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Everything In This Country Must by McCann. Colum ( 2003 ) Paperback
In a daring tour de force, Colum McCann takes on the most intractable of The Troubles in Northern Ireland
In this, his fourth book, McCann, a writer of fierce originality and haunting lyricism, turns to the Troubles and reveals, as only fiction writers can, the reverberations of political tragedy in the most intimate lives of men and women, parents and children. In the title story, a teenage girl must choose between allegiance to her Catholic father and gratitude to the British soldiers who have saved the family's horse. The young hero of "Hunger Strike," a novella, tries to replicate the experience of his uncle, an IRA prisoner on hunger strike. And in "Wood," a small boy does his part for the Protestant marches, concealing his involvement from his blind father.
Writing in a new form, but with the skill and force and sparkling poetry that have brought him international acclaim, Colum McCann has delivered masterful, memorable short fiction.
2008 Colum McCann (P)2010 Audible, Inc.
In this, his fourth book, McCann, a writer of fierce originality and haunting lyricism, turns to the Troubles and reveals, as only fiction writers can, the reverberations of political tragedy in the most intimate lives of men and women, parents and children. In the title story, a teenage girl must choose between allegiance to her Catholic father and gratitude to the British soldiers who have saved the family's horse. The young hero of "Hunger Strike," a novella, tries to replicate the experience of his uncle, an IRA prisoner on hunger strike. And in "Wood," a small boy does his part for the Protestant marches, concealing his involvement from his blind father.
Writing in a new form, but with the skill and force and sparkling poetry that have brought him international acclaim, Colum McCann has delivered masterful, memorable short fiction.
2008 Colum McCann (P)2010 Audible, Inc.
Paperback
First published March 8, 2000
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About the author
Colum McCann
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Colum McCann is the author of three collections of short stories and six novels, including "Apeirogon," published in Spring 2020. His other books include "TransAtlantic," "Let the Great World Spin," "This Side of Brightness,""Dancer" and “Zoli,” all of which were international best-sellers.
His newest book, American Mother, written with Diane Foley, is due to be published in March 2024.
American Mother takes us deep into the story of Diane Foley; whose son Jim, a freelance journalist, was held captive by ISIS before being beheaded in the Syrian desert.
Diane’s voice is channeled into searing reality by Colum, who brings us on a journey of strength, resilience, and radical empathy.
"American Mother is a book that will shake your soul out," says Sting.
Apeirogon (2020) became a best-seller on four continent.
“Let the Great World Spin” won the National Book Award in 2009. His fiction has been published in over 40 languages and has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, GQ, Paris Review and other places. He has written for numerous publications including The Irish Times, Die Zeit, La Republicca, Paris Match, The New York Times, the Guardian and the Independent.
In December 2023 Colum (as co-founder of Narrative 4) was the 2023 Humanitarian Award nominee, awarded by the United Nations delegations at the Ambassador's Ball in New York City.
Colum has won numerous international awards. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, as well as the Irish association of artists, Aosdana. He has also received a Chevalier des Artes et des Lettres from the French government. He is the cofounder of the global non-profit story exchange organisation Narrative 4.
In 2003 Colum was named Esquire magazine's "Writer of the Year." Other awards and honors include a Pushcart Prize, the Rooney Prize, the Irish Independent Hughes and Hughes/Sunday Independent Novel of the Year 2003, and the 2002 Ireland Fund of Monaco Princess Grace Memorial Literary Award. He was recently inducted into the Hennessy Hall of Fame for Irish Literature.
His short film "Everything in this Country Must," directed by Gary McKendry, was nominated for an Academy Award Oscar in 2005.
Colum was born in Dublin in 1965 and began his career as a journalist in The Irish Press. In the early 1980's he took a bicycle across North America and then worked as a wilderness guide in a program for juvenile delinquents in Texas. After a year and a half in Japan, he and his wife Allison moved to New York where they currently live with their three children, Isabella, John Michael and Christian.
Colum teaches in Hunter College in New York, in the Creative Writing program, with fellow novelists Peter Carey and Tea Obreht.
Colum has completed his new novel, "Apeirogon." Crafted out of a universe of fictional and nonfictional material, McCann tells the story of Bassam Aramin and Rami Elhanan. One is Israeli. One is Palestinian. Both are fathers. Both have lost their daughters to the conflict. When Bassam and Rami learn of each other's stories they recognize the loss that connects them, and they begin to use their grief as a weapon for peace.
In the novel McCann crosses centuries and continents. He stitches together time, art, history, nature and politics in a tale both heartbreaking and hopeful. Musical, cinematic, muscular, delicate and soaring, Apeirogon is a novel for our times.
It is scheduled for release in the U.S in February 2020.
Advance copies will be available here on GoodReads!!!!
Colum McCann is the author of three collections of short stories and six novels, including "Apeirogon," published in Spring 2020. His other books include "TransAtlantic," "Let the Great World Spin," "This Side of Brightness,""Dancer" and “Zoli,” all of which were international best-sellers.
His newest book, American Mother, written with Diane Foley, is due to be published in March 2024.
American Mother takes us deep into the story of Diane Foley; whose son Jim, a freelance journalist, was held captive by ISIS before being beheaded in the Syrian desert.
Diane’s voice is channeled into searing reality by Colum, who brings us on a journey of strength, resilience, and radical empathy.
"American Mother is a book that will shake your soul out," says Sting.
Apeirogon (2020) became a best-seller on four continent.
“Let the Great World Spin” won the National Book Award in 2009. His fiction has been published in over 40 languages and has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, GQ, Paris Review and other places. He has written for numerous publications including The Irish Times, Die Zeit, La Republicca, Paris Match, The New York Times, the Guardian and the Independent.
In December 2023 Colum (as co-founder of Narrative 4) was the 2023 Humanitarian Award nominee, awarded by the United Nations delegations at the Ambassador's Ball in New York City.
Colum has won numerous international awards. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, as well as the Irish association of artists, Aosdana. He has also received a Chevalier des Artes et des Lettres from the French government. He is the cofounder of the global non-profit story exchange organisation Narrative 4.
In 2003 Colum was named Esquire magazine's "Writer of the Year." Other awards and honors include a Pushcart Prize, the Rooney Prize, the Irish Independent Hughes and Hughes/Sunday Independent Novel of the Year 2003, and the 2002 Ireland Fund of Monaco Princess Grace Memorial Literary Award. He was recently inducted into the Hennessy Hall of Fame for Irish Literature.
His short film "Everything in this Country Must," directed by Gary McKendry, was nominated for an Academy Award Oscar in 2005.
Colum was born in Dublin in 1965 and began his career as a journalist in The Irish Press. In the early 1980's he took a bicycle across North America and then worked as a wilderness guide in a program for juvenile delinquents in Texas. After a year and a half in Japan, he and his wife Allison moved to New York where they currently live with their three children, Isabella, John Michael and Christian.
