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Mahon
Mahon is fiction set against the momentous events that shaped Ireland and its people in the first half of the twentieth century. It is a story of love and violence, of consequence and change.
Mahon is a damaged man, a recluse living out his years in mountain country on the west coast of Ireland. He is dangerous and violent, a known killer. To some he is a hero and to others he is a murderer. He lives by his own rules and is always true to himself.
It is 1963 and Ireland is changing fast. Mahon makes one of his rare trips to town. A journey that leads him both backwards and forwards in time and leads the reader into his life of love and loss, of pain and death and redemption.
Mahon is a damaged man, a recluse living out his years in mountain country on the west coast of Ireland. He is dangerous and violent, a known killer. To some he is a hero and to others he is a murderer. He lives by his own rules and is always true to himself.
It is 1963 and Ireland is changing fast. Mahon makes one of his rare trips to town. A journey that leads him both backwards and forwards in time and leads the reader into his life of love and loss, of pain and death and redemption.
203 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 11, 2013
3 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 20, 2013
When reading this book I was with Mahon, the central character every step of the way. Through the First World War as he fought for the British Empire, to his return to a changed Ireland after the 1916 rising, to the horrific encounter with the Black and Tans that divided his community and set loyalties for the rest of his life.
To this day, in Ireland, nearly a hundred years later, the words ‘the Black and Tans’ is shorthand for the bad guys. When reading the scene where Mahon dispatches eight Black and Tans before they were about to summarily execute his friends and neighbours and still conscious of Mahon’s experience of the Somme, it dawned on me that perhaps many of the Black and Tans were suffering from posttraumatic stress syndrome.
Each episode of his life sends Mahon more and more into himself. When his beloved wife and child die he cuts himself off and withdraws to his mountain home, his sheep and his dog Tike.
Ireland changed when he was away fighting in WW1 and it continued to evolve while he isolates himself away. These changes are a shock to his system and his black and white life.
Mahon is an absorbing read and one that still resonates long after it has been closed.
To this day, in Ireland, nearly a hundred years later, the words ‘the Black and Tans’ is shorthand for the bad guys. When reading the scene where Mahon dispatches eight Black and Tans before they were about to summarily execute his friends and neighbours and still conscious of Mahon’s experience of the Somme, it dawned on me that perhaps many of the Black and Tans were suffering from posttraumatic stress syndrome.
Each episode of his life sends Mahon more and more into himself. When his beloved wife and child die he cuts himself off and withdraws to his mountain home, his sheep and his dog Tike.
Ireland changed when he was away fighting in WW1 and it continued to evolve while he isolates himself away. These changes are a shock to his system and his black and white life.
Mahon is an absorbing read and one that still resonates long after it has been closed.
January 31, 2015
It's been a while since I read a book in a day. (And a night.)A book that ticked all the boxes of a great read. Lyrical language that flows easy but strong; page turning, engaging plot; characters that will stay with you long after the book is finished and atmospheric descriptions that bring the reader deep into the story. Edward Mahon is True Grit. You love him and hate him but always empathise. The villagers of Ballysragh built up around him, are masterpieces of characterization. A truly satisfying read. I don't usually want to read another book by the same author immediately after finishing a novel. But I'm hungry for more and looking forward to the next. Rafferty is that true blend of Irish story teller and story writer. He has it nailed.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews