Friday, June 21, 2019

THE HEART'S INVISIBLE FURIES- JUNE 2019 BOOK SELECTION


The Heart’s Invisible Furies by Irish author John Boyne is a deeply affecting novel that tells the story of a young man growing up gay in post WWII Ireland.

The story begins with a young girl as she is literally thrown out of church by a sanctimonious priest for being unwed and pregnant. All this occurs while her family looks on. We learn at the same time, that same priest has fathered two illegitimate children in two other parishes. It nicely sets the scene for the state of mind in Ireland at the time. Being unwed and pregnant was nearly as bad as being gay. All alone and almost penniless, she takes a bus to Dublin and meets a young man who helps her. His fate in an unspeakable act of violence shapes her life and that of her unborn son.

Told in seven year increments, the story follows her son, Cyril, from his childhood as the adopted son of a rich, morally ambiguous father and distant, cold, novelist mother until his death. Cyril was informed from the time he could understand, that he was not a “real” Avery and that he must always refer to his parents as his “adoptive” parents. Despite his neglect, his observations about his family and others are often laugh-out-loud funny.

Even with the sometimes tragic life events, Boyne manages to enchant with his humor and brilliant prose. The characters not only survive but thrive.

The title comes from Cyril, while watching a beloved friend die an excruciating death. He describes his friend in a quote by Hannah Arendt, the German-born American political theorist: “A line came into my mind, something that Hannah Arendt once said about the poet Auden: that life had manifested the heart's invisible furies on his face.

Recommend.



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