so much about its recent history, it's people and the drastic changes in the last decade. Absolutely worth every minute it took to read this not very short book..

RDScally reviewed We Don't Know Ourselves by Fintan O'Toole

Review of "We Don't Know Ourselves" on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

This flawed but still great memoir encompassing the vast changes in Ireland, a nation emerging from both vicious, hypocritical theocracy and endemic politic corruption adds context to recent history.

That is until O'Tool's hatred for the violent actions of the IRA during the era known as The Troubles traps him into the very same dual-mindedness he decries of the Irish prior to the reforms of the past 25 years.

His venom for the IRA and its highly conflicted political leader, Gerry Adams, make it sound as though there were only one actor during The Troubles. When he does manage to mention the DUP and the British government's highly deceitful and often violent role, it's as an aside to the evils of the IRA.

Despite this deep intellectual bruise on this otherwise good work, O'Tool, a columnist the Irish Times, still manages, sometimes despite himself, to provide illuminating context in this …

This flawed but still great memoir encompassing the vast changes in Ireland, a nation emerging from both vicious, hypocritical theocracy and endemic politic corruption adds context to recent history.

That is until O'Tool's hatred for the violent actions of the IRA during the era known as The Troubles traps him into the very same dual-mindedness he decries of the Irish prior to the reforms of the past 25 years.

His venom for the IRA and its highly conflicted political leader, Gerry Adams, make it sound as though there were only one actor during The Troubles. When he does manage to mention the DUP and the British government's highly deceitful and often violent role, it's as an aside to the evils of the IRA.

Despite this deep intellectual bruise on this otherwise good work, O'Tool, a columnist the Irish Times, still manages, sometimes despite himself, to provide illuminating context in this memoir.

Kevin Smokler

rated it

Dec 26