The Road to Dungannon: Journeys in Literary Ireland Paperback – July 27, 2023

I honestly didn't know what to expect when I began reading Mike Pearson's "The Road to Dungannon." Having read his 1999 book, "Dreaming of Columbus," I knew him to be an accomplished and engaging story teller but I wasn't sure I was all that interested in journeys through literary Ireland. Surprisingly, when I came to the end of the book, I was sorry that the journey had come to a close.In his search for a degree of clarity and closure on the story of a long lost Irish ancestor, Mike simultaneously takes us through the stories of some of Ireland's most accomplished authors, some I'd heard of (Joyce, Yeats) and some not. What's revealed is the richness and importance of the country's history and struggles as manifested through the various authors."The Road to Dungannon" turned out to be far more than I expected and true joy to read.

I've never written a review on Amazon before. I also can't remember the last time I was so captivated by a book on so many levels. I wish I was the caliber of writer Mr. Pearson is, so I could convey to you the scope and grandeur of this memoir. I will try anyway.The story begins with a family secret: the author as a young boy is intensely curious about a missing grandfather no one in the family will talk about. As someone from an Irish Catholic family from the Irish Catholic enclaves of South Boston and Charlestown MA, I can't overstate how intimately familiar and intensely personal I found Mr Pearson's account. Alcoholism, poverty, urban claustrophobia and despair... Mr. Pearson's fluency in the language of these things will be obvious to anyone who has experienced the same. However, none of these topics are the focus of the story- they merely serve as the starting point, and act as color for the background of the characters and the journey itself.And what a journey it turns out to be. The narrative itself quickly becomes an odyssey which seamlessly flows between personal history and self-discovery, historical, literary and cultural analysis, and- arching over it all (and weaving its way throughout)- a rumination on the role literature and art plays in our lives and how we view and engage with each of these things. In this regard, the closest thing I can compare "The Road To Dungannon" to is "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'brien.However, listing the individual components of this book is akin to listing the individual ingredients of your favorite meal: it doesn't do the final product justice. And in this case, each ingredient is delicious in it's own right. So I'll put it this way: "The Road To Dungannon" is an example of why I read.If you love Irish literature, read this book.If you are interested in Irish history, read this book.Hell, if you loved "Angela's Ashes", read this book.If you don't care about any of these things and just love a good, engrossing story... read this book.

While it may be too much to describe it as a new genre of literature, Michael Pearson has taken a unique approach in combining his very personal search for his Irish roots with a survey of the Irish literary greats. The book is very readable to a lay person and at the same time could act as a comprehensive pre-exam review of Irish writers for college literature students.In the interest of full disclosure, I am unable to disprove that I am a fourth cousin, or thereabouts, of Michael. My copy of the book has already made its way to Dungannon and, having been commandeered, now resides permanently in N. Ireland, awaiting signing at Michael's forthcoming public reading there. I expect that many more copies will follow it across the Atlantic, reversing the journey of the elusive Alfred Hunter.

From the first page of THE ROAD TO DUNGANNON, it is clear that Michael Pearson is a gifted storyteller. He weaves the personal with the literary so effortlessly it’s difficult to separate the two. Indeed, Irish literature is of personal importance to the writer. The book is framed by Pearson’s travels in Ireland to uncover his Irish heritage, which has been a mystery to him for many years. To accommodate his search for answers, Pearson turns to Irish literature, how its landscape is just as mysterious as it is scalable. He comments on the works of Irish writers such as Sally Rooney, Kevin Barry, Frank O’Connor, Paul Lynch and a plethora of others.Indeed, it is not a memoir, nor is it an absolute critical history, nor is it entirely a personal reflection or a crepuscular credo. It is, in fact, all of these things helixed together: his life, his ancestry, his thoughts, his misgivings, his commentary, his conversations, all of them belonging to a unique intersection of the personal and the critical/historical. At its core, THE ROAD TO DUNGANNON is a triumph of not only literary criticism, but also the memoir and the whole of Irish Literature.

"A hungry feeling, came o'er me stealingAnd the mice were squealing as I read aloudAnd the auld triangle, went jingle jangleAll along the banks while reading this book.To begin the morning, a screw was bawlingGet up you bowsie, and come along with MikeAnd the auld triangle, went jingle jangleAll along the banks while this book.The lags were sleeping, and I was there readingRemembering not weeping a trip that was swellAnd the auld triangle, went jingle jangleAll along the banks of the Royal Canal.In the female prison, there are seventy five women'Tis among them they wish for their own copyThen the auld triangle, could go jingle jangleAll along the banks of the Royal CanalAll along the banks with a copy to read.This was a lovely voyage through the lens of a brilliant storyteller and excellent tour guide. After finishing each page I found myself fighting the constant urge to book a flight to head back to Ireland for a trip. I highly recommend checking this one out.