The Spinning Heart

In The Spinning Heart, a small Irish town is suffering under the weight of the late 2000s economic bust that saw industry leave the country and the building boom come to a screeching halt. Unemployment is rampant. Alcohol use, always an issue in Ireland and Irish literature, is also rising. Ryan has chosen to present his portrait of the town and time through snapshots of town residents, spoken in their voices.

Chief among them is Bobby Mahon, product of a rough home, but largely appreciated in the town. He grew up with a cruel father and a mother he loved who was powerless to stop the man. On visiting a friend's house for dinner he sees:

"Their father was wiry and kind-looking. He had a lovely smile. He'd warm you with it. You knew there was nothing in him only good nature....It twisted my soul, the pleasure of that house, the warmth of it and the laughter; it was nearly unbearable to be there and to have half my mind filled with the chill and the gloom and the thick silence of our cottage." (loc 98)

The writing throughout is excellent, often rough, occasionally lyrical. The most lyrical passage for me was an immigrant's view of the land, an unemployed worker from Siberia.

"There is no flatness in this land. It is all small hills and hidden valleys. Birds sing that I cannot see; they hide in trees and fly in covered skies. The horizon is close and small. There is daily rain that makes the earth green.
A short journey in any direction ends at the sea." (loc 308)

Each person reveals another layer of the town's life as well as their own.

Definitely recommended

An advance copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley for the purpose of an unbiased review.

This book takes place at the decline of the Cetlic Tiger in Ireland. Pokey Burke is an unscrupulous builder who is at the center of this particular story. The story happens in a village on the outskirts of Limerick. Pokey, who hasn’t paid taxes or stamps for his employees, shuts up shop leaving housing estates unfinished and a trail of woe behind him.

The book is told by 20 odd people with a chapter each going into detail how they were screwed over in some way shape or form by Pokey, from employees who can’t collect the dole because he didn’t pay their stamps to people left behind in dealing with the fallout, mainly his father. I liked how the book was laid out, the individual stories and how each person dealt with their own misery. The take on rural village life is spot on in how people gossip and act, the language used as well as the typical Irish mentality of looking out for number one when the need suits.

There is a lot of swearing in this book, also the dreaded “C” word is used less than a handful of times, but it is used quite a bit in Ireland, so consider yourself warned. I think that some of the vernacular might be hard to follow for most people.

I think that this is an amazing first book and very well written. It brought me back to when I lived there. I look forward to reading his other book.

ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

this book won "book of the year" at the irish book awards. if james joyce had published every single book he had ever written in 2012, this book still would have won. hi, i'm karen - i make bold declarative statements. welcome.

this book is a stunner. like broken harbor, it speaks to the devastating economic and social climate in ireland after the death of the celtic tiger. in this particular, unnamed, small town, when the local construction company goes out of business and its owner skips town without paying his workers their wages, it is just one factor contributing to a series of events that will ultimately end in kidnapping and murder.

this book captures small-town life perfectly. it is told in a chorus of voices, where each chapter is narrated (in dialect) by a single character, and through their individual voices, we see a whole tapestry of resentments, ambitions, yearning, grief, admiration - the shared, embarrassed past and the shining, small-scale heroes. it is so deftly handled in such a short book - it is nothing short of astonishing.

it is funny, it is sad, it is dark, it is a scattershot of singular, lonely existences that make up this heartbreaking jewel of a novel. but there is a story here - it is not just a collection of experiences, it just happens to be narrated by a number of different people and perspectives, some unreliable, for sure, but the interlocking bits do make up a cohesive story. it is gripping, it is wonderful, and i cannot wait to read more from him.

Donal Ryan’s debut novel tells the story of a rural town in the wake of Ireland’s financial crisis. There are over a dozen voices in the narrative with each section being dedicated to a first-person narrator in the community. Their unique view points and voices are what make this book a compulsive read. They are there to hide secrets, only to reveal them later, pulling apart the notions that both they and the reader might have had.

The town is suffering from a terrible recession with many of the people out of work or being paid way below the minimum wage. What was once a prosperous area has now been abandoned. The most obvious scars are made apparent right away: ghost estates–the housing developments that were contracted to be built, but after the collapse, now stand incomplete and vacant.

Ryan has done something interesting. Like previously mentioned, each section is dedicated to the narration of a particular resident of the town. The novel begins with Bobby, who is idolized by many and he is still able to get some work as a builder even though the contractors have fled leaving many men out of work. He mentions people in the town, and feelings and opinions he has that certainly come to foreshadow events later on.

Each section is impressively narrated in that person’s specific voice (void of proper grammar in favor of dialect). The characters seem to repeat similar story lines, which the reader at first will tilt their head and go, huh? But it all becomes clearer and more gripping with the introduction of each new section. It would be a fool’s errand to try to keep straight the names and affiliations of everyone mentioned. Just let the prose carry you forward and you will soon have a hold of all of the players and their importance.

The Spinning Heart finds its title from the metal heart that hangs from Bobby’s father’s gate. Any time someone goes through it, they mention how it spins.

Like the heart, the story spins forward. Their derelict landscape, which at first takes up the beginning of the book evolves into a showcase for these character’s lives, until we finally see harsher stories being held right underneath the surface of the novel. When they finally clearly make their way to the forefront, the reader is wrenched by the desperation and exhaustion of everyone involved.

The novel is impressive. It was a pleasure to see how Ryan crafted his prose to hide dark threats and the actual desires of the characters. Parts were unnerving when you could read the inner thoughts of the dastardly characters and feel the anguish of others as it buried itself deep within your own mind.

I’m hesitant to give away much of the plot, because bits of the mysterious element are sprinkled throughout. Like the spinning heart of the novel, I kept moving page after page, feeling the depths of the characters and the desolate world they now live in.

My first thought is that this reminded me of the writings of Maeve Binchy but with more grit and gristle. Each chapter is a story told by intertwining characters, moving the story forward and revealing bits and pieces of the lives they lead in this depressed Irish community. Irish story telling at its best.

This is an amazing story told by many voices during an economical collapse in a small Irish town. It's incredible that a novel can be presented from multiple points-of-view and yet remain cohesive. This story will touch on all of your emotions and leave you satisfied when it is all over. I highly recommend this read!