This novel appeared on
the Booker longlist and the Costa shortlist so I decided it was time to read this
Irish writer.
There are four parts
to this short novel. In the first part,
Farouk, a Syrian doctor, is planning an escape for his family once his town is
overrun by Muslim fundamentalists. In
the second part, Lampy, a 23-year-old, lives near Limerick, Ireland, with his
unmarried mother and his grandfather. He
works in a care home driving seniors to appointments. In Part Three, John, an elderly, repentant
criminal, makes his confession. He
speaks of his often violent life which seemed focused on breaking all the
Commandments. In the last section, the
three characters are brought together and their lives shown to be linked.
The men are from
different backgrounds and have different lifestyles, but all are tortured souls
who have experienced loss. Farouk must
leave his home country where he has a fulfilling life with his wife and
daughter. His escape to the West results
in even more loss. Lampy is heart-broken
because his girlfriend has left him and he has no real sense of what he should
do in life. The fact that he is
illegitimate and has never known his father haunts him. John’s life was lived in the shadow of a
brother’s death, and when he fell in love, the relationship did not last and he
committed his greatest sin as a result.
The theme of the novel
is outlined at the beginning when Farouk remembers lessons his father taught
him about “the oneness of all people and all things.” In many ways, we are the same: everyone has hopes and dreams and everyone
suffers loss and heartbreak. People need
to take time “to listen, to observe, to do your best to hear beyond the spoken,
to see the quality of the light in another’s eyes.” And because we are all connected, there’s “only
one [rule] that’s real and must be kept. . . . Be kind.” This rule that Farouk teaches his daughter is
repeated by Lampy’s mother: “All you
have to do is be kind and you’ll have lived a good life.”
The characterization
is amazing. The book is short and so
each character has the spotlight for only a brief time, yet each of the three
men emerges as unique and fully developed.
Farouk’s father told his son that “there are men alive who will do evil
without pause, who are without mercy, and there are men alive who would rather
die than harm another, and all of the rest of us fall somewhere in between” and
“if you observe a man closely and properly you’ll eventually come to know the
shade of his soul.” The author shows the
shades of his protagonists’ souls. Each
has both good and bad qualities. Farouk
is a good man but he has a sense of superiority and even wonders whether doing
as the militants demand would be so bad.
Lampy has anger management issues, but he is very caring. Even the unscrupulous John is capable of love,
and he makes a sincere contrition.
I have not read any of
Donal Ryan’s other books, but I will certainly be checking them out. Though there is profane language and earthy
humour in the novel, at the end the reader may feel he/she has had a spiritual
experience because the book presents such empathetic portraits of three men
trying to find peace.
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