Throughout the collection, it is the droll, melancholy elegance of the prose that guarantees the reader’s enjoyment.” —John Mullan, The Guardian

This volume opens with his poignant journey through cancer treatment and a looming sense of mortality… A hallmark of Toíbín is his uncanny ability to deftly express the emotional undercurrent in his writing, be it loneliness, anger, or nostalgia.” —Bill Kelly, Booklist But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’ It all started with my balls.” That’s the startling first sentence of “Cancer: My Part in Its Downfall,” the opening piece in A GUEST AT THE FEAST, the 10th work of nonfiction from prolific Irish novelist, short story writer, playwright, poet and critic Colm Tóibín. And it’s indicative of the quality of candor, insight and frequent wit that he displays in these essays and journalism, previously published between 1995 and 2022 in magazines that include The New Yorker and the London Review of Books. Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. 17 At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’And the King entered to see the guests and he saw a man there who was not wearing a wedding garment. Now the king came in to see the guests; and among them he discovered one who was not wearing a wedding-robe.

Strong's 1519: A primary preposition; to or into, of place, time, or purpose; also in adverbial phrases. Pulpit Commentary Verses 8, 9. - When thou art hidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room. The pretensions and conceit of the Jewish doctors of the Law had been for a long period intolerable. We have repeated examples in the Talmud of the exaggerated estimate these, the scholars and doctors of the Law, formed of themselves, and of the respect they exacted from all classes of the community. One can well imagine the grave displeasure with which the Divine Teacher looked upon this unholy frame of mind, and upon the miserable petty struggles which constantly were resulting from it. The expositors of the Law of God, the religious guides of the people, were setting an example of self-seeking, were showing what was their estimate of a fitting reward, what was the crown of learning which they coveted - the first seats at a banquet, the title of respect and honour! How the Lord - the very essence of whose teaching was self-surrender and self-sacrifice - must have mourned over such pitiful exhibitions of weakness shown by the men who claimed to sit in Moses' seat! Lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him; and he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place. As an instance of such unseemly contention, Dr. Farrar quotes from the Talmud how, "at a banquet of King Alexander Jannaeus, the rabbi Simeon ben Shetach, in spite of the presence of some great Persian satraps, had thrust himself at table between the king and queen, and when rebuked for his intrusion quoted in his defence Ecclus. 15:5, 'Exalt wisdom, and She... shall make thee sit among princes.'"When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast ( B) in the kingdom of God.” ( C) The novel is happier in a secular space where people suffer from mortal ailments and failures, where their ambitions are material, their hopes palpable. Changing bread and wine into body and blood could be done in a novel, but it would be hard, and shouldn't be tried twice. ... Nevertheless, because I was born in Ireland and brought up Catholic, I have a serious difficulty when it comes to the creation of characters who live entirely in a secular universe.' When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down [to eat] at the place of honor, since a more distinguished person than you may have been invited by the host, When the king went in to meet the guests, he found that one of them wasn't wearing the right kind of clothes for the wedding. When any one invites you to a wedding banquet, do not take the best seat, lest perhaps some more honoured guest than you may have been asked,

The volume is divided into three parts: the first focuses on personal, autobiographical-type essays; the second focuses on the Catholic Church and its various scandals; and the third is largely about writers — Marilynne Robinson, Francis Stuart, John McGahern and Thomas Mann — and the influences on their work. 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. But when the king came in to see the wedding guests, he saw a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. When you are invited by anyone to wedding feasts, do not recline in the first place, lest one more honorable than you might have been invited by him. There is nothing flashy about these essays, no showing off. They are always interesting and intelligent, written in an admirably clear prose free of academic jargon. In short, this is journalism at its best.” —Alan Massie, The ScotsmanOverall, 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. Tóibín’s personal circumstances give him a unique outlook on many of the public matters discussed in the collection. A Brush with the Law, published in The Dublin Review in 2007, is a fascinating look at the workings of the Supreme Court in 1980s Ireland, which begins when Tóibín is sent to cover, as editor of Magill magazine, David Norris’s constitutional challenge to Ireland’s laws against homosexuality. Tóibín applies his formidable intellect to documenting the twists and turns of the case. We see the rigour of thought and understanding of nuance that made him such a good journalist, inflected with the humanity of personal experience: “To be gay in a repressive society is to have every moment of your life clouded by what is forbidden and what must be secretive.” When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, And he said unto him that was over the vestry, Bring forth vestments for all the worshippers of Baal. And he brought them forth vestments. But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe,

From his fictionalised biographies of Henry James and Thomas Mann, to the crossover of public and private worlds in his second novel The Heather Blazing, the delineation of female lives in Brooklyn and Nora Webster, the reimagining of Greek mythology from marginalised perspectives in House of Names and his 2019 play Pale Sister, there is the sense always of a writer looking to tell the story behind the story, to disturb the parts in the dark. These essays- memoir — are FANTASTIC….highly enriched by the audiobook: Toibin couldn’t have read it better. O’Farrell’s prose, as fluent as ever, is more ornate than in earlier books. She alternates passages of plain prose with others rich in musical cadences and lavishly decorated with imagery and heightened vocabulary. A river laps at its banks “with lassitudinous ochre tongues”. A dress speaks a “glossolalia all of its own”, rustling and creaking, becoming an orchestra, or the rigging of a ship. Finely written and vividly imagined, The Marriage Portrait is far from being simplistic, but there is an engaging simplicity to it that makes it feel not quite like a grown-up novel. Rather, it is a very good one to be read, as publishers used to say, by “children of all ages”. But when the king came in to see the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed [appropriately] in wedding clothes, Admirers of O’Farrell’s previous historical novel, Hamnet, may be nonplussed by this one. Where Hamnet’s emotional punch (read it and weep) was powered by its psychological and social realism, The Marriage Portrait is set in a world as fabulous as that of a millefleurs tapestry and inhabited by beings as flatly emblematic as embroidered ladies and their unicorns. There is a virgin heroine whose floor-length red hair, modestly confined in a pearl-decorated net, hints at rebellious energy. There is a devilish duke, handsome and cruel. Sisters come in pairs – the good (beautiful) one and the cross, ugly one. There is an old nurse whose gruff manner masks a kindly heart. There is the pure-hearted young man who might, perhaps, offer rescue.Tóibín is undoubtedly a talented and successful writer, but sometimes that isn't enough to render a boring topic interesting. This collection of essays started out with a personal-experience narrative that hit the perfect mark between funny and somber (I had hope! This captured the tone of his writing that I love), but from there, I just about drowned in verbose meanderings through papal history. Maybe it was too much Catholic school growing up, but I quite literally could not stay awake while reading these essays. In the end, I had to sadly write this collection off as a "did-not-finish" read - something I rarely, if ever, do. Until now. Always, Toibin is deeply connected with writers and writing and I've really enjoyed reading how and where he has used elements from his youth in his novels, and which writers he engaged with at different stages. Strong's 3361: Not, lest. A primary particle of qualified negation; not, lest; also (whereas ou expects an affirmative one) whether.