Colum teaches in Hunter College in New York, in the Creative Writing program, with fellow novelists Peter Carey and Tea Obreht.
Colum has completed his new novel, "Apeirogon." Crafted out of a universe of fictional and nonfictional material, McCann tells the story of Bassam Aramin and Rami Elhanan. One is Israeli. One is Palestinian. Both are fathers. Both have lost their daughters to the conflict. When Bassam and Rami learn of each other's stories they recognize the loss that connects them, and they begin to use their grief as a weapon for peace.
In the novel McCann crosses centuries and continents. He stitches together time, art, history, nature and politics in a tale both heartbreaking and hopeful. Musical, cinematic, muscular, delicate and soaring, Apeirogon is a novel for our times.
It is scheduled for release in the U.S in February 2020.
Advance copies will be available here on GoodReads!!!!
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 161 reviews
April 10, 2019
It’s the simple phrases that many times convey so much more than I’m ready for and I have to reread these powerful sentences just to savor them . McCann’s stories are wrapped in this beautiful writing which is poetic and sparse at times. His novels and stories are diverse, but what they all have in common is this writing that captures the humanity of his characters because he makes us feel what they feel even though their circumstances are ones that we have not experienced. The common thread in this book of two short stories and a novella is “The Troubles” and how it impacted three children in Northern Ireland. I should, but I really don’t know a lot about this history even though it is a recent history. While on one level, the stories are inherently about the conflict they are about single, poignant moments during that time reflecting the pain and the confusion of a few young lives and I understood what they experienced.
In the first story “Everything in This Country Must”, Katie, 15 year old daughter of a grieving Catholic father tries to come to terms with the rigid views of her father as British soldiers help save his favorite horse from drowning. This is not all about religion or political beliefs. As rigid as the father seems, it’s heartbreaking to hear about the depth of his grief over the loss of his wife and son.
“One more try, Father said in a sad voice like his voice over Mammy’s and Fiachra’s coffins long ago.”
“Father dipped under and he stayed down as long as yesterday’s yesterday...,,” Yesterday’s yesterday - wow !
And then “ and scared because Stevie and the draft horse were going to die because everything in this country must “
The second story “Wood” was powerful in its own way but didn’t pack quite the punch as the ending of first story. Again besides “the troubles”, there is so much more here in this short piece. It’s a coming of age story, a story of hardship and family secrets and crises . “Roger cried when there was no milk ...”
In the novella “Hunger Strike “ thirteen year old Kevin is deeply affected by what is happening to his uncle, an IRA prisoner on a hunger strike. I couldn’t help but wonder how he could feel so much as he has never met his uncle. But he has clearly been impacted by a move to Galway, his mother’s efforts to keep him safe. I was moved by the mother trying desperately to protect and provide for them. While he is physically safe, Kevin doesn’t escape the emotional toll. He develops a relationship with a lovely elderly, Lithuanian couple and I felt a sliver of hope that they could in some way save him from his anger and hurt, but there’s nothing that can take that away for Kevin.
Not much more I can say except, beautifully written and powerful, which is why McCann is one of my favorite writers. I read this with my Goodreads friend Tracey, with whom I share a love of McCann’s writing.
August 14, 2022
Early work by gifted author Colum McCann describing the emotional toll fighting in Northern Ireland has taken on the populace. This slim volume includes two short stories and a novella and all three are poignant. One can sense that even in these shorter works that McCann was well on his way to greatness. Either that or I have come to love his work and have placed him in my “would read cereal box if he wrote it” category. Well worth the read to get a sense of McCann’s earlier work and background.
4 stars
4 stars
April 10, 2019
It is beyond my comprehension how Mccann does it time and again, with his sparse prose that touches the very core of my being. So I had to just allow the power of his words in this book of 2 very short stories and a novella, about the enormity of the troubles in Northern Ireland to wash through me.
The first story walloped me, divided my sympathies and brought back memories of what seems only yesterday but is almost 40 years ago of the daily news of my teenage years. The people of northern Ireland hating the British troops, hating each other for their religious differences, everyone thinking their way was the right one, car bombs, riots, hunger strikes, paramilitaries, IRA everyday vocabulary for me in the 70s/80s brought vividly back to mind here.
In the second story we meet a mother who is struggling to do the work of her husband a mill worker after he has had a stroke. She enlists her eldest son who is around 13 to help her make 40 poles for the orange mens banners.
This quote from the second story speaks volumes,
'There was ivy on the walls and it looked like our secret was climbing up the vines to Daddies room.'
The father in this story seems like a harsh man, although a Presbyterian he is against the marches which he says 'is just meaness to celebrate other people dying.' That is why he'd not have made the poles.. but the mother obviously needed some money because her husband was laid up.
And finally in this story the imagery Mccann creates with these few words..
'I looked at the oak trees behind the mill. They were going mad in the wind. The trunks were big and solid and fat, but the branches were slapping each other around like people.'
*Sigh*...
And finally just to thouroughly underline how affecting the problems in Northern Ireland were at this time we have the novella, Hunger strike.
Here we meet Kevin age 13 who is emotionally connected to his uncle, his dead fathers brother, whom he has never met but who is on hunger strike protesting at the treatment of the prisoners of the conflict.
The boys mother has brought him to a seaside town to get him away from what is going on.
He is angry to the point of destruction, of himself, his relationship with his 'Mammy' and property in the town. He imagines himself in riots, and fights and he even, for a few days joins his uncle in a hunger strike.
Throughout the story there are listed days and weights in lbs and kg so we actually see the decline of the uncle.
There is some hope here though in the shape of an old Lithuanian couple and a kayak.
This is the strongest of the 3 stories in here but they're all equally important.
McCanns writing is always controlled, never over done, he shows and doesn't tell the reader what he wants us to know. Using children as the narrators of these incredibly, moving, harrowing stories makes them all the more poignant.
So having said all that it will come as no surprise that Colum Mccann is one of my favourite authors and one of the best I've ever read.
A huge 5* from me.
The first story walloped me, divided my sympathies and brought back memories of what seems only yesterday but is almost 40 years ago of the daily news of my teenage years. The people of northern Ireland hating the British troops, hating each other for their religious differences, everyone thinking their way was the right one, car bombs, riots, hunger strikes, paramilitaries, IRA everyday vocabulary for me in the 70s/80s brought vividly back to mind here.
In the second story we meet a mother who is struggling to do the work of her husband a mill worker after he has had a stroke. She enlists her eldest son who is around 13 to help her make 40 poles for the orange mens banners.
This quote from the second story speaks volumes,
'There was ivy on the walls and it looked like our secret was climbing up the vines to Daddies room.'
The father in this story seems like a harsh man, although a Presbyterian he is against the marches which he says 'is just meaness to celebrate other people dying.' That is why he'd not have made the poles.. but the mother obviously needed some money because her husband was laid up.
And finally in this story the imagery Mccann creates with these few words..
