Explore our new BookBrowse Community Forum!

Summary and Reviews of Charming Billy by Alice McDermott

Charming Billy by Alice McDermott

Charming Billy

by Alice McDermott
  • Critics' Consensus:
  • Readers' Rating:
  • First Published:
  • Jan 1, 1998, 280 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Jan 1999, 243 pages
  • Rate this book

About This Book

Book Summary

Tells the story of the late Billy Lynch within the complex matrix of a tightly knit Irish American community, in a voice that is resonant and filled with deep emotion.

In a fierce, witty, haunting novel--a masterpiece about the unbreakable bonds of memory and desire--the National Book Award-nominated author of "That Night" tells the story of the late Billy Lynch within the complex matrix of a tightly knit Irish American community, in a voice that is resonant and filled with deep emotion.

Chapter One

SOMEWHERE IN THE BRONX, only twenty minutes or so from the cemetery, Maeve found a small bar-and-grill in a wooded alcove set well off the street that was willing to serve the funeral party of forty-seven medium-rare roast beef and boiled potatoes and green beans amandine, with fruit salad to begin and vanilla ice cream to go with the coffee. Pitchers of beer and of iced tea would be placed along the table at intervals and the bar left open--it being a regular business day--for anyone who wanted a drink.

The place was at the end of a sloping driveway that started out as macadam but quickly diminished to dirt and gravel. There was an apron of dirt and gravel in front of the building, potholed, and on the day of the funeral filled with puddles, and the first ten cars parked here, including the black limousine Maeve had ridden in. The others parked up along the drive, first along one side, then the other the members of the funeral party walking in their fourth ...

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!
This guide is intended to enrich your experience of reading Alice McDermott's Charming Billy. This powerful novel by the acclaimed author of At Weddings and Wakes presents a moving and wryly ironic portrait of Billy Lynch, a charming but enigmatic man, and his extended Irish-American family during the years between World War II and the 1990s.

The family and friends assembled at Billy's funeral remember him with fond exasperation. A self-destructive alcoholic who drank himself into a premature grave, Billy caused much grief to his friends and his gentle, devoted wife, Maeve; yet everyone loved him for his charming and affectionate nature. His friends are aware that as a young ex-GI Billy had fallen in love with and become engaged ...
Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

The New York Times Book Review - Alida Becker
Alice McDermott's eloquent and unsettling new novel begins with a death--and a distinctly inconvenient resurrection.... Like its title character, McDermott's novel works on our sympathies with an insistent and ingratiating charm.

Kirkus Reviews
A softly resonant and nostalgic tale told so masterfully, so movingly, that it seems to distill a human essence on virtually every page.

Library Journal
With carefully drawn character studies and gentle probing, McDermott, who won the National Book Award for this work, masterfully weaves a subtle but tenacious web of relationships to explore the devastation of alcoholism, the loss of innocence, the daily practice of love, and the redeeming unity of family and friendship.

Reader Reviews

Cathryn Conroy

This Is an Irish Catholic Wake--In Written Form
This is a novel about life. About death. About memories. About the future. About faith. And the loss of it. About truth. And lies. And secrets. And most of all about the relationships that bind us to one another. This book is essentially the ...   Read More
Sarah Morin

Charming Billy is an enchanting book, a man loved by everyone driving himself to alcoholism. Is wonderful wife Mauve who has been there all the way for him. He was an aspiring Poet and loved being with his many friends. He made his living working in ...   Read More
Paul

Charming while being Disarming
I found this book in a 2nd hand store in Gladstone, New South Wales (Australia). The owner of the store said a friend had sent it to her from America. I read it and it reminded me of my alcoholic and dysfunctional uncles who have passed away, while ...   Read More
Mary Sue

Wasn't able to get past page 50

Write your own review!

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Read-Alikes

Read-Alikes Full readalike results are for members only

If you liked Charming Billy, try these:

  • Wickett's Remedy jacket

    Wickett's Remedy

    by Myla Goldberg

    Published 2006

    About this book

    More by this author

    Through narrative, authentic newspaper clippings, and fictional correspondence, the author of Bee Season offers an intimate view of the life of Lydia Kilkenny, a shop clerk and daughter of Irish immigrants in South Boston in the early 20th century.'

  • Tis jacket

    Tis

    by Frank McCourt

    Published 2000

    About this book

    More by this author

    The story of Frank's American journey from impoverished immigrant to brilliant teacher and raconteur.

We have 4 read-alikes for Charming Billy, but non-members are limited to two results. To see the complete list of this book's read-alikes, you need to be a member.
More books by Alice McDermott
Search read-alikes
How we choose read-alikes
Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: Our Evenings
    Our Evenings
    by Alan Hollinghurst
    Alan Hollinghurst's novel Our Evenings is the fictional autobiography of Dave Win, a British ...
  • Book Jacket: Graveyard Shift
    Graveyard Shift
    by M. L. Rio
    Following the success of her debut novel, If We Were Villains, M. L. Rio's latest book is the quasi-...
  • Book Jacket: The Sisters K
    The Sisters K
    by Maureen Sun
    The Kim sisters—Minah, Sarah, and Esther—have just learned their father is dying of ...
  • Book Jacket: Linguaphile
    Linguaphile
    by Julie Sedivy
    From an infant's first attempts to connect with the world around them to the final words shared with...

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Pony Confidential
    by Christina Lynch

    In this whimsical mystery, a grumpy pony must clear his beloved human's name from a murder accusation.

Who Said...

Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information on it.

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

F the M

and be entered to win..