The Secret Scripture: A Novel (original 2008; edition 2008)

I really enjoyed the characters and the story line. The main characters' story was incredible. I guessed the twist in the tail about halfway through the book but still found it a good read. ( )

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, the way it was constructed and told. I like that we have different contradictory viewpoints with one narrator trying to determine the truth, taking us through the thinking process. This may be worth a second read to uncover more of the story. ( )

I started this book a long time ago, and only just finished it. I might have been better reading it all over again, but never mind. I started back in at a spot with lovely descriptions -- the descriptions of the sea, when Roseanne met Tom McNulty -- which drew me back in again, though the long break from reading probably made it less memorable to me. I know when I read it at first and then again when I picked it back up again, it was easy to read, easy to get absorbed in. It's not a happy story, of course, as it's strongly rooted in Ireland and in Ireland's troubles. But it is enjoyable. ( )

I hesitated about the star rating to give this (in many ways the idea of assigning such a blunt assessment tool to literature feels increasingly absurd each time I attempt it).

Is it a perfect novel? Not to me. Without wishing to engage in spoilers, I didn't quite buy the character who had so deftly been pulling the strings in the background for so many decades. It all seemed too pat, and not properly supported by anything we'd seen as the story progressed. So to have it pointed out in a few sentences in the rush through the denouement felt somewhat unsatisfactory. This, together with the fact you can see the ending coming about a third of the way through the novel might, in another novel, have tempted me more towards three stars.

Having said this, the thrill of seeing intricate prose deployed to such beautiful purpose simply cannot be conveyed with five paltry stars. Every sentence sings of the wonder of the English language rolling off an Irish tongue. That Barry manages to deploy this lightness, joy, beauty and humour to depict what is effectively an Irish horror story is staggering. One by one he introduces us to beloved characters before dragging them through versions of tailor-made hells. And yet the whole time we are cossetted in the Irish turn of phrase, and this is what allows us to confront the various darknesses at the heart of the Irish experience without shirking.

In the end, The Secret Scripture manages to be a profoundly uplifting book about an unspeakable event.
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Prose that reads like poetry. Lovely book, really. Can't wait to read the next one. ( )