Peter Cunningham (1) (1947–)

I was all set to give this book 2 stars at the half-way point - decent writing, but the story was just not very interesting to me. The second part was much more interesting! The setting (Ireland in the 1940s) was not my usual thing so I found much that was new to me - for example, I had never really thought about the Anglo-Irish (didn't even know there was such a term!). As a Bostonian, I grew up being aware of the troubles in Ireland but being neither Irish nor religious, it was a distant thing that happened far away to other people.

The Sea and the Silence is the story of Iz (short for Ismay), in the form of 2 documents she has written and bequeathed to her lawyer. Her instructions to him are clear - after her death, he is to open the documents, read them then destroy them. The book starts with the lawyer returning from her funeral. I found this a clever device, as it allowed Iz to tell her own story but almost in reverse. We learn of her death, then read her memoir of her married life, and finally hear about her coming of age.… (lisätietoja)

I don’t remember how this book came to my attention, but I’m glad it did. It’s an understated gem.

Alex Smyth grew up in Ireland but has spent his adult life in Canada; now he and his wife Kay have retired to the Muskoka region of Ontario. One day he receives a letter which unsettles him and stirs up vague childhood memories. He returns to Ireland looking to find out what he has forgotten because his memory “’has big holes in it.’” That trip involves a visit with his estranged father. Surely, Alex didn’t murder someone when he was seven years old, as he suspects?

The book examines sexual abuse and the long-lasting effects of childhood trauma. Kay, a psychotherapist, tells Alex, “’When we are young we often have encounters that leave us deeply marked.’” More than one character in the novel “has spent his adult life suffering wounds inflicted in his childhood.”

The novel captured my interest immediately. What will Alex discover in Ireland? While Alex is away, leaving Kay and their young grandson at home, Kay must deal with a man who is paying them untoward attention. Are they in danger? The chapters are short and so tension builds quickly.

Several of the chapters include descriptions of the life of a trout and the skills needed for fly fishing. These brief passages serve as a metaphor for what is happening: “the trout’s greatest enemy is man” and “Fly fishing allows man to revert to his state of being a natural hunter and to stalk his quarry . . . Fly fishing allows man to act out an elemental part of the forest glade that lies within us all.” A description of night time fishing is juxtaposed with an episode where a man takes a couple of boys fishing at night. When a friend compliments that man on his fishing skills (“’Is there no fish in the county safe from you?’”), the comment has a double meaning that is truly frightening.

The book is narrated in the first person by Alex. My issue is that several times he seems to know more than he plausibly could about what others are thinking and doing. For instance, Alex describes Kay: “She wishes she could see clearly into my soul, for even though she once trusted me, now she is not so sure. Everyone has secrets, she reflects.” Three times, Alex explains that he knows his wife’s thoughts because “she will later say” something to him about them, but this approach is awkward.

The ending delivers a punch that will leave the reader re-evaluating all that went before. I am certain the book would reveal more depths on a second reading.

Note: Please check out my reader's blog (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski).… (lisätietoja)

This novel opens as an attorney is settling the affairs of a recently deceased client. She has left two envelopes, requesting that he open and read the contents and then destroy them. One bears the name of her son, "Hector," and the other "Iz"--the nickname of Ismay, the deceased. The setting is Ireland, starting in the early 1940s and working through several decades. Ireland is staying out of the war on the Continent, but many of the Anglo-Irish young men are signing up for service in the British armed forces. Although Iz's family is in financial distress, due to her father's disability and neglect of their land, she is still included in the social calendar. "Hector" tells the story of her early marriage to Ronnie, a member of the horsey set, and their life in the fictional sea coast town of Monument. Initially happy, things begin to fall apart as Ronnie's weaknesses--drinking, speculating in land deals that inevitably fall through, and womanizing--are revealed. Iz's life and happiness become centered around her son. In "Iz," she begins with a cricket game and a dance where she meets two men that will change her life: Ronnie and Frank, a dock worker. Iz is also being pressured by her family to marry Norman, a wealthy landowner's son.

Cunningham's book gave me a new take on World War II and on the continuing conflicts between Protestants and Catholics in Ireland. It also documents the life of a woman who was pressured by the expectations of her social status. And in many ways it's a quintuple love story--of Iz and Frank, Iz and Ronnie, Iz and Hector, Iz and the sea, Iz and the Dublin house she inherits. The characters are intriguing, if sometimes a bit cliché; thankfully Iz is the center of it all. It wasn't a five-star read for me, but I did enjoy it.… (lisätietoja)

The Trout is a moving story about an Irishman, Alex Smyth, living in Canada for the past 40 years. The book’s name derives from the analogies drawn between trout behavior and human behavior. It is a quick read with lyrical prose. On the whole I liked it, although I thought events were perhaps a little jumbled.

For some reason, memories from Alex’s childhood in Ireland begin to haunt him. He becomes convinced that he killed someone, but can’t figure out whom or why. Increasing anxiety strains his relationship with his wife, Kay, to whom he has been married for four decades. As Alex’s behavior becomes more and more erratic, Kay senses that someone is stalking her. Believing that events might be connected – perhaps the stalker is a relative of the person Alex killed – Alex decides to return to Ireland to get to the bottom of his uncertainty.

Retrospectively we learn that Alex lived a severe childhood. He had a love-hate relationship with his stern widowed father, and the two remain estranged. We learn that Alex’s lie of omission about well-founded suspicions surrounding a beloved parish priest’s relations with a young boy lead to the suicide of the boy’s uncle. We learn that Alex withdrew from seminary despite his best friend’s and his father’s intransigence (the source of the rift between Alex and his father).

By the end of the story Cunningham manages to resolve all the loose ends – Alex’s ambiguous memory, Kay’s stalker, and the tragic lives of Father Charlie’s victims.

Two points stick with me about this book; the generational impact of pedophile priests, and the destructiveness of keeping secrets. Decades later, the victims, the victims' families, and the victims' friends are sadly still touched by the aftermath of abuse.… (lisätietoja)