DNF @ 75%. This was my first Colm Toibin—and maybe it was a bit too much of a tall order for me to enjoy. Like all essay collections, there are hits and misses. The opening essay on Toibin’s cancer diagnosis is wry and engaging; the extended analysis of Marilynne Robinson’s books is not. I’m not sure I’ve reached the point in my reading life where I can fully enjoy Toibin’s sharp commentary—but I’d certainly be open to returning to this collection again. Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Overall, if you like good writing and superb cultural insights, this is a good collection of essays especially if you are interested in contemporary Irish literary figures. I am not all that educated in lesser known (on this side of the pond) Irish literary figures so it was enlightening. Most of these essays were published in the LRB (London Review of Books), thus their literary-mindedness.

However, not to mislead, many topics are addressed here, the most personal being the first essay about Toibin's bout of testicle cancer which is devastatingly harrowing. I've never read an account of cancer that gets to the nitty-gritty aspects of everyday life and the psychic/physical toll chemo can take. Losing one's interest in music for someone who is passionate about it seems an especially cruel side effect for Toibin.

Other essays cover Irish politics surrounding LGBTQ issues, his reporting on the Supreme Court in Dublin, gender relations/politics especially concerning his mother's life in County Wexford, and sexual abuse accounts in the Irish Catholic church. Also there is an especially enlightening essay about the current Pope who was not especially empathetic to those suffering under dictatorships in 1980s Argentina and who has undergone a bit of a sea change since his early days as a clergyman. Toibin is a masterful astute writer and makes any topic intriguing and intellectually satisfying.

“There is no such thing as an honest novel.” A weighty statement considering Toibin’s eminence as a novelist. And there’s no reason to think Toibin isnt being serious when he says it. After all, this is a very serious book, full of gripping and searching essays that explore themes Toibin must feel are vital to the Irish character. Or perhaps he doesn’t feel this way. But the seriousness of the essays and Toibin’s exploration of his own connections to the fabric of Irish history would make me surprised if this weren’t so.

These are essays about popes, and being catholic in ireland, and being irish in the world. Toibin details very personally his battle with cancer, his growing up in an ever-changing ireland as a gay man, his relationships with various authors and the works and controversies that marked their lives, and his own place in history (however briefly, albeit as an editor, not as an author). Prior to reading this I’d only ever read a single short story of his. Now I’m planning on tucking into the rest of his catalogue, eager to see this same voice channeled through long fiction.

I love the author's fictional works so was intrigued to read his non-fiction essays - from the highly personal to the ruminations on the Catholic Church (and popes) and Irish literature. His opening essay packs a wallop - a real emotional and humorous meditation on cancer. The final essay takes place in Venice during Covid - the setting of his most recent book I loved about Thomas Mann and Death in Venice - called "The Magician." I really liked learning about his childhood. Some of the essays were a little harder for me to follow because I am not Catholic and so perhaps am missing some of the context. But I did learn and it was new information for me, how complicit our current pope was in his silence and actions ('cover up) during and after what is know as Argentina's Dirty War. Like any good essay, this one got me doing some more research and sure enough -- a lot has been written about this and somehow I missed it. The author is a fantastic writer and while some essays stood out to me more than others, overall it is definitely a worthwhile read.

Thank you to Netgalley and Scribner for a free advance copy and I voluntarily wrote this review.

3.5 stars
I requested this book from NetGalley because I have read a couple of Tóibín's novels and loved them. This collection of essays obviously has a different feel to it, but for the most part, Colm's honest appraisal of his Irish Catholic upbringing—including an indictment on the hypocrisy of the abuse scandals in the Catholic Church—held just as much intrigue and drama as his novels. Tóibín speaks with candor about his treatment for cancer, his homosexuality, and his schooling in Jesuit institutions. In other essays, he profiles popes and literary figures in a religious context. This last section was difficult for me, as I had only a passing knowledge of some of the writers he profiled. I found these essays more scholarly and complex, and yes, I know that by admitting here that I enjoyed the rest more, I am also saying something about my own, sometimes flea-like attention span, but I will own that. However, as I got further into this part I was compelled to read more. So now I have more books on my to-read pile! All in all a thoughtful and enlightening collection.

It is truly a gift to be able to get inside the heart and mind of a writer that you so love and enjoy. These essays give us so much insight into the Toibin and his life and fears and triumphs.

In a series of eleven essays written between 1995 and 2022, Colm Toibin takes his readers on a journey through Ireland of the past and present, he takes a close, often personal look at the Catholic Church in Ireland and in Rome to try to work out the problems the entire world has learned of in recent years. Sex abuse by priests, how to get “good” priests leads to wide ranging thought on policies of three popes. Other essays address literary thoughts on authors he knows/knew well: Marilynne Robinson, John McGahern and, for me at least, a far lesser known Francis Stuart.

