Solar Bones

Solar Bones by Mick McCormack

 "an extraordinary hymn to small-town Ireland "
LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2017
WINNER OF THE GOLDSMITHS PRIZE 2016
BGE IRISH BOOK OF THE YEAR 2016

Marcus Conway has come a long way to stand in the kitchen of his home and remember the rhythms and routines of his life. Considering with his engineer's mind how things are constructed - bridges, banking systems, marriages - and how they may come apart.  Mike McCormack captures with tenderness and feeling, in continuous, flowing prose a whole life, suspended in a single hour.

I make no apologies for reproducing the review which was written for the Guardian by Ian Sansom:

Excellence is always rare and often unexpected: we don’t necessarily expect masterpieces even from the great. Mike McCormack’s Solar Bones is exceptional indeed: an extraordinary novel by a writer not yet famous but surely destined to be acclaimed by anyone who believes that the novel is not dead and that novelists are not merely lit-fest fodder for the metropolitan middle classes.

McCormack is not entirely unknown. In 1996, he won the Rooney prize for Irish literature with his first collection of short stories, Getting It in the Head. The prize is a sure predictor of future greatness, responsible for bringing to wider public attention the work of Anne Enright, Claire Kilroy, Claire Keegan and the two mighty Kevins, Barry and Power. McCormack’s second collection, Forensic Songs, was published in 2012, and he is also the author of two novels, Crowe’s Requiem (1998) and Notes from a Coma (2005). But it would be safe to say that outside his native Ireland his work is less well known than that of many of his contemporaries. Solar Bones is published by Tramp, one of Ireland’s small independent publishing houses, which, like its UK counterparts, is enjoying an unprecedented period of growth and success. The book deserves attention and applause.

It stutters into life, like a desperate incantation or a prose poem, minus full-stops but chock-full of portent: “the bell / the bell as / hearing the bell as / hearing the bell as standing here / the bell being heard standing here / hearing it ring out through the grey light of this / morning, noon or night”. It is 2 November 2008, we are given to understand, All Souls’ Day, the Day of the Dead, the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed. The bell is the Angelus bell and we are in rural Ireland – in Louisburgh, near Westport, County Mayo, “a county with a unique history of people starving and mortifying themselves for higher causes and principles [...] blistered with shrines and grottoes and prayer-houses and hermitages [...] a bordered realm of penance and atonement”.

The speaker hearing the bell is one Marcus Conway, husband, father and a civil engineer in some small way responsible for the wild rush of buildings, roads and bridges that disrupted life in Ireland during the boom that in the book has just gone bust. Marcus is a man gripped by “a crying sense of loneliness for my family”. We don’t quite know why until the very end of the novel, which comes both as a surprise and a confirmation of all that’s gone before.

Among its many structural and technical virtues, everything in the book is recalled, but none of it is monotonous. Marcus remembers the life of his father and his mother, for example, a world of currachs and Massey Fergusons. He recalls a fateful trip to Prague for a conference. He recalls Skyping his son in Australia, scenes of intimacy with his wife, and a trip to his artist daughter’s first solo exhibition, which consists of the text of court reports from local newspapers written in her own blood, “the full gamut from theft and domestic violence to child abuse, public order offences, illegal grazing on protected lands, petty theft, false number plates, public affray, burglary, assault and drunk-driving offences”. Above all, he remembers at work being constantly under pressure from politicians and developers, “every cunt wanting something”, the usual “shite swilling through my head, as if there weren’t enough there already”. He recalls when his wife got sick from cryptosporidiosis, “a virus derived from human waste which lodged in the digestive tract, so that [...] it was now the case that the citizens were consuming their own shit, the source of their own illness”.

The book is a hymn to modern small-town life, then, with its “rites, rhythms and rituals / upholding the world like solar bones”, as well as an indictment of human greed and stupidity, and how places and cultures respond to the circumstances beyond their control and yet of their own making.

Asked in a rare interview some years ago if there is such a thing as “Irish” writing, McCormack suggested that indeed there is and that it consists of “a three-part harmony of experiment, comedy and metaphysics”. The magnificent song that is Solar Bones possesses such peculiar depth, such consonances and dissonances that it is a reminder that a writer of talent can seemingly take any place, any set of characters, any situation and create from them a total vision of the reality. This is a book about Mayo, Ireland, Europe, the world, the solar system, the universe.

Further thoughts:  I have pasted an image of two pages from the book.  At first sight the lack of punctuation, other than commas presents a density and continuity which leads one to expect a stream of consciousness which might leave the reader breathless.  But no so.The book was brought to life for me by a reading by Tim Gerard Reynolds, a trained actor and audiobook narrator, who brings a wonderfully authentic voice to this Irish narrative, modulated and paced.  A pleasure to listen to.

