Inishowen

by Joseph O'Connor

Inspector Martin Aitken's life is a mess. He's divorced, his career's in chaos, and the last thing he needs this Christmas Eve is a strange woman collapsed on a Dublin street. Ellen Donnelly is a woman on a mission, coming to Ireland to find her mother and escape her marriage. Dr Milton Amery, a New York plastic surgeon, is her unfaithful husband. The three are beginning new journeys, each of which lead to Inishowen.

Genres: Fiction, Ireland, Irish Literature, Mystery, Roman, Novels, Literary Fiction

480 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

There is more than one author with this name

Joseph O’Connor was born in Dublin. He is the author of the novels Cowboys and Indians (short-listed for the Whitbread Prize), Desperadoes , The Salesman , Inishowen , Star of the Sea and Redemption Falls , as well as a number of bestselling works of non-fiction.

He was recently voted ‘Irish Writer of the Decade’ by the readers of Hot Press magazine. He broadcasts a popular weekly radio diary on RTE’s Drivetime With Mary Wilson and writes regularly for The Guardian Review and The Sunday Independent. In 2009 he was the Harman Visiting Professor of Creative Writing at Baruch College, the City University of New York.

Reviews

[Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'd had a bad day. The repairs to my bicycle in Ulster had got me to Sligo but then the repairs needed repairing and this was beyond me. The man in the local Halfords was tremendous. He worked for hours and sent me on my way. Just in time to buy bubble bath and a book. I was now about half a day behind schedule and needed a good rest. And then the book kicked in. I loved Star of the Sea, but I liked this one better. Like outranks love! Martin Aitken is one of the best literary detectives of modern times. Once I'd got thoroughly into it, I wanted to change direction and cycle up to Inishowen. One day I will, and one day I'll read this book again. I left it in a hotel in Birr. If you picked it up there I'd be pleased to know it ended up in good hands.

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quelle belle lecture, dévorée en quelques sessions ! J’ai adoré suivre la rencontre et le voyage de ces deux personnages très attachants. L’ambiance de l’Irlande, entre paysages sauvages et fortes tensions politiques, m’a aussi beaucoup intéressée. Mention spéciale enfin pour la petite touche "thriller" et suspense qui était parfaite (j’aurais sans doute trouvé le tout un peu trop "gentillet" ou "feel good" sans elle).

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book in a day. I loved Martin's character, Ellen was a bit of a mystery to me and Amery was an asshole who I didn't empathise with at all. A simplistic view maybe but these are the impressions I got from the writing.

O'Connor's sense of humour cuts through the general sadness of the themes in the book very successfully. His political views are refreshingly unromantic and honest. He uses the Irish weather in a manner akin to Wuthering Heights to add to the melodrama.

O'Connor writes emotional scenes very well without making them overly sentimental.

I really enjoyed this story and hope to read more of this talented writer's books in future :-)

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seriously thought this was never going to end. Like a recipe of nice ingredients that really don't mix well, leaving a lumpy texture, and a weird taste in your mouth. And the two main characters' narrative voices (middle-aged losers with dysfunctional family relationships... yawn...) were so similar that I kept getting mixed up as to which child belonged to whom. But the plot was reasonably interesting for the first couple of hundred pages.

[Nick Davies · Rating 4 out of 5]

An appealing and involving tale - mainly concerning two narrative strands (a screw-up of a Dublin cop, and an American woman returning to Ireland to find her birth mother after finding out she'd been adopted as a baby) written with a high quality and a dark humour. I enjoyed 'The Star of the Sea' by the same author a decade and a half ago, and had high hopes here which weren't disappointed even with me now being a substantially older man. There were aspects which reminded me a little of Colin Bateman here, there was a lot to enjoy here. That said, as well there was also plenty to appreciate regarding the intelligence and sensitivity with which failure, disappointment and mortality was discussed. It was however too long and got bogged down in the middle.

[Emer Tannam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good lord. I hardly know what to say about this book.

It is an extremely enjoyable read, but I can’t say that it is good, exactly.

It’s very promising in the beginning, very funny, very engaging, but then the plot just becomes increasingly outlandish. By the time it finishes there are so many questions. Why did she pretend to be a nun? Why did the guards think he’d stolen money and then just stop thinking that? Why did the writer bother to build up this thing about the mysterious stalker only to have it fizzle out? Why is his ex-wife dating someone so useless? Why doesn’t he simply clean his house? Is he physically repulsive or absolutely gorgeous? Because it seems like the writer can’t decide. Why is the main character a cliche detective with a drinking problem and a tormented past if he has no mystery to solve? Why does she want to divorce her husband for 4.5 million dollars specifically? Why did she stay with her philandering husband all that time? Why would a grown-ass professional woman wear tight leather black clothes and red tights? Red tights? Red tights to a business meeting? Did the nun use two different types of hand-writing to hide the fact that she was in face the mother? Why did that nutty American pretend to be Clinton? Why did the Irish air-traffic controllers fall for it? What does the last line mean? “The rain fell harder, colder ; like an insult.” What the heck does that mean? Wasn’t it supposed to be a happy ending?

At the same time it is funny and it does zip along, and it is effective when it talks about Aitkin’s grief and the dissolution of his marriage. The conversations between Aitkin and Ellen about Ireland are well-done, showing the difference between the native’s cynicism and the “Irish”-American’s cynicism. The references to the troubles were an interesting backdrop.

So yeah? Give it a read?

[Mariele · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first Joseph O’Connor novel. According to the blurb on the book jacket, I expected it to be a crime story, with an Irish cop trying to solve a missing person case in which a rich American tourist has disappeared. I was pleasantly surprised. Joseph O’Connor’s style is not very high-brow, but the story flowed easily and with a very refreshing undercurrent humour. It was well-structured and well-paced.
The voices of the two male characters were utterly convincing, and so was their Irish and, respectively, American lingo. Obviously, you side with the Dublin cop (dead son, broken marriage, hurt, friendless and lonely) instead of the wealthy, sneering, philandering New York plastic surgeon, even though his sarcasm is always spot-on. The female character remains opaque, but maybe that was done intentionally, or perhaps O’Connor can’t create female characters as convincingly, I don’t know. I quite liked the lovemaking scene, it was very tastefully written.
However, I thought that the story’s outcome was too slack, literally a cop-out.

Nonetheless, I do want to read more of O’Connor’s books. I particularly enjoyed the Irish backdrop. Since I have to teach Introductory Irish Cultural Studies to German high school seniors [as if they cared…], I’m grateful for any kind of cultural insight. And I got a lot of it from this novel. The story always felt authentic; at least to me it did, but I am not Irish. Yet, in most cases, as a reader, you can tell whether the author knows what he / she writes about, and O’Connor definitely does.

[Ama · Rating 3 out of 5]

Absorbing but flawed writing. Gripping in its storytelling, but this book has too much weak writing to convince me that O'Connor is a major Irish voice.

[Ruth Keller · Rating 3 out of 5]

This started off brilliantly but by the end I was plowing through it wishing it was finished.

[Cathal Kenneally · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent

Great book. I haven't read one of his books for a while but I enjoyed this book immensely. Very funny in places

[Angela Leivesley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. At times heartbreakingly sad, it also had moments that made me laugh out loud. If I was being picky I would say that the tone is a little inconsistent with some episodes seeming to come from a comic novel but then I suppose life is a comic/tragic mix.This is the fourth book I have read by this author and my admiration of him continues to grow.

[gardienne_du_feu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Das Buch beginnt mit einer Zeitungsmeldung aus dem Jahr 1948. In Inishowen an der nördlichen Küste Irlands wird kurz nach Weihnachten ein ausgesetztes Baby gefunden. Über die Herkunft des Kindes kann nur spekuliert werden.

Fast 50 Jahre später schiebt Martin Aitken am Tag vor Weihnachten Dienst und ist ziemlich genervt von allem. Seine Karriere ist den Bach runtergegangen, seine Ehe ist im Eimer, und neben Stress mit den üblichen Verdächtigen, die auf der Straße randalieren, und den Ganoven, die ihm schon viel zu lange ein Begriff sind, muss er sich auch noch um eine unbekannte Frau kümmern, die mitten im Vorweihnachtsgetümmel kollabiert ist und nun bewusstlos im Krankenhaus liegt, ohne Papiere oder sonstige Hinweise auf ihre Identität.

