Customer Reviews
Maybe it is Joyce who should be compared to Nolan. - By: Mary Whipple, 10 Oct 2003 
Although Nolan's prose has often been compared to that of other, more famous writers--James Joyce, Dylan Thomas, W. B. Yeats, & Gerard Manley Hopkins, for example--his style is more accessible, making his story more readable, more emotionally powerful, & more personally involving than anything I've read by these other great writers. Minnie O'Brien lives, loves, ages, aches, & ultimately haunts. She's an extraordinary character presentedin an extraordinary way by an equally extraordinary author.
The basic story line is simple: Minnie O'Brien, an Irish countrywoman with a love for the land & her family, watches her three children grow up & leave the farm. As she ages into her eighties, she tries to keep the farm going, waiting for her youngest son, from whom she has never heard a word since his departure at age 17, to return to claim the land.
To describe the bookin these terms, however, is like describing Ulysses as a story about a man walking around Dublin. Nolan brings Minnie to life by following the first rule of fiction: "Don't tell about something; recreate it." He does this,in part, by using vivid, emotionally charged wordsin new ways, sometimes using adjectives & nouns as verbs, conveying not only the emotional sense but also an action: In describing Minnie's actions at the death of her husband, we find that her cries were "cartwheeling around the room," before "she sacked her voice of screams" & dried her eyes, going downstairs to "perform the miraculous loaves & fishes reenactment," for the neighborhood wake. Minnie's connection to the land, her love for Peter, her devotion to her children, her commitment to what is good, & her ability to keep dreaming of the future, even as she is dying, are all part of the banyan tree of her life, one which will continue to bloom long after one finishes this book. Mary Whipple
Unicorn Stick And Half a Million Clicks - By: taking a rest, 15 Dec 2002 This is a truly special literary work, a gift from the author who spent 12 years creating it.
If you enjoy any of the great authors of fiction from the 19th & early 20th century you will love the book.
Mr. Nolan won The Whitbread Awardin 1987, for the work he penned prior to this one, "Under The Eye Of The Clock".
If you enjoy rich enveloping detail that never is tedious, the book is for you. If you enjoy the scope of a work that takes the needed time, that brings to mind the word "epic", & the phrase "sure to be a classic", get this book.
If you are new to his work as am I, you are probably the rule rather than the exception. The last work published by Mr. Nolan wasin 1987, & this new work took 12 years. And this leads to the title of this review.
Mr. Nolan is paralyzed & he is mute. He cannot read aloud what he has crafted so as to hear his prose as he means it to be heard. Mr. Nolan has what is called his "Unicorn Stick", attached to his forehead & with the assistance of a helper; he types his works one letter at a time.
"The Banyan Tree" required 500,000 taps on his typewriter over a 12-year period. The book is a remarkable work by any standard, & is made more astonishing by the method he uses to communicate this tale of a Family's History.
The book deserves your full attention, & a bit more time to read. Rushing through the story would lessen the impact of it, & fail to acknowledge the extraordinary effort it took to create.
A Truly awful book! - By: , 08 Jul 2000 
I am truly amazed that a publisher could even consider publishing this book. Although the idea of tracing a familyin a story works quite well (and not for the first timein Irish literature), the narrative is at times tedious & some of the imagery frankly does not work. The similies & metaphors employed to describe the main female character,in particular, are at times vulgar & too masculine.
If you like your hot toast dripping with butter... - By: , 09 Nov 1999 
This is a grand story, it keeps you gripped & is loaded (possibly overloaded for some) with metaphor & simile.
A poignant story of famiy life in rural Ireland - By: , 18 Jul 1999 This must be one of this years' novels worthy of consideration for an award. The story of Minnie O'Brian unfolds with first the courtship of her parents & then her own with her beloved husband Peter. They have three children which they bring up on a farmin rural Ireland. There is Brendan the priest, Shelia the nurse & the wayward Frankie.It is a story of love & family disintegration. Minnie & Peter remain devoted to each other until they are cruely parted. The children soon leave their home to make their own wayin life & have their own personal crises. Minnie on her own fights to maintain & keep the farm with little contact from her children. Her battle for survival so that her youngest Frankie can inherit the farm becomes her main preoccupation. As death approaches closer contact is made with Brendan & Shelia, but will Frankie get to see his mother for the first timein 30years? This book is written with outstanding prose.almost poetical evoking the strength of love with superb descripitive writing of magical power conjuring up a sense of rural Irish family life & conflict.The changesin pace make this a book that is difficult to place down.