 

Ian Sansom (born 3 December 1966 in Essex, England) is the author of the Mobile Library Mystery Series. As of 2016, he has written four books in a series that will comprise a projected forty-four novels.^[1][2][3]

He is a frequent contributor to, and critic for, The Guardian^[4] and the London Review of Books.

He studied at both Oxford and Cambridge, where he was a fellow of Emmanuel College. He is a professor in the Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies at the University of Warwick and teaches in its Writing Program.^[5]

The Temporary Gentleman

The Temporary Gentleman by Sebastian Barry

Oh, Mr Barry, you can do no wrong!

I have read most of Barry's novels as the story of the Dunnes and the McNultys unfolds.  He singles out various members of  the family and documents chapters in their lives, the series being a patchwork of narratives about the lives of the various family members.  After reading Days Without End I checked the Wiki entry on Barry and found that there were two titles that I had not read, and The Temporary Gentleman is one such.

As usual you can count on getting a good review from the Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/mar/29/temporary-gentleman-review-sebastian-barry-novel

Here is a review from an Amazon customer, modified where my opinion differed and which wasn't by very much, which nevertheless pretty much sums up how I felt about the book:

Sebastian Barry, as often he does, brings a lyrical sadness to this tale. I was knocked out by the opening sequence, it had something of the impact that the opening chapter of Enduring Love had.  The events described in that chapter constitute a forerunner to a number of nearly fatal disasters that befall Jack McNulty. But the main theme, the slow deterioration of a marriage and Jack's inability to face the degree to which he is destroying Mai, in spite of his constant protestations of love, is written in Barry's entirely engaging style. It is the voice of the story teller, the weaver of yarns. I love that style when his text flows over the page in one paragraph, seemingly seamlessly; if there is punctuation you do not notice it, and his powers of description, the words he finds are so far beyond the commonplace.  I picked up this book after I dropped my current read in the bath, just long enough to require a dry on the Aga and an iron, so not wishing to be without a bedtime comforter I chose that close to hand.  I read The Temporary Gentleman through two or three days, wanting to turn the pages....... and not really wanting to resume afterwards Knowledge of Angels which, being a 'set book', must be finished.   There are a number of sub-themes running through Barry's novel. One of these is the nature and impact of colonialism on both the colonised, and the coloniser. All of that is handled very well. The reader also meets Roseanne whose story will be told in Secret Scripture. Barry is a first class craftsman, ans this work confirms once more that he is a writer of real seriousness, but with that a master of story making.

To recap, here is a list of Barry's series:

The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty (1998)

Annie Dunne (2002)

A Long Long Way (2005)

The Secret Scripture (2008)

On Canaan's Side (2011)

The Temporary Gentleman (2014)

Days Without End (2016)

Breakfast on Pluto

Breakfast on Pluto by Patrick McCabe

Breakfast on Pluto, Patrick McCabe's lyrical and haunting new novel, became a #1 bestseller in Ireland, stayed on the bestseller list for months, and was nominated for the Booker Prize, one of the world's most prestigious literary awards. With wonderful delicacy and subtle insight and intimation, McCabe creates Mr. Patrick "Pussy" Braden, the enduringly and endearingly hopeful hero(ine) whose gutsy survival and yearning quest for love resonate in and drive the glimmering, agonizing narrative in which the troubles are a distant and immediate echo and refrain. Twenty years ago, her ladyship escaped her hometown of Tyreelin, Ireland, fleeing her foster mother Whiskers (prodigious Guinness-guzzler, human chimney) and her mad household, to begin a new life in London. There, in blousey tops and satin miniskirts, she plies her trade, often risking life and limb amongst the flotsam and jetsam that fill the bars of Piccadilly Circus. But suave businessmen and lonely old women are not the only dangers that threaten Pussy. It is the 1970's and fear haunts the streets of London and Belfast as the critical mass of history builds up, and Pussy is inevitably drawn into a maelstrom of violence and tragedy destined to blow his fragile soul asunder. Brilliant, startling, profound and soaring, Breakfast on Pluto combines light and dark, laughter and pain, with such sensitivity, directness and restraint that the dramatic impact reverberates in our minds and hearts long after the initial impression................ so says Amazon.

This was a fairly rapid read, and cleverly crafted.  It was a set book for me being a Booker Prize Finalist.  The juxtaposition of violence associated with The Troubles in Ireland intercut with the seedy and sometimes humorous sides of Patrick (Pussy) Braden's life in London and Belfast made for a fast moving narrative.  I would not have read this title had it not cropped up on my reading list, and fortuitously found it in the tiny Canadian bookshop in rue Parcheminerie in a Paris Veme.  

