Thank you Garrett Carr, Faber and Faber and Net Galley for the ARC of The Rule of the Land
Walking Ireland's Border. This is an excellent account of the history of this border and its contemporary implications. The illustrated maps and great photography enhance the unique writing style. I recommend this to anyone who has an interest in Ireland, especially if you are planning on travelling to this region.

A timely book that was written after the Brexit referendum and read by me during the shambolic Brexit process. Garrett Carr walks the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, a very squiggly, often irrational and impractical, line that resulted from the partitioning of the six counties in 1921. He doesn’t shy away from discussing the ‘Troubles’ but is never politically biased. I love the map he creates along each section of the border, recording historical and prehistoric sites as well as old checkpoints and unofficial border crossings. The people he meets are an indigenous breed he refers to as borderlanders, with their own take on their political and geographical situation and their own brand of humour. When he can’t walk, he canoes the line of the border with his friend, Paddy. Some of his best writing is during these stretches. On seeing a kingfisher, he writes

<i>The kingfisher glides ahead of us, going only a little faster than we are, before our bow for half a minute or so. Its blue is amazing. It is like a tear in the material of this world, a hole into a different, brighter place. One heavy downbeat of its wings and it cruises right, into the trees, and disappears. I hope for another sighting but it never comes. From the stern Paddy says, ‘I’ve seen more rubber ducks in the wild than I’ve seen kingfishers.’</i>

Towards the end of his journey, Carr recalls the words of a comedian wondering what will happen if Northern Ireland leaves the European Union. <i>‘We’re going to need the border again....if anyone can remember where we left it.’</i>

If you’re interested in Ireland, its topography and its history, this is a very readable and enjoyable book which I strongly recommend.....no matter what happens in the next months and years ahead.

<http://freshfiction.com/review.php?id=63000>

This is the kind of meditative non fiction that I like to luxuriate in. Carr talks about all sorts of topics-ancient history, modern history, the creation and delineation of landscapes, identity politics, etc with the common binding thread of it all being Ireland's reality-a complex tapestry of ideas and people. Carr stays relatively neutral in the North/South divide which enhances the dreamy sense of travel. I do recommend that readers have a strong interest in Ireland and/or an interest in history/landscape.

<img src="http://i68.tinypic.com/2rpr7nl.jpg" alt="NetGalley Review" width="200">

I have a love of everything Ireland, so this recent release, documenting a walk along Ireland's border, written just after the Brexit vote, was almost certainly going to be something up my alley. Part travelling journal, part historical account, part mythology, this book has something for everyone.

However, I don't believe that most people will love every single part of it with equal amounts.

For me, for example, my interest was in the changing parts of Ireland's language, and also the mythology and fairy related nonsense, noted as it was to particular places that the writer walked along.

I noted lingo such as 'a notion': He has a notion of her. She has a notion of him. To have a notion of someone is to see potential in them, to see potential in the idea of you together. I'm talking about love.

Domees: A piece of borderland vernacular, a name for these prehistoric tombs.

And drumlins: thick bands stretching across Ireland, much of it corresponding with the borderland. "Although the hill form is found in many parts of the world, the name was shaped here, in the Irish language, from droimnín, by way of drym and druim. It means little ridge."

I'm definitely glad that I read it, specifically because I love Ireland, though I don't think it'll be the kind of thing I read again.

I like Garrett Carr's style, but the story wasn't really interesting to me.

‘Haulbowline Lighthouse stands off shore. Waves crash at it from all sides. I think of it as the beginning because the lighthouse – smooth stone, seamless from a distance – is a fine spool from which to unwind the border. I imagine the line as three hundred miles of oily black cable, wrapped around the lighthouse, waiting to be drawn out.’

Books like these are fast becoming one of my favourite genres. They seem to strongly resonate with me and my natural sense of curiosity. The sense of freedom, the interest in new people and places and the disconnect from ‘normal’ life makes for very interesting reading. Reading books like these are pure escapism and the next best thing to doing the actual travelling yourself.

That is not to say that all travel books are the same. What sets The Rule Of The Land apart is the beautiful poetic language used throughout. Garrett Carr has written something very special here in a time when, more and more, we are beginning to define ourselves by our borders. Written in the aftermath of Brexit, the author walks the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic Of Ireland. Sometimes, he even calls upon the use of a canoe to navigate the many waterways that make up part of this border. Over the course of this journey, Carr has much to teach us.

‘I want to see how the land and its people have reacted to the border, and the ways in which the line is made manifest. First it just demarcated counties, then countries and may next be where the United Kingdom and the European Union touch – this line has a lot of responsibilities.’

The beauty of this book is that the author could be writing about any type of border. He spends much time musing about the imaginary divides that have always seemed to be there, even before maps and written records. These divides are not there just because of geographical circumstance. Religion, politics, tribal and familial factors have all played a role in shaping the territories that make up our world today. Carr expertly navigates through all this information to paint a lyrical picture of what makes the Irish border in particular a special place.

To the author’s credit, The Rule Of The Land offers a wide and varying opinion on how this unusual boundary came to be. Importantly, this opinion transcends the usual lazy political and religious stereotypes. When you scratch beneath the surface as Garrett Carr did, it quickly becomes clear that the border seems to have always been in existence in some form or other.

‘South are the Cooleys. North, the Mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea. The Cooleys are ruffled and pitted, the Mournes taller and polished smooth by glaciers. Mountain ranges of differing personalities and this wide band of water between; I sense the edge of kingdoms.’

The making of the border easily outdates its political creation in the 1920s. It seems as if the universe itself conspired to create an unbreakable territorial line. Ice age glaciers carved out immense troughs in the land and deposited countless drumlins ‘like a necklace of beads.’ Relics from the past such as Emain Macha, the Greenan fort and countless Stone Age burial sites point to the presence of human life thousands of years ago. Irish folklore and legends record the deeds of the great Irish hero Cú Chulainn and the indomitable O’Neill clan who defended this same border. Much later came The Big Houses that announced the arrival of a landlord class and territory of a different kind. There is also Lough Derg, which remains to be an important site of pilgrimage today.

Then there are the people who make up the border. These are as vital to its story and understanding too. Famous cases studies include Shane Leslie, Lord Brackenbridge, Barry McGuigan, Seán Quinn and Artur Kozlowski. Authors William Trevor and Brian McGilloway and their works offer the reader a chance to read and understand the land further. But it is the nameless farmers and chance encounters that really steal the show throughout this book. These ‘borderlanders‘ give Carr’s account a real flavour of what it is like to live in a area that holds so much historical and cultural baggage.

‘Drawing a line is one way to make a state where we can belong, but a sense of belonging is often lost to borders too. Even a place as small as Free Derry would be big enough for some people to feel like they were in the wrong place. Within Free Derry I’m sure you could have found at least one family that did not want to be caught up in the enclave. They might have like a further subdivision, a line painted around their house. And within that house a teenage son or daughter would have stormed upstairs and locked their door.’

The Rule Of The Land really is a magnificent book and must be a tourist board’s dream. If more people looked at the things that divide us in the light of Garrett Carr, we would have a much better understanding of who we are and where we might go today.

Would I recommend this book to a friend?

Yes. There is something in here for everyone. Whether or not you come from Ireland, you will appreciate the essence of the journey. The constant stream of stories, facts, places and events makes this book a very interesting and lively read. Obviously, for those old enough or local enough to relate to the border, this will be an extra special read. At the very least, this book will make you want to get outside and explore your own surrounding with your own two feet and a reliable tent.