'I looked at the oak trees behind the mill. They were going mad in the wind. The trunks were big and solid and fat, but the branches were slapping each other around like people.'
*Sigh*...
And finally just to thouroughly underline how affecting the problems in Northern Ireland were at this time we have the novella, Hunger strike.
Here we meet Kevin age 13 who is emotionally connected to his uncle, his dead fathers brother, whom he has never met but who is on hunger strike protesting at the treatment of the prisoners of the conflict.
The boys mother has brought him to a seaside town to get him away from what is going on.
He is angry to the point of destruction, of himself, his relationship with his 'Mammy' and property in the town. He imagines himself in riots, and fights and he even, for a few days joins his uncle in a hunger strike.
Throughout the story there are listed days and weights in lbs and kg so we actually see the decline of the uncle.
There is some hope here though in the shape of an old Lithuanian couple and a kayak.
This is the strongest of the 3 stories in here but they're all equally important.
McCanns writing is always controlled, never over done, he shows and doesn't tell the reader what he wants us to know. Using children as the narrators of these incredibly, moving, harrowing stories makes them all the more poignant.
So having said all that it will come as no surprise that Colum Mccann is one of my favourite authors and one of the best I've ever read.
A huge 5* from me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 30, 2015
"Everything In This Country Must" is quite simply too short.
The title story only lasts 23 minutes. I am listening to the audiobook performance. Yes, it feels like a performance, not the reading of a story! The narration by Clodagh Bowyer, in her young feminine Irish patois, was fantastic. The book’s narrator is a fifteen year old. Her perception of the event is that of a young Catholic Irish girl. She saw the body of the male swimmer. That is what she would see. She saw the agony and frustration of her father. She saw both, and there she stands wondering how one reconciles the two! Politics and religion and culture all mirrored in one short episode. I end up frustrated because I want more! I have been given a beautiful snapshot!
The second story lasts only 26 minutes, narrated by Paul Nugent. This story shows the other side, a Presbyterian family living in Northern Ireland. The point of contention is here within the family. Secrets. Still, very, very Irish! I am less sure what McCann is trying to tell us, but the small details create a picture that you feel rather than see. The short remarks, which can scarcely be called dialog, capture the mood perfectly. Another snap-shot, but less satisfying because I don’t know what is being said.
Awfully glad that the next track is two hours and forty minutes long. Something to bite into and hold a while…. This one is narrated by Sean Gormley. Beautiful. That is the best adjective to describe this. McCann knows how to capture a person, that person’s cultural identity, age, family, circumstances and what makes that person who he is. He knows how to capture the wonderful in the sorrowful. He knows how to make you draw parallels between the book’s characters and your own loved ones. The main character is a Catholic, 13 years old and Irish. The setting is, I would guess, in the early 1980s. The themes are sexual awakening, family relationships, friendship and of course the religious/political strife that so characterizes Northern Ireland. You don’t have to be interested in the political theme to love this book. Any mother who has had a 13 year old son will relate to this book. It is believable, it is sweet, and it is hard. This too is a snap shot, of a few weeks in a thirteen-year-old's life. Do you remember swimming with your young adolescent son, splashing water, the cold air, the quiet lake, the pull on your arms as you propel yourself forward?
Took away one star only because the “glimpses” are too short and the middle short story confused me. It is amazing that I can give a book of short stories many stars!
The title story only lasts 23 minutes. I am listening to the audiobook performance. Yes, it feels like a performance, not the reading of a story! The narration by Clodagh Bowyer, in her young feminine Irish patois, was fantastic. The book’s narrator is a fifteen year old. Her perception of the event is that of a young Catholic Irish girl. She saw the body of the male swimmer. That is what she would see. She saw the agony and frustration of her father. She saw both, and there she stands wondering how one reconciles the two! Politics and religion and culture all mirrored in one short episode. I end up frustrated because I want more! I have been given a beautiful snapshot!
The second story lasts only 26 minutes, narrated by Paul Nugent. This story shows the other side, a Presbyterian family living in Northern Ireland. The point of contention is here within the family. Secrets. Still, very, very Irish! I am less sure what McCann is trying to tell us, but the small details create a picture that you feel rather than see. The short remarks, which can scarcely be called dialog, capture the mood perfectly. Another snap-shot, but less satisfying because I don’t know what is being said.
Awfully glad that the next track is two hours and forty minutes long. Something to bite into and hold a while…. This one is narrated by Sean Gormley. Beautiful. That is the best adjective to describe this. McCann knows how to capture a person, that person’s cultural identity, age, family, circumstances and what makes that person who he is. He knows how to capture the wonderful in the sorrowful. He knows how to make you draw parallels between the book’s characters and your own loved ones. The main character is a Catholic, 13 years old and Irish. The setting is, I would guess, in the early 1980s. The themes are sexual awakening, family relationships, friendship and of course the religious/political strife that so characterizes Northern Ireland. You don’t have to be interested in the political theme to love this book. Any mother who has had a 13 year old son will relate to this book. It is believable, it is sweet, and it is hard. This too is a snap shot, of a few weeks in a thirteen-year-old's life. Do you remember swimming with your young adolescent son, splashing water, the cold air, the quiet lake, the pull on your arms as you propel yourself forward?
Took away one star only because the “glimpses” are too short and the middle short story confused me. It is amazing that I can give a book of short stories many stars!
December 17, 2022
Okay, so, see, there's this place called Ireland? And it's really poor? Or, well, anyway, it used to be and stuff. So anyway, this Irish guy comes here, I mean to America, and he writes about these Irish people from when it was all poor and stuff? And so these stories are, like, really really sad and the people are all poor and kinda mean and they don't seem like they ever smile or anything? But they're all, like, really really trying to be good but something Irish just won't let em! Honest!
If "Hunger Strike" doesn't make you madder'n Hell's hottest rock, you're dead inside. "Everything in This Country Must" should make you weep buckets; "Wood" which is a lovely piece of writing, just doesn't fit in the emotional continuum of the other two, but what do I know.
I know I think you should read this collection tout de suite. It's only 150pp, anyone here can polish that off in a day.
If "Hunger Strike" doesn't make you madder'n Hell's hottest rock, you're dead inside. "Everything in This Country Must" should make you weep buckets; "Wood" which is a lovely piece of writing, just doesn't fit in the emotional continuum of the other two, but what do I know.
I know I think you should read this collection tout de suite. It's only 150pp, anyone here can polish that off in a day.
July 16, 2018
A few weeks ago my husband and I went to dinner at the home of one of his clients. Among the six of us present were several readers, so we had good book talk. The client's husband lent me this collection of a novella and two stories by Colum McCann. How great is it to have put in your hand a book you have not read yet by an author you love?
The first Colum McCann novel I read was Dancer. It blew me away. He is Irish and has the story telling gift. He can take any world event and distill it down to the personal by creating characters who live and breathe on the page.
