Paul Lynch: Prophet Song (2024, Oneworld Publications)
English language
Published 2024 by Oneworld Publications.
A nightmare in book form. I could only read for an hour at a time.
How a contemporary western state can collapse from the perspective of an Irish middle class family.
Deserves every prize, compulsory reading.
Categorise with Atwood.
First, I love the use of language, punctuation, syntax, in this book. It took time to acclimate, but once one does it becomes a character itself. I cannot imagine this story written in a more conventional way. At least not a story as powerful.
Second, I had no idea when I finished how much I would be thinking about it a month later. Do not get me wrong, I marinated on this book for a while after finishing (and while reading, of course), but recent events have made this story much more... pointed.
This was a difficult read and I wouldn't say I "enjoyed" it (apart from the language, which is beautiful at times, and cutting at others, and so so bleak). Do not go into Prophet Song expecting a rollicking read. It hurts, it frightens, it warns. This is all my opinion, of course, and I haven't explored the …
First, I love the use of language, punctuation, syntax, in this book. It took time to acclimate, but once one does it becomes a character itself. I cannot imagine this story written in a more conventional way. At least not a story as powerful.
Second, I had no idea when I finished how much I would be thinking about it a month later. Do not get me wrong, I marinated on this book for a while after finishing (and while reading, of course), but recent events have made this story much more... pointed.
This was a difficult read and I wouldn't say I "enjoyed" it (apart from the language, which is beautiful at times, and cutting at others, and so so bleak). Do not go into Prophet Song expecting a rollicking read. It hurts, it frightens, it warns. This is all my opinion, of course, and I haven't explored the reviews of others much (if you see this, please let me know what you thought!). I am glad I read it.
A mother tries to hold her family together as her country falls to fascism and civil war. A gut punch of a book made all the more terrifying when read next to the news of our time.
