I grew up near Boston, and have a real affinity for the hard-core accent and customs of the community, which are often as in this case, represented by Irish Catholic characters. While I haven't lived in the area for decades now, something about a Boston accent makes me feel immediately at home. Unfortunately, I simply couldn't bond with these characters. The book opens with Art's mother, still a teenager herself, being abandoned by her young husband; this chapter was well-written, and I was invested in the woman. However, this is the last we really see of that part of the story, as the novel immediately jumps forward to a brief discussion of Art's joining the priest preparatory school at age 14, leaving his mother, step-father and new siblings behind. From this point, the story begins to be told more by Sheila, but the problem with this is that she is telling Art's story, making it difficult to bond with him as he is still the 'other', but we are not really involved with Sheila as a character, either. At the time of the events she describes, she is a young girl, and we have no relationship with her, and even her adult character is not developed to a point where we are really part of her life, either. This situation left the book feeling more like a documentary than a novel to me. Also, since the reader knows from the beginning that the focus of the story is accused of a heinous act, it is difficult to know how to react to him - do I root for him, or not? While you're pretty sure he probably didn't do it, there is the kernel of doubt that the family, and thus the reader, is left to deal with, and this again makes connecting with the characters difficult. I don't want to root for someone who ultimately is revealed to be a pedophile.
The pacing of the story is another issue I wasn't happy with during the first half of the book. The story dragged on for at least the first hundred pages, leaving me thinking, I get it, there's an issue, let's move on. The final quarter of the story definitely picks up, and when the entire truth becomes clear, it is of course tragic, and I can say this without feeling that I'm giving anything away, because regardless of the truth, whether he actually did anything wrong or not, lives have been ruined. I think the 'big reveal' of information did draw me into the story more, but by then the book was almost over. Perhaps re-reading the story, knowing how it ended, I would feel more invested in the work and less like an observer, but then again, I'm so disgusted with some of the characters' seediness, maybe not.
Haigh definitely has a knack for description, and she does not shy away from having her characters make unpopular life choices. By taking on this novel, she investigates morality, faith, poverty, and the issue of priesthood as a lifestyle and religious choice. These are sticky issues that stir firmly held opinions in the minds of many, particularly when mixed together. Haigh does an admirable job of creating realistic drama and reactions to these situations.
Overall, I probably wouldn't recommend this book, but it depends on what you're looking for. If you don't mind not being terribly engaged with the characters, then this might be a good book for you, particularly if you are familiar with the Boston Archdiocese nightmare. How committed are you to your family members? Would you stick with them even if you thought they had committed a heinous act? How would you cope with family members who walked away, or stayed? These are interesting questions; Haigh simply didn't make me care about the choices this particular family made.
Rating: one and a half stars. Gripping topics conveyed via cold characters.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment