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waregemma 's review for:
The Heart's Invisible Furies
by John Boyne
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
sad
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is a bit like a modern David Copperfield, complete with a whirlwind history of being gay in the later 20th / early 21st century Ireland. It follows Cyril Avery from birth until shortly before his death, for whom largely everything that can goes wrong, does go wrong. It starts off exploring the role of the Catholic Church in Ireland on his "fallen" mother and on Cyril's adolescence as he battles with his awakening sexuality. Via a slightly unnecessary pit stop in Amsterdam, the plot then moves on to New York to cover the 80s AIDS epidemic before returning to Ireland to finish after the 2015 legalisation of gay marriage.
Cyril Avery makes for a relatable, if slightly frustrating main character, however, I felt the supporting cast were slightly caricature-ish. The other men were almost exclusively defined by the racing heterosexuality "I want to grow up to be a pervert", whilst the women each seemed to inhabit a different female quality or vice, Mrs Gibbons - strong sensible mother figure, Maude Avery - artist, Alice - quiet intellectual, Mary Margaret- staid and plain etc. I didn't feel this was a problem particularly, it was quite Dickensian, it made the novel slightly allegorical.
The writing is simple and very funny which made the book fairly easy to read. I did find it slightly long though and have to admit that I considered putting it down a few times in the first half. The pace really picked up around the half way mark for me, and I enjoyed the unexpected way in which it finished.
I very much enjoyed this in the end, but I think, for my personal reading journey, it suffered a little from all the 5 star reviews I had read before hand.
Cyril Avery makes for a relatable, if slightly frustrating main character, however, I felt the supporting cast were slightly caricature-ish. The other men were almost exclusively defined by the racing heterosexuality "I want to grow up to be a pervert", whilst the women each seemed to inhabit a different female quality or vice, Mrs Gibbons - strong sensible mother figure, Maude Avery - artist, Alice - quiet intellectual, Mary Margaret- staid and plain etc. I didn't feel this was a problem particularly, it was quite Dickensian, it made the novel slightly allegorical.
The writing is simple and very funny which made the book fairly easy to read. I did find it slightly long though and have to admit that I considered putting it down a few times in the first half. The pace really picked up around the half way mark for me, and I enjoyed the unexpected way in which it finished.
I very much enjoyed this in the end, but I think, for my personal reading journey, it suffered a little from all the 5 star reviews I had read before hand.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Homophobia, Dementia, Grief