Auf der anderen Seite des großen Teiches scheint der erfolgreiche plastische Chirurg Milton Amery alles zu haben, was man sich wünschen kann, doch er betrügt seit längerer Zeit seine Frau, die ihre eigenen Wege geht und ausgerechnet jetzt, kurz vor dem Weihnachtsfest, spurlos verschwunden ist. Es ist nicht das erste Mal, dass sie plötzlich abtaucht, doch das Timing ist diesmal besonders bescheiden und Milton hat neben der Sorge um seine Frau auch noch ein paar andere Probleme an der Backe.

Unter ihrem Mädchennamen Ellen Donnelly ist Miltons Gattin ihrer Vergangenheit auf der Spur. Sie möchte endlich ihre leibliche Mutter kennenlernen und weiß, dass ihr Mann diesen Herzenswunsch nie so ganz verstanden hat, weswegen sie einfach auf eigene Faust aufgebrochen ist. Und sie weiß, dass es wahrscheinlich ihre letzte Chance ist, ihre Herkunftsfamilie zu finden.

Diese drei sehr unterschiedlichen Menschen begleiten wir durch eine einzige äußerst ereignisreiche Woche ihres Lebens, eine Woche, nach der für alle drei nichts mehr so sein wird wie zuvor. Für alle drei fühlt es sich zeitweise an, als sei ihre Leben in eine Sackgasse geraten, und alle drei versuchen, aus den gewohnten Bahnen auszubrechen, Neues auszuprobieren, teilweise wird auch mit Identitäten und den vermeintlichen Wahrheiten über sich selbst gespielt.

Einige Entwicklungen lassen sich relativ zeitig vorausahnen, aber was die an sich vielleicht gar nicht so wahnsinnig originelle Story zu etwas Besonderem macht, ist Joseph O'Connors wundervoller Sinn für Humor, häufig von der etwas bösen Sorte, und sein Ohr für bissige, treffende Dialoge. Die Figuren können zwar etwas überzeichnet wirken, aber sie sind selten dermaßen "drüber", dass es nervt (nur eine Entwicklung gegen Ende fand ich doch ein bisschen albern), und hinter allem Sarkasmus bleibt doch stets das (Allzu)Menschliche spürbar. Ich mochte auch die zahlreichen musikalischen Referenzen, auch so ein Markenzeichen des Autors, und die Einbettung zeitgeschichtlicher Themen, insbesondere des Nordirlandkonflikts.

An meinen absoluten Liebling aus O'Connors Feder, "Star of the Sea", kam dieser Roman zwar nicht ganz heran, dafür war es ab und zu doch ein schräger Plottwist zu viel für meinen Geschmack, aber trotzdem habe ich mich damit großartig unterhalten.

[Ryan Barretto · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly entertaining read. It had me nervous and laughing within a few lines.

Thoroughly enjoyed the story, and the characters, each one articulately described. You gotta read this for both the humour and the story. It was absolutely engrossing.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I thoroughly enjoyed this book, as I live in Inishowen I have some nitpicks. I'll leave those until the end.

This is the kind of novel that I like to read--various characters are introduced and then their lives intertwine in interesting ways as the book progresses. I thought the characters were quite well developed and I could understand their motivations and peccadillos. Each (Amery, Aitken and Ellen) had serious personal issues which I could be empathetic to, and each one had their own comedy. I liked the mix of heartfelt emotion and hilarity in this book a lot. I laughed out loud many times, and felt deeply for the characters too.

As for the nitpicks... The Dublin author certainly did his homework on Inishowen and many of the pictures he painted were quite accurate. One serious flaw though was how he had Aitken drive up to Inishowen--and how he claimed that this was the route Aitken had done so often--through Cavan and Enniskillen then on to Omagh and Derry. I laughed when I first read Aitken saying it would take at least six hours to get up there... But then when I saw the route he took I understood why. In 1997 when the book is set, the most straightforward way to get to Inishowen was through Slane, Ardee, Collon, Monaghan and into the North at Aughnacloy, Co. Tyrone and on to Omagh and Derry. A 4 hour journey.

He also strangely had Aitken and his Carndonagh wife marrying in Malin (they would marry in Carn) and burying their son at Lagg Chapel (wouldn't happen, he'd be in Carn graveyard). He referred to a hotel in Carndonagh when there is none. He had Ellen walk from Malin to Stroove which would take far more hours than she did it in. And then when Amery and Dick Spiggot and the kids landed the private plane in Dungloe (West Donegal), suddenly they were brought to the drunktank in Malin (North Donegal). And The Inish Times didn't exist in 1997. He referred to a Protestant family's house being burned out in the troubles, and I really don't think that sort of thing happened in Donegal during the troubles. He had Ellen, the American, use the word "fortnight" which is highly unlikely. A tiny nitpick I know, but it bugs.

