Reviews

• "Bog Child" is one of those rare books that seem to speak to you from the bookshelf. I came across it at Borders and it jumped out at me in the Young Adult section, so different was it from its contemporaries. I highly recommend this work by Siobhan Dowd, a masterful storyteller. The other reviews here give a good description as to what to expect when reading the book but for all of those who love to read YA, really good YA, this is the book for you. Historical fiction set in the time of the Irish "troubles" from a youth's perspective is hard to find. Although the book is also about an archeological discovery and a spiritual link between the main character and the "bog child," the book centers on the main character and how he finds himself swept up in events beyond his control. Like the "bog child" he so sympathizes with, he feels both betrayed and vindicated by the events around him. He maintains an outsider's perspective and gives a clear idea of what life was like during this time period. The book has an unfinished feel to it making me want to go with the main character at the end, to see where he ends up and if he makes good on his promises. I highly recommend this book to YA lovers and to anyone who is traveling to Ireland and is interested in a brief introduction to this time period.

• Easy to read, gives an idea of what life was like during the troubles in rural Ireland without extreme heavy detail . Book worth a read.

• I loved this book. Beautifully written, with a poignant, subtle storyline that takes you by surprise. Siobhan Dowd's tragic early death is a huge loss to literature.

• Bog Child ist durchaus ein gutes Buch, das einen fesselt und das man verschlingt. Wer Irland liebt wird auch dieses Buch mögen, man fühlt sich wieder in die schöne Landschaft hineinversetzt. Sehr interessant auch etwas mehr über die Konflikte zwischen Protestanten und Katholiken zu erfahren und z.b. den Hungerstreik. Durch und durch lesenswert. Wobei ich ein klein wenig enttäuscht war weil ich zuvor "A swift pure cry" (von der gleichen autorin) bereits 3x gelesen habe, was eins meiner absoluten Lieblingsbücher ist!!!! Ich kann nur allen, denen Bog Child einigermaßen gefallen hat raten unbedingt "A swift pure cry" zu lesen (oder "ein reiner schrei" auf Deutsch ;))

• Deservedly shortlisted for a major fiction prize, this novel for teenagers about the troubles in Northern Ireland was complex and beautifully delicate. Fergus is an eighteen year old boy, studying hard to get the grades required to leave Northern Ireland and become a Doctor. His summer is disrupted when his older brother is arrested and put in the Maze prison as a political prisoner. It is never entirely clear what the brother has done, but he embarks on a hunger strike with his fellow prisoners and as Fergus grows into adulthood very quickly, discovering an Iron age body in a peat bog, getting a new girlfriend and learning to drive, his brother starts to waste away. Fergus dreams of the peat bog woman, and his dreams foreshadow and become interwoven with the complexities of his life as he is forced to take sides, make a stand and learn how to be a man. There are no easy answers in this text, and much is left deliberately ambiguous and 'grey', but this is like life itself, difficult, demanding and messy. Sensitively written and all the more powerful for it.

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