The Thing About December

Ryan (The Spinning Heart, which was longlisted for the 2013 Man Booker Prize) returns with another stunning novel that turns a character's mind out onto the page. In this work (short-listed for The Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award), the innocent and painfully self-conscious Johnsey Cunliffe finds his cocooned rural Irish life suddenly disintegrating. Daddy has died of cancer. Mother can barely muster the energy to even try to cope, and soon she joins the parade of those tearing up Johnsey's safe world. He's exposed to the terrifying responsibility of owning land that's in demand for a local real estate development plan (difficult for Johnsey when even using a microwave is a mystery). The locals "know" that he's holding out for a huge sum for the farm, a stubbornness that's half-based, they believe, in not wanting them to prosper. The violence that ensues has the upside of making Johnsey some friends, but Ryan's talent with ambiguity will make the reader worry that even those who seem to care were sent by the on-the-make townsfolk. The writing in this novel is simply amazing, Johnsey's panicked thoughts that he can't switch off, try as he might, are telegraphed in rambling sentences that will at times make readers cry and at others, laugh in delighted recognition.