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A Long Long Way Paperback – September 8, 2005

4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 2,594 ratings

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A powerful new novel about divided loyalties and the realities of war from “master storyteller” (Wall Street Journal) Sebastian Barry, author of Old God's Time

In 1914, Willie Dunne, barely eighteen years old, leaves behind Dublin, his family, and the girl he plans to marry in order to enlist in the Allied forces and face the Germans on the Western Front. Once there, he encounters a horror of violence and gore he could not have imagined and sustains his spirit with only the words on the pages from home and the camaraderie of the mud-covered Irish boys who fight and die by his side.  Dimly aware of the political tensions that have grown in Ireland in his absence, Willie returns on leave to find a world split and ravaged by forces closer to home. Despite the comfort he finds with his family, he knows he must rejoin his regiment and fight until the end. With grace and power, Sebastian Barry vividly renders Willie’s personal struggle as well as the overwhelming consequences of war.
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"A deeply moving story of courage and fidelity."—J.M. Coetzee, Nobel Prize-winning author of Disgrace

"A modern masterpiece."—The Boston Globe

"Barry succeeds admirably in creating complex individuals who find themselves trapped in a brutal reality."—
Los Angeles Times

"Wrenching...[Barry marches] bravely into the darkest, most dangerous terrain of human nature."—
The Christian Science Monitor 

"Nobody writers better about the trenches of the First World War than Sebastian Barry. In brutally effective prose he lays bare and celebrates the heroism of the young men whose livers were lost on the killing fields of France. His great gift is that he makes you feel he is reporting events that he's witnessed first hand."—Peter Sheridan, author of Everything Inch of Her 

"This is Sebastian Barry's song of innocence and experience, composed with poetic grace and an eye, both unflinching and tender, for savage detail and moments of pure beauty. It is also an astonishing display of Barry's gift for creative a memorable character, whom he has written, indelibly, back into a history which continues to haunt us."—Colm Tóibín

"Lyrical...Willie Dunne's voice, like his dilemmas, has the resonance of authenticity."—Hew Starchan, author of
The First World War

"
A Long Long Way is one of those novels that, as you turn it over in your mind, may just stay with you a long, long time."—The Denver Post

From the Back Cover

"Barry succeeds admirably in creating complex individuals who find themselves trapped in a brutal reality... Beautiful and soul-wrenching."
Los Angeles Times

"The story grips, shocks and saddens; but most importantly refuses to be forgotten."
The Times (London)

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin Books; Reprint edition (September 8, 2005)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 292 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0143035096
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0143035091
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 7.2 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5 x 0.6 x 7.7 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 2,594 ratings

About the author

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Sebastian Barry
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Sebastian Barry was born in Dublin in 1955. Laureate for Irish Fiction 2018-2021, his novels have twice won the Costa Book of the Year award, the Independent Booksellers Award and the Walter Scott Prize. He had two consecutive novels shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, A Long Long Way (2005) and the top ten bestseller The Secret Scripture (2008), and has also won the Kerry Group Irish Fiction Prize, the Irish Book Awards Novel of the Year, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and others. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and an Honorary Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin. He lives in County Wicklow.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
2,594 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers praise the writing quality as beautiful, vivid, and flowing. They find the story poignant and emotional, describing it as an engaging read that highlights the senselessness of war. Readers appreciate the insight into difficult times for Ireland around 1916 and the Irish revolution. The characters are well-developed and memorable. Overall, customers describe the book as intimate and touching.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

63 customers mention "Writing quality"58 positive5 negative

Customers enjoy the book's writing style. They find the prose beautiful and vivid, describing the trench life in a real way. The writing flows smoothly and goes deep into the characters' hearts. Readers describe the book as heartbreaking and one of the best they've read.

