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A review by dosymedia
Days Without End by Sebastian Barry
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
For that lyrical prose packed with western imagery, for the choice of protagonists (Thomas McNulty, an Irish immigrant who comes to identify as a woman, and John Cole, their mixed race lover and constant companion of 20+ years), for the devastating brutality laid directly beside the sublime, I was reminded of A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara.
This is a crucible of suffering that follows the lives of career soldiers through two wars and their settling in the western frontier. That suffering is the point; its immersion uses beauty to make the inane hurt. Despite its choice of characters, those characters only underline the danger of this developing America, as each member of the queer family formed is uniquely othered and thus, at risk in certain company.
They themselves are held back from the reader. We don't come to know Thomas, John, or their adopted daughter all that well. We're thirty percent into the book before we are absolutely certain of Thomas and John's relationship, revealed unceremoniously with a kiss that is special due to its need to be hidden, and regular, since its ease implies our first witnessing of it is only one of many for them.
And I didn't mind that here, perhaps because Aidan Kelly so beautifully rendered Thomas' narration, it only felt like a quirk of Thomas' character to keep their private life from the audience.
This is a crucible of suffering that follows the lives of career soldiers through two wars and their settling in the western frontier. That suffering is the point; its immersion uses beauty to make the inane hurt. Despite its choice of characters, those characters only underline the danger of this developing America, as each member of the queer family formed is uniquely othered and thus, at risk in certain company.
They themselves are held back from the reader. We don't come to know Thomas, John, or their adopted daughter all that well. We're thirty percent into the book before we are absolutely certain of Thomas and John's relationship, revealed unceremoniously with a kiss that is special due to its need to be hidden, and regular, since its ease implies our first witnessing of it is only one of many for them.
And I didn't mind that here, perhaps because Aidan Kelly so beautifully rendered Thomas' narration, it only felt like a quirk of Thomas' character to keep their private life from the audience.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, and Violence
Moderate: Animal death