False Mermaid

False Mermaid by Erin Hart

Amazon says:  AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR ERIN HART DELIVERS A SEARING NEW NOVEL OF SUSPENSE, BRILLIANTLY MELDING MODERN FORENSICS AND IRISH MYTH AND MYSTERY IN THIS CHARGED THRILLER.

American pathologist Nora Gavin fled to Ireland three years ago, hoping that distance from home would bring her peace. Though she threw herself into the study of bog bodies and the mysteries of their circumstances, she was ultimately led back to the one mystery she was unable to solve: the murder of her sister, Triona. Nora can't move forward until she goes back-back to her home, to the scene of the crime, to the source of her nightmares and her deepest regrets. Determined to put her sister's case to rest and anxious about her eleven-year-old niece, Elizabeth, Nora returns to Saint Paul, Minnesota, to find that her brother-in-law, Peter Hallett, is about to remarry and has plans to leave the country with his new bride. Nora has long suspected Hallett in Triona's murder, though there has never been any proof of his involvement, and now she believes that his new wife and Elizabeth may both be in danger. Time is short, and as Nora begins reinvestigating her sister's death, missed clues and ever-more disturbing details come to light. What is the significance of the "false mermaid" seeds found on Triona's body? Why was her behavior so erratic in the days before her murder? Is there a link between Triona's death and that of another young woman? Nora's search for answers takes her from the banks of the Mississippi to the cliffs of Ireland, where the eerie story of a fisherman's wife who vanished more than a century ago offers up uncanny parallels. As painful secrets come to light, Nora is drawn deeper into a past that still threatens to engulf her and must determine how much she is prepared to sacrifice to put one tragedy to rest . . . and to make sure that history doesn't repeat itself.

Searing novel of suspense this book is most definitely not!

Days without End and Confederates

Days Without End by Sebastian Barry

I've just started a Reading Forum using the Slack chatroom programme.  We are five readers, I am the common factor, the others are friends of mine, geographically spread but women who, I think, would find each other interesting to know.  So I sent them an email proposing my idea and waited to see what the response would be.  The response was favourable, our reading group is established.  Here is what I wrote in that first email:

"I am prompted to write because I have just finished Days without End by Sebastian Barry.  His latest novel has been longlisted for the Man Booker (I follow the Man Booker prize).  Some of you may know that I set myself the task of reading the whole sequence of Short-listeds and Winners.  I have read all Barry's other books which follow the history of two Irish families.  All Dunne/McNulty novels have been prize-winners, two were Booker short-listed.

....... A “searing, magnificent” depiction of a gay relationship during the bloody founding of modern America, described by judges as “one of the most wonderful depictions of love in the whole of fiction”, has won the Costa book of the year award.........  Read more here:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jan/31/days-without-end-wins-sebastian-barry-second-costa-book-of-the-year#img-1

Opening para from the Guardian review of Days without End:

Sebastian Barry's commitment to telling the stories of two Irish families, the Dunnes and the McNultys, over several novels and multiple time frames and locations, has led to one of the most compelling, bravura and heart-wrenching fictional projects of recent memory. Its gaps and fissures, its silences, its elaboration of attachment, separation and loss amount to a profound meditation on the nature of national identity, enforced emigration and the dispersal of a people into lands frequently inhospitable and alienating, there to forge a new life.

I leave this 'serving suggestion' there.  So what else have I read recently?"

I 'read' this book thanks to Audible. Sebastian Barry has alluring Irish good looks, and the voice of the narrator, Aidan Kelly, had a wonderful sense of authenticy.  Kelly is an Earphones Award–winning narrator and a Dublin/London-based actor with extensive stage, film, television, and radio experience. He has appeared as Tom in the Druid Theatre’s production of The Good Father, directed by Garry Hynes for the Galway Arts Festival. He won the Sunday Tribune Award for his performances in Howie the Rookie and Comedians.

Confederates by Thomas Keneally  Man Booker Prize: shortlisted 1979

Confederates is a novel by the Australian author Thomas Keneally which uses the American Civil War as its main subject matter.

As the Civil War tears America apart, General Stonewall Jackson leads a troop of Confederate soldiers on a long trek towards the battle they believe will be a conclusive victory. Through their hopes, fears and losses, Keneally searingly conveys both the drama and mundane hardship of war, and brings to life one of the most emotive episodes in American history.

Confederates uses the American Civil War as a setting for a more personal conflict between neighbours. In the midst of the war's climactic battle  another conflict is underway. Ephie Bumpass' husband Usaph and Ephie's lover Decatur Cate are thrown together to fight in the Shenandoah Volunteers. Cate's emasculating injury in the battle is a symbolic punishment for his sin.


My comment:  I got half way through this book before I was obliged to set it aside because I had another title to read within a timeframe.   