"...What makes A LONG LONG WAY stand out is the sheer quality of its writing, and especially its Irish perspective...." Read more

"...There is a lot to like, especially the dialogue and the episodes of Irish humor...." Read more

"...Written in a beautiful and ornate run-on style, it plunks you right down into the mud, blood and gore of WWI trench warfare in France and then..." Read more

"...With beautiful prose that often rises to the level of poetry ("When the snow came it lay over everything in impersonal dislike.")..." Read more

56 customers mention "Heartbreaking story"40 positive16 negative

Customers find the story poignant and emotional. They describe it as an engaging depiction of a fictional life that feels realistic. The book explores the moral and emotional problems faced by Irish troops during World War I.

"...include the Easter Rising, a regimental boxing match, several suitably bewildering battles, and the lovely oasis of a visit that Willie pays to the..." Read more

"...There is a lot to like, especially the dialogue and the episodes of Irish humor...." Read more

"...A LONG LONG WAY is a masterful coming-of-age story set in the trenches of war, and Willie Dunne is a character that will haunt me for a long time...." Read more

"I think this is the saddest story I ever read. But I am grateful to the author for sharing it." Read more

14 customers mention "War history"14 positive0 negative

Customers find the book's war history engaging. They say it brings the war alive and highlights the senselessness of military conflicts. The author also explores the triumphs and blights of war within the country. The Irish regiment makes the novel richer and deeper.

"...plunks you right down into the mud, blood and gore of WWI trench warfare in France and then Flanders, as it follows the fortunes of young Dubliner,..." Read more

"...Thematically multi-layered and compelling." Read more

"...The nature of war, life and death, patriotism and love of country are all intelligently discussed and debated through the main characters, and the..." Read more

"...But encourage readers to experience this moving and provocative masterpiece." Read more

13 customers mention "Insight"13 positive0 negative

Customers find the book insightful into Irish nationalism and difficult times for Ireland. They praise its evocative writing style and mention it provides deep insights into World War I and WWII. The author weaves in some Irish history with the story of World War I, creating an engaging read that teaches new perspectives.

"...the finest, capturing the travails, physical, emotional, political, spiritual, of an Irish soldier from Dublin serving King and Country throughout..." Read more

"Eloquently written aside from the f word. Deep insight into the realities of WWII and its impact on the nations that fought it, particularly the..." Read more

"...The writing of the trench life is so vivid and the conflict of the Irish soldier is so real...." Read more

"...of war, love and confusion around World War I and the struggle for Irish independence. I loved this book." Read more

9 customers mention "Character development"9 positive0 negative

Customers find the characters well-developed and memorable. They appreciate the loving portrayal of Willie and the author's portrayal of his roots.

"...Barry has created a very memorable cast of supporting characters around Willie, in the crusty, obscene Sergeant Major Christy Moran; the chaplain,..." Read more

"...There are many memorable characters (Willie's sister Dolly, Father Buckley, Sergeant-Major Christy Moran) and scenes here: when Willie sees his..." Read more

"...seem to be a great set up for a novel with drama, conflict and interesting characters...." Read more

"...and love of country are all intelligently discussed and debated through the main characters, and the author's prose often approaches poetry at..." Read more

5 customers mention "Intimacy"5 positive0 negative

Customers find the book intimate and touching. They say it's an incredible, graphic account of relationships.

"...Intimate and graphic account of his relationships with fellow soldiers and tragic misunderstandings with loved ones at home, who couldn't possibly..." Read more

"...is brilliant and the emotion that pervades the work in clear and touching. I was totally absorbed and hated to see book end...." Read more

"...and objective as well as alienation from their homes is bitter and touching. This is a painful and beautifully written story that you can't put down" Read more

"The most intimate and visceral account I have read of what it was like to be an ordinary soldier at the Front during the First World War...." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on November 26, 2008
    There have been many novels set in the trenches in World War I; this is one of the best, almost up there with Sebastian Faulks' BIRDSONG, my personal standard for the genre. What makes A LONG LONG WAY stand out is the sheer quality of its writing, and especially its Irish perspective.

