Under Goliath

by Peter Carter

This book is about a friendship between a Catholic and a Protestant boy in Northern Ireland.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

Reviews

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this for my book club so didn't know what to expect and I don't recall ever reading a book by Peter Carter.

The story focuses on Alan Kenton, a young lad growing up in Belfast in the shadow of a giant crane called Goliath. The book focuses on 'the troubles' between Catholics and protestants and at the heart of it shows that many people are caught up in situations because of lack of information and learning from friends and family what shared beliefs to have.

Alan meets a lad with red hair called Fergus who is a Catholic. I loved their misguided friendship, meeting to have a fight and then getting bored and just deciding to hang out and learn about each other. I thought the book packed a lot in so few pages, great characterisation, uncle Jack clearly had strong views!

At the heart of it though it shows that no matter your upbringing and beliefs you are no different to the person living on the next street, regardless of sex, religious views or anything else. We all suffer hardships and it's better to work together than against

[Joanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’d never heard of this author or indeed the book. After reading the synopsis I wasn’t really sure what to expect. For such a short book there was a lot of characterisation in it which I enjoyed.

The story centres on two boys (Alan and Fergus) from either side of the ‘troubles’ in Belfast in the late 60’s/ early 70’s.

I think the book clearly demonstrated how innocent people can get mixed up in things and how quickly people can get ‘caught up’ in the hysteria or just going with the majority view and turn on people they’ve known for decades just because of their religion.

But what I liked is the strong message from both the boys
And Billy that you can come together regardless of religion, age, skin colour, gender etc and live in unity. If only some others in this world could follow this too.

[Solveig · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rather sad tale of two boys in different bands in Belfast from different sides of the 'cultural' divide at the start of The Troubles. Through happenstance they become friends and then things happen that part them.

[Nigel · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the drawbacks of growing up feeling ambivalent about the whole educational process is a tendency to develop certain prejudices against the materials used to educate you. The books recommended to you in school or taught in class tend to become associated negatively with the idea of 'worthiness.' Which is to say, like medicine, these books are good for you. Which is daft. I genuinely loved a lot of the books I was taught in school - Huckleberry Finn and Wuthering Heights and Persuasion. That didn't stop me from regarding other books, not taught to me but on the curriculum, as 'worthy.' This included, but was not limited to, To Kill A Mockingbird, Roll Of Thunder Hear My Cry, and Under Goliath. Peter Carter's novel was doubly handicapped because it was set in Belfast and was about the Troubles. Nothing could be worthier than a children's book about the Troubles, especially to an Irish child living in the South, for whom the North was a troubled id, sending nightmares and other disturbances to bother the consciousness via the six o'clock news and newspaper headlines.

But here I am. Alan is a Protestant, but a bit of an outsider for all that, his father being British. With no interest in hardline Protestantism, he nonetheless develops a desire to play the lambegh, the huge drum used by Orange marching bands. In the event, he joins a band, but ends up playing the fife. A chance, and chancy, encounter, brings him into contact with Fergus, a Catholic piper, and a hidden gun. They meet each week, their relationship uneasily distorted by the gun, and by the growing unease throughout the city and province, to the point where it seems impossible for them to be friends.

This is brilliantly, beautifully written, psychologically astute, vivid with the sights and sounds of seventies Belfast, awash with the social and religious pressures dividing the inhabitants. The final chapters brilliantly describe a terrifying riot in all its confusion and violence. The framing device has a shockingly brutal bitterness to it. The boys might survive their childhood experiences but the cumulative effect destroys their innocence and warps their lives.

The lesson here is, I suppose, that sometimes worthy books really are truly and genuinely worthy books.