Reviews

This short novel is a prime example of great writing that is concise and still manages to convey deep emotions and detailed characterization. Johnston is a highly respected and accomplished writer who was born in Dublin, and lived for many decades in Derry, Northern Ireland. She returned to live in Dublin a few years ago. This was her first novel, published when she was 42 years old.

I will share the summary from the Linen Hall Library, Belfast, group facilitator.
It was clear that the whole group (17 attendees) thoroughly enjoyed The Captains and the Kings by Jennifer Johnston. Most readers thought it a fine and assured debut novel. The characters were well-rounded, the writing 'astute', 'minimal' and 'impactful', and that the novel captured the demise of the 'Big House in Ireland' well. We touched upon the theme of loneliness, perception and questioned the parenting skills of various characters. We agreed it was the authors intention to leave the reader wanting and for them to decide what was really going on. The only aspect of the book which divided the group was that of Mr Prendergast's true sexuality. It was clear that all readers were thankful to have read (or re-read) the book and would read more of/recommend more of Jennifer’s novels. And in rounding off the discussion off one person 'called to arms' (as such) for all of us to promote the value of short novels and to reinforce that Jennifer Johnston's books was a fine place to start.

I am one of those who plan to read the Johnston novels that I have in library, and have yet to read. Highly recommended.

spacetime03's review against another edition

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“another day to see through. more rain would come, more petals would blow onto the grass, more chords from the piano would stroke the air, another night would wipe the color from the sky. i could end it now, he thought, if only i was not afraid of what i might find.”

laurenbdavis's review

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4.0

A quiet, thoughtful book by a writer who is much underappreciated. She deserves a wide audience, although I fear the sort of book she writes -- gentle, interior, full of the depth of ordinary lives --
is much out of fashion in favor of dystopian horrors, angry screeds, and extreme character portrayals. Pity.

This novel deals with aging and youth, scandalous talk, resentments, misunderstandings, foolishness, closemindedness and the pain of injustice. Set in Ireland in the mid-20th c, Mr. Pendergast is a man at the end of his life, a solitary man, of few passions. He is a Protestant and, much against his will, finds himself in an unlikely friendship with a Catholic boy. It's heartbreaking and beautifully drawn. I highly recommend it and will be reading the rest of Johnston's work.

A fine article about her appears here... https://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/feb/11/fiction.rosiecowan

angelayoung's review

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5.0

Some of Jennifer Johnston's novels are short (this, her first, is 124 pages, her third, The Captains and the Kings is 156 pages and The Christmas Tree my favourite of all her novels, is 183 pages. The books seem slight just because they are thin, but they contain whole worlds that last for far longer in the mind and in the heart than their relatively few pages might suggest. And the lyrical beauty of Johnston's writing seems so natural it reminds me of Fred Astaire's: 'If it doesn't look simple you aren't working hard enough.'

In this novel a secret friendship – a theme Johnston also addresses in The Captains and the Kigns – this time between a young boy and an old man is, eventually, investigated by the Guards. The ending shocks, although not as much as the ending of The Captains and the Kings or The Railway Station Man but it is also exactly right. And I think that's because this novel is so beautifully imagined and constructed that there could be no other ending.

I don't know whether Johnston finds writing hard or not. I don't know how many drafts she writes before she is satisfied. All I know is that what she gives us to read is glorious and tender, tragic and poignant and over and over again she shows us the way, the real way, we human beings are.

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