I went a long time reading without finding a book that forced me to blow off my everyday life to sit and read it until The Heart’s Invisible Furies! When I started I had no idea what to expect or what the book was about. It was a book club selection and I hadn’t paid attention to the description. Yet, within two pages the author, John Boyne sucked me into the life of Catherine and subsequently her son’s, Cyril. Over the course of the next 70 years we live life with Cyril, from his viewpoint, in seven year increments, with some flashbacks to fill in the gaps.
We start in church with Catherine sitting among her family. Quickly, we know something is not right as Catherine is effectively shunned by her priest, family and community. It’s Cyril though telling us Catherine’s story. He tells us of her shunning, her journey to Dublin, her life there and his subsequent birth. From there we’re with Cyril as he navigates his childhood and adolescence with odd adoptive parents and precocious best friend, Julian.
As I mentioned, we travel life with Cyril in seven year increments. So we meet him at 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 42, 49, 56, 63 and 70. Each age is a chapter in the book so they are long. But each chapter is broken into smaller increments with cute and meaningful titles that aide our reading. The author uses foreshadowing. Though we never have to wait long to know the results and none is unfulfilled.
The Heart’s Invisible Furies – My Thoughts
The book made me laugh (dark humor) and cry both tears of sadness and well while not joy or happiness something along satisfaction. I finished it and wanted to start reading it again from the beginning.
If you haven’t read this book yet, start now!