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Infallible
Brian Dillon's "For the Love of Mike" is a vivid account of Catholic school in the 1950's. The gang's all here; Sister Mary Maniac, class clowns, bullies, baseball, fantastic pranks, barrels and barrels of sin, bamboozled parents, and he who hides in plain sight, the evil parish priest. Dillon has fashioned a most lovable abuse victim into a ten year old Indy Jones. But in 1950's Irish Catholic Boston the enemies aren't Nazis but constant temptation, penalties for succumbing, and those waging war on sin while selling guilt to conceal their own.
Despite having his hands full avoiding further priestly advances, life goes on and young Mike Kilgallen will not be deprived of adventure. From a child's eye we magic carpet back to innocence, its keen perceptions of new mornings, best friends, the infinity of the moment and unbounded happiness for no reason at all. The flip side is acute fear. Dillon masterfully seduces us into the devil's own shoes plotting a young boy's demise with cold calculated betrayals of one who dwells in those hideous states below death, whose sole mission among us is turning beauty into ugliness.
Compelling are Dillon's depictions of one priest's paradox personality so capable of confusion and manipulating our power of choice with an invisible yet maddening grip. Dillon has no mercy, pulls no narrative punches with this vampire like character, "His very stock in trade was the mysterious fear he preached weekly. Never was it love or forgiveness. He had half the town convinced that in the blink of an eye they could turn murderous or immoral, and that he was the last guardian of that forbidden gate. The façade was brilliant. He was a priest and to his flock he walked on water. His shell was shiny but beneath it lurked a decayed being with the most wicked of perversions and intentions."
He is wise not to generalize that these are the actions of all. Throughout we are reminded of this. But it's down to thee and me for believing too much too often. For this we are not spared the dark and shadowy forces that snatch young souls. Yanked abruptly upright we are stood up to face the here and now, forced to observe. Then with gentleness and wisdom we are advised, 'I love you very much, but sometimes I don't.'
A boy is hunted by the very worst of predators and Dillon piles high our plates with hate and fear. Yet in contrast we drink deeply of a profoundly innocent mix of childish bad behavior, love, sympathy, humor, hope and victory.
We are redeemed, for around every corner is rediscovery of joyous youth, its freedoms, barriers, its outrageous adventures. For a short while we are restored those miraculous perceptions of the very young, the most basic gifts of God given life which ebb and dull as the years pass us by. It's a story close to home anywhere on earth. A story where our hero becomes each of us, armed only with hopes and dreams, to stand at last victorious, a story whose messages of courage, honor and goodwill plead to be dusted off and handed out to all the world's citizens.
Despite having his hands full avoiding further priestly advances, life goes on and young Mike Kilgallen will not be deprived of adventure. From a child's eye we magic carpet back to innocence, its keen perceptions of new mornings, best friends, the infinity of the moment and unbounded happiness for no reason at all. The flip side is acute fear. Dillon masterfully seduces us into the devil's own shoes plotting a young boy's demise with cold calculated betrayals of one who dwells in those hideous states below death, whose sole mission among us is turning beauty into ugliness.
Compelling are Dillon's depictions of one priest's paradox personality so capable of confusion and manipulating our power of choice with an invisible yet maddening grip. Dillon has no mercy, pulls no narrative punches with this vampire like character, "His very stock in trade was the mysterious fear he preached weekly. Never was it love or forgiveness. He had half the town convinced that in the blink of an eye they could turn murderous or immoral, and that he was the last guardian of that forbidden gate. The façade was brilliant. He was a priest and to his flock he walked on water. His shell was shiny but beneath it lurked a decayed being with the most wicked of perversions and intentions."
He is wise not to generalize that these are the actions of all. Throughout we are reminded of this. But it's down to thee and me for believing too much too often. For this we are not spared the dark and shadowy forces that snatch young souls. Yanked abruptly upright we are stood up to face the here and now, forced to observe. Then with gentleness and wisdom we are advised, 'I love you very much, but sometimes I don't.'
A boy is hunted by the very worst of predators and Dillon piles high our plates with hate and fear. Yet in contrast we drink deeply of a profoundly innocent mix of childish bad behavior, love, sympathy, humor, hope and victory.
We are redeemed, for around every corner is rediscovery of joyous youth, its freedoms, barriers, its outrageous adventures. For a short while we are restored those miraculous perceptions of the very young, the most basic gifts of God given life which ebb and dull as the years pass us by. It's a story close to home anywhere on earth. A story where our hero becomes each of us, armed only with hopes and dreams, to stand at last victorious, a story whose messages of courage, honor and goodwill plead to be dusted off and handed out to all the world's citizens.
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About the author
Brian Dillon
81 books204 followersBRIAN DILLON was born in Dublin in 1969. His books include Objects in This Mirror: Essays (Sternberg Press, 2014), Sanctuary (Sternberg Press, 2011), Ruins (MIT Press/Whitechapel Gallery, 2011), Tormented Hope: Nine Hypochondriac Lives (Penguin, 2009) and In the Dark Room (Penguin 2005).
His writing appears regularly in the Guardian, the London Review of Books, the Times Literary Supplement, Artforum and frieze. Dillon is reader in critical writing at the Royal College of Art, and UK editor of Cabinet magazine. He is working on a book about the Great Explosion at Faversham in 1916.
His writing appears regularly in the Guardian, the London Review of Books, the Times Literary Supplement, Artforum and frieze. Dillon is reader in critical writing at the Royal College of Art, and UK editor of Cabinet magazine. He is working on a book about the Great Explosion at Faversham in 1916.
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