This week: 'as breathtaking an example of literary genius as you’ll find'
This week there are four works of fiction, along with a slice of history and a book about difficulties in family dynamics.
The Heart in Winter, Kevin Barry, Canongate, €17.99
Kevin Barry moves his fiction from the west of Ireland to the Wild West, namely Butte, Montana in 1891, for his latest work involving the dispossessed and the disenchanted. Tom Rourke is a dope addict and a drinker, a photographer’s assistant in this copper mining town, and fancies himself as a kind of mystical poet, although most of his written work entails writing lonely hearts letters on behalf of the illiterate bachelors of the town, anxious to find themselves a wife. Tom’s head is turned by one such mail-order bride who marries a mining captain, a man who self-flagellates in the name of Jesus.
While Tom is helping to photograph the newly-weds, the spark is lit, both for Tom and for new bride Polly Gillespie, intent on leaving a murky past in Chicago behind her. The lovers elope and head for California on a stolen palomino horse (not just a horse in this story, but one of its main players). They take a thick wad of stolen money too and make a break for the border with tragic – and often very funny – consequences.
The wilds of Montana in the late 19th century are feral and inhospitable, populated here and there by a few batshit crazy oddballs, and the desperado couple’s encounters with those characters provide much of the entertainment. But there are three Cornish bounty hunters not far behind them and Polly has a price on her head. Rourke has no such luxury. Epic in its magnitude, 25 years in the making, yet a slim volume of just over 200 pages, Barry, the supreme stylist, shows the rest of us how it’s done. There aren’t enough superlatives and it’s difficult not to gush, but this is as breathtaking an example of literary genius as you’ll find.
In the Time of Plato, Seamus Smith, Hero Books, €19.99
Plato in this novel is not the philosopher of ancient Greece but rather an ageing bachelor living in rural Meath with his two brothers. When these three men’s young nephew Codger Sweeney is sent to live with them, their quiet lives are upended. The story is set in the opening decades of the 20th century during the first World War and the War of Independence in Ireland, and is both gritty and funny. Plato is the brains of the neighbourhood, but he lacks the wild streak his nephew has, though both are equally influenced by one another’s ‘intelligence’. It’s on sale in Navan shops and available from Amazon.
All the Colours of the Dark, Chris Whitaker, Orion, €16.99
A sweeping and moving story, almost 600 pages long, from award-winner Whitaker and he’s done it again; produced a book that could be described as simply a crime novel, but it’s so much more. In the fictional village of Monta Clare, Missouri, young Patch (his nickname for having only one eye) witnesses the abduction of the town’s wealthiest and most popular girl. He fires a slingshot at the abductor, the girl breaks free, but Patch is abducted instead. He will spend almost a year in captivity in the dark, along with a girl called Grace, who escapes before he does. After his release, he will spend decades trying to track Grace down. The police believe he dreamt her up, a coping mechanism for his trauma. His friend Misty, in the meantime, will follow Patch on his quest. A solid and convincing depiction of dirt-poor America and a compassionate portrayal of trauma, it’s a beautiful novel, marvellously executed.
Navigating Family Estrangement, Karl Melvin, Routledge, €36
The author is a therapist who specialises in family dynamics and while I think this book, published by Routledge, would mostly benefit students in the realm of psychology and psychotherapy, it might also be of use to people – and there are so many of them – who don’t exactly come from the Waltons family. What this reader found most curious was the idea that estrangement from one or more members of one’s family carries with it a ‘stigma’. Does it?
Through a series of Melvin’s own encounters with family-estranged clients (whose personal details have obviously been changed), he explores methods of assisting those clients, which does not necessarily mean re-uniting them with their families. The stigma thing is still a puzzle for me, I must admit! We all, I imagine, know people who don’t speak to a family member or members. I’m not sure that society in general even cares, much less stigmatises people about it. But people who are affected by family upheaval may find some answers here.
Knowth, edited By Helena King, Royal Irish Academy, €18
This beautifully produced book is of special interest to Meath natives, but fans of ancient history and archaeological sites in general would also love a copy. In some fascinating maps, the reader can easily see the pattern along the Boyne made by Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth and although the tombs are 4th century BC (older than the pyramids and Stonehenge), traces of human activity from even before that era have been uncovered.
Contributions from a wide range of experts and historians provide a comprehensive, lavishly illustrated guide, deemed to be more complex and possibly even more important than Newgrange. Full of surprises and little-known facts about this ever-revealing ancient place, it would be a perfect present for the history buff in your life.
Footnotes
This coming Saturday the 7th is the date for the one-day Wild and Well Festival at Annaghmore House in Collooney, County Sligo. A day-long programme of music, yoga, breathworks, sound baths, it’s a drugs and alcohol-free event, promoting community and wellness. See westcoastwellness.ie for details.
Dublin Fringe Festival takes place from September 9 to 22 and there’s something for everyone, whether it’s drama, music, dance, comedy and whatever you’re having yourself. See fringefest.com for details.
At the time of going to press, there are still tickets on the go for the Write by the Sea Festival in Kilmore Quay, Wexford, running from September 27 to 29. Some big names are among the guests, as writers from various disciplines discuss their craft. See writebythesea.ie for details.