Books of the Month
'Carry Me Down' by M.J. Hyland
My book choice for October, shortlisted for this year's Man Booker Prize, is a real slow-burner. Setting out as a tale of a rustic childhood in rural Ireland, a disturbing tension gradually seeps in, until you're forced to really question just what kind of a book it is that you're reading, and start fearing for the ending.
John Egan seems to be a happy, bright eleven year old, with a good relationship with his mother and not a bad one with his dad and grandmother. But when he realises for the first time that his father tells lies, things start to change. John becomes convinced he has a special gift for lie detection, and begins keeping a 'Log of Lies', hoping to get into the Guiness Book of Records for his unusual skill. He also, however, gets more adept at telling fibs himself, and as the book is narrated through his eyes, it's part of the reader's task to sift truth from fiction. John gets increasingly frustrated when events in the family take place without him being kept in the loop, and when they're forced to move to a hellish council estate in Dublin, he shows alarming signs of becoming dangerously out of control.
The strength of the book is - as it should be - in the writing, which carrries you along and resists drawing obvious conclusions. I'm still musing over the implications of what happens. If you enjoy a book a which makes you ponder, and carry around its atmosphere in your head for a good few days afterwards, give Carry Me Down a try.
|
