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Title: The Potato Eaters

Author: Alex Lizzi Jr

Narrator: Gregg Rizzo

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-16-16

Publisher: Alex Lizzi Jr

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

In the year of 1845, the country of Ireland was struck with the great potato famine. Devastating the main food source of the common man, causing hundreds of thousands to starve to death. In 1847, the English government, overwhelmed with the starving Irish, decided to unburden itself by relocating over two and a half million Irish people to America. To save money, the English used the starving Irish people as ballast on cargo ships packing three to four hundred Irish people into the cargo hold of cargo ships that were soon to be nicknamed the coffin ships.

This is the story of the great humane endeavor of the Irish people nicknamed the Potato Eaters. A people that arrived in their new home of America that was struggling with growing pains of its own. The Potato Eaters would be part of America's greatest tragedy, having to pick sides in America's bloodiest war of all, the Civil War. Where unknown brothers in two different army's would be caught in a life or death struggle to survive.

Members Reviews:

Wish it were better written.

The story line and characters kept me interested. However, the book should have been edited a few more times. Anachronistic language about ruined it for me (characters are described as "freaking out" and a general "has a hard on" for a soldier he hates and wants to bring to ruin.) There were numerous others like these 2 examples. Add to that the misspelling of Rebbels and Rebbs early in the book that suddenly gets corrected later in the book. The chapters shift among characters and could use some transition to help the reader. And lastly, the author switches from omniscient 3rd person to 1st person within a single sentence at times throughout the book. The end of the novel (when 2 long-lost brothers find each other in battle) was a little trite. It also felt like the author had grown tired of writing or had a page limit in mind and thus summarized the fates of the numerous characters in an epilogue. The historical aspects of the novel seemed adequately researched and didn't dominate the story but rather complimented it.

A great story told by a great story teller

A great story told by a great story teller. This is a very well researched historical novel that takes the reader through the extraordinary trials, tribulations, losses, loves, fortune and misery of the Kelly family who is determined to leave abject poverty in Ireland for a better life in pre-civil war America. Lizzi's knack for putting the reader into the story through his ability to describe the historical setting, whether in the hold of a transport ship crossing the Atlantic, at a slave auction in New Orleans or on the battlefield in Gettysburg kept me up too late not able to put down my Kindle. The characters really make the epic story believable as Lizzi does a great job blending lovable characters with scoundrels appropriate for the times as well as a great mix of reluctant heroes and people just trying to survive to allow the reader to relate personally.

The Potato Eaters is a marvelous story woven into American ...

The Potato Eaters is a marvelous story woven into American history with flair and humor. Mr. Lizzi captures the pain and struggles of early immigrants as they adapt to the land of plenty. Unfortunately, they do so during a time of discourse (the Civil War). I learned things that I probably should have known, but didn't.