Heather McCormack

Subway Sighting: Reading in the Dark
April 29, 2008

I've been to Ireland twice: once in 1997 to attend a stout-soaked literature conference and then in 2001 as a regular ole tourist. Both trips were incredibly fulfilling—I ate, drank, read, and made merry with the locals; I saw the Book of Kells at the Trinity College library and danced in U2's now-defuct Kitchen club.

My only regret was that I was not able to go to Northern Ireland for one reason or another. Until I can make it, I've been reading novels like Anna Burns's No Bones and Roddy Doyle's A Star Called Henry to get a firm grasp of the "troubles." One of my Q train sightings from last night, Seamus Deane's Reading in the Dark (Vintage, 1998), joins my Irish reading list on the basis of its reader, a middle-aged woman so engrossed that she nearly missed her stop.

Then there's our starred review by Barbara Hoffert. After a slowish sounding but beautifully written start (Deane is a poet), this coming of age novel set in 1940s Derry becomes a "rare book that promises to startle you with its revelations—and succeeds."

Posted by Heather McCormack on April 29, 2008 | Comments (4)