I was provided a complimentary copy of this book by Blogging for Books. I was not compensated for this review and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. I was not required to write a positive review.
The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne Published by Crown/Archetype on March 6th 2018
Genres: Coming of Age, Fiction, General
Pages: 592
Source: Blogging for Books
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Named Book of the MonthClub's Book of the Year, 2017 Selected one of New York Times Readers' Favorite Books of 2017
From the beloved New York Times bestselling author of The Boy In the Striped Pajamas, a sweeping, heartfelt saga about the course of one man's life, beginning and ending in post-war Ireland
Cyril Avery is not a real Avery -- or at least, that's what his adoptive parents tell him. And he never will be. But if he isn't a real Avery, then who is he?
Born out of wedlock to a teenage girl cast out from her rural Irish community and adopted by a well-to-do if eccentric Dublin couple via the intervention of a hunchbacked Redemptorist nun, Cyril is adrift in the world, anchored only tenuously by his heartfelt friendship with the infinitely more glamourous and dangerous Julian Woodbead. At the mercy of fortune and coincidence, he will spend a lifetime coming to know himself and where he came from - and over his many years, will struggle to discover an identity, a home, a country, and much more.
In this, Boyne's most transcendent work to date, we are shown the story of Ireland from the 1940s to today through the eyes of one ordinary man. The Heart's Invisible Furies is a novel to make you laugh and cry while reminding us all of the redemptive power of the human spirit.
Writing this review is slowly killin’ me. It’s so hard! Let me tell ya why, since you didn’t really ask. I love epic, sweeping, coming-of-age, full-life stories. I love truly getting to know a character through the stages of life, possibly why I read so many books that are in a series. However, a series doesn’t give me a LIFE. Now, with ‘The Heart’s Invisible Furies’, I feel like if this were broken into two separate books the reviews would be soooo much easier. I’d lose that sweeping drama of real life but. . . this review would be easier to write. I feel like this book is two parts. The first part truly turned me off to this book. The second half however, drew me in and almost made up for the first half. Before I jump into why that is I’ll give you a couple of quick disclaimers. First, this book is not Christian Fiction. That being said I do not hold it to the same standard, however you might. There is quite a bit of colorful language in this book. There is also quite a bit of sexual content, at least the talking about such things. Oh yeah, and spoiler. . .the main character is gay.
Let’s get nitty gritty. The first half of this book felt utterly over the top and really dipped into the crass. It didn’t build a relationship with the characters for me. Seriously, for the bulk there was nothing but sex. Talking about sex. And sexual body parts. Talking about engaging in sex. It felt like every character’s only goal in life was sex. It just doesn’t strike as realistic for me. Don’t get me wrong, I get that teenagers (especially males but really all teenagers) are pretty hormone focused. However, literally everyone was having sex, or talking about sex, or having affairs, or just sex. We talk about how this generation is the most sexually open and enlightened but for all the tomatoes half the population of Ireland in the 50s and 60s was doing nothing but scoring. Really, that’s about all I took away from the first half of the book. I was despairing that I would be reading this book in utter disappointment for a genre that I truly enjoy. But . . .
Then the second half of the book happened. I suddenly get real connection with real feelings and real experiences and real relationships. OK, there’s still sex but it’s not every page and it’s not the plot anymore. People are connecting because they have common interests and common values and OK, sex too but not sex for the sake of sex. And it’s not being talked about on every page by every character. Really, sex takes a backseat to connections. It’s like the book finally figured out that depth is vital for a good story and decided it was time to give it a chance. And at a 600-ish page book it really could be two separate books, the same people at a different age in different decades (and even countries) but separate books. This book takes us from an unwed mother just at the close of WW2 through the exploration of life in the 60s to the start of the AIDS epidemic of the 80s (spoiler, the gay character doesn’t have it!), to the new acceptance of the 2000s and beyond. One man. One life. Many decades. Many countries. Many experiences. One truth. Told with a lot of sex, a lot of humor, a lot of personal growth, and ultimately a lot of acceptance. Acceptance of self and others. Seriously, just read the last half.
About John Boyne
John Boyne (born 30 April 1971 in Dublin) is an Irish novelist.
He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and studied Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia, where he won the Curtis Brown prize. In 2015, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters by UEA.
John Boyne is the author of ten novels for adults and five for young readers, as well as a collection of short stories.
His novels are published in over 50 languages.
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, which to date has sold more than 7 million copies worldwide, is a #1 New York Times Bestseller and a film adaptation was released in September 2008. Boyne resides in Dublin. He is represented by the literary agent Simon Trewin at WME in London, United Kingdom.
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