This collection is his fourth published book. I had never read his early work. The title story is about a young girl who must witness the saving of their only horse from drowning. It is set during the Troubles and brings into stark relief the complete antipathy between a Catholic Northern Ireland man and a unit of British Troops.
The second story, "Wood," shows a mother and daughter taking care of the family lumber mill while the father lies incapacitated at home. I didn't quite get the point of that one except there were secrets.
The novella, Hunger Strike, was one of the most powerful pieces of fiction I have read. Again the Troubles. A 13 year old boy and his mother seem to be hiding out in a small coastal town. The boy's uncle, his missing father's brother, is in jail and participating in the 1981 Irish hunger strike.
Through the eyes of this boy, as he tries to figure out what is going on, McCann creates the effects of this non-violent political act on relatives and everyday people. He does not go into the politics much but the emotions, the fears and the hopes of the Irish took residence in my heart and mind.
I feel like I have been waiting a long time for a new novel by Colum McCann. I found an interview from January, 2018, where he states he is working on a novel. Now I see that there are at least three early novels I have not read. Good!
March 19, 2013
Almost everyone I know has read, and said good things, about this author. I decided to start with a book of smaller stories of his and than go from there. I loved them. I loved his writing, simple yet elegant he presents the reader with wonderful and uncluttered visuals. All these stories take place and are said to represent all side of Northern Ireland. The first short story shows us a young girl, not understanding her father's politics. The second story, which was my favorite although the first time I read it I thought it had ended rather abruptly so I went back and read it again. The dilemma of the young son, having to choose to help his mother and to keep something that big from his father was masterfully done in the short amount of pages McCann had to relate this all to the reader. The novella was amazing as well. Felt for that whole family and the young boy in particular. Although this is the first I have read of his, it will not be the last.
May 20, 2021
Everything In This Country Must - written by Colum McCann
I thought these were fine, really fine pieces of writing about the Troubles in Northern Ireland. There were 2 stories and a novella in the book. He used a similar format in Thirteen Ways of Looking 15 years later. The style of his writing here was different. The main characters were all preteens. And Colum was great with them. He allowed them to be completely themselves, and thought as they thought, spoke as they did, changed moods, went quiet, respectful to a parent and another times sometimes not. Sometimes glum, bored, funny, creative, out of control, deciding for themselves or finding one’s own truth, on an adventure, aware of new sexual urgings, enjoying being secretive, cussing cause it’s cool or to get a rise out of a parent, wanting to be free of parents and still needing them. His prose were so smooth and oh, so good.
This is my 5th and the earliest book of Colum McCann’s I’ve read and I really think it’s his best of the bunch. I like this simple way of telling stories. Don’t get me wrong I really enjoyed the creativity in Thirteen Ways of Looking using Wallace Stevens poem; and the way he told the biography of Nureyev in the Dancer; and uniting Philippe Petit’s tightrope walk to the loss of the twin towers in his ode to New York and obit for 9/11 as well as the characters of the priest and hooker in this same book - Let the Great World Spin. I appreciated his advice to a young writer in A Letter.... The pieces in Country Must... were simpler stores and meaningful events to the whole family.
The first story: A horse gets his hoof stuck in a river. Father can’t get him out. British soldiers stop to help them. The second story: A father is going blind and can no longer mill furniture and other things and the mother needs money to support the family. She takes a job he would not do. The son does all the milling of the wood for the first time. The novella was very well balanced. There was a Polish Couple who went out kayaking daily together. His watching them in the boat brought a quietness to the story. It gave it a sense of place. And a warmth too. He goes up to the man and asks if he can borrow the kayak. He doesn’t know how to use it. But the man starts to teach him. His dad died when he was 5 and this man never had a son so they enjoy each other and their daily time together. Our lad enjoys the quiet with the elder. Meanwhile he and his mom wait to hear updates on his uncle, who is on hunger strike in prison in Northern Ireland. He’s a member of the IRA and affiliated with infamous Bobby Sands hunger group. A tension builds as he and his mom wait daily to hear uncle’s health report. Mom has moved them to Southern Ireland purposely. Son wants to go back. They don’t have a phone. They have to wait for the pay phone in their area to ring to know what’s going on. The lad tries out hunger striking. He does very creative projects. He goes to the arcade once and a while to enjoy a game. There there a gang of guys who sniff glue. Our lad isn’t interested in hanging with them. It doesn’t sound very exciting as I write this but I couldn’t put the novella down. The stories were short and both were about choices.. For all 3 I went into them with out knowing much about them and so nothing colored them ahead of time. Setting a boundary of how much to write in a review or not; often I’m not sure! Like now.
The book was originally written in 2000. The audiobook came out in 2021 and Colum McCann is the narrator. I thought he did a marvelous job. One of the best narrations I’ve read. It had a sense at times of Irish oral tradition. I had a hard time listening to him read Apeirgon as others have said too. A lot of this was how that book was written. It’s creative and not as easily narrated as these more traditional style of stories I. Our Country Must. Which I thought were terrific pieces of writing and put together in the book they showed a few different ways families experienced the Troubles and how they impacted these youths. It was a GR - Good Read.
~~
Here are a few of the review quotes Colum McCann had on his web page about the book:
These are powerful stories – gritty, memorable and ambitious. The novella goes straight to the heart, both in terms of its theme and its emotional punch.”–Edna O’Brien, author of Wild Decembers
“Beautfully, poetically written…the need to read them over and over again can’t be denied.” –Booklist
“Colum McCann’s stories are brooding, meditative and lyrically controlled to that delicate point where the emotion within them intensifies with each succeeding reading and recognition. The political turmoil of Northern Ireland finds here an answering, subtly respondent voice — wonderfully skilled and deeply felt.” –Seamus Deane, author of Reading in the Dark
“Further evidence of McCann’s remarkable gifts as a prose artist as well as storyteller…In each of these pieces, the miracle is how McCann, with prose so terse and spare, is able to create worlds so emotionally complex and moving.” –Library Journal ***** ( my stars added)
I thought these were fine, really fine pieces of writing about the Troubles in Northern Ireland. There were 2 stories and a novella in the book. He used a similar format in Thirteen Ways of Looking 15 years later. The style of his writing here was different. The main characters were all preteens. And Colum was great with them. He allowed them to be completely themselves, and thought as they thought, spoke as they did, changed moods, went quiet, respectful to a parent and another times sometimes not. Sometimes glum, bored, funny, creative, out of control, deciding for themselves or finding one’s own truth, on an adventure, aware of new sexual urgings, enjoying being secretive, cussing cause it’s cool or to get a rise out of a parent, wanting to be free of parents and still needing them. His prose were so smooth and oh, so good.
