Irish Parents Review English Curriculum

  Ruby Lennox begins narrating her life at the moment of conception, and from there takes us on a whirlwind tour of the twentieth century as seen through the eyes of an English girl determined to learn about her family and its secrets.  Ruby's non-emotional mother, Bunty, features more and more as the story progresses and flashes back and forth from past to present. Many siblings and relatives of Ruby, Bunty and their predecessors take centre stage at various times in the story, and through these flashbacks we learn about the many sad and tragic events which led to the various deaths and disappearances of family members, which in turn shape the uneasy relationship which Ruby and Bunty display. None of the women in the various intertwined stories are successful in marriage and the men in their lives leave them feeling trapped, used, taken for granted or abused. Verdict: Kate Atkinson is a fine author and this book is very well-written. However, it is an adult book and contains ...

   Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (story summary) Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s ‘Purple Hibiscus’ tells the story of a young Nigerian girl, Kambili, and her family relationships. In the tradition of a coming-of-age novel, we have a sensitive portrayal of a fifteen year old’s sexual awakening amidst family tensions, fears and religious oppression. Throughout the novel, Adichie explores the themes of freedom, oppression, love, hatred, tradition and a search for identity. Kambili’s complex relationship with her strict, fundamentalist father is based on both love and fear, and all she ever wanted was his approval and love. The arrival of the young priest, Father Amadi, into Kambili’s life was actually an answer to all her prayers as she begins to throw off the strictures of her unhealthy upbringing and develop into a young woman with her own identity, self esteem and self respect. This novel has much to offer students for further study. We are drawn into Kambili’s world ...

  Fitzmaurice was thirty-four years old when a neurologist diagnosed the disease (Motor Neurone) and told him that he had three to four years to live. Gradually, he became confined to a wheelchair and eventually he lost the use of his arms and his ability to breathe on his own. In Ireland at the time, MN patients were not routinely ventilated. One physician advised him that only two, very wealthy people had been able to afford home ventilators. Another physician asked why he would want to ventilate, since he was “only going to get worse”. Rather than accept the physicians’ suggestion that Fitzmaurice, essentially, prepare to die, his family rallied and discovered that the Irish health services would in fact pay for a home ventilator. He was subsequently outfitted not only with a ventilator that enabled him to live at home, but also with computer eye-gaze technology that allowed him to write, drive his wheelchair, email, and even direct his films. He lived until October of 2017, nin...

  ‘Americanah’ tells the story of Ifemelu, a strong willed, free thinking Nigerian who, along with her boyfriend, Obinze, grows up with a desire to move to America and live the ‘American dream’. Their romanticized view is based on what they read in books and see on television programmes. They are intelligent, well educated and highly motivated, forced to emigrate not because of ambition, or war or poverty, but by “the oppressive lethargy of choicelessness” in their country. Obinze’s application for his visa is unsuccessful, so he tries his luck as an illegal immigrant in Britain. Where Obinze fails, Ifemelu thrives. Writing about her experiences in America she becomes a highly respected and successful blogger. Having spent over a decade in America she decides to go back to Nigeria. In preparation, she visits a hair salon to have her hair freshly braided for her return home. It is during her time at the salon (and hair itself is a potent symbol throughout) that the novel is mostly r...