The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne

Tuesday, June 22, 2021--San Antonio

The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne was not a book I had on my list of books to consider reading, but I saw it among a list of books TIME magazine was recommended.  It's actually a book that was published back in 2017 which was named Book of the Year by Book of the Month Club and was picked by readers of the New York Times as one of the best books of the year.  

As I started reading the book, I found myself really enjoying the story while also thinking there were too many coincidences occurring in it for it to be considered seriously as a good book.  As I got further, I laughed a lot.  Then I reacted emotionally to events that were occurring.  I became invested in the stories of the various characters and didn't want to put the book down.  The central character's (Cyril's) life is covered from birth to near death.  It takes place mainly in Ireland and greatly deals with the injustices within the country due to the influence of the Catholic church and its priests.  Cyril is born to a teenage mother who is shamed, physically abused, and run out of town by the local priest when it becomes known that she is pregnant.  When he is born, he is given up for adoption and ends up in an upper-class home of a man and a woman who tend to mostly ignore him and are always quick to remind him that they are his "adoptive parents" and that he will never be a REAL Avery (their last name).  Cyril is eventually sent off to a private boarding school.  As he matures, he realizes he is gay, but in the Ireland of the times, he never admits it to anyone.  He has a few quick sexual encounters in parks and other places--none of them satisfying.  He dates a couple of women (since that is what everyone pushes him to do and is what all gay men tended to do in Ireland at that time to hide their sexual orientation).  Eventually, there is an event that results in everyone knowing he is gay and his running away from Ireland leaving a tangled mess of emotions behind.  As time passes, he experiences danger, love, crises, etc., before finally returning to Ireland where he tries to make up for lost time through family reconciliations and new connections.   It's a book that can bring the reader to highs of joy and lows of sorrow more than once.  And it can leave the reader laughing aloud so many times.  

By the time I finished the book, I was willing to mostly overlook the too many examples of coincidences.  The story was just so compelling, the characters so interesting, and the pleasure of reading it so wonderful that I eventually gave the book 4 stars out of 5.