    At the time war broke out in 1914, there was a general understanding that Ireland would be granted home rule within a few years. So young men like Willie Dunne, the son of an officer in the Dublin police, joined up to fight for King and Country with the thought of earning England's gratitude and further advancing the cause of freedom. But others had no such trust, and felt that the only solution was to snatch independence by force; their view ultimately prevailed, but split Irish society in the process. When Willie is home on furlough, he finds himself caught up in the Easter Rising of 1916, forced to fire on his own people. Back in the trenches, he becomes more aware of the anti-Irish prejudice of the English officers and the conflicted attitudes of his countrymen. Trying to explain this in a letter to his father, he only succeeds in alienating him. By the end of the book, such concepts as King and Country have been replaced by simpler realities: comradeship, survival, and mud.

    For Barry keeps his focus very much at ground level. Willie remains a private throughout, and the author never steps back to take a more exalted view. But the book's realism is offset by a poetry in the writing that befits a countryman of Joyce. He has an extraordinary eye for detail: "Even the leaves of the trees, so fresh the day before, seemed to have gone limp on their natural hinges and twisted about sadly, not making the usual reassuring music of the poplars along the roadside, but a dank, dead, metallic rustling, as if every drop of sap had been replaced with a dreadful poison." The account of the first appearance of the strangely beautiful yellow cloud that precedes this is the first of many magnificent set pieces in the novel. Others include the Easter Rising, a regimental boxing match, several suitably bewildering battles, and the lovely oasis of a visit that Willie pays to the country home of his former captain towards the end of the book.

    By the time the War ends, very few of Willie's original regiment are left. Sebastian Barry makes no attempt to suggest that death on such a scale is justified by some higher cause; no writer on the First War can do that with much honesty. But even as he questions notions of patriotism, he does succeed in portraying the War as a personal spiritual journey; the book ends with a quality of acceptance that does at least offer some kind of consolation.
    16 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on January 10, 2017
    . . . the slaves of England and the kings of nothing."

    World War I on the Western Front was hell for soldiers from no matter where. But it probably was harder for the Irish from Eire (Ireland, excluding Northern Ireland) who responded to Lord Kitchener's call for volunteers. They were excoriated by Nationalists and Sinn Féiners, they were mocked and distrusted by the Unionists and Ulstermen whom they fought next to, and they frequently were treated derisively by the British top brass. Yet they faced misery and death in the same measure as everyone else.

    The plight of the Irishman who volunteered to fight for the King and the Empire is personified in A LONG LONG WAY by Willie Dunne. He is the only son of the Chief Superintendent of the Dublin Metropolitan Police. He is too short to follow his father into the police, so, to be a man and do his duty, he volunteers and becomes a Private with the Royal Dublin Fusiliers. He participates in the Battle of Ginchy, the Battle of Messines, and the Third Battle of Ypres. He witnesses dozens of deaths up close and is responsible for killing at least one German soldier in hand-to-hand fighting. He is gassed and he is bombed, and he endures all the miseries of life in the trenches. He also has the misfortune to be among the troops hurriedly called in to deal with the first day of the Easter Uprising back in Dublin, and he unwillingly is involved in the court-martial, leading to the execution, of an Irish soldier who, conflicted by the competing demands on his loyalties, simply shuts down and refuses to obey orders. When, while on furlough in 1917, Willie Dunne walks the streets of Dublin in uniform boys hurl stones and spit at him. In the words of Ray Davies and the Kinks in a far different context, it's "a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world."

    In its accounts of war on the Western Front, A LONG LONG WAY is much like many other novels of the Great War -- not quite as powerful as a few but better than many. I was exposed to a few new things. Most striking were the several references to Chinese coolies doing all sorts of dirty work, from repairing roads under fire to searching for and burying bodies and body parts. Those references spurred me to do a little on-line research and I learned about the Chinese Labour Corps, through which some 140,000 Chinese served as . . . well, as coolies.