This is my 5th and the earliest book of Colum McCann’s I’ve read and I really think it’s his best of the bunch. I like this simple way of telling stories. Don’t get me wrong I really enjoyed the creativity in Thirteen Ways of Looking using Wallace Stevens poem; and the way he told the biography of Nureyev in the Dancer; and uniting Philippe Petit’s tightrope walk to the loss of the twin towers in his ode to New York and obit for 9/11 as well as the characters of the priest and hooker in this same book - Let the Great World Spin. I appreciated his advice to a young writer in A Letter.... The pieces in Country Must... were simpler stores and meaningful events to the whole family.
The first story: A horse gets his hoof stuck in a river. Father can’t get him out. British soldiers stop to help them. The second story: A father is going blind and can no longer mill furniture and other things and the mother needs money to support the family. She takes a job he would not do. The son does all the milling of the wood for the first time. The novella was very well balanced. There was a Polish Couple who went out kayaking daily together. His watching them in the boat brought a quietness to the story. It gave it a sense of place. And a warmth too. He goes up to the man and asks if he can borrow the kayak. He doesn’t know how to use it. But the man starts to teach him. His dad died when he was 5 and this man never had a son so they enjoy each other and their daily time together. Our lad enjoys the quiet with the elder. Meanwhile he and his mom wait to hear updates on his uncle, who is on hunger strike in prison in Northern Ireland. He’s a member of the IRA and affiliated with infamous Bobby Sands hunger group. A tension builds as he and his mom wait daily to hear uncle’s health report. Mom has moved them to Southern Ireland purposely. Son wants to go back. They don’t have a phone. They have to wait for the pay phone in their area to ring to know what’s going on. The lad tries out hunger striking. He does very creative projects. He goes to the arcade once and a while to enjoy a game. There there a gang of guys who sniff glue. Our lad isn’t interested in hanging with them. It doesn’t sound very exciting as I write this but I couldn’t put the novella down. The stories were short and both were about choices.. For all 3 I went into them with out knowing much about them and so nothing colored them ahead of time. Setting a boundary of how much to write in a review or not; often I’m not sure! Like now.
The book was originally written in 2000. The audiobook came out in 2021 and Colum McCann is the narrator. I thought he did a marvelous job. One of the best narrations I’ve read. It had a sense at times of Irish oral tradition. I had a hard time listening to him read Apeirgon as others have said too. A lot of this was how that book was written. It’s creative and not as easily narrated as these more traditional style of stories I. Our Country Must. Which I thought were terrific pieces of writing and put together in the book they showed a few different ways families experienced the Troubles and how they impacted these youths. It was a GR - Good Read.
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Here are a few of the review quotes Colum McCann had on his web page about the book:
These are powerful stories – gritty, memorable and ambitious. The novella goes straight to the heart, both in terms of its theme and its emotional punch.”–Edna O’Brien, author of Wild Decembers
“Beautfully, poetically written…the need to read them over and over again can’t be denied.” –Booklist
“Colum McCann’s stories are brooding, meditative and lyrically controlled to that delicate point where the emotion within them intensifies with each succeeding reading and recognition. The political turmoil of Northern Ireland finds here an answering, subtly respondent voice — wonderfully skilled and deeply felt.” –Seamus Deane, author of Reading in the Dark
“Further evidence of McCann’s remarkable gifts as a prose artist as well as storyteller…In each of these pieces, the miracle is how McCann, with prose so terse and spare, is able to create worlds so emotionally complex and moving.” –Library Journal ***** ( my stars added)
December 11, 2014
Two stories and a novella.
The novella is an absolute stunner, a thing of beauty, and ranks as one if the very best pieces I have had the fortune to read. Think of McCann as Joyce mixed with Hemingway, although this is a stupid way of putting things. But if you liked Old Man and the Sea, you will love this.
All three works have an adolescent protagonist. McCann really captures this age of flux perfectly, and in a serious tone. This is quite unlike what others, say David Mitchell, do with their adolescents. They make them fun. McCann, on the other hand, grounds his young ones in the same conflicts as the elders.
The novella is an absolute stunner, a thing of beauty, and ranks as one if the very best pieces I have had the fortune to read. Think of McCann as Joyce mixed with Hemingway, although this is a stupid way of putting things. But if you liked Old Man and the Sea, you will love this.
All three works have an adolescent protagonist. McCann really captures this age of flux perfectly, and in a serious tone. This is quite unlike what others, say David Mitchell, do with their adolescents. They make them fun. McCann, on the other hand, grounds his young ones in the same conflicts as the elders.
November 9, 2020
My father was a fan of all things Irish and it was passed along.I spent a few weeks in Ireland as a young fella visiting my ancestors home cities,in this case Cashel in County Tipperary province of Munster.I stayed with some students and subsequently learned about Bobby Sands and the hunger strike.McCann's book captures the mood and history of the 'Troubles' quite brilliantly.It was easy to visualize the actions and the anger of the boy in "Hunger Strike".Fabulous writing.And good history.
April 28, 2016
Brutal, sparse and a straight shot to the bone; McCann pulls no punches. In two short stories and one novella, we see how the unrest in Ireland in the 80's and 90's was like any other horrific war; it sunk into the core of its people, where it stayed and turned to concrete. McCann is unflinching when it comes to his descriptions of how it fundamentally changed people, and the undeniable outcomes that are stark, stripped and tragic. Quick read, but not quickly absorbed. This one will take a while.
March 30, 2025
well...that was something.
April 21, 2019
By way of two short stories and one novella, author Colum McCann allows us to see the “Troubles” in Northern Ireland through the eyes of his teen protagonists.
Short stories are always a bit hit-and-miss for me, and this collection is no different. There’s no doubt McCann’s writing is sparse yet striking, but with short stories I sometimes feel a bit of a letdown at the end. This is the case of the second story, “Wood”. It’s beautifully written but I’m just not sure what I was to take away at the end. The first story, “Everything in This Country Must”, was stronger, in my opinion, and very emotional. The novella, “Hunger Strike”, was powerful and demonstrated the young teen’s anger and frustration at the political situation he found his uncle, his town, and his country in.
All three stories really got to the heart of the political troubles of Ireland in the late 20th century by viewing life through the eyes of the teens, all of whom felt torn, helpless and frustrated by their situation.
Short stories are always a bit hit-and-miss for me, and this collection is no different. There’s no doubt McCann’s writing is sparse yet striking, but with short stories I sometimes feel a bit of a letdown at the end. This is the case of the second story, “Wood”. It’s beautifully written but I’m just not sure what I was to take away at the end. The first story, “Everything in This Country Must”, was stronger, in my opinion, and very emotional. The novella, “Hunger Strike”, was powerful and demonstrated the young teen’s anger and frustration at the political situation he found his uncle, his town, and his country in.
All three stories really got to the heart of the political troubles of Ireland in the late 20th century by viewing life through the eyes of the teens, all of whom felt torn, helpless and frustrated by their situation.
June 1, 2021
I love this author, his style, his lyrics and his voice. He could read the phone book and make it sound like poetry. 3 short stories. Thoroughly enjoyed.
