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A review by daiya
From a Low and Quiet Sea by Donal Ryan
0.0
The story is composed of four parts. The first, second, and third parts are short stories of fifty pages about three characters, Farouk, a Syrian refugee, who lost his wife and daughter in their dangerous voyage escaping the country, Lampy who is a hospital driver in a small town in Ireland despairing of his life, and John who is a greedy accountant and a lobbyist. These three stories seemingly don't have any connection. The author elaborately tantalizes readers by not telling their relations until the last ten pages, a great storytelling technique.
His writing style is very impressive and unique. He doesn't use quotation marks at all and make very long sentences often lasting half a page, putting depictions, conversations, and thoughts at the same level. As the long sentences are differently colored with each character's tones like Farouk's despair, Lampy's disillusionment and John's obsession, Readers can't be bored.
The main Characters' short stotries share someone's death and a sense of loss, which draw them to a sea shore of country which has a sad history. (It reminds me of images of remote port towns along Japanese sea, often sung in enka tunes, sad traditional Japanese folk).
Although the author incorporates modern social issues like immigrations, social gaps, aging society, and medical care, this isn't a social criticism nor moral tale. This is a haunting elegy of the lonely men's souls. By a curious turn of fate, finally they become connected in a miraculous way, that was a revelatory moment. We are usually oblivious of how our relationships with others became connected. Every meeting is a miracle, this work tells us.
His writing style is very impressive and unique. He doesn't use quotation marks at all and make very long sentences often lasting half a page, putting depictions, conversations, and thoughts at the same level. As the long sentences are differently colored with each character's tones like Farouk's despair, Lampy's disillusionment and John's obsession, Readers can't be bored.
The main Characters' short stotries share someone's death and a sense of loss, which draw them to a sea shore of country which has a sad history. (It reminds me of images of remote port towns along Japanese sea, often sung in enka tunes, sad traditional Japanese folk).
Although the author incorporates modern social issues like immigrations, social gaps, aging society, and medical care, this isn't a social criticism nor moral tale. This is a haunting elegy of the lonely men's souls. By a curious turn of fate, finally they become connected in a miraculous way, that was a revelatory moment. We are usually oblivious of how our relationships with others became connected. Every meeting is a miracle, this work tells us.