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The Copper Beech
Maeve Binchy Book Review

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Plot Summary of The Copper Beech
"Basically, the story is about a little Irish town. Shancarrig, whose young people carved their initials-and those of their loves into the Copper Beech tree. Some of the main characters though, in the story were the following:

Maddy is lonely and lives with her mother. She meets Father Barry, the priest when she becomes a teacher, and falls in love. He can't return that love however in his position.

Maura has a drunken father and lives in a very poor household. She can't wait to get out on her own, and finds a job cleaning in Ryan's Hotel. There she falls in love with Gerry O' Sullivan and they marry. She has a Down-Syndrome child, and Gerry can't handle it. So he takes off and never does return.

Eddie lives with his mom at home who is struggling for a living as a seamstress. His Dad took off long ago. One day, Eddie gets acquainted with a penfriend and Scotland, and they fall deeply in love.

Leo is a character in the book that has a mom who's in shock after a terrible tragedy befalls their family. She later gets out on her own away from home, and marries Foxy Dunne.

Dr Jims Blake who marries very happily to his soulmate loses her in childbirth a few years later after she carries their son. Jim blames his newborn son Declan all the time for the cause of her death. The two never come to terms until much later on.

The book was a very interesting read. If you enjoy a family saga, you should like Copper Beech very well.
"

Boppy, Resident Scholar



Review Analysis of The Copper Beech
Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book? - thoughtful
Time/era of story - 1960's-1970's
Inside culture (main char) - Irish
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Outside culture (society) - Ireland
If story of urban/rural... - Small town life
Ethnic/regional/gender life Yes

Main Character
Gender - Female
Profession/status: - teacher
Age: - 20's-30's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes
Ethnicity/Nationality - Irish/McCourt
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Very much smarter than other characters
Physique - average physique

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 20's-30's
Profession/status: - religious figure
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a little/some
How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - average physique

Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings? - 8 ()
Europe Yes
European country: - Ireland
Small town? Yes
Small town people: - nice, like Andy/Opie/Aunt Bee

Style
Person - rotating 1st
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
Sex in book? Yes
What kind of sex: - vague references - impregnation/reproduction
Unusual Style: - No single main character?
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
Most similar books to The Copper Beech
Cal by Bernard MacLaverty
Echoes by Maeve Binchy
The Lilac Bus by Maeve Binchy
The Marriage Bed by Regina McBride
1949: A Novel of the Irish Free State by Morgan Llywelyn


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Maeve Binchy Resident Scholar Profiles

TOP SCHOLAR:
  
Delight Comphel  

SCHOLARS:
Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy  peekay  Wendy  Cher Desjard  Hanna  Gracey Castro  Mary McMahon  


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