BOOK REVIEW BY SARAH MOORE FITZGERALD
| Having loved all of Donal Ryan’s books to date, I knew I was going to love this. I just didn’t know how much. It’s not a long book but the sweep of the plot makes it an epic, multigenerational, multicultural, layered story. There is moment after moment of breath-taking language and scene – every line just pure dazzle. It’s perceptive, heart-wrenching, unprecedented writing. It’s a story full of sadness and loss but still manages to capture great moments of fleeting bliss too, and miraculously to contain some of the funniest scenes I have read in any book. Donal Ryan balances darkness and tragedy with heart-lifting, comforting, genuinely hilarious humour. I’d have to transcribe the whole book to highlight all the phrases that knocked me over but some include: a childhood description of a beloved grandfather –‘ there’d be this fresh airy smell off him like he’d been washed by the wind,’; and trembling dog roses; and a laugh that ‘filled the room with sound and light’ and the ‘sweet swerve of fate’ and the 'damp stone hem,’ of a pub, and effortless moments that manage to strike at the heart of what it is to be human: 'you can change memories to suit yourself, to fit across the shapes of your wounds.' There is also a wonderful story within the story, by one of the main characters who is a writer – which is so perfectly woven in that it feels like a brilliant, echoing dream - another gift tucked inside the book. Strange flowers tenderly renders different forms of love. There is pure goodness and poignant imperfections in its characters, every paragraph a poem or a song. Such extraordinary storytelling. Donal Ryan honours his gift at a whole new level. | ||