The Heart’s Invisible Furiesby John BoyneEvery once in a while, a book comes along that is so

The Heart’s Invisible Furies

by John Boyne

Every once in a while, a book comes along that is so beautifully written I procrastinate on writing the review to the point of guilt just to eschew not doing the book justice. The Heart’s Invisible Furies is such a book.  

It sat on my stacks for weeks because I didn’t know if the story of an orphan Irish boy would sustain me for so many pages.  But boy, oh Irish boy, was I wrong. This book is everything a literary novel should be: sweeping in scope, intelligent, nuanced, darkly comedic - filled with pathos and estrangement, humor and humanity.

The tale follows Cyril Avery from utero, and proceeds generationally throughout his life.  Born in a conservative Ireland to an unwed young mother who is literally thrown out of her church, the piece threads expertly through Cyril’s entire life: his unlikely adoption into a home where he is treated more like a middle-aged boarder than a child, chance encounters with his birth mother and a series of life-defining - and threatening - struggles along the way, struggles - and threats -  that seem embedded in the fight for Ireland herself to survive.

Moving, generous and finely-crafted, this book made me laugh out loud and audibly sigh. A multifaceted portrait of a desperately evolving man against the never-changing landscape of his intransigent origin country.

*Thank you to the publishers for providing B3 with an ARC.