A review by abookorten
Days Without End by Sebastian Barry
4.0
REVIEW ORIGINALLY POSTED AT ABOOKORTEN.CO.UK
Days Without End is a book I’ve seen many people rave about over the last year or so. I spent many book shopping trips considering it and eventually picking up a copy once it was in paperback. This was the final book I read in 2017, and I found it really interesting. I read so many great books in December that I sort of floated through this one, and I think I’ll need some more time to absorb it properly. While this broke the streak of books which made me cry, it was only by a small margin.
Thomas McNulty arrives in America from Ireland as a youngster. He forms a friendship with John Cole, and from there they move through life together, as a team. Although the book is narrated by McNulty, the focus is absolutely shared between the two men; the real thread of the book is the connection between them.
Following them from days in a small mining town through multiple wars, the novel observes in painful detail many horrors and atrocities. I think that on a reread, these would affect me more, having more clarity over what was happening. I found that a few times, I had lost the thread of where action was taking place, and was reading back over things to resituate myself – but this may have more to do with my mindset while I was reading than the book itself.
This is undeniably a beautifully written book, with incredibly compelling themes. The violence and setting push it outside my usual reading material, and I was surprised at how easily I slipped into the flow of it.
Days Without End is a book I’ve seen many people rave about over the last year or so. I spent many book shopping trips considering it and eventually picking up a copy once it was in paperback. This was the final book I read in 2017, and I found it really interesting. I read so many great books in December that I sort of floated through this one, and I think I’ll need some more time to absorb it properly. While this broke the streak of books which made me cry, it was only by a small margin.
Thomas McNulty arrives in America from Ireland as a youngster. He forms a friendship with John Cole, and from there they move through life together, as a team. Although the book is narrated by McNulty, the focus is absolutely shared between the two men; the real thread of the book is the connection between them.
Following them from days in a small mining town through multiple wars, the novel observes in painful detail many horrors and atrocities. I think that on a reread, these would affect me more, having more clarity over what was happening. I found that a few times, I had lost the thread of where action was taking place, and was reading back over things to resituate myself – but this may have more to do with my mindset while I was reading than the book itself.
This is undeniably a beautifully written book, with incredibly compelling themes. The violence and setting push it outside my usual reading material, and I was surprised at how easily I slipped into the flow of it.