“But the way my mother told it, he wasn’t necessarily the villain of the piece. Maybe there were no villains in my mother’s story at all. Just men and women, trying to do their best by each other. And failing” (557).

Living in the shadows, Cyril, a shy, adopted boy who often gets overlooked and abandoned and even misnomered as Cecil, wants nothing more than to be free to live (and to be loved) as his true self—rather than hiding parts of himself that his conservative, Irish Catholic culture have condemned as degenerate. Through Cyril’s search for contentment and happiness and honesty with his identity, we’re taken on an epic journey, hitting major 20th and 21st-century historical junctures. And it all seems to come full circle—several times, in fact—with all those vacillating moments that make a life full-lived: serendipitous encounters and melancholic circumstances and perfect seasons and tragic losses.

I’m not normally drawn to end-of-life retellings where a narrator recounts all the events of their life. Those types of stories usually feel daunting; I tend to get uninterested halfway through. This wasn’t that. For one, it’s less looking backward and more moving forward. And more than that, Cyril’s life feels like many different lives, different stories made up of different genres. It opens with the Shakespearean tragedy of banishment and familial murder and then moves into something that seems like any scene from Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums, watching Cyril grow up with eccentric adoptive parents, Charles and Maude (two of my favorite characters from this full cast). And as different decades are portrayed throughout his life, each is idiosyncratic. Some of my favorite sections, though, are those interactions between Cyril and Charles and Maude—they seem to add another layer to this Celtic story, one of much needed wit and humor and unexpected tenderness among all the injustices and tragedies that happen.

Sitting just shy of six hundred pages, this isn’t a short read, but it was certainly captivating enough to make it feel like a fast read. I really loved everything about this story: one man’s life that highlights the pain of abandonment and the joy of belonging, the sting of betrayal and the balm of forgiveness, the anguish of mendacity and the freedom of transparency. It’s poignantly beautiful and everything I’d hoped this backlist book would be. ( )

Heartbreaking, humorous, tragic, and uplifting all at once. Immensely compelling story with well-drawn characters. ( )

The opening from the mother's perspective captured me but then when it switched to youngish Irish gayman I wasn't quite sure I wanted to stick with it, but what a story! If you love full circle interwoven twists of chance this story will capture you for sure, it unfolds beautifully. ( )

I loved every, single page of this book. I wish I could start all over again, or that it would just keep going and going. ( )

This was a very interesting book. It covered the life of Cyril Avery from before he was born until he died. Born in Ireland, rich in the tradition of being ridged and non-accepting, Cyril struggled to understand and find himself. While Cyril wasn't the most likeable character, seeming weak and self-absorbed a lot of the times, one has to step back and reflect on when and how he grew up. Born after WWI, he was given up for adoption to a couple, who clearly were not meant to be parents both having their own preoccupations, and callously they would remind him that he was adopted. He comes of age in the 60's and 70's where he realized that Ireland would never accept him, and leaves for Amsterdam, then NYC. While he had no role model or close connection, he gradually he forms bonds. The book, covers his life, jumping decades at times, and continuing on. Well written and touching. ( )