Reviews

Irish Folk And Fairy Tales by Gordon Jarvie

inesscm's review against another edition

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2.0

2.5 stars

I bought this book randomly in a bool fair because the cover and title caught my eye, and I had heard nothing about it before.

As the title indicates, it compiles a collection of several tales about Irish folk and mythology. While some tales were entertaining, many also fell a bit flat for me. I struggled with the writing style of many stories, given the more archaic phrase construction, the Irish words and the accent that was mimicked through the writing. The most interesting part of the book, in my opinion, was the Celtic fairytale collection, which took most of the second half of the compilation.

Overall, a bit underwhelming as reading experiences go.

waveycowpar's review against another edition

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3.0

This was pretty good. There’s some fun stories and it ends in Cork (with the story about where the Lough came from). But the only thing is, an Irish editor (who can understand the Irish language) would have been a real advantage. That way they wouldn’t have gotten things as simple as the days of the week wrong in the book. That’s a shockingly easy thing to get wrong!

All the Irish is pretty bad really. And they translate Fionn MacCumhaill all the time, it’s a name you don’t need to translate it.

marinaschulz's review against another edition

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5.0

This book has no right to be as charming and lovely as it is.
As the title suggests, it is a collection of traditional Irish Stories, that are thoroughly readable and heartfelt.
I first purchased this book in Dublin, a few years ago, on a trip, as a suggestion from a tourguide in the Leprauchaun Museum. The tour still stands as a huge highlight in my visit, and the tour guide, Annie, was wonderfull. A small museum, it is innocent, sweet and works one's imagination. pure and lovely :)

michichigo's review against another edition

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  • Strong character development? No

2.5

As expected of old tales, the women in the stories are only pretty decorations, rather simple-minded and dull. They get abducted and end up marrying the abductor. Couldn’t get into most of them. 

debookgeek's review against another edition

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3.0

De feminist in mij vond dit vreselijk, maar de liefhebber van mythen en sagen vond het uitermate interessant.

inlibrisveritas's review

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3.0

I really enjoyed the stories in this and I'm glad I bought it. For someone who wasn't introduced to Irish folk tales this is the perfect introductory.

kelseythefancyhatladyreads's review

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3.0

There's a really interesting variety of stories in this collection, but I prefer to have more scholarly context when I'm reading folk and fairy tales than this book provides.
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