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bgg616's review
5.0
This coming-of-age novel tells the story of Colm MacNeill, the son of a Catholic fisherman on Rathlin Island. The time-frame of this novel is 1918-1921. After a family loss, they move to Belfast to a poor neighborhood off the Falls Road. Colm attends a Catholic boy's school, first as a boarder, and later as a day student. His fees are paid by the parish priest back on Rathlin Island. While Colm sees himself as a poor student, he actually does well enough to have a university education in his future.
While the move to the city means there are more opportunities for family members to work, life is hard. British troops roam the streets, and bigotry against Catholics is high. The Irish Republican Army is active. The British Army includes Black and Tans who roam the Catholic neighborhoods. As the story progresses, particularly after the Irish Treaty is signed in July, 1921, riots and violence rocks the city. In a scene later in the book, among Christmas shoppers, a man in a tram conductor's uniform, steps onto a wooden box and starts to "address the crowd". All workers, Catholic or Protestant, should not be fighting one another. They are the people dying in the riots and violence. But the people living up on the Malone Road (the better off) aren't suffering, but only complaining about the bother.
This book reveals details about lives in Northern Ireland in the period leading up to partition. Catholics already experienced separation, discrimination, and brutality. Rural life was difficult but city life introduced new dangers and violence. IRA resistance to the British Army and protection of Catholic ghettos began at this time, not in the 1960's and 1970's as many may believe. The Irish News called this "A truly great novel, and the best novel out of the North, or for that matter, perhaps out of Ireland in modern times". First published in 1939, it was republished by Poolbeg Press 40 years later in 1979. This is required reading for anyone interested in Irish writing, Northern Irish novels, and Belfast.
While the move to the city means there are more opportunities for family members to work, life is hard. British troops roam the streets, and bigotry against Catholics is high. The Irish Republican Army is active. The British Army includes Black and Tans who roam the Catholic neighborhoods. As the story progresses, particularly after the Irish Treaty is signed in July, 1921, riots and violence rocks the city. In a scene later in the book, among Christmas shoppers, a man in a tram conductor's uniform, steps onto a wooden box and starts to "address the crowd". All workers, Catholic or Protestant, should not be fighting one another. They are the people dying in the riots and violence. But the people living up on the Malone Road (the better off) aren't suffering, but only complaining about the bother.
This book reveals details about lives in Northern Ireland in the period leading up to partition. Catholics already experienced separation, discrimination, and brutality. Rural life was difficult but city life introduced new dangers and violence. IRA resistance to the British Army and protection of Catholic ghettos began at this time, not in the 1960's and 1970's as many may believe. The Irish News called this "A truly great novel, and the best novel out of the North, or for that matter, perhaps out of Ireland in modern times". First published in 1939, it was republished by Poolbeg Press 40 years later in 1979. This is required reading for anyone interested in Irish writing, Northern Irish novels, and Belfast.
lucy2403's review
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
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