This last essay was particularly interesting to me because it was so singular and unexpected. Ireland was neutral during WWII. Francis Stuart was a writer who went to Berlin in 1940 to teach at Berlin University. He then broadcast to Ireland from Germany from 1942 to 1944. This essay works through the life of Stuart the various effects on the literary community and how Toibin dealt with the complex morality of this man.

My favorite essay is the titled one which was released on its own in the past. It’s a wonderful, non-linear view of moments and people in Toibin’s life. His tribute to his mother, his ability to see her essence and strength, is among the best I have read.

A different collection, a lot to chew on, not a bad thing at all.

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley.

Many thanks to Scribner for the advanced-reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review of A Guest at the Feast. Colm Toibin's compilation of essays range from topics such as his bout with testicular cancer to his childhood in Ireland and his take on the Catholic church and religion. This is a fascinating collection, and regular - and possibly new - readers of Toibin will likely appreciate these recollections and insights from his life.

Really beautiful essay collection on a variety of topics, including Catholicism, cancer, and the author's lived experiences as a gay man in a conservative Ireland. I loved how the essays explored so many different topics and found myself tearing up at a few of them. Would highly recommend.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Scribner for an advanced copy of this collection of essays on life, religion, health and body parts.

No other sections in bookstores have grown so much over my time working in them the essays section. In the past five shelves were the average in most stores, now five bookcases wouldn't be enough for both front and back list. Many of these can be mixed bag collections. Personal tales and woes mixed with current (at the time) events commentary, some tries at humor, some pointed observation at a pop culture moment, etc. Many are of their time, Internet stars or film stars getting close to the end of their fifteen minutes. Colm Tóibín is the exception. His work is personal, always well thought out, funny and timeless. A Guest at the Feast is a collection of works from various sources over the years that reminds readers how important, informative and touching essays can be.

The first essay has one of the best opening lines of an essay ever, I won't reprint it, read it yourself. The inner thirteen year- old in me giggled like Beavis and Butthead, the man of a certain age in me went wufff. This piece is also my favorite piece, probably my one of my top five essays, not just for the blue opening, but the subject matter, Tóibín's dealing with cancer. Sadly this is subject that many will deal, have dealt with, or in my case have family members go through. The essay is funny, smart, informative, and again beautifully written with many down moments, but a lot of people aren't as bad as we think they are. From there Tóibín discusses growing up in County Wexford, his education with the priests, many who were found to be serial abusers later on, and the changes that he saw in the cultural and spiritual life in people. There are more essays on the popes, history and the changes in homosexuality in Ireland, literature and a quarantine essay to fill out the collection.

The essays are very personal, even the ones on literature, and the role and history of the popes. All are carefully written, with an aim of bringing the reader in, informing the reader and leaving them with a lot to think about, smile about, or want to know more. Tóibín's style is deceptively light, with a bit of nostalgia, humor and self deprecating humor to hook readers. The breadth of subjects is quite expansive, and though the book is broken down by themes, there is a lot of ranging in ideas and subjects.

A standout collection, the first essay is worth the price of the book. Recommended for fans and readers of essays and longer form magazine articles. I would also suggest this might be a good book for people currently going through treatment for cancer, or really and debilitating disease. This might help them in knowing that someone else is sharing their problems and experiences and is still around today. This collection might give them a little hope where needed, and more importantly a smile.

Colm Toibin is one of my favorite fiction authors--his books are always skillfully written, thoughtful and engrossing. "A Guest at the Feast" is the first nonfiction collection I've read from Toibin, and I'm happy to say that it is characterized by the same beautiful and insightful writing, punctuated with a wittiness that doesn't necessarily come through in his fiction. In essays on topics ranging from the three most recent popes and the Catholic Church, to longform reviews of the literary output of Marilynne Robinson, Francis Stuart and John McGahern to, most movingly for me, personal essays about his childhood in Ireland and his bout with cancer, Toibin demonstrates why his reviews and essays are a mainstay of periodicals such as the London Review of Books, The New Yorker, and The Dublin Review, where the pieces anthologized in this volume first appeared. "All of us have a landscape of the soul," Toibin writes in the titular essay, "places whose contours and resonances are etched into us and haunt us. If we ever become ghosts, these are the places to which we would return." "A Guest at the Feast" invites us to journey to those places with Toibin, and it's well worth the trip.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for providing me with an ARC of this title in return for my honest review.

Thoughtful, direct, challenging--Toibin's essays bear all the hallmarks of his superb writing. Don't miss the essay on visiting Venice--a gem of travel writing.

Thanks to Scribners and to Netgalley for the opportunity of an early read.