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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