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A review by emmaisnotavampire
Prophet Song by Paul Lynch
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
This is an incredibly powerful book. A book everyone should read, especially right now. Its categorisation as a dystopia is undoubtedly adequate, yet not really accurate, is it? Yes, the events are technically dystopian… for Ireland. But in other parts of the world all of this is happening already, we are just too blind to see. We choose to be. This novel called me out, called everybody out, on our blissful and privileged ignorance, in one of the most effective works of awareness raising I have witnessed in the past years.
The comparison with Orwell is inevitable, but if possible this was even more hard hitting. Both disturbing explorations of the ordinary mind under regimes and wars, 1984 is however slightly more standard in its portrayal of good versus bad, rebels versus the regime; Prophet Song, on the other hand, does not give the reader enough information to establish who the bad guy is, having the rebels be just as bad as the regime they fight, all the hope once put in them by the people now lost. There is no clear antagonist but war itself: no matter what side he is on, one who fights can never be good.
I also admire how skilfully Lynch portrayed the psychological effects of this individualistic and lonely struggle for survival through delusions, hallucinations, surreal sequences that only reveal themselves as fictional after pages and pages of eeriness.
Not a light read, but a recommended one. Hopefully a classic of the future.
The comparison with Orwell is inevitable, but if possible this was even more hard hitting. Both disturbing explorations of the ordinary mind under regimes and wars, 1984 is however slightly more standard in its portrayal of good versus bad, rebels versus the regime; Prophet Song, on the other hand, does not give the reader enough information to establish who the bad guy is, having the rebels be just as bad as the regime they fight, all the hope once put in them by the people now lost. There is no clear antagonist but war itself: no matter what side he is on, one who fights can never be good.
I also admire how skilfully Lynch portrayed the psychological effects of this individualistic and lonely struggle for survival through delusions, hallucinations, surreal sequences that only reveal themselves as fictional after pages and pages of eeriness.
Not a light read, but a recommended one. Hopefully a classic of the future.