Locus fideles

Faithful Place by Tana French

The course of Frank Mackey's life was set by one defining moment when he was nineteen. The moment his girlfriend, Rosie Daly, failed to turn up for their rendezvous in Faithful Place, failed to run away with him to London as they had planned. Frank never heard from her again. Twenty years on, Frank is still in Dublin, working as an undercover cop. He's cut all ties with his dysfunctional family. Until his sister calls to say that Rosie's suitcase has been found. Frank embarks on a journey into his past that demands he re-evaluate everything he believes to be true.

I listened to this book as an Audible production and loved it.  What made it special is that the reader was Gerry O'Brien, a brilliant Irish actor.  It brought the quintessential Irish dialogue to life.  It's great that well-established actors share their talents in this way.  And the author had captured something of the claustrophobic nature of Irish families, the solid closing of ranks around the matriarch, against external threats. 

A Morality Tale in a Claustrophobic Setting

Mr. Trevor beams in his morality tale this time through a corrosive, middle-aged female photographer among some three-penny urban misfits in Dublin. Mrs. Eckdorf, divorced twice and brash as a blue-jay, explodes into the seedy confines of O'Neill's Hotel, its occupants and satellites placidly revolving around the silent world of its ninety-two-year-old owner,

the deaf-mute Mrs. Sinnott. Communicating with Mrs. Sinnott by means of school exercise books are her family, blood kin and orphans she has sheltered. Mrs. Eckdorf, at the height of creative and spiritual excitation, is increasingly convinced that the silent benison of Mrs. Sinnott's presence has united this unpleasing horde in mutual forgiveness. Madly photographing, Mrs. Eckdorf barges in on the bewildered, hostile "family." After a series of extravagant actions and confessions, Mrs. Eckdorf is holed up in a mental institution - completely potty. Only the priest, Father Hennessey, her only visitor, suspects - against his better judgment - that she may have been on to something. Not Trevor's best - there's just not enough leaven for the lunatic vision - but it's a full house of believable, likable rogues and rabble, with an unexpected joker. (Kirkus Reviews)

Women Betrayed by Men

The Dressmaker by Beryl Bainbridge is the concise, tautly written narrative of a naïve, foolish and deluded young woman who believes she is being wooed by a soldier-boy.  Bainbridge is known for her psychological fiction, dealing with often macabre tales set among the English working classes.  She was five times nominated in the Booker Shortlist.

I so agree with what the novelist Mavis Cheek has to say in her Guardian review:  "Something has happened to novels in the past 40 years - they have got bigger and fatter and, perhaps, more self-consciously and weightily heroic. The lives of ordinary people showing the reader extraordinary things seem to have given way to big issues and big lives and more and more words. When I look at my bookshelves, I can only admire and envy the rows and rows of slim volumes published mostly between the 1950s and 70s: Graham Greene, Muriel Spark, John Wyndham, Iris Murdoch, Jean Rhys, Albert Camus, Edna O'Brien - each a perfectly crafted, fatless, wholly readable yet intellectually beguiling work of fiction. And sitting there, like queens among royals, are the novels of Beryl Bainbridge. Short little books with innocuous titles - A Weekend with Claude, A Quiet Life, Injury Time (surely one of the funniest books ever written), Winter Garden, Sweet William - all of them about 160 pages long. They are spare, sharp and disturbing."

In The Dressmaker the central character, Rita, is being brought up by her aunts, with her father known as Uncle Jack, in the background.  It is set in Liverpool during World War II and like others of Bainbridge's earlier novels is semi-autobiographical.  The story is in part inspired by a relationship that she had with a soldier as a teenager.  What makes The Dressmaker so readable is the author's ability to tell a good story in bleak and funny prose and yet ignorance, repression and narrow-mindedness cannot help but lead to tragedy. The novel was written at the beginning of the 70s, at a time when women were just beginning to break out of the repression, constraints and modest expectations that hitherto been placed upon them.

In Water, Carry Me, Una Moss, orphaned as a child and sent to live with her hard-drinking, blarney-spouting grandfather, manages to grow up sheltered from the violence all around her during the Troubles in a benighted Ireland  . She is vaguely aware of the hushed talk about politics and the cryptic comments her grandfather makes about her parents' accidental death. But, generally speaking, she's a normal, bright student with a circle of mischievous girlfriends, and a healthy obsession with boys. When Una meets Aidan, she is swept off her feet. He is solid and dependable, and he is in love with her. Or so she believes.   But Aidan, to Una's endless sorrow, is not whom she thinks he is. Water,Carry Me is a captivating novel of betrayal, set against the backdrop of contemporary Ireland. Ultimately the author, Thomas Moran, has created a heartbreaking story which even in the final pages the reader believes will come right in the end.