In The Heart's Invisible Furies, some coincidences are more successfully told than others. īoth Irving and Boyne like to litter their stories with barely credible coincidence, as if to demonstrate that life really is stranger than fiction. The book is dedicated to John Irving, the American author who also specialises in the richly told stories of entire and varied lives. There are other clear influences at work here too. Boyne similarly opens The Heart's Invisible Furies with a "quote" from one of Maude Avery's novels. This blending of fact and fiction recalls William Boyd's masterly Any Human Heart, which was such a convincing fictionalised biography that it came with its own set of footnotes. Boyne is, as one might expect from the author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, a deeply cinematic writer.Īlong the way, Cyril’s story merges with real-life figures who make surprising cameos – a lecherous Brendan Behan propping up the bar Charles Haughey in the tearoom of Dáil Éireann and so on. The novel starts with this incident and kicks off with one of the most memorable opening sentences I've ever read. If all that sounds a bit overwhelming, rest assured that the 626 pages are written with verve, humour and heart.īoyne tackles the life story of Cyril Avery, born out of wedlock in 1945 to a teenage mother – banished from her home town by a priest who denounced her as a whore from the pulpit. It is commercial in tone but epic in scope, spanning three countries, two continents and the biblical three-score-years and 10 of one man's life. The Heart's Invisible Furies, his 10th novel for adults, is sure to be read by the bucketload. It is to be hoped that Boyne doesn't have the same reservations. When she is asked why she doesn’t want people to read her novels, Maude Avery replies: “For the same reason that I don’t walk into strangers’ houses and tell them how many bowel movements I’ve enjoyed since breakfast … It’s none of their business.” Her greatest fear is that her works will be read by the undiscerning masses. There is a female novelist in John Boyne’s new book who finds the idea of popularity excessively vulgar.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |