John Boyne
Novel 2017 | 580 pages
I am struggling a bit to write this review. I guess it is because this book is more of an epic than a novel. It is large and deep and bold. Thank you, Pam, for recommending this book.
Cyril's mom is 16 and pregnant when she is thrown out of her parish and her small Irish town by her Catholic priest in 1945. She gets on a bus to Dublin and begins her adult life too soon and with no support. She gives birth, then turns her baby boy over to a nun, who takes him to a couple that (allegedly) want a child, Charles and Maude Avery, when he is but a day or two old. His adoptive parents, a cold and distant mother, and a cruel and dishonest father, drill into his head that he is NOT an Avery, and should never think of himself as one, and that he is NOT their biological child, and that he should never refer to them as anything but his "adoptive" parents.
Thus begins the life of Cyril, our main character in The Heart's Invisible Furies.
Cyril's story is told in eleven parts, each seven years apart. This structure provides interesting gaps ... there is enough time for things to happen in-between each part, but not so much that you lose the thread.
Cyril comes to learn that he is a gay man, trying to find his place in the world, in a time when Catholic Ireland believed gay people were reprehensible, immoral, filthy, inferior species of humans. It was a very challenging time to learn anything about the normalcy of being gay, much less to be loved or admired or respected. But Cyril eventually understands his own humanity and fights away his shame. But that takes many years. Meanwhile, he falls in love with his best friend Julian, who is a vigorous womanizer.
Eventually, he comes into his own and finds a real relationship with Bastian, always battling the social morays of his time. He finds a job, makes friends, is happy, though life keeps pitching curve balls to him. As a reader of his life, we are privileged to follow him from the hiding and pain of his youth, to a loving, generous man who is comfortable in his own skin. His character, as written by Boyne, is astounding. We come to know Cyril extremely well. We live in his mind and heart. We cheer him on and wish him peace, clarity, and authenticity.
In the end, one important piece of his life comes to closure. I won't tell you how; that would be a major spoiler.
During the years he is 14 and 21 and 28, there is a lot of sex! I am no prude, and even enjoy reading about sex ... I just want you to know, there is a lot of it! But as he matures, of course, his hormones and Julian's calm down, and we see the more well-rounded men they have become.
I really enjoyed this book. I think it will stay with me a while. I certainly recommend it. If you have read another John Boyle, please let me know in the comments section. I think I would like to read another by this fabulous author, but don't know which one to choose.
February 2025