Overall, though, an engaging, warm, touching and funny read. I am tempted to add a final fifth star.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Il titolo non è granchè, ma O'Connor ci mette dentro tutto l'amore che prova per la sua bella Irlanda, le scogliere sferzate dal vento, la storia travagliata di lotte contro gli anglo. E’ un inno ad un Paese contraddittorio, fatto di gente che il più delle volte non se l’è passata tanto bene, ma che non smette di provare un attaccamento quasi animale per l’isola di smeraldo, vivendone sulla propria pelle i problemi e le loro conseguenze quasi con orgoglio.
Comunque, Ellen alla fine della strada c’è davvero e nel dolore più angoscioso di una malattia che pare darle un pugno di mesi ancora, torna in Irlanda in cerca delle sue radici e di una “conclusione” – qui farà una scoperta sorprendente, ma soprattutto troverà compagnia in un poliziotto incasinato con lavoro e famiglia, che nella stessa fetta di isola, l’Inishowen per la precisione, ha dei pesanti conti in sospeso. Dal loro incontro nasce la parte più interessante del romanzo, che non è tanto l’amore in corso di sbocciatura tra i due – a dire il vero lievemente prevedibile – quanto la traversata “on the road” del Paese, tra strade deserte costellate di pecore, posti di blocco anti-terrorismo, cottages trasformati in hotel improvvisati e personaggi bizzarri e un po’ disperati, da veri pub birrai. Spetta invece al marito di Ellen, rimasto in America, dar vita alle scene più ironiche e da genuina commedia made in USA: i figli iperviziati che non si comportano affatto come dovrebbero, le amanti da cui si vorrebbe liberare senza troppi isterismi, gli avvocati puntigliosi che promettono di prosciugare l’immenso patrimonio da chirurgo estetico. Il finale lascia fortunatamente spazio alla speranza e ad una nuova vita: quasi che alla fine della strada non ci fosse un muro o il nulla, ma ancora un incrocio, un bivio, insomma la possibilità di proseguire altrove.

[Keith Stopforth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book ,bits of the story were lost a little but basically about the meeting of Martin and Ellen and them both coming to terms with death and how they help one another to come to terms with it . Also about the struggle of life in Ireland both north and south of the border.

[Pete · Rating 4 out of 5]

Standing firmly across the line of great fiction that isn't literary fiction, Inishowen is an entertaining, even engrossing, tale of dissolute middle age, lost love, and longing that takes you deep into the experience of the three characters at its core--an Irish detective, a philandering NYC plastic surgeon, and the wife of the latter, whose return to Ireland to meet the Irish mother who abandoned her long ago is the linchpin of the tale and, perhaps best of all, gives O'Connor the room he needs to move to bring Ireland to vivid life. I lived in Ireland for several years, and was completely convinced and captivated by his capacity to describe its places--especially Dublin and the countryside between the capital city and the titular town where the drama comes to a completely convincing head--and its tortured politics, and the people who call that island of endless stories home. By 100 pages in, the novel had become what it promised, a page turner, but one made so not by cheap mysteries but by page by page building into the living characters and the lives O'Connor so completely lets you inhabit.

[Elizabeth Quinn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Martin Aitken is a Dublin police inspector whose marriage and career imploded after the hit-and-run death of his young son. The Christmas Eve 1994 collapse of an unknown woman on a city street provides him a welcome mystery to unravel during his solitary holiday. She turns out to be Ellen Donnelly, Irish born and American bred, whose own life is a shambles as well. The last of the trio of viewpoint characters who narrate Inishowen is Milton Amery, a Manhattan plastic surgeon who is a serial adulterer and Ellen's husband. The trio are destined to come together at Inishowen, a windswept peninsula at the far northern tip of Ireland and County Donegal. The Troubles of 1968 - 1994 form a backdrop to the story, which highlights the contrasting views of the conflict of the Irish of Ireland and the Irish of America, but with a light touch. O'Connor's interest in politics is always eclipsed by his interest in the human heart, and in Martin and Ellen he offers two characters well worth getting to know.

