The Big Chapel

by Thomas Kilroy

Book by Kilroy, Thomas

Genres: Fiction, Ireland, Irish Literature

240 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

Reviews

[A. Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

The core conflict in this novel is a religious one between competing factions in the Roman Catholic church. Father Lanigan, parish priest, defies the doctrine of ultramontanism, which places all authority in the pope. Lanigan delivers my favourite line in the book when he says that God is not in the business of interfering with nature just to keep our spirits up. The priest believes that the laws of the land must be obeyed, that local traditions must be respected. Neighbours turn on each other. The characterizations are the book's strengths. Motivations are not always clear, and to be honest, I never did find a way to care about Nicholas. Father Lanigan is compelling, Henrietta is tightly wound, and Emerine is loving and hopeful to the end. Horace Percy Butler is as untouched and uninvolved as a wealthy landowner can be, but he's also very interested in discoveries and developments, all of it rather naively. The characters and the issues never blend to make a gripping story. They're too disconnected for me.

[Colin Davison · Rating 3 out of 5]

For all the novel's clever, contrived construction, and its concern with issues of wider relevance than for this Irish backwater town in the 1870s, I couldn't care tuppence for any of the characters, nor about the dispute over the authority of the Catholic church that drives the plot.
Events concern Father Lannigan, an obstinate, independent-minded priest who refuses to surrender to a Church order to give up his living. His defiance at first divides the town and eventually drives away all his followers except for Nicholas Scully, a young man who has abandoned thoughts of the priesthood and remains loyal to Lannigan more from pity than piety.
The townspeople's hostility toward the priest is fanned by a jealous, drunken curate and leads to riot when Lannigan tries to hold a rally. Kilroy vividly describes how the platform on which he and Nicholas are standing is lifted up and swung around, knocking the latter senseless.
So even that central event is only half glimpsed and much of the action is described at a distance of space - as through the telescope of the wealthy amateur scientist Butler who observes the disturbances from his estate through a telescope - or of time, in recollections or in a rather heavy-handed way of setting up the future, "the whispered half-stories of the terrible events" to come.
The effect, perhaps deliberately, is to create a detachment of feeling about those involved - particularly the priest himself who seems a fleeting figure in all this - and less intentionally to diminish the impact of the actual events when they come to pass.
I felt the author might have more profitably promoted the sub-plot of the courtship and marriage of Emerine (the adopted daughter, not the father as in the Goodreads summary above) and the boy Marcus Scully, subordinating the clerical dispute to the background. This remains undeveloped apart from the hints about their true family relationship. A two-page chronology at the end of the book describing what happens to her in the five years after its conclusion seems to offer more fertile territory for exploration than we have had here.
Bookend: While it's laudable that Faber should reprint worthwhile but neglected titles for this series, it's a pity the design is so unattractive and the higher gsm pages and sharp cover make it uncomfortable to read.

[George · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. A character based, tragic novel about a community caught up in a religious conflict that has devastating consequences. Father
William Lannigan, the parish priest of Kyle, a small Irish town, defied his bishop, his cardinal and his pope. The novel is set in the nineteenth century. They suspended Lannigan and placed his parish church under interdict. Some in the town became enraged at the injustice done to Father Lannigan, some shrank away in silence and others spat in his path. Lannigan and his supporters found themselves ostracized. Lannigan employed lawyers to put his case against the interdict in court. A violent uprising occurs in the town with people opposing Lannigan taking matters into their own hands. Nicholas Scully, a young man who has decided not to become a priest, remains loyal to Lannigan.

An interesting, worthwhile read. The story is a little cluttered and the characters are unevenly developed. After I finished the novel I went back and read some of the earlier parts of the novel which provided me with a greater appreciation of the overall story.

This book was shortlisted for the 1971 Booker Prize.

[Grebbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very clever book and the authors’ only novel. It talks of religion, principles, biases, relationships, dogma, violence, intolerance and emotions. Not bad for a little over 200 pages. Shortlist 1971.

[Donal O Suilleabhain · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit too grim.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

While 'Troubles' was retrospectively awarded the Lost Booker Prize for 1970 a full forty years later, another historical book on Ireland enterered the shortlist for 1971. As the troubles themselves made headlines north of the border, Kilroy's book seems to say 'a plague on both your houses', and is not much more sparing towards Butler, who in this book represents liberal progress and scientific reason. As befits the theme, it's fairly gloomy stuff but with some moments of dark humour, including the OTT piety of an elderly family visitor, and the sky-trailing misadventures of a manned balloon towards the end.

Kilroy mainly wrote plays, and this reads like it could be fitted to the stage with its drawing room drama and close-circle riots at the cross-roads. I didn't enjoy it as much as J.G. Farrell's, but it still conjured up a sense of time and place - a solid three stars from me.

[Tonymess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thomas Kilroy is a highly decorated writer having won the Guardian Prize for this novel and according to the Man Booker website his awards include “the Heinemann Award for Literature; The Aib Literary Prize; the American-Irish Foundation Award for Literature; The Rockefeller Foundation Residency; the Kyoto University Foundation Fellowship; and a Prix Nikki Special Commendation.” better known as a playwright, having ten published plays and a number of adaptations to his name.
His only novel was shortlisted for the Booker Prize back in 1971. A story based on a “notorious” religious scandal in Ireland in the 1870’s (but one I knew nothing about until I read this and subsequently researched the events), this is a complex but rewarding work.

For a full review visit my blog at www.messybooker.blogspot.com

[Tarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kilroy is known as a contemporary Irish playwright, but his fiction is worth the time. This one was alarmingly stark, but then again, it is about the Irish religious wars... so... you know, stark fits.

[Regina Dooley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This historical fiction book is a difficult read. There are great sections of dialogue which are wonderful. The female characters are especially well drawn. The novel is not free flowing and lacked a heart.