2018 School Spending Survey Report
The Spinning Heart
Steerforth. Feb. 2014. 160p. ISBN 9781586422240. pap. $15; ebk. ISBN 9781586422257. F
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It is the early 2000s in Ireland. The Celtic Tiger has vanished along with the country's prosperity, and Pokey Burke, the boss of a building crew in an unnamed, rural Irish town, has absconded with his employees' pensions. Burke's foreman, Bobby Mahon, contemplates murdering his father as he ekes out a living by taking odd jobs. The town both respects and resents Bobby, for he possesses a capacity for suffering that fills their hearts and yet makes them feel small. After Burke disappears, other tragedies further rend the social fabric of the community, and these events break hearts and revive old hurts. Are these crimes random? Or is Bobby somehow connected? Either way, Mahon's neighbors and friends condemn him with gossip in an attempt to save themselves from death.
VERDICT Altogether 21 different characters narrate 21 chapters to relate Bobby Mahon's fall from grace, with Ryan showing himself to be a virtuoso stylist as he credibly conveys the viewpoints of men and women of all ages in language distinct from one section to the next. Winner of Ireland's Newcomer of the Year and Book of the Year, this startling debut reads like a modern Irish twist on William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying.
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