[Derek Bridge · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like Joseph O'Connor's work: the pizzazz of his early short stories; the inventiveness and psychological drama in The Salesman; the tenderly-drawn family relationships in Desperadoes; and the historical interest and careful plotting of Star of the Sea.

Inishowen is less successful. The main protagonists are somewhat stereotypical: the work-obsessed cop, with the broken marriage, prepared to bend the rules to get results; and the wife who has everything, including a cheating husband, only a short while to live, and a compulsion to seek out the mother she never knew. The story is of how he helps her find her mother, and she helps him find himself.

There's more well-drawn compassion and affection here, but this is wholly undermined by the painfully silly farce of its denouement.

[Luciabo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scrittore magico: sa dipingere i dolori dell’anima con una scrittura dura, che commuove, ma nello stesso tempo è capace di creare momenti di leggerezza e di ironia. Un caso fa incontrare Martin, poliziotto irlandese distrutto da sciagure non superate, come la perdita del figlio adolescente ucciso da un pirata della strada e dallo sfacelo della sua vita matrimoniale, ed Ellen che dagli Stati Uniti e da una vita apparentemente appagante scappa per far ritorno nella sua terra d’origine, l’Irlanda, alla ricerca di una madre che alla nascita la abbandonò per affidarla a un’organizzazione che affidava in adozione i bimbi non voluti a famiglie americane. Da leggere!

[Stephen Power · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was going so well for a long time, but there is a moment of bizarre farce towards the end that doesn't fit in and knocks at least a star off. The characters are mostly well developed, if slightly formulaic, and parts of the book, mostly conversations, are very funny and provide relief from the tragedies in the characters' pasts. Some nice reflections on the troubles in Northern Ireland, and in particular between the pragmatic Dublin Garda's attitude and that of a more idealistic Irish-American. Deserved a better ending.

[Alison · Rating 2 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed this but at the end I looked back on the book and felt disappointed. There were bits of the book that I looked back on and thought "why was that in there" - I'm thinking of the guy who was following Aitken in particular - it all seemed rather unlikely and didn't add any suspense to the story. I just felt the book should have been so much better - it was so nearly there but not quite!

[Andy Hart · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were moments when I thought that this book might break the bonds of being a good enough read and become very good indeed, but these were matched by times when it pitched pretty steeply below the bar and into the territory of not very good at all. Sadly the final dozen pages were spent deep in the latter. This could so easily have been 2 stars, but was marginally better than Desperados and so I erred on the grudging side of generosity.

[Far · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book really starts for me at page 79 when Amery starts to place Christmas gifts under the tree. Its the writing i recognise from Star of the Sea from here on. His description of the pain felt by Detective Aitken's family after the little nippers fatal accident is very moving and similarly Ellen missing her mother, "his mocking mournful ghost would hover around martin aitken, like a fragment of a melody from a childhood summer, only played out of tune, in a minor key" p90

[incipit mania]

Incipit

L’antivigilia di Natale del 1994, a mezzogiorno meno dieci, un elettricista fuori servizio di nome Dermot Shouldice fu avvicinato davanti alla stazione degli autobus di Busaras, a Dublino centro-nord, da una donna con i capelli grigi, magrissima, elegante, che lui prese per una svitata.....
La fine della strada incipitmania.com

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Joseph, Joseph, Joseph... You were doing so well! And then you wrote chapter 32. I honestly thought it was a dream Amery was having. I hoped it was. But when I saw that the ridiculous story of the Lear jet went beyond that chapter the book was ruined for me. I would love to know how you and your editors agreed it was the right way to go with this book! *Baffled*

[Barry · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good enough read, but uneven. At times it is gritty, unforgiving, human reality, (e.g. depiction of the flawed character Amery) at times unbelievable comic farce (e.g. the hijinks around landing the Lear-jet).

[Tracey Ellis]

A well written book which provided two interesting main characters. Despite the the serious story line the writer made both the charcters funny and engaging. You really cared what happened to both of them.

[Jesus · Rating 4 out of 5]

O'Connor's a very gifted writer. More funny than sad, and the story's quite sad. I found the ending a bit flat and there are moments that felt a bit trite. But the story was engaging enough, and O'Connor's a masterful teller of the tale. I look forward to reading his other works.

[Ann · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rich and well-written, but no match to Star of the Sea. Although Inishowen is evocative enough, O'Connor fails to create the sort of universe that draws you in and that is the charm of many of his other books.