Afterthoughts
As an Irishman myself, I have never particularly spent much time thinking about the border. I am from the south of the island and so any thoughts or opinions that I may have have been heavily influenced by school history books and casual politics. The best thing about this book is that it make the border a much more acceptable place. It is what it is.
I received a copy of this book to review on Kindle and thoroughly enjoyed it. However, I did feel that I missed out on the maps and photographs so I would strongly recommend buying a hard copy if available. Garrett Carr drew his own map of the border as he walked the border. Clearly, he is a man of many talents!
Reading this book should help us to understand that borders, boundaries and territories are a very natural and ingrained part of life on our planet. It is our attitudes towards them that define them for what they are and can be.
According to my Kindle, this book uses the word ‘border’ 438 times!
The language that Carr uses throughout this book is simply poetic. For example, a simple thing such as a dog and walker are described as ‘a six-legged walk waiting to happen.‘
It is very interesting how the author mentions drawing a line as ‘one way to make a state where we can belong.’ This is exactly what the main character does in Paul Beatty’s The Sellout to revive some pride in his ailing neighbourhood.

This book appealed to me as the daughter of Irish parents who were born and grew up in the border counties, one in Northern Ireland, one in the Republic of Ireland. Until my middle teenage years, when warmer and more exciting places beckoned more strongly than holidays on the usually wet island of Ireland, visiting an endless stream of relatives, I spent nearly all my school holidays near the border. This period coincided with the worst part of the Troubles during the 1970s and I still recall the faint tinge of tension as we crossed the Bogside bridge in Londonderry on the way from my father's Northern Irish homeland in County Fermanagh to my mother's native land further north in Donegal. We never had problems on the crossing point - perhaps the mainland number plates, five children and cheeriest dog on the planet made us look unthreatening although I always thought we would have been good cover for smuggling contraband over the border!
Walking the border during the Troubles was an impossibility and even now it isn't a regular activity. The author either walks or takes to the water where the border is formed of a river or lake. I remember the cratered roads or blocked river crossings from my childhood, restricting access across the border. many have now re-opened but the author comes across more unofficial crossings that don't appear on his maps. The border lands also encompass many monuments to a much older history - ancient barrows, gates, ramparts. Every now and again the potential impact of Brexit on these borderlands is mentioned but in no depth - it felt to me that Brexit was a convenient peg to hang from since at least some of the journey described in the book preceded the referendum, the result of which was a surprise to most people in June.

I particularly enjoyed reading about those areas I knew best along the Fermanagh/Cavan border and the more rugged lands of Donegal. You get the occasional sharp observation for example the all too true comment that the great "estates seem to be the only forces in Ireland powerful enough to keep bungalows at bay". In other places, the author described things that revived old memories - he writes about a dance hall that was popular in the 1950s which triggered memories of my mother reminiscing about the dances of her youth in what seemed a very similar establishment a few miles further along the border.

I am not sure, though, that I would have read all the way through the book had it not been for my personal interest and connection. Whilst the book is informative, I found some stretches rather dull and occasionally the author seemed to wander off at a tangent. It isn't a conventional travelogue but I am not sure how or where to categorise it. It doesn't offer any analysis of Irish politics, and the history is treated lightly. Much is based on conversations with people the author encounters along the way but, again, this offers no great insight. I enjoyed parts of the book because I had a personal connection with the area, but I am not sure how much the book would speak to a general reader.

"Irish map-maker Garrett Carr spends a year traveling the border between the United Kingdom and Ireland. Carr explores via foot, canoe, and other means, to explore the modern-day climate and past history of this divided area." https://www.smartertravel.com/2017/01/11/new-books-2017/

Carr embarks on a journey to travel the border of Northern Ireland and the U.K. Always a contentious area, things are made more strange by the recent departure of Great Britain from the European Union . As a child I never understood my British fathers ambivalence towards his Irish half, his mother was born in Dublin. It wasn’t until I was a teenager in the 1980s and witnessed the atrocities committed in the name of “right” by both sides on the nightly news that I began to understand. Now Carr travels the border both on foot and by boat visiting the places and people that make this place both unique and beautiful. Poetic, engrossing, and humorous, this is a book I dearly wish my father had lived long enough to read. An extraordinary accomplishment and a book that will leave no reader unchanged