March 4, 2021
The title of Colum McCann's collection of two stories and a novella Everything in This Country Must feels unfinished. Everything in this country must what? When McCann does finish the thought, it feels like a gut punch. Everything in this country must die. That it's stated observationally, as an inherent fact, makes it that much more devastating. All three stories take place during the Troubles in Ireland, and uses it dramatically, yet approach the conflict sideways. Life during the Troubles happens around it and through it. The title story is a stunner of economy. A beloved horse of a man gets her hoof caught in the raging waters of a river, and only with the help of British soldiers is the horse able to be saved. When his daughter invites them in to dry off and have tea, the father, still mourning the death of this wife and son, seethes at these intruders. Understanding why is to understand the pervasive air of blame and death. The second story, "Wood," is the weakest of the three. With the father bedridden, a mother and a son secretively prepare wooden poles for the Protestants to use to hang their banners. Slight though it is, it deftly shows the stakes of living and surviving in the face and truth of the opposite. The novella is called "Hunger Strike." A mother and her 13 year old son have moved away from Derry into a small caravan on the seaside to get away from the all pervasive violence that surrounded them. The boy's uncle is in prison and is on a hunger strike, which the boy follows with fascination. But cutoff from it all, the boy's rage has no outlet. He bristles trying to make sense of it all. McCann's unobtrusive use of language builds great depths of feelings and breathes immense inner lives into the characters, making the worldview conflicted. When he says that everything in this country must die, he's informing with great sadness the feelings of all those who had to live during the Troubles, what it was doing to them, and to those they love.
May 3, 2010
Everything in This Country Must consists of two short stories and a novella, which are set in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. The first short story, "Everything in This Country Must", is narrated by a farm girl whose mother and sister were killed by British army troops, who struggles vainly alongside her embittered father to rescue his beloved draft horse from a raging river, until British soldiers come to their aid. "Wood", the second short story, describes a poverty stricken boy and his mother, who secretly prepare wooden poles to sell to local Protestant marchers to make protest banners, unbeknownst to his disapproving and disabled father. Finally, "Hunger Strike" is a powerful novella about a teen-aged boy, who lives with his widowed mother as they follow the plight of his father's brother, an imprisoned IRA freedom fighter who is on a hunger strike. The stories are evocative and filled with repressed anger, fear and despair, but are not overly maudlin or partisan.
October 26, 2016
Powerful
March 28, 2024
These two stories and novella resonate particularly to me and bring back memories of my time in Northern Ireland from 1970-72, as the "Troubles" were heating up. I was among a small detachment of USN sailors operating a communication station. The thing about being an American in Derry was that the populace -- Catholics and Protestants -- viewed us as neutrals in their conflict. I have said that we Americans were the only people in the community who could enter any of the sharply segregated secterian neighborhoods. We had Catholic friends from Bogside and Protestant friends in the Waterside. (There was no mistaking which sect lived where by the graffiti, banners and curbstones painted the red, white and blue of Great Britain or the orange, green and white of Ireland). I arrived at the base (located right in the city) in November 1970. The Protestant assault against Catholic civil rights marchers at the Burntollent bridge outside Derry had happened in 1969. When the British army came shortly after to separate the fighting factions they were viewed at first by the Catholic community as protectors. This changed sharply in 1970 as the IRA adherents became actively violent. My wife and I rented a flat near the city center. Our landlords were partners in an auto dealership whose showrooms were on the ground floor. They were an unusual pair because one was Catholic and the other Protestant. In August 1971, the British rounded up suspected IRA militants and incarcerated them without charges in the prison at Long Kesh. This sparked a violent response across the province including stepping up bombing of civilian businesses. On the night of August 11, my wife and I were entertaining an Irish friend in our flat when, at about 10:00 pm, a bomb exploded outside the car showroom. We were not injured but the flat was no longer habitable. My sense is that whoever placed the bomb did not know that people were living above. My Navy bosses made arrangements with the British army for us to occupy a British army house outside the city adjacent to a weapons depot no longer in use. (The house was isolated so for obvious reasons they could not have their own soldiers living there.) Our neighbors in this rural setting were Protestant "Orangemen", but very nice people. I was invited by a civilian worker aquaintance at the base to attend the civil rights march on Sunday January 30, 1972 -- "it'll be a lark", he said. I declined. The march became the infamous "Bloody Sunday".
The first story -- "Everything in This Country Must" -- tells of a British army patrol that happens on a man and his daughter attempting to rescue their horse drowning in the river. The brave efforts of the soldiers, at no small risk to themselves, is appreciated by the girl, but not by her father who threatens them as they depart. His anger shows how the attitude of the people toward the presence of the British army had evolved.
The second story -- "Wood" -- refers to the annual parade of Protestant Orangemen through the streets of Derry, Belfast, and other cities. The paraders carry banners with anti-catholic slogans. It commerates the victory of Protestant King William over Catholic King James in 1691. The parades are perceived by the Catholic population as insulting and an arrogant symbol of Protestant supremacy. (I witnessed our Protestant neighbor proudly dressed in his parade regalia on the eve of the march.) The marchers needed wood poles to display their banners and called on a family of skillful workworkers to make them. The head of the household had been incapacitated by a stroke and, although a Protestant himself, loathed the annual parades for all they represented. His wife and young son surreptiously gathered the materials and made the poles for the income they would bring. He embodied the rejection of sectarianism felt by many, but his helplessness symbolized how the forces of hatred prevailed.
The novella -- "Hunger Strike -- is told from the perspective of a 13-year-old boy from Derry who is staying with his widowed mother in the Republic (somewhere it seems on the west coast near Galway). His uncle, who he has never met, is imprisoned in Prison Maze at Long Kesh for his suspected IRA activities. The uncle and others had begun a campaign of hunger strikes to protest the refusal of the British authorities to recognize them as prisoners of war as opposed to suspected common criminals. This resulted in a number of starvation deaths that received major media attention across the world. The boy is extremely obsessed his uncle's slow death, even to charting what he believes to the the steady weight loss. He seethes with anger, fantasizing about the actions he would take in response. He meets an elderly couple who introduce him to kayaking in the bay and repays their kindness in an unexpected way that speaks to his troubled state of mind.
The first story -- "Everything in This Country Must" -- tells of a British army patrol that happens on a man and his daughter attempting to rescue their horse drowning in the river. The brave efforts of the soldiers, at no small risk to themselves, is appreciated by the girl, but not by her father who threatens them as they depart. His anger shows how the attitude of the people toward the presence of the British army had evolved.
The second story -- "Wood" -- refers to the annual parade of Protestant Orangemen through the streets of Derry, Belfast, and other cities. The paraders carry banners with anti-catholic slogans. It commerates the victory of Protestant King William over Catholic King James in 1691. The parades are perceived by the Catholic population as insulting and an arrogant symbol of Protestant supremacy. (I witnessed our Protestant neighbor proudly dressed in his parade regalia on the eve of the march.) The marchers needed wood poles to display their banners and called on a family of skillful workworkers to make them. The head of the household had been incapacitated by a stroke and, although a Protestant himself, loathed the annual parades for all they represented. His wife and young son surreptiously gathered the materials and made the poles for the income they would bring. He embodied the rejection of sectarianism felt by many, but his helplessness symbolized how the forces of hatred prevailed.
The novella -- "Hunger Strike -- is told from the perspective of a 13-year-old boy from Derry who is staying with his widowed mother in the Republic (somewhere it seems on the west coast near Galway). His uncle, who he has never met, is imprisoned in Prison Maze at Long Kesh for his suspected IRA activities. The uncle and others had begun a campaign of hunger strikes to protest the refusal of the British authorities to recognize them as prisoners of war as opposed to suspected common criminals. This resulted in a number of starvation deaths that received major media attention across the world. The boy is extremely obsessed his uncle's slow death, even to charting what he believes to the the steady weight loss. He seethes with anger, fantasizing about the actions he would take in response. He meets an elderly couple who introduce him to kayaking in the bay and repays their kindness in an unexpected way that speaks to his troubled state of mind.
January 1, 2018
I was interested in reading this book because of my family's cursory connection to "The Troubles". I have never read anything about them, though, so I expected to be swept up into a story that grabbed my emotions and made me feel what it was really like to be there. This didn't happen. There were interesting bits - I liked the creative touch of the boy and his mother making chess pieces out of bread and about the countdown of his uncle's weight as he sat in prison. I might have been more drawn in if it was the father/husband in jail, but an uncle whom the boy barely knew felt like a thin thread that distanced the reader from being compelled.
December 31, 2018
McCann has that beautiful gift of Irish poetry in his writing, and his stories always having me thinking of them long after I am done with his books. These stories are just heartbreaking and beautifully told.
May 1, 2025
Would have rated four or five stars if it wasn’t for the last story lol
July 11, 2010
Everything in This Country Must is a small collection by Colum McCann which includes two short stories and one novella. The book begins with the title story "Everything in This Country Must" which is the story of a father and daughter whose lives have been ruined by the death of the mother and daughter at the hands of soldiers. However when their best draft horse is about to drown it is soldiers which come to help them pull it out of the water, something the father is unable to make peace with. For him, he would rather the horse drown then accept their help. "Everything in This Country Must" was actually my favourite of the three stories in this collection- although at times vague and mysterious it remained touching and powerful. Even without knowing the details, you could understand the conflict of emotion the father and daughter felt.
In "Wood" a small boy helps his mother prepare wooden poles to sell for the Protestant marches in secret from his disabled father who can no longer earn a living for the family. It is definitely a short story, but McCann is able to capture the secrecy and conflict the young boy feels as well as the mystery of the night-time.
"Hunger Strike" was the novella, and at a hundred pages it was about five times as long as either short story. I would have hoped that this length would allow McCann to flesh out the characters, as opposed to the short story format. Unfortunately "Hunger Strike" was my least favourite of the three stories- although the background stories of the main characters were less mysterious than "Everything in This Country Must" and "Wood" I actually felt less emotion and compassion towards the main character, a young boy who has lost his father and whose uncle, an IRA member, is on a hunger strike as he attempts to gain political prisoner status. The novella had moments of brilliance but overall it lacked the precise, clarity and emotional strength of the other stories.
All three stories give a snapshot into Northern Ireland, a landscape McCann is definitely familiar with and in that way it felt less forced for me than This Side of Brightness. So although the two short stories are four star quality, "Hunger Strike" lost a star for how I felt about Everything in This Country Must so I can only give it three. ***
In "Wood" a small boy helps his mother prepare wooden poles to sell for the Protestant marches in secret from his disabled father who can no longer earn a living for the family. It is definitely a short story, but McCann is able to capture the secrecy and conflict the young boy feels as well as the mystery of the night-time.
"Hunger Strike" was the novella, and at a hundred pages it was about five times as long as either short story. I would have hoped that this length would allow McCann to flesh out the characters, as opposed to the short story format. Unfortunately "Hunger Strike" was my least favourite of the three stories- although the background stories of the main characters were less mysterious than "Everything in This Country Must" and "Wood" I actually felt less emotion and compassion towards the main character, a young boy who has lost his father and whose uncle, an IRA member, is on a hunger strike as he attempts to gain political prisoner status. The novella had moments of brilliance but overall it lacked the precise, clarity and emotional strength of the other stories.
All three stories give a snapshot into Northern Ireland, a landscape McCann is definitely familiar with and in that way it felt less forced for me than This Side of Brightness. So although the two short stories are four star quality, "Hunger Strike" lost a star for how I felt about Everything in This Country Must so I can only give it three. ***
April 12, 2011
This is my first Colum McCann book. After reading this one, I will definitely read more. His writing, while spare, considered and focused, was almost lyrical in its use of language, and drove me to re-read many sentences I found particularly lovely. As an example, I quote this from the first story in the book (**potential spoiler**):
"The ticking was gone from my mind and all was quiet everywhere in the world and I held the curtain like I held the sound of the bullets going into the draft horse, his favourite, in the barn, one two three, and I stood at the window in Stevie’s jacket and looked and waited and still the rain kept coming down outside one two three and I was thinking oh what a small sky for so much rain."
Wonderful.
Both stories and the novella are told from the point of view of children, and all concern the Troubles in Northern Ireland. I think it's particularly difficult to write about Northern Irish politics, and most who do fall into the inevitable pitfalls of sentimentality, outrage, or too closely aligning with one political viewpoint. McCann avoids most of these problems by viewing events through the eyes of those too young to be yet jaded or hysterical. This is particularly true in the stories, which I found more successful than the novella.
The novella, Hunger Strike, was the most thought-provoking but the least polished of the stories in this book, for me. It concerns a Derry teenager whose mother has removed him to Galway while his uncle is on hunger strike in prison. I appreciated that McCann didn't feel compelled to give us a history lesson here, and anyone who doesn't know their history can get themselves to Google and figure out who Bobby Sands was on their own. The fury and injustice of this time in history are encapsulated in young Kevin, whose coming of age is marked by his rage and helplessness. He is so angry, and so powerless to do anything. He is relegated to wearing a black armband far from his home and the ongoing riots. While his uncle starves to death and his hometown burns, Kevin plays video games in a Galway arcade and takes up kayaking with an elderly Lithuanian couple. I think, in the end, I wanted more clarification on what Kevin's final act signifies, although perhaps the random violence is an answer in itself.
"The ticking was gone from my mind and all was quiet everywhere in the world and I held the curtain like I held the sound of the bullets going into the draft horse, his favourite, in the barn, one two three, and I stood at the window in Stevie’s jacket and looked and waited and still the rain kept coming down outside one two three and I was thinking oh what a small sky for so much rain."
Wonderful.
Both stories and the novella are told from the point of view of children, and all concern the Troubles in Northern Ireland. I think it's particularly difficult to write about Northern Irish politics, and most who do fall into the inevitable pitfalls of sentimentality, outrage, or too closely aligning with one political viewpoint. McCann avoids most of these problems by viewing events through the eyes of those too young to be yet jaded or hysterical. This is particularly true in the stories, which I found more successful than the novella.
The novella, Hunger Strike, was the most thought-provoking but the least polished of the stories in this book, for me. It concerns a Derry teenager whose mother has removed him to Galway while his uncle is on hunger strike in prison. I appreciated that McCann didn't feel compelled to give us a history lesson here, and anyone who doesn't know their history can get themselves to Google and figure out who Bobby Sands was on their own. The fury and injustice of this time in history are encapsulated in young Kevin, whose coming of age is marked by his rage and helplessness. He is so angry, and so powerless to do anything. He is relegated to wearing a black armband far from his home and the ongoing riots. While his uncle starves to death and his hometown burns, Kevin plays video games in a Galway arcade and takes up kayaking with an elderly Lithuanian couple. I think, in the end, I wanted more clarification on what Kevin's final act signifies, although perhaps the random violence is an answer in itself.
May 13, 2012
After thinking about it for a few days I'm changing my rating from 4 to 5 stars.
This is a collection of two short stories and a novella, all set in Northern Ireland during "The Troubles" of the late 70's, early 80's and all told from a child's point of view. McCann not only explores the politcal struggles of that time, but the struggles kids face when they feel pulled in two different directions.
In the first story "Everything in this Country Must" a young girl struggles with her feelings of gratitude towards a group of British soldiers and her loyalty to her father after the soldiers free their horse from a river.
In "Wood" a young boy helps his mother with a job comissioned by the British while keeping it a secret from his father.
The novella "Hunger Strike" is about a boy whose uncle has recently joined the hunger strike in the H Block of Long Kesh prison, after Bobby Sands and a few others have already died. The boy's mother has moved them from Northern Ireland to Galway so they can escape the mayhem but he longs to be back there, to be in the thick of things.
McCann's writing is sparse, almost terse, but he packs so much into every sentence. Although the subject matter here is sad, McCann manages not to make it depressing, which is quite an accomplishment. A lot of times when the writing is stark, the descriptions bleak, the book becomes heavy and depressing, but not here.
I have always loved authors who write they lyrical descriptions, they make me want to savor every word (think Pat Conroy, Amy Tan.) McCann is almost the opposite, he's not flowery, he doesn't go on for pages and pages about the Irish countryside, making you feel as if you're there. McCann writes these short little sentences that squeeze your heart. In the first story (I returned my copy to the library so I'm paraphrasing) he writes "the sky seemed too small for so much rain."
I have to read more by McCann.
This is a collection of two short stories and a novella, all set in Northern Ireland during "The Troubles" of the late 70's, early 80's and all told from a child's point of view. McCann not only explores the politcal struggles of that time, but the struggles kids face when they feel pulled in two different directions.
In the first story "Everything in this Country Must" a young girl struggles with her feelings of gratitude towards a group of British soldiers and her loyalty to her father after the soldiers free their horse from a river.
In "Wood" a young boy helps his mother with a job comissioned by the British while keeping it a secret from his father.
The novella "Hunger Strike" is about a boy whose uncle has recently joined the hunger strike in the H Block of Long Kesh prison, after Bobby Sands and a few others have already died. The boy's mother has moved them from Northern Ireland to Galway so they can escape the mayhem but he longs to be back there, to be in the thick of things.
McCann's writing is sparse, almost terse, but he packs so much into every sentence. Although the subject matter here is sad, McCann manages not to make it depressing, which is quite an accomplishment. A lot of times when the writing is stark, the descriptions bleak, the book becomes heavy and depressing, but not here.
I have always loved authors who write they lyrical descriptions, they make me want to savor every word (think Pat Conroy, Amy Tan.) McCann is almost the opposite, he's not flowery, he doesn't go on for pages and pages about the Irish countryside, making you feel as if you're there. McCann writes these short little sentences that squeeze your heart. In the first story (I returned my copy to the library so I'm paraphrasing) he writes "the sky seemed too small for so much rain."
I have to read more by McCann.
March 12, 2017
Unsurprisingly, a complete tour de force - I one hundred percent ached for Ireland while reading these two short stories and novella. McCann is an incredibly disciplined and restrained writer, yet somehow also lyrically soulful and emotionally evocative. I don't know how he's able to put me so completely and fully in his world(s), but he does.
Hunger Strike, in particular, is probably one of the best pieces of writing I've read in a while in terms of its vividness and restrained but palpable emotion. As in many of his other works, McCann doesn't go into detail about anything, but somehow you find yourself deeply and viscerally enmeshed in his characters, their location, their lives.
Simply put, it is impossible to do justice to McCann and his immense talent.
Hunger Strike, in particular, is probably one of the best pieces of writing I've read in a while in terms of its vividness and restrained but palpable emotion. As in many of his other works, McCann doesn't go into detail about anything, but somehow you find yourself deeply and viscerally enmeshed in his characters, their location, their lives.
Simply put, it is impossible to do justice to McCann and his immense talent.
March 8, 2015
A quiet and powerful trio of stories set in Northern Ireland during the years of political turmoil. In each, the center of the story is not the turmoil but the individuals living in that environment and the emotional tension they endure. Written with delicacy and restraint, there is little sense of us/them, but rather an emphasis on the humanity of everyone involved. My favorite story was "Hunger Strike," a bittersweet and heartbreaking tale of a boy's coming-of-age while remembering his deceased father and tormented by the violence of the Irish War for Independence. A short, powerful collection by the richly talented Colum McCann.
April 13, 2012
Audiobook............Listening to Colum McCann's prose is like listening to poetry, regardless of the subject matter. He is an excellent writer! This is the first time I have read his writing in the shorter format of novella and short stories, and I think he is masterful at it. All I will say, is settle back in a comfy chair with a beautiful view and listen. You will be carried away to the tough and demanding world of Ireland and its day-to-day realities. It's worth the time!
May 5, 2012
This book contains 2 short stories and a novella. All appear to be set in Northern Ireland, which is unusual as the author was born in Dublin, and "southerners" have long been viewed as ignoring The Troubles. The 2 short stories focus on main characters who are Northern Protestants, another unusual turn for a writer from Dublin. The book is a quick worthwhile read.
May 9, 2015
Another brilliantly written book by Colum McCann. His prose is amazing and there are so many phrases I want to hold on to and turn over in my mind again and again. I "read" both Transatlantic and this book by audio and find myself in both cases wanting the hard copy to be able to flip open a page and find some unexpected gem.
August 15, 2013
Stellar storytelling from McCann, this time detailing the complex nature of the more recent Troubles in Ireland. His writing depicts characters of all sorts and shame-free while the stories themselves stay with you for a long time after you've read them.
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