Product Description

Exiled from Ireland as a terrorist, Declan goes to live with a family in Canada

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1227781 in Books
• Published on: 2003-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 96 pages

From Publishers Weekly
After his mother and younger sister are killed in a terrorist bombing in their native Belfast, Declan joins the Holy Terrors, a youth gang modeled after the IRA. When the authorities catch up with him, Declan is sent--very much against his will--to a small town in British Columbia, to live with his father's brother Matthew and his family. Angry, embittered and determined to return to Ireland as soon as possible, Declan has little affection for his gentle uncle, whom he considers a "meddling, do-good fixer" and a cowardly runaway. He himself undertakes several daring escapes. Gradually, however, the tranquility of his new home leads Declan to reexamine his notions of courage and heroism. Flashbacks give a bitter taste of the violence that forms a part of everyday life in Belfast and of Declan's impassioned fury. As the narrative moves to its easily anticipated happy ending, however, the plot starts seeming forced. Burdened by the novel's overaccentuated messages of pacifism, characterization suffers: Matthew and his wife, for instance, are so sweet-natured that they don't seem entirely real. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Grade 6-9-After his mother and sister were killed in a bombing incident, 13-year-old Declan Doyle took to the streets of Belfast with a gang called the Holy Terrors. His pre-IRA training is now cut short when he is "torn away from his native soil" and sent to live with his deceased father's brother in western Canada. Driven by dreams of revenge, the boy runs away, planning to return home to Ireland. Unable to escape, he makes a deal to stay with his relatives in their idyllic Vancouver fishing village for three months. Adjusting to a new country and a new family, yet still nursing his hatred of everything British, Declan is befriended by his cousins and a classmate. Finally, he is comes to understand the futility of the violence in his homeland and realizes how attached to his new life he has become. Fast-paced action opens the novel and immediately engages readers. Contemporary language and vivid description add to the sense of reality and enhance the easily readable style. Heneghan avoids arguments on the rights or wrongs of the Irish conflict, focusing instead on the human issues: families destroyed and lives torn apart by terrorist warfare. A great title to booktalk.
Gail Richmond, San Diego Unified Schools, CA
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Gr. 7-10. "They handcuffed him to the seat so he could cause no trouble on the airplane." No further booktalk needed. The title, the cover, and the dramatic opening scenes will grab readers. At 13, Declan is wild and angry at being torn away from his home in Northern Ireland and forced to join his uncle's family in Canada. He wants to stay and fight with the IRA in the streets of Belfast and get bloody revenge for the deaths of his family: his mother and sister were blown up in a bomb attack; his father was shot dead years before. The story is satisfyingly predictable: we know that Declan will slowly become less rebellious and succumb to the love of his relatives and to the wild beauty of the coastal town near Vancouver. The moral is clear: violence solves nothing. That lesson's too heavily underlined at times, especially with the suddenly interposed revelation that Declan's father was not a hero, but an informer. However, readers will feel for the desperate boy nearly destroyed by civil war. The best scenes evoke his haunting memories of guns and firebombs and contrast those nightmares with the rich silence of the wilderness and the kindness of community. Hazel Rochman

Customer Reviews

One of the best of all times.
To be torn is to be ripped, severed, shredded, or the surface of an object can be torn, like jeans for instance. Declan was torn away physically when he was taken away from Ireland. His wrists were torn from the cruelties of the metallic handcuffs, just as his mind was torn from the separation, the loss, and the sudden gain of a new family. They say that if a starving man eats a meal after not eating in days, he will die. I believe that almost the same thing happened to Declan when he came to Otter Harbor. He was overcome with the love they granted him. But he was not going to except their " Snotty English Charity" and perhaps because of this he would die of loneliness. After moving to Otter Harbor, Declan slowly but surely began to meliorate. Yet buried deep inside of himself he was torn. In a way no one could explain. He was lost inside of himself trying to find his family and friends, the way things were before their deaths. Alas, they were torn so far apart. There would be no chance of finding them. Heaven and earth are too very different places. To move on would be hard, to stay in place would be to difficult. To go behind, into the past, impossible. Declan was torn in many ways, however, to be torn can be to be mended.

review
"Torn away" was quite interesting. The book was easy to read, among other things because of the annotations an the easy English language that the author used.
But the book is written with typical clichés, a bit like a feri-tale or a Hollywood film. The plot and especially the end was very simple to guess. While reading the book, I knew that Declan will stay in Canada. But If had written the book, I would not haven done it that way, because it's absolutely not Declan's character. His most important aim is to take revenge for the death of his family. And the fact that his father was killed by his own people changes his opinion about him and the Protestants, but I can't imagine that Declan changes completely after he knows that. His stay in Canada is not convincible for me. So the plot was too superficial and especially in the last chapters, you get the impression that Heneghan wants to finish the book; lots of events, but with no explanations.
Further more this kind of story does not please me. A point is missing, perhaps a love story or something like that. The whole book is about nature, a nice family and a boy who is so bitter, but in spite of, he finds a wonderful family. The moral: the world is fair.

Juliane

review
The novel „Torn away" describes the situation an Irish 13-year-old boy is in.
Declan has lost his family by IRA attacks and is now forced to live with his uncle Matthew in Canada.
At the end of the novel he is torn between his wish to return to Northern Ireland to revenge his family's death on the one hand and thoughts about his new life and of evantually staying in Canada on the other hand.
In fact, this book is not only about a person changing, but also about a mind changing!

„Torn away" describes detailly all thoughts, feelings and the conflict Declan is in. It is written very emotional and sometimes even deeply moving. For example chapter sixteen; there is described the last time Declan sees his mother and sister alive. This is so sad and honestly goes to heart.
In contrast to this lovely written chapter, the reader also gets to know cruelty.

The religious war in Northern Ireland is approached to the reader. So you get to know another view over the fights than from the news. But besides all these awful things happening, nevertheless it is understandable why Declan wants to return. He hates his new family, has no friends and is treated worse at school. In addition to that he misses his family and wants to fight the "dirty Prots" (Protestants).
But there is a process noticeable. Declan changes during his time in Canada, but in spite of that till the end of the novel he has to think of going back to Northern Ireland.

But I myself can't understand the end! For me it is too trashy. There is no introduction to this end, it comes really suddenly and abruptly. It seems, that James Heneghan absolutely wanted to have a happy end.

I read this book because it was one theme in my English-profile course at 11th grade. But it is not on my list of my favorite books.
In spite of that I would recommend this novel if someone was interested in this story. It has something for everybody, it is cruel but also sad.
The novel helps you to understand the cruelty and fights going on in Northern Ireland.
And you have the opportunity to get to know a young boy changing, who had to experience so much sorrow!

Kerstin Dathe