Reviews

• What goes around, comes around

  The Spinning Heart is a metal heart, set in the gate of Frank Mahon's house. It spins round and round in the wind, never going anywhere. The novel opens with a first person narrative from Bobby Mahon. Bobby was a builder's foreman, working for his old friend Pokey Burke. As is well documented, the Irish economy benefited enormously from a property bubble in the 1990s-2000s and some people got very rich, very quickly. But by the time we meet Bobby, the bubble has burst; the Celtic Tiger has lost its roar. Pokey has scarpered, leaving his workmen and his investors in deep trouble. Bobby's immediate financial problems would be eased greatly if his father would only die and leave Bobby his land whilst it still had some small amount of value. But Frank seems to get healthier by the minute and Bobby sits watching the price of land trickling away to nothing. After a few pages, the narrative baton passes on to Josie, and then on through a series of 21 different narrators. At first it seems as though each narrator is just giving a different perspective on the same predicament. But as the novel progresses, it becomes clear that each narrative adds to the detail of a quite distinct plot. But given the individual perspectives, it is interesting to sometimes see the same events told through very different lenses. The reader's perceptions of people need to be constantly readjusted. Telling a story with 21 points of view, none of which is revisited, is an immense feat of skill. That the narratives manage to convince, written in differing voices and dialects that sound authentic and avoid sounding samey, is a work of genius. Donal Ryan avoids the temptation to give characters tics or quirks and this can make the reader want to zip back and check previous passages just to confirm who is who. But at the same time, Ryan uses enough signposts to guide an alert reader around the narrative. The novel is short, but there's a lot in it and it isn't a terribly quick read. The voices do slow the reader down - and that's necessary if the reader isn't going to miss out on vital detail. There are sub-plots and scheming, most of which make sense. There is an excellent insight into the petty rivalries and jealousies between smalltown Ireland and "the boondocks". The novel is set in Tipperary, but it could just as easily be in Cavan, or Louth, or Offally or Carlow. The shattered dreams are found all over Ireland and these responses to the slump will stand to tell future generations just how bad it got. The Spinning Heart is a novel that has humanity and warmth amongst the heartbreak. It is compelling reading and has a social importance. And like the spinning heart of the title, it shows that what goes around, comes around.

• Read this book. This guy's a terrific writer.

  I discovered this guy, Donal Ryan, from a post on Facebook. He's apparently created quite a stir in Ireland over the past few years, but I don't know if he's much known here in the USA. In any case, he is a terrific writer. THE SPINNING HEART was his first novel, back in 2012, but it took a couple more years to make it over to this side of the pond when Steerforth Press published it here. I think he now has five books out, and they've all gotten rave reviews, although I don't know if he's making a living at writing yet. I hope so, because he ought to be. THE SPINNING HEART is a series of connected stories, each one with a different narrator - a couple dozen voices - all from the same small village somewhere near Limerick. All together the stories form an intricate web that tell different parts of the same story. Set in modern times, around 2009, THE SPINNING HEART is a kind of contemporary Irish WINESBURG, OHIO. Which is a modern classic, of course, and Ryan's writing is that good. The village featured here is very insular, very smug and self-contained. One of the characters, a young woman whose toddler is kidnapped, is an outsider, called a "blow-in." "That girl whose child was taken from the creche is a blow-in, Mam says. Blow-in. That phrase is used so derisively. As if to say it's a failing to not have been born and bred here, to have settled in a place outside of the place of your birth." And that kind of prejudice is common in the village, a community racked by malicious gossip, adultery, alcoholism, and rampant unemployment during the world recession. A child is snatched from a town daycare. An old man is murdered. A prominent developer skips town with all the retirement and unemployment funds for his workers. Immigrant workers are used and tossed aside. Forget Sherwood Anderson, there are echoes of PEYTON PLACE here, but brought up to date and flavored by Ireland's financial crisis of the 2000s. This is a damn good book. READ it. I've got three more Donal Ryan books waiting. Onward. Very highly recommended for consumers of serious literature. - Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER

• Funny and dark.

  It will help you to read if you know Irish slang. Every chapter is told by a different person which makes it very interesting.

• Okok

  Product is good but the book as such is boring

• Bon état et intéressant

  Très bon état, le livre est intéressant et le vocabulaire parfois très particulier à l'Irlande, niveau de langage familier parfois difficile à suivre mais renforce l'ambiance rurale de l'intrigue.

Purchase links