Tag: Irish Literature

The Bee Sting- Paul Murray (2023)

On By philshanklinIn Booker Prize, New Books3 Comments

This is an author with proven pedigree as far as I am concerned.  I did very much enjoy “Skippy Dies” (2010) but he really surpassed this with his 2015 novel “The Mark And The Void” which I read pre-publication and considered whether it might be “The Great Comic Novel Of Our Time”. I expected it to be a really big seller which didn’t quite happen as I anticipated.  That year in my Best Books retrospective it ended up at #2 behind the 2009 translation of Hans Fallada’s “Alone In Berlin”.  It was my favourite book published that year and at this stage of 2023 this looks like it might be the case again.

Eight years feels a long time to wait for another book from this Irish writer and it does seem now that this is the title to confirm his reputation.  Winner of Novel Of The Year at the Irish Book Awards and much favoured on the Booker shortlist it is doing well in hardback and when the paperback arrives (scheduled May 2024) this big book should become a big seller.

“Skippy Dies” explored school life, “The Mark And The Void” made financial institutions funny (who’d have thought?), “The Bee Sting” sees the author settling into an area where Irish writing is so strong- the ups and downs of family life. Meet the Barnes family, especially school leaver Cass and her younger brother PJ and their parents Dickie and Imelda.  They each get focused narratives and I found myself from the initial spotlight on Cass and best friend Elaine loving this book right from the start.  Imelda’s sections are more tricky to read as they lack full stops (there are capital letters at the start of where each sentence should be though).  I would imagine this is done to reflect an area of Imelda’s personality but it’s not really necessary.  The past and present combine to create a tale which is funny, moving, unpredictable and extremely impressive.  It was one of those books I didn’t want to end and yet I must admit as the end approached the author concertinaed the narratives and switched to the third person, the narrator directly addressing the protagonists which I didn’t enjoy as much as the rest of the book but I was completely sucked in by the time this occurred in Paul Murray’s tale and it did build up a sense of urgency as the plot drove to a conclusion.

I wonder if it was these small aspects which saw the Booker judges awarding the prize to “Prophet Song” by Paul Lynch.  I was mid-way through when the prize was announced and at that point it seemed inexplicable that there could have been a better book published this year than this.  I was so hopeful that this would do for this writer’s career which a previous outstanding Booker choice “Shuggie Bain” did for Douglas Stuart.

I’ve not focused much on plot here and that’s deliberate but I do need to tell you that the novel is so rich and rounded.  Backtrack to “Skippy Dies” where I felt in the opening stages of that novel the author threw so much into it that I was initially bewildered, here he does much the same throughout the novel but 13 years on it works superbly.  This also makes it a book which will reward re-reads.  I’m certainly keeping my copy on the shelves.

The Bee Sting was published by Hamish Hamilton in June 2023.

Water- John Boyne (Doubleday 2023)

On By philshanklinIn New Books, Uncategorized6 Comments

I am aware that I have grumbled a few times on this site about short novels or novellas.  This year I’ve read short work by Philippe Besson, Claire Keegan and Mike McCormack and I’ve felt the need each time to mention my ambivalent feelings towards this form.  In my review of Claire Keegan’s much celebrated “Small Things Like These” (2021) I said “faced with a couple of tempting novels, one short, one longer I’d generally pick the longer.” Trust John Boyne to challenge my prejudices.

It’s no real surprise that this is one of the few under 200 pages (176 in the hardback edition) that I’m giving my top rating to.  Irish writer John Boyne is the author I’ve given the most five stars to ever (this will be the 6th out of the 9 books of his I’ve read).

The author is getting all elemental on us with this the first in a projected quartet which will also feature Fire, Earth & Air, producing a literary sequence which is reminiscent of the seasonal quartet which did so well for Ali Smith (note to self- must get round to the other three of these).

