Tuesday, March 1, 2016

The Heather Blazing by Colm Toibin



Set in Ireland, Eamon Redmond lives a quiet life as a judge.  We follow him as he flashbacks to his childhood, his father dying, and his wife dying. He was always a somber, quiet man and dealing with those two deaths, made him more somber.

The story flashes between past and present of his live as a child living with his father and as an adult living with his wife. After his wife dies, he talks about how he sleeps in the car until he can feel comfortable sleeping in their bed without her. He doesn’t want to ask a lot of questions, do he doesn’t go out as much.  He has two grown children who have their own lives apart from their parents.  The story ends with his daughter wanting to spend more time with him now that he is alone.  He has reservations, but he allows her to visit with his grandson and this is how the story ends. 

It is a slow-paced novel, but the depth of the character is rich. The story deals with life – having a family, rearing children and death.  The main characters reminiscence is not only filled with the family that was around him, but with Ireland’s geographical presence that was a part of his life. 


I thought this was a great story for the author’s second novel.
   


  

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