A History of Loneliness by John BoyneMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
An at times painfully difficult novel to read. Not because of the quality of the writing, far from it, rather because of the ever-growing realisation the main character Father Odran Yates, so long a passive bystander in all aspects of his life, is doomed to do nothing, to say nothing about the horrific events that unfold around him.
On one hand he may well be a symbol of the Catholic Church in Ireland, at least the version of the church that the hierarchy would want you to believe. However, like the church, his inability to recognise or countenance the truth of what was happening in front of his eyes is just as damning as the church's moving paedophile priests from parish to parish.
It's hard not to be moved, and at times moved to anger, by the novel. A must read.
View all my reviews