“Water” is the tale of a woman in her early fifties who arrives on a sparsely populated Irish island to escape her past.  The first things she does is change her name and shave her head so we know the past is obviously a problem.  Slowly, we get to know why she is there and what she is hiding from.  What John Boyne does so well is to hide the horrors amongst domestic detail – there’s a point where the situation is grim for main character Willow/Vanessa related through her first-person narrative but she becomes preoccupied with the arrival of her new credit card.  Although she has chosen a solitary life there’s some great interactions especially with neighbour and busybody Mrs Duggan.  The author knows exactly when to release information to us (generally just slightly before you think it’s coming, which keeps the reader on their toes).  It is superbly crafted.  This belies one of my issues with novellas in that despite their brevity they can feel drawn out.  Here, it feels packed with character development, plot twists and a delight in story-telling.  Water is everywhere, unsurprisingly as the main character has relocated onto a smaller island than where she previously lived but it is the danger and unpredictability of it which influences this work most.

I really did not want it to end but it feels as if it does so at an appropriate time which challenged another of my short-fiction notions.  I’ve read two sub-200 pages books by celebrated authors back to back.  In my opinion John Boyne gets the form exactly right and really drew me in whereas Mike McCormack, which also dealt with serious issues, distanced me somewhat and left me unsatisfied.  I can’t wait to read the other three works in this quartet- whether they are going to be short or long.

Water is published in the UK by Doubleday on 2nd November 2023.  Many thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the advance review copy.

This Plague Of Souls – Mike McCormack (Canongate 2023)

On By philshanklinIn Uncategorized3 Comments

I’ve not read Irish author Mike McCormack before.  He’s best known for his 2016 “Solar Bones” which won Novel Of The Year at the Irish Book Awards, The Goldsmith Prize and was shortlisted for the 2017 Man Booker, amongst other accolades.  This is his first novel since, his fourth to date, and there have been two short story collections in 1996 and 2012. This is interesting as this novel comes in at just 159 pages in the edition I read and never really loses its short story feel. 

John Nealon returns to an empty house after a period of incarceration.  His wife and son are not there.  He receives phone calls from a man who seems to know all about his present circumstances, suggesting he is keeping a very close eye on him.  He pushes for a meeting at a time when a major incident seems to be developing and emergency measures are being put into place for an unspecified event.

This is a serious, intensely observed work.  It’s full of a creeping sense of paranoia which is present for the first half when Nealon is alone in the house and which spreads to the wider community.  This not knowing what is going on is a real strength as we are drip-fed information which is often vague and ambiguous. It is, however, also the aspect which distances me from this novel.  We never know how to respond to the characters or events and I’m left with a sense of an impressive evocation of the anxieties of the modern world and a sense of foreboding of what is to come.  I would be interested to discover how this compares to “Solar Bones” which was a longer work because although here I can appreciate the quality of the writing there’s not enough to really draw me in.

This Plague Of Souls is published in the UK by Canongate on 26th October 2023.  Many thanks to the publishers for the review copy.

Kala – Colin Walsh (Atlantic 2023)

On By philshanklinIn Murder They Wrote..., New BooksLeave a comment

Irish writer Colin Walsh was named New Irish Writer Of The Year four years ago on the strength of his prize-winning short stories.  Here is his first novel and it teeters on the edge of being absolutely first-class.

Plot-wise, it doesn’t feel that ground-breaking. Three old friends reunite in Ireland for a wedding in 2018.  When they were 15 years olds in 2003, the vibrant centre of their circle, Kala, went missing.  Just as they come back together a body has been found forcing them to confront their past. 

Of Kala’s friends, Mush has stayed put in Kinlough, working with his mum at her café.  He spends his evenings drinking in the closed up establishment.  He has a facial disfigurement but we do not know how this came about.  Helen, has moved to Canada, but seems equally hollow.  She has returned for the wedding of her father to the mother of another of their circle, Aiden, now dead.  Joe, made it away and has made it big in the music business.  His return is a big deal for the town.  He had been Kala’s boyfriend and is still haunted by her disappearance.

It is the reconnection of these characters and their families and the continued presence of Kala which makes this so effective.  There’s the nostalgia for the past together with the awareness that things had gone so awry which leads to impressive writing and a deftly-handled web of a plot.  It’s written in sections featuring Mush, Joe and Helen combining past and present.  Joe’s is written in a second-person narrative (“You…”) which does illustrate his distance from reality but did trip me up now and again.  It is Kala, depicted through these narratives, who perhaps shines as the strongest character.

As the novel progresses the mystery behind Kala’s disappearance intensifies and for a time there is a heady mix of the nostalgic recollections of the past and an increasingly dark, visceral shift. The thriller aspects begins to dominate as the pace ramps up.  It does reflect quite a change in tone.  I’d been loving the leisurely pace (it’s 400 pages in the hardback edition) as the author takes his time with these friends re-connecting and exploring what they knew about Kala that the switch to more standard thriller fare, essential to bring about the resolution of the plot, felt a little jarring.  But there is no doubt that this is a very impressive debut novel which should establish Colin Walsh both in Ireland and internationally.  Anyone seeking a high quality literary thriller should seek it out.  It feels very visual which would suggest tv/film adaptation but I’d be concerned that some of the subtleties of the dynamics between characters, their pasts and presents, might be lost in an over-emphasis on what happened to Kala and whodunnit.

Kala is published by Atlantic Books on July 6th 2023.  Many thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the advance review copy.

The Queen Of Dirt Island – Donal Ryan (Doubleday 2022)

On By philshanklinIn New Books4 Comments

Donal Ryan’s last novel “Strange Flowers” (2020) was voted Novel Of The Year at the Irish Book Awards.  Do not be surprised if he does it again with this which I think is even better.

I absolutely loved his debut “The Spinning Heart” (2012) a book voted “Irish Book Of The Decade”.  By the winter 2015 edition of NB magazine I was putting it forward as my choice for “Best Book Of The Twenty-First Century So Far”.

“Strange Flowers” took a while for me to get into.  I felt the narrative style chosen with its very matter of fact fable or fairy story feel initially held me at bay and it wasn’t until about two-thirds of the way through that I realised the extent this canny author had immersed me into the book.  Here, in what is very much a companion piece to “Strange Flowers” (although it works fine as a stand-alone) I was with him right from the start.

It is set in the same location with some of the same characters in a more supporting role this time but moving on a generation as we meet four generations of a family from rural Tipperary.  Main character Saoirse is brought up by her mother with daily visits from her grandmother who supports her daughter-in-law widowed at the very beginnings of motherhood.  Nana and Mother are the lifeblood of this novel, squabbling yet totally supportive, both have been let down by families in their past but they are not going to do that to the current generation.  The last novel was dominated by the superb characterisation of Alexander, who I loved, here it is the relationship between the two strong women who pull the others through the ups and downs of life.

And what I really like about this book is that life just goes on, the community faces some quite shocking events and keeps going.  Towards the end two characters who were central in the last book give their perspective to Saoirse in a way in which she thinks they might break out into the old Doris Day hit “Que Sera Sera” but this viewpoint does permeate the lives here.  So much is subtle and underplayed and you don’t expect that from what is ostensibly a family saga. Nothing is laboured.  Most of the characters would not even understand the relevance of the title, relating to a piece of land held by Mother’s family which has little part to play for most of the novel, other than it informs her personality.  The narrative style gives a lightness of touch I wasn’t as aware of in the previous novel.

Characterisation is so rich, Donal Ryan has created a set of characters who are so well developed within a short space of time.  He brings a whole community to life.  In a way (although the characterisations and location are completely different) it felt to me just a tad reminiscent of what Armistead Maupin was trying to achieve in his “Tales Of The City” series, but I think Donal Ryan’s handling of this is stronger.  He carried this off brilliantly in the talking heads approach of “The Spinning Heart” and has achieved it here within a very different narrative style.  It is totally involving and very impressive writing.

The Queen Of Dirt Island is published by Transworld Digital as an ebook and Doubleday as a hardback on 18th August 2022  Many thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the advance review copy.

Strange Flowers – Donal Ryan (Doubleday 2020)

On By philshanklinIn New Books, Uncategorized2 Comments

When I read Donal Ryan’s debut “The Spinning Heart” in 2013 I was so impressed.  I completed it very early on in the year and it still managed to make the runner up spot in my Books Of The Year (behind Robert Lohr’s 2007 “Secrets Of The Chess Machine”. What an under-rated book that was).  I felt like I was really at the start of something when I was sent Ryan’s debut to review.  My thoughts about it featured alongside an interview with the author in Newbooks (NB) magazine and the novel won the Guardian First Book Award, The Book Of The Year at the Irish Book Awards amongst other accolades and was later voted “Irish Book Of The Decade”.  I made my own claim to the lasting power of this book in 2015 when I put the title forward in the winter edition of NB/Newbooks as my choice for the Best Book Of The 21st Century So Far.

Here’s the strange thing- despite my great love for this title I have not got around to reading anything else by this author who has since published  a short-story collection and three novels (his last “From A Low And Quiet Sea” making the 2018 Costa Novel Shortlist).  I was delighted to be offered a chance to advance review this, his fifth novel, by his publishers to put my previous oversights right.

The thing I have to get over first of all is that it didn’t blow me away like the debut did, so there’s unfortunately already a trickle of disappointment creeping in.  This was added to slightly by the narrative structure chosen, the debut drew the reader in with 21 people telling their tale creating a community with wonderful, economic writing which really brought these characters alive. Here we have a very factual narrative, written like a fable or fairy tale, which makes obviously for good story-telling but holds the reader at arm’s length and delays an emotional attachment with the characters developing.  This is obviously a popular style at the moment as Edmund White has surprisingly utilised something similar in his latest “A Saint From Texas”.

We begin in the early 1970s in Tipperary and the novel focuses on three generations of the Gladney family.  Paddy, a postman who also works on the land of the Jackman family where his cottage is situated and his wife, Kit, are reeling from the disappearance of their daughter Moll.  This can be seen as a novel about returning home and being satisfied with one’s lot as characters seem happiest when they have returned home to live a simpler life in the Tipperary countryside.

For the first half of the novel I was impressed by the quality of the writing but not totally involved but perhaps by two-thirds of the way through the undeniable genius of Donal Ryan had worked its magic and despite writing in a style which was keeping me at a distance I discovered  I really cared for some of these characters (I adored Alexander) and ended up feeling quite misty-eyed by the end.  I’m not sure how the author did this to me.  Once again it is a deceptively simple work which is much richer in characterisation and symbolism than it first appears- perhaps working in that subliminal way in which we as children relate to fantasy and traditional stories which the structure of this ultimately satisfying work echoes.

Strange Flowers was published in hardback by Doubleday on  20th August 2020.  Many thanks to the publishers for selecting me to review an advance copy and to Netgalley for making that available.

Shadow Play – Joseph O’ Connor (2019)

On By philshanklinIn New Books, Uncategorized2 Comments

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One of my selections of books I  highlighted in my  2019 What I Should Have Read post which I just managed to fit in before the end of the year where it ended up in 4th place in my  Books Of The Year.  Short-listed for a Costa Award (losing in the final judgement to Jonathan Coe) but victorious in the Irish Book Awards Eason Novel of the year this is Irish writer Joseph O’Connor’s 9th novel. I’ve not read his celebrated work “Star Of The Sea” (nor anything else by him) but I will be looking out for this to read this year as I feel I’ve made a real discovery here.

This is a beautifully written historical work which represents pretty much a love triangle between actor and impresario Sir Henry Irving, founder of the Lyceum Theatre, hugely popular actress Ellen Terry and “Dracula” author Bram Stoker. As well as his using various narrative techniques as in Stoker’s most famous work O’Connor drops seeds of inspiration throughout showing how Stoker came up with his iconic creation. Largely unknown as a writer in his lifetime, Stoker earnt his living as general manager and dogsbody in Irving’s theatre, attempting to find time to write against his employer’s wishes. All three characters are a little obsessed with one another and this proves fascinating reading.

Also fascinating is spotting the allusions to “Dracula”, some obvious (characters called Mina and Harker) and some more subtle and beautifully interwoven into the text.

It is the quality of the writing that makes this book a joy. O’Connor is good with multi-sensory lists which build such evocative pictures of the time. The narrative touches in at different parts of their lives and an undercurrent to all are the crimes of Jack The Ripper.

The main narrative thrust ends with the death of Irving but then there is a Coda which I initially didn’t warm to feeling it unnecessary but this change of atmosphere achieved here really drew me in and was so beautifully written that I felt close to tears at the end. For an author to change the pace and mood of the piece feels brave, for it to work so well is a real achievement.

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Shadow Play was published in hardback by Harvill Secker in 2019. The paperback is due in May 2020.

100 Essential Books – The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas – John Boyne (2006)

On By philshanklinIn 100 Essential, Books, Kid-Lit, Uncategorized7 Comments

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Irish author John Boyne has been one of the best finds for me in recent years.  My introduction to his work is my 2017 Reviewsrevues Book of the Year “The Heart’s Invisible Furies” and this year both “The Boy At The Top Of The Mountain” and his latest “A Ladder To The Sky” have been five star reads.

 This is the book which made his name and although I have had it on my shelves for some years had never got round to reading it, despite my partner telling me it was one of the best books he has ever read.  I have seen the 2008 film adaptation and it’s taken me quite a while to get over it!

 This may very well be one of the saddest books ever.   I knew what was going to happen because of the film and yet I consciously chose to read the ending in the public place of on the bus, thinking I would be less likely to break down in tears but it was a close run thing!

 Boyne adopts an impassive narrative style making his writing reminiscent of a fairy tale or something within the oral tradition with its matter of fact sentences and fair amount of repetition for emphasis (for both the listener and the main character).  This is a book which would read aloud extremely well.  (Philip Ridley also did this very successfully with his much lighter tale “Krindlekrax”- a huge favourite of mine).  This oral feel is powerful and draws the reader in but also provides some emotional distance from the action which may initially protect from some of the horror but it also carefully and cleverly informs the plot making it all very believable.  The narrator sees everything from nine year old Bruno’s point of view but allows us to read between the lines with ever-mounting trepidation. 

 Like Pierrot in “The Boy At The Top Of The Mountain” Bruno is forced to relocate to a home very different from what he has been used to.  For Bruno this means with his family but away from his beloved grandparents left behind in Berlin.  In this new place which he pieces together is called “Out-With” there is no one to play with and instead of the view of Berlin from his bedroom window he sees groups of men and boys in pyjamas behind a wire fence.  His decision to go exploring to combat his loneliness cannot end well.

 Also like Pierrot in the later novel at times Bruno’s interpretation of events feels insufferable but perhaps more comprehensible because of the lack of communication with his family, which allows such a distorted picture of his environment to be developed.  His view of the world is formed solely through his ignorance, there is not much that he gets right and that is a powerful thing to take from this novel.

 Despite John Boyne’s development as a writer in the 9 years between this and the unofficial companion piece of “The Boy At The Top Of The Mountain” this eclipses it in terms of power and importance.  It is a book which works well in the Children’s, YA and Adult sections of the bookshop.  Frankly, everyone should read it.  The film version, although good lacks the power of Boyne’s words and style.

 Of those novels I have read which gives a child’s perspective of wartime only “The Book Thief” is better and that is arguably my all-time favourite novel.  John Boyne continues his ascent as one of my all-time favourite authors.

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 The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas was first published in 2006.  I read the 2008 Definitions paperback version.

100 Essential Books- A Ladder To The Sky- John Boyne (Doubleday 2018)

On By philshanklinIn 100 Essential, Books, New Books, Uncategorized8 Comments

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Just occasionally the words I use in these reviews like to come back to bite me. It was only last week when I wrote in a review of Andrew Sean Greer’s “Less”; “Books about writers are often not as good as they think they are.” I excused Greer from this statement and certainly proving me wrong here is John Boyne, author of my 2017 Book Of The Year “The Heart’s Invisible Furies” who has produced another outstanding novel- this time about writers.

Sometimes reading choices turn up these unintentional patterns. Take the last two books I’ve read, “Less” with its gay writer as lead character and Boyne’s excellent children’s novel “The Boy At The Top Of The Mountain” with its Nazi Germany setting and then comes along this book which begins with a gay German writer looking back at his youth in Nazi Germany.

It is 1988 and prize-winning author and Cambridge lecturer Erich Ackermann has returned to his Berlin roots for a book event. At the bar of the hotel he meets an ambitious young waiter. Their story spans 30 years to the present day. It is told by a number of different voices and has an enthralling mixture of the purely fictional and real life literary figures (one section is narrated by Gore Vidal whose writing Boyne has certainly re-whetted my appetite for). Running through the narrative are the machinations of a fabulous baddie and I’m not even going to reveal who this is, only to say that John Boyne has created a compelling monster whose antics had me often open-mouthed in horror.

Like “The Heart’s Invisible Furies” this is a beautifully balanced book, another complete package, which offers a tremendous variety for the reader with humour, tragedy, twists, crime and moral dilemmas all present to form a heady brew. I also loved the publishing background even if a week before reading this I was down on it as an idea.

With more literary fiction being spawned from real life and the stories of others this novel raises some thought-provoking points about the creative process and the ownership of ideas in a way which is thoroughly entertaining. When I read “The Heart’s Invisible Furies” back in December 2017 I justified my stinginess (compared with many other reviewers/bloggers) by saying; “If you award the maximum to too many how can you ensure that the very, very best stand out.” This is the third John Boyne novel I have read and my third 5 star rating for his work. This shows just how highly I think of him as a writer and he’s not even given me the chance to do too much exploring of this back catalogue between his two latest publications. I still think “The Heart’s Invisible Furies” is his masterwork (of what I’ve read of his so far) but then it is probably my favourite read of this century but “A Ladder To The Sky” is also very, very good indeed. Be prepared for a real treat of a read and one which I would expect in the upper echelons of my end of year Top 10.

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A Ladder To The Sky will be published in hardback by Doubleday on 9th August 2018. Many thanks to the publishers and to Netgalley for the advance review copy.

The Boy At The Top Of The Mountain – John Boyne (2015) – A Kid-Lit Review

On By philshanklinIn Kid-Lit, Uncategorized5 Comments

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I’m more than happy to delve into the back catalogue of the writer of my current Book of The Year “The Heart’s Invisible Furies”. This book choice was thanks to me drawing from the Sandown Library Russian Roulette Reading Challenge: “Read A Book With A Red Cover”. I do have John Boyne’s newest adult title “A Ladder To The Sky” lined up to read next, thanks to Netgalley, but I thought I’d explore his writing for a younger audience first.

I am still to read “The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas” but I know enough about it (and I’ve seen the film version) to realise that there are parallels here. We begin in Paris in 1936 with 7 year old Pierrot living with his widowed mother. In the first few pages we get shell shock, domestic abuse and suicide all related to his German father unable to adapt to living in post-World War I France. Tragic circumstances pile up forcing Pierrot to leave France for Austria and a home at the top of Obersalzberg.

I actually didn’t know where this book was going (I read nothing about it beforehand) so I’m determined not to give away much plot for there are twists a plenty to satisfy its intended audience.

This is a great novel for an enquiring developing mind. It is a complex book, emotionally speaking.  Perhaps elements of the plot might seem contrived if written for the adult market but it would all make sense for a younger audience and has a moral depth that I’m certainly unused to in Junior Fiction. Pierrot develops from being an extremely likeable character to something of a monster and this feels unusual and chilling. His actions become increasingly difficult to explain away even in a society where the old rules no longer apply. All this would resonate with every reader, child or adult.

There are throughout references to a children’s classic of an earlier generation “Emil And The Detectives” which I certainly loved as a child and Boyne’s novel should have an equally long life for future generations. He has written a powerful, compelling novel which I found difficult to put down and read in a day (which is unusual for me- even for a children’s book) and as in “The Heart’s Invisible Furies” he brought me close to tears on a number of occasions. The characters are memorable and the plot, as in “The Boy With The Striped Pyjamas” would be impossible to forget- and nor should we. It would be a great and lasting purchase for a sophisticated child/young adult.  This is a children’s book now in its third year after publication and its reputation should continue to grow.

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The Boy At The Top Of The Mountain was published by Doubleday in 2015.