The Glorious Heresies, by Lisa McInerney

The Coeur de Lion, 1st December 2016
The Glorious Heresies, by Lisa McInerney

Seven of us met in ‘Bath’s smallest pub’ to discuss this book by one of Ireland’s up and coming young writers – winner of the Bailey’s Women’s prize for fiction.

Set in post-Celtic crash Cork, the book follows a disparate group of characters including a local gangland boss, a decidedly opinionated and slightly dangerous grandmother, a reluctant sex worker, a couple of dodgy fixers and a school-leaving drug-dealing wannabe whizz kid and his gorgeous girlfriend. There’s an accidental murder, a spot of arson in a church and a series of wild and woolly adventures in the city and out in the western reaches of County Cork.

Steve, whose choice the book was, found it dark, funny and, knowing Cork reasonably well, very convincing – insofar as he had ever encountered a Cork like this. The point that struck him most forcibly, and one of the key thrusts of the book, was the range of issues the country has in shedding the grip of religion, only a generation or so earlier parting young mothers from their children and ruling the roost in communities. The transformation has been huge but it hasn’t been easy and there are deep scars to heal, as Maureen Phelan demonstrates. Lots of contradictions, as in real Irish life – the godsquad that prostitute Georgy falls in with ends up having her hammering on the door of the brothel where she used to work – which is where she falls in with Maureen and gains a kind of redemption.

There was a shared sense among us that it took a few chapters for the author to really find her voice. Too often in the early stages there was a sense that she was over-writing it. It was better when she focused on moving the action forwards, and less on over-florid expressionism. But once she got going it was an enjoyable read. Chris W had found the early part of the book a bit too dark for comfort and feared it might get a bit tough going but, similarly, found it easier going the further in he got. He appreciated the interwoven themes, the sense of foreboding created around JP, hoping Ryan and Tony came out of it well and that the younger kids came to no harm while dad (Tony) was drying out.

The social commentary was appreciated by Rob, not just around religion but more general social observations on family life on the edge of poverty. He also felt that the ending was done well – it’s unusual to get so much specific ‘filling in the blanks’ at the end, but this was mentioned and appreciated by several of the BBBC. Mark W, who had also commented on the Runyonesque cast of city low-life characters said he reckoned the final three chapters, and particularly the last chapter, which began: “The frame around which one builds one’s life is a brittle thing, and in a city of souls connected one snapped beam can threaten the spikes and shadows of the skyline”, were fine examples of an author expertly pulling her novel together to a satisfying conclusion. Again, Mark had found it hard to get going but worthwhile in the end.

Chris B enjoyed the book, found it extremely readable and pacy, getting inside the characters and generating empathy and sympathy with different characters at different times. Neil was perhaps a little less sold on the novel, and although admitting in general to being a happy reader, was unable to buy wholly into the character of JP for example, which he though was rather clichéd (Maureen too). In addition he didn’t feel JP was sufficiently scary. Hoped for better things for Ryan but was with Joseph when he said ‘Sort yourselves out’ – found it a bit tedious. His take on the ending was converse to some of the others in that he felt it to be a little spoon-fed to him – would have liked to have been left to tie up his own narrative loose ends.

Richard sent his comments from afar: having researched in a professional context around the drug issues in modern urban Ireland, he felt it dealt effectively with these all-too-real problems for young people. He also commented on how in general the structure of the book was convincing and mostly successful given the range of issues it addressed and the fact that it was the author’s first novel. Plenty to enjoy in the situations and relationships, but some of the characterisation was too florid and the writing didn’t really settle down.

Mark T had the mirror image experience of most others, in that he felt it started well, but then he got distracted by another book and when he came back he was unable to engage with it at all, found it unpleasant and unlikeable and didn’t finish it.

There was something for most of us to like in it and the discussion fired off another around how a generation ago the IRA would surely have figured in the cast of characters in an urban gangland setting (the contrast with the themes in Colm Toibin’s 1970’s-set Nora Webster was remarked upon).

Scores (with MT not contributing a score):
SC 7.5
RG 7.8
CW 7.8
MW 8.0
CB 7.8
NR-B 7.3
RV 7.5