Reviews

Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe

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srcanedo's review against another edition

challenging dark informative medium-paced

4.0

I did enjoy this book but I could also see it hard to grasp if you don't already have a basic knowledge of Ireland, Northern Ireland and the IRA as he didn't explain that in depth. The choice to follow 5 main people's stories makes it compelling but it would be nice if they zoomed out more often to tell the larger story of the struggle and ground what was happening better. He clearly has a bias towards the Republican side, he waits until the last 1/4 of the book to criticize the IRA and he doesn't talk about the British perspective much at all.

jbruski's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative reflective sad medium-paced

3.75

maiakobabe's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

This is one of the most gripping and well-researched nonfiction books I've read in a long time. Keefe draws on many research trips, interviews, news paper archives, and personal encounters to tell several interwoven narratives of violence and protest during the time of The Troubles in Northern Ireland. He follows the story of the infamous Price sisters, women who joined the IRA while in college, helped plant many bombs, and became hunger strikers after receiving hefty prison sentences; Jean McConville, a widowed mother of ten who was dragged from her home and disappeared by the IRA; Brenden Hughes, a commanding office of the IRA who escaped assassination attempts and prison, who committed a huge amount of violence but ultimately became disillusioned with what he had done; Gerry Adams, who claims he was never an IRA office despite massive evidence to the contrary, who helped negotiate the peace treaty before launching a successive political career; and many more. I highly recommend this book, especially to anyone wrestling with the moral question of violent versus nonviolent resistant, and what the long, messy process of building peace can look like, at least in one specific place and time.