SULLIVAN

A departure from the usual regionally colloquial Irish tales of Walter Macken in a story of the making of an actor. Sullivan was a rebel from childhood- and the story opens with an enchanting scene in which the smell of apple blossoms in a walled orchard is too much for him, and he climbs the wall and urges his small chum, Pi, to follow him. They are caught midway- Pi clinging, impaled on a piece of wire- by the granddaughter of the crotchety owner. There you have your threesome- Sullivan, Pi and Bernie- who go through the book, their impact, the one on the other, providing springboards for action. Sullivan has immense gifts for the stage- and liabilities in temperament- and a recurrent stammer. Pi is his shadow- but quite a person in his own right. And they both fall in love with Bernie, socially and economically outside their class. One follows good luck and bad- with the bad in the ascendant, and it is finally in America that the whole falls into focus and the future seems assured. Not- for this reader- as appealing as his earlier stories.