    What distinguishes A LONG LONG WAY from other Great War/Western Front novels of my experience is the Irish angle, and the anomalous position of the Irish Kitchener Volunteers. They were dealt a double-whammy by the mills of history.

    But I am rather ambivalent about the way Sebastian Barry relates the tale of Willie Dunne. There is a lot to like, especially the dialogue and the episodes of Irish humor. Example: After sharing a watery trench with the rats for fifteen days following a battle, all the while assaulted by the stench of unburied corpses, the Irish get word that they are about to be relieved by a battalion of the Gloucesters; one of them quips, "All good things come to an end." But the Gloucesters don't show up, and the Irish are driven to killing more time by reading soldier's manuals, including the stuff about keeping the feet dry and clean and wearing "clean dry socks". "I like that bit best", said Willie Dunne.

    But the novel is over-written. Example: immediately after Willie Dunne's observation about liking best the bit about clean dry socks, Barry writes: "There wasn't a clean dry anything for ten miles around." How dense does Barry think his readers are? The prose often is Irish in its lilt to the point of being mannered. Further, although the plot had some surprising twists and complications, there were times, too many times, when I felt that Barry was catering to rather vulgar expectations. And the best word for the novel's last six pages is "cheesy".
    14 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on March 16, 2019
    A LONG LONG WAY is, hands down, one of the saddest, most tragic novels of men at war that I have ever read. Written in a beautiful and ornate run-on style, it plunks you right down into the mud, blood and gore of WWI trench warfare in France and then Flanders, as it follows the fortunes of young Dubliner, Willie Dunne, who joins up because, at five foot six, he is too short to follow in the footsteps of his father, the city's Chief Police Commissioner. Willie makes it through four years of the war, while tens of thousands of Irish soldiers perish. You get a close-up look at how the Irish rebellion figures into the war, and Willie finds himself right in the middle of much of it, questioning his own role in the British Army and finding himself at odds with his beloved father, a widower who lovingly raised Willie and his three sisters. Sebastian Barry aptly demonstrates there is nothing glorious about war, but there is something very special about the friendships made among the men who fight them. Barry has created a very memorable cast of supporting characters around Willie, in the crusty, obscene Sergeant Major Christy Moran; the chaplain, Father Buckley; the young objector who refuses to fight and is executed; the various officers who command briefly before becoming casualties; Willie's sisters and his girlfriend, Gretta, and more.

    A LONG LONG WAY is a masterful coming-of-age story set in the trenches of war, and Willie Dunne is a character that will haunt me for a long time. This story caught me up and still has not put me down. My highest recommendation.
    14 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on July 24, 2024
    I think this is the saddest story I ever read. But I am grateful to the author for sharing it.
    One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Bob W.
    5.0 out of 5 stars an extraordinary novel
    Reviewed in Canada on May 15, 2023
    "A Long, long Way" was an incredible read, one of the most powerful novels I've ever read. My grandfather fought for the Newfoundland Regiment in World War 1, and was seriously wounded on three different occasions during his three years in the trenches. So Sebastian Barry's vivid and draining description of what Irish soldiers endured during the war resonated in the most memorable fashion for me. "A Long, long Way" will stay with me for a long, long time.
  • Meta
    5.0 out of 5 stars Sizilien - Krimis
    Reviewed in Germany on July 10, 2023
    Alle Romane aus der Camillieri Reihe mit Inspektor Montalbani sind leichte und unterhaltsame Lektüre mit einigen interessanten Zusatzinfos über mafiose Strukturen und Anregungen zum Kochen- da der Inspektor ein Genussmensch ist
  • Ron LaCroix
    5.0 out of 5 stars Some of the language was strikingly beautiful when describing something awful
    Reviewed in Australia on January 19, 2018
    This book places you inside the senseless ruin of WW1 in Belgium. The only question in my mind is how the protagonist manages to stay alive until 1918 and falls to a single bullet as they follow the retreating Germans. I found the descriptions of struggling through the acres of blasted mud, the first unleashing of mustard gas on a naive battalion, the stench of death, the crawling of lice, the relentless loss of comrades to be horrifying but compelling. Some of the language was strikingly beautiful when describing something awful. Barry has made it possible to visualize the ugly nature of war and its destruction of the citizens who are forced to wage it. Hard going sometimes, but a very revealing book.
  • Denise Bond
    5.0 out of 5 stars A fabulous poetic book
    Reviewed in France on May 24, 2015
    Beautifully written as are all Barry's books, thought provoking and dramatic. We live through Willie the horrors of war but also the humour and the thinking of a simple soldier against the background of the quest for Home Rule in Ireland. Captivating and heart wrenching.
  • Ainetheon
    5.0 out of 5 stars A damned good read!
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 13, 2012
    A Long Long Way

