Blood-Dark Track: A Family History

I loved many, many parts of this book. It is extremely well-written and thoughtful and interesting to a fault (kept me up late some nights) and I would have given it five stars at the halfway mark. However, it is simply 25 to 30% too long and would have benefited greatly from some judicious editing, particularly toward the end of the book. This is not just a complaint about length -- the political musings become ramblings and then become pedantic meanderings toward the end and all the great philosophical "at last I have found the meaning of life" screeds get tiresome very quickly. Author takes what are really coincidences about the lives of two of his two grandfathers and tries to read too much meaning to them. I would still enthusiastically recommend that you buy and read this book, just start skimming in the back half when he gets too tendentious, and you will enjoy it greatly.

This is not a book that you would stumble across. I picked it up because I loved "Netherland" by the same author. And, I found the same attention to detail in this book that I was so attracted to in "Netherland".O'Neill is a great writer with an almost unbelievable command of English. In this book, he tries to " find himself" through finding his grandfathers, one Irish, one Turkish/Syrian. What a combination! The action takes place mostly during the Second World War in Ireland and Turkey, although we get a good lesson in history before that time--- not didactic, just interesting.Ostensibly, O'Neill wants to know how both men came to be incarcerated during the war. As criminals! Were they spies? Yes and No.We get wonderful, unique descriptions of the countryside. Wonderful descriptions of the men and their families. And, we get philosophy. We do not get a hagiographic viewpoint. This, in itself, is a feat in a work like this. Enjoy O'Neill's writing; you'll find it worth your time.

An interesting story although the author takes forever to tell it. His style of writing kept me engaged. He writes with style and grace. There is a great deal of information about Ireland and the Middle East that has relevance to current affairs.

all good

Digging deep into a rich seam of 20th century backstory we don't read about every day; accounts like this celebrate the complexity of everyone's family history.