A timely and troubling consideration of social breakdown.

The most notable thing about this novel is that it happens in Ireland: not “far away”, but in a European country that is nevertheless seen as collapsing through (it is hinted) a shift to the right taken by fully democrtic means, and a subsequent descent into authoritarianism. That’s a perfectly believable scenario for many countries.

Lynch writes in a stream-of-consciousness style that manages to be comprehensible while still retaining the slightly bewildered feeling of someone caught-up in event they don’t fully understand and can’t quite keep up with. There’s enough Irish vernacular and geographical detail to make the story hard-hitting for anyone who knows Dublin.

Some people desperately cling to processes that no longer have any meaning; there are huge numbers of forms to fill out despite them serving no purpose; there’s lots of bureaucracy used to drum people into compliance; and there’s lots of venality hiding behind the continuation of these processes to convert them into vehicles for personal gain. Rules tighten as order breaks down, and the same cast of chancers and bandits and people-smugglers emerge in Ireland as in other countries that have gone through this kind of trauma. And that I think is the main message of the book. The themes and characters emerging from social breakdown are universal, and a European country would go the same way as anywhere else.

5/5. Finished Tuesday 20 August, 2024.

(Originally published on Goodreads.)