Us

by Martin Malone

In this play, three young men wake up in an isolated house on the edge of the city. Outside is a heavy snowfall; inside, the men gradually come to realize they have no food, no heat, and the pipes are frozen. Not only are they snowbound but all the doors of the house are locked and can't be broken down. Part psychological thriller, part ghost story, this is a modern tale, full of tension and mystery. It questions contemporary Ireland and the current lost generation of young men who find themselves trapped by the expectations of society, family, women, and self.

264 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

There is more than one author with this name

Martin Malone is an Irish short story writer and novelist.
Prior to his writing career, Malone served as a military policeman in the Irish Defence Forces, with postings in Lebanon and Iraq. His memoir The Lebanon Diaries: An Irish Soldier's Story (2006) documents these experiences.
Two of his novels, After Kafra (2001) and The Broken Cedar (2003, longlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award), draw on Malone's time as a UNIFIL peacekeeper stationed along the Lebanon-Israel border.
His other novels are The Silence of the Glasshouse (2008), and Us (2000); both are set in Ireland.
Malone's short stories have won several literary awards in Ireland. His first collection, The Mango Wars and Other Stories, was published in 2009.
He has also written several plays broadcast on RTE Radio 1 Ireland.

Reviews

[Orla McAlinden · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a hard-hitting, no-nonsense book that pulls the reader in from the very first paragraph. "Us" deals with extremely tricky areas of life and the devastation that abuse of many kinds can wreak in a family, moving from one generation to another. It was, incidentally, a joy to read an Irish book featuring a Catholic priest of integrity and courage and general likeability. It is so rare to find a priest in Irish fiction who is a real person and not a cypher for everything that has ever gone wrong in Ireland from the invasion of the Vikings onwards.
Whether we wish to accept these facts about our husbands, mothers, brothers and sons, the statistics are incontrovertible: the majority of damage to our children and our society is carried out behind the closed front doors of their own homes by people to whom society assigns the highest of all responsibilities while providing the least training and support.

The book is well-written, fast-paced and reflective without being overly melancholy. The author evokes a great sense of place, siting the book firmly in Co Kildare and including a host of landmarks to help the reader navigate the locality. I enjoyed the shifting perspectives and points of view, which are so common now, but were much less so when the book was first published in 2000. I read the book in one marathon sitting, finishing early in the morning, which is always reflective of quality, and with such a huge plethora of available scripts, it is a reflection on the quality of the writing that Malone's first book was selected for re-issue as a Modern Irish Classic.

I enjoyed this book very much. I can't imagine the impact it must have had in 2000 when we all knew a lot less than we know now, and those that did were silenced by an atmosphere of shame and stigma.