    This book is my first taste of Barry and I am not disappointed. He has all the 'earthiness' I enjoy in an author. He takes the simple and makes it colourful. He is not afraid to talk about the less than finer side of war without making it into a high drama of events. I was totally immersed in this story from start to finish. I could almost hear, almost see, each of the characters. Barry has a skill in being able to bring his characters alive from the point of their entry. In addition Barry, at the start of each chapter, hooks the reader in to the opening scenario making it difficult to put the book down. In fact the first line of chapter one is one of the best 'hooks' I've read: "He was born in the dying days." In the following two lines the reader is given so much colourful detail: "It was the withering end of 1896. He was called William after the long-dead Orange King, because his father took an interest in such distant matters." Before I had even got to the bottom of the first page I was hearing the strong Irish accent.

    A Long Long Way is a story about a young man Willie Dunne who at a very young age enlists in the army as a private to go and fight in the First World War. The first chapter is all about his upbringing and setting the scene around Willie's life. Chapter two is about him enlisting and sets the scene for going to war. In these opening chapters Willie Dunne, the boy almost a man come to life. Barry talks of the inner person dealing with the physical bodily happenings as if it was the normal thought patterns of any young man entering a soldier's world of war. These opening chapters set the momentum going for the remainder of the book

    The book is divided into three parts, this first part dealing with his naivety as a young man with the romanticised images and intentions of war. We, the readers, are given a good background to the mannerisms and morals of this young man in this first part. It would be an unusual reader who decided against liking Willie. The seed of Irish discontent is sown in this part and unfolded in more detail the latter half of the second part.

    The second part deals mainly with the making and breaking of relationships both in the fields of Flanders and at home in Ireland. There is a great deal of hardships to be endured within these chapters and Barry treats these events with a certain amount of sensitivity without taking away the impact of the emotional and physical aspects of such experiences. The reader is shown a glimpse of how it is possible for the human spirit to rise above the atrocities and slaughter of war. The full horror of war is less described in words than it is conveyed by sheer skill of the author in bringing the reader's imagination into play by how the story is woven together.

    Part three brings in the harvest of the seeds sown and the growth of the story's grain from the previous parts. We see the things that troubled Willie become less bothersome and more manageable. We are there with this young man as he grows old in mind and spirit through adversity, horror and disappointment. In this part the inner struggle is gaining momentum as the army makes advance over the enemy. Willie gets injured and is hospitalised then returned back to the fields and trenches of war. There is a sudden understanding and acceptance within Willie. He has matured and is only just twenty one. We are now in 1918, less than four years since his letter to his father from the training barracks in December 1914. Swiftly, and once more with skill, Barry brings the story together with Willie's reflections and peaceful thoughts. All too soon the story is ended and one is left feeling that here indeed is a marvel of a story that one lived through with each page read.

    This was an excellent read. Very emotionally moving and skilfully written. A book that I have no hesitation in recommending to anyone. I will also say that I appreciate an author listing a bibliography of books used by the author. I will go on to read more of Sebastian Barry and possibly some of the books mentioned in the acknowledgments. A well deserved 5-star rating.