Nuala O'Faolain

This past Sunday I went to my parents' house because my dad's side of the family was coming for a visit. It was a beatutiful, warm day and we ate outside and had a great time.

My Uncle Jerry loaded his truck with things he was getting rid of: jackets, books, household items, and a 32" TV. Most of the books were Ireland related and I snagged a couple Irish ghost story books as it's October and I like to get into the spirit.

I also grabbed a book I had seen in the past and hadn't really thought about reading before. I'd liked Angela's Ashes and Frank McCourt blurbed, "You don't want the book to end" about Are You Somebody? by Nuala O'Faolain.

I started reading it the next day and I finished it last night with tears in my eyes.

Are You Somebody? is so well written that it makes you want to sit down and write your own life story and hope that it will come out half as good.

Total honesty- no holding back- is one of the things that makes it so strong. She lays everything out when you know it must've been a brutal process.

The only thing that might keep my from recommending it to my friends is I know there are certain parts where they're going to be lost, as I was, and want to skip over sections.

I know next to nothing about many of the books and writers she talks about. And she lost me, too, when she listed the countries and landmarks she visited on holiday.

She's been fucking everywhere, by the way. If you live in Europe it must be really cheap to get plane tickets. She went everywhere you've ever wanted to go and everywhere you don't.

I've gotten really bad with Wikopedia- when I come across a movie on TV I have to go look it up and read how it ends. I don't know why. I'd never do that with a book, but halfway through Are You Somebody? I decided to look up the author and learn a little more about her life.

It made me really sad to discover that she's no longer alive; she died of cancer in 2008. I didn't see that coming- she's only about five years older than my parents.

Anyway, if you get the chance you should seek out this book. Go to the library or buy it this week at your local bookstore. It's worth buying, and besides, you'll want to re-read it, either right away or in the coming years. It's a good story, told well.