The book is divided into three main parts, of two chapters each. The people were saying no two were e'er wed But one had a sorrow that never was said. The main focus of the novel is the young narrator's gradual uncovering of a family secret and the effect of this knowledge on him, and on members of his family. Despite the surrounding events, the narrator's tone never slips into complete despair, but maintains a sense of hope and humour throughout. While the narrator is surrounded with violence, chaos, and sectarian division, Derry serves as the place where he grows up, both physically and mentally. The setting mirrors mid-twentieth century Derry leading into the Troubles. This novel-in-stories is about both the boy's coming of age and the Troubles of Northern Ireland, from the partition of the island in the early 1920s until July 1971, just after the violent Battle of the Bogside took place in Derry. The story is told from the point of view of an unnamed young Irish Catholic boy living in a poor area of Derry. It has been translated into 20 languages. The book won the 1996 Guardian Fiction Prize and the 1996 South Bank Show Annual Award for Literature, is a New York Times Notable Book, won the Irish Times International Fiction Prize and the Irish Literature Prize in 1997, besides being shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1996. The novel is set in Derry, Northern Ireland and extends from February 1945 through July 1971. Reading in the Dark is a novel written by Seamus Deane in 1996.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |