The Spinning Heart in Around the World

Aug 25, 2013 Jenny (Reading Envy) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read2013, booker-winners-and-listed, around-the-world, location-ireland

It took me the length of one U2 album to read this novel of connected stories, but it was not light reading. It takes place in recent Ireland, in a small town suffering economic collapse after the housing market didn't have the expected boom, and most men in the town are without employment (or unemployment benefits.) Each story is told by a different character but the story moves forward. I loved the different voices, the different perspectives, and I hope this book makes the Booker shortlist.

Ry ...more

21 likes · Like · see review

Aug 30, 2013 Paul rated it really liked it

Shelves: books-read-2014

The book is set in the aftermath of when the celtic tiger stopped roaring. The economy has gone into free fall, the housing bubble has spectacularly popped and a layer of gloom and despondency hangs over the town where the book is set.

There are a series of voices that tell the story of people who have lost jobs, livelihoods, money homes and friends. Each of the characters, in their own voices and dialects, tell the story of this collapse, and as the community faces its bleakest challenge, dark e ...more

8 likes · Like · see review

May 28, 2024 Andrea rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: short-story-essay-novella, 2024, around-the-world-2024

A story told from 21 different points of view would normally be several steps too far from comfortable for me to consider tackling, but when Donal Ryan is steering the ship, there is nothing to be concerned about. He uses this device, across what is actually a fairly short book, to paint a complex, multi-layered picture of a community beginning the inexorable slide from good times down into bad. Everyone gets a voice; old/young, traditional/modern, good/evil-ish, open/misunderstood. Some threads ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Mar 10, 2013 Claire rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction

Not an uplifting story, but the authentic voice of each character is brilliantly portrayed, it lifts the lid on the harsh interior mind of mostly male characters living in a community suffering the effects of their mate, who was also their employer, disappearing overnight when a building investment fails. These men are now out of a job and find they weren't even registered as being employed, in which case it seems you can't therefore be registered as being unemployed.

Each of the many character p ...more

1 like · Like · see review