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marabender's review
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
This was an amazing novel, and also the saddest book I have read in a long time. Worth the read, but make sure you’re in an ok head space to start it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape and Violence
Moderate: Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Murder, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Addiction, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, and Child abuse
thecatsmother's review
challenging
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The Glorious Heresies is a bleak contemporary Irish literary gangster story set in Cork, about the ripple effects of an accidental killing on a group of interconnected no-hopers. I had not heard of the author previously and it was something of a lucky dip pick from my Book Club shelf, but ended up liking it more than I expected - although it certainly wouldn’t be for everyone. I’d describe it as like an Irish Trainspotting, with the qualifier that I couldn’t read Irvine Welsh’s book but loved the movie.
Ryan Cusack is 15 and desperate to escape his mundane life, society’s judgement, and his alcoholic father’s fists, finding solace in the arms of his beautiful girlfriend - and his new career as a drug dealer. Tony has his own problems - left to raise six kids when his wife died, he’s now been roped into helping dispose of a body when the city’s scariest gangster has to clean up his nutty estranged mother Maureen’s mistaken murder of an intruder. Unhappy hooker Georgie is looking for her missing boyfriend when she is rescued by born again Christians, but when she knocks on Maureen’s door, she sets off a chain of events that endanger them all.
This was a dark and gritty, but yet more literary read than I would normally go for. The curly writing and Irish slang and idioms meant I often had to read sentences twice to get their meaning. I didn’t find it humorous so found some of the quotes on the cover rather misleading. The characters are mostly unlikeable but wonderfully drawn - our sympathies shift back and forth as people horribly damaged by their depressing environments, even though most of their misfortunes are self-inflicted. Sex, drugs and guilt dominate their lives and as with all Irish novels, religion and poverty are always in the background. As usual with literary fiction I found the ending disappointingly inconclusive, although then discovered that this is only the first part of a trilogy (so far at least) and I would be interested to find out what happens next.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Cursing, Violence, Drug abuse, and Alcoholism
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