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A review by writervid
The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne
4.0
I'm very unclear as to how to start this review. I'm not here to gush, though it is a gushworthy book. And I'm not here to complain; I greatly enjoyed my time reading this. It's a story of humanity, LGBTQ+ rights, Ireland's journey as a country, and as one man's tale to finding himself. Split up in seven year segments throughout his life, we follow Cyril Avery from his infancy to three months before his death.
The style of this is wonderful, the character development throughout it is executed well, and the decision to meet up with Cyril every seven years creates cliffhangers after every section and makes the reader want to read on. However, I would also argue that that decision can cause a loss of tension as readers head into the next chapter. All the same, John Boyne's skillful use of dramatic irony and coincidences throughout the story kept me interested and invested.
I find that we tend to look at the journey of homosexuality throughout history as starting with the HIV/AIDS crisis, and ending with the legalization of gay marriage in many countries. However, The Heart's Invisible Furies shows the truth behind how the oppression of sexuality hurts people. This story is increasingly relevant as one of how judgement can still exist even after people say they don't have any, and how homophobia pervades society, and how society picks on those it oppresses. Its relevance increases when you look at Boyne's decision to make Cyril's character arc mirror that of Ireland's itself. Throughout reading this story, I gained a new perspective, and learned more about the history of a community I am proud to be a part of.
Despite the great historical perspective gained, one thing I found lacking was the way characters spoke in absolutes and weren't corrected. Cyril was either terrible or fantastic (which was a justified view for a few characters), as was Ireland; gay people were either terrible or "you should've come out sooner! I would have accepted you!" This disparity felt unnatural and made me long to come into the story and argue. All the same, with the myriad of side characters in this book, there were quite a few views displayed, and for most of the characters that expressed these views, it made sense for their characters. All the same, there were so many extreme views repeated without correction by many different characters (which does make me think that there perhaps should have been more characters with more objective views of things) that I felt as though I had to include it in my review.
If you're uncomfortable with a lot of talk about sexual content (no sexual content is depicted graphically) I do NOT recommend this book for you. Trigger warning for homophobia and violence. I would recommend this book if you are interested in the history of Ireland's treatment of LGBTQ+ people, or in literary fiction. It's a beautiful story I hope more people pick up.
The style of this is wonderful, the character development throughout it is executed well, and the decision to meet up with Cyril every seven years creates cliffhangers after every section and makes the reader want to read on. However, I would also argue that that decision can cause a loss of tension as readers head into the next chapter. All the same, John Boyne's skillful use of dramatic irony and coincidences throughout the story kept me interested and invested.
I find that we tend to look at the journey of homosexuality throughout history as starting with the HIV/AIDS crisis, and ending with the legalization of gay marriage in many countries. However, The Heart's Invisible Furies shows the truth behind how the oppression of sexuality hurts people. This story is increasingly relevant as one of how judgement can still exist even after people say they don't have any, and how homophobia pervades society, and how society picks on those it oppresses. Its relevance increases when you look at Boyne's decision to make Cyril's character arc mirror that of Ireland's itself. Throughout reading this story, I gained a new perspective, and learned more about the history of a community I am proud to be a part of.
Despite the great historical perspective gained, one thing I found lacking was the way characters spoke in absolutes and weren't corrected. Cyril was either terrible or fantastic (which was a justified view for a few characters), as was Ireland; gay people were either terrible or "you should've come out sooner! I would have accepted you!" This disparity felt unnatural and made me long to come into the story and argue. All the same, with the myriad of side characters in this book, there were quite a few views displayed, and for most of the characters that expressed these views, it made sense for their characters. All the same, there were so many extreme views repeated without correction by many different characters (which does make me think that there perhaps should have been more characters with more objective views of things) that I felt as though I had to include it in my review.
If you're uncomfortable with a lot of talk about sexual content (no sexual content is depicted graphically) I do NOT recommend this book for you. Trigger warning for homophobia and violence. I would recommend this book if you are interested in the history of Ireland's treatment of LGBTQ+ people, or in literary fiction. It's a beautiful story I hope more people pick up.