Culture | Books, Music, Theatre, Film & The Arts

Brandon Taylor: a master of campus tension, played out by the lake on whose shores the university sits (Pic Bill Adams)

Reviewed: Real Life by Brandon Taylor

In Brandon Taylor's impressive Booker-shortlisted debut, Wallace, a gay biochemistry student of colour from Alabama finds himself negotiating the tricky terrain of white privilege - and indeed underprivilege - at an unnamed American mid-Western University

Books • 06 Oct 20

The former North Korean President, the late Kim Il-Sung in 1992. Paek Nam-Nyong's exceptional novel is set a few earlier under the Supreme Leader's rule.

Reviewed: Friend by Paek Nam-Nyong

Friend depicts with striking empathy how people fall in love, marry or divorce in what is a kind of heightened North Korean kitchen sink drama.

Books • 30 Sep 20

Emily Hourican's riveting new novel: the society gossip columnists assiduously followed the Glorious Guinness Girls

Reviewed: The Glorious Guinness Girls by Emily Hourican

Part historical fiction, part biography, Emily Hourican's fifth novel is inspired by the daughters of Arthur Ernest Guinness, founder of the iconic Dublin brewery.

Books • 29 Sep 20

Douglas Stuart: a disturbing Glasgow boyhood depicted in his debut novel (Pic: Martyn Pickersgill)

Reviewed: Booker Prize winner Shuggie Bain

Shortlisted for the 2020 Booker prize, Douglas Stuart's debut novel Shuggie Bain is a gritty, frequently harrowing slice of life from 1980s Glasgow, as the eponymous hero grows up in the midst of rampant drug addiction, abuse and alcoholism.

Book Review • 20 Nov 20

Lisa McInerney: the novelist examines the highly-lucrative K-Pop phenomenon in her revealing essay

Reviewed: The Stinging Fly: Summer 2020

The latest volume of The Stinging Fly is prefaced by a very thoughtful and considered editorial by Danny Denton that reflects on the strange circumstances under which this edition was created.

Books • 23 Sep 20

Poet and memoirist Gerald Dawe in his Belfast stomping ground (Pic: Bobby Hanvey)

Reviewed: Looking Through You by Gerald Dawe

It's entirely apposite that the poet Gerald Dawe should borrow most of the title of a Beatles song for his new memoir given that the arrival of The Beatles in Belfast in 1963 is accorded due reverence.

Books • 22 Sep 20

Patrick Freyne: his best friend reveals a general lack of belief in the project (Pic: Chris Maddaloni)

Review: OK, Lets Do Your Stupid Idea by Patrick Freyne

'Patrick Freyne has tried a lot of stupid ideas in his life. Now in his scintillating debut he is here to tell you about them" - that's the rather deprecating prefatory note for Patrick Freyne's refreshing debut, welcomed here by Grace Keane

Books • 21 Sep 20

Federico Garcia Lorca: The writer was executed by a Nationalist firing squad in the early months of the Spanish Civil War.

Reviewed: Deep Song: The Life & Work of Lorca

Stephen Roberts' new study of the life and work of the Spanish writer Federico Garcia Lorca is profoundly faithful in spirit to the poet's plays and poetry and the complex background from which his works emanated.

Books • 17 Sep 20

Reviewed: The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" could be the epigraph of Elena Ferrante's book The Lying Life of Adults (translated by Ann Goldstein), the "tangled knot" of truth and lies in which the first-person narrator Giovanna pours her aching heart.

Books • 15 Sep 20

The then Prince Felipe of Spain and his father King Juan Carlos at the abdication ceremony at the Royal Palace, Madrid June 18, 2014

Reviewed: A People Betrayed by Paul Preston

The Liverpool-born historian Paul Preston is the best-known historian of the Spanish Civil War in all its facets and personalities. His latest work charts a divisive history of corruption at the highest levels in Spain.

Books • 22 Sep 20

Sociologist and lifelong dog-lover Tom Inglis: 18 years with his beloved Pepe

Reviewed: To Love a Dog by Tom Inglis

Tom Inglis's 182-page memoir concerning his dog Pepe combines telling detail from an intimate 18-year relationship with thought-provoking observations on how humans and dogs have interacted from ancient times up to the present.

Books • 11 Sep 20

John Boyne: we first meet our nameless hero in Palestine

Review: John Boyne's Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom

Aoife O'regan was impressed by the philosophical nature of John Boyne's new novel and its ambitious scope, spanning multiple timelines and locations around the world.

Books • 17 Jun 21

Manchán Magan: his new book explores how the Irish landscape and language are indivisible.

Reviewed: Thirty Two Words for Field by Manchán Magan

Maybe the best way to understand place names is to see them as thresholds, writes Manchán Magan whose new 375-page work is an accessible yet erudite stroll back through the Irish landscape and the lore it still provides for those with ears to hear.

Books • 12 Sep 20

Thirty-Two Words for Field: Lost Words of the Irish Landscape

Manchán Magan talked to Claire Byrne on RTÉ Radio 1 about his new book Thirty-Two Words for Field: Lost Words of the Irish Landscape...

Book Reviews • 09 Sep 20

David Kynaston at an Aldershot game (Photo Lucy Kynaston)

Reviewed: Shots in the Dark by David Kynaston

Historian David Kynaston's diary of a year following the Shots, Aldershot Town - while making inter alia observations on Brexit and Trump - is not without its charm. However, detailed recaps of games are not particularly interesting to the general reader.

Books • 09 Sep 20

Louise O'Neill: After the Silence plays to her strength, writing in the whodunnit genre for the first time

Reviewed: After the Silence by Louise O'Neill

These are matters that O'Neill is clearly passionate about, and she's very good at writing them, so it follows that her new psychological thriller should return to familiar territory, although its her first in the whodunnit thriller mode.

Books • 07 Sep 20

Róisín Meaney: The reader should avoid judging this book by its cover.

Reviewed: The Restaurant by Róisín Meaney

The Restaurant, Roisin Meaney's wholesome novel about friendship, love and kindness is sure to leave any reader with a warm, fuzzy feeling. The story is the perfect antidote to autumnal chills.

Books • 04 Sep 20

Reviewed: A Ghost in the Throat by Doireann Ní Ghríofa

The very title of A Ghost in the Throat evokes the imagery of choking - breath stifled, speech constricted, words trapped in the throat, struggling to emerge.

Books • 02 Sep 20

Here is the Beehive is former Laureate na nÓg Sarah Crossan's first novel for adults (Pic: Ger Holland)

Reviewed: Here is the Beehive by Sarah Crossan

Dublin author Sarah Crossan's 266-page novel in verse tells through exquisite writing the story of Ana and Conor's three year affair, hidden away in deleted text messages, hotel rooms and secret meet-up spots.

Books • 01 Sep 20

Novelist Nicola Cassidy: the later life of her subject, Fred Astaire's sister Adele was beset by unfortunate tragedy

Book review: Adele by Nicola Cassidy

Fred Astaire's footwork on stage and screen earned him legendary status, but perhaps lesser known is the story of his equally-talented and beloved sister, the titular Adele, who has inspired the third novel by Nicola Cassidy.

Adele • 25 Aug 20

Ekwensi's most famous novel is set in an unnamed city which closely resembles the Nigerian capital, Lagos, Africa's most populous city.

Reviewed: People of the City by Cyprian Ekwensi

The renowned Nigerian author Cyprian Ekwensi (1921-2007) was one of the first authors to be selected for the pioneering Heinemann African Writers Series by its editor, Ekwensi's fellow countryman, Chinua Achebe.

Books • 26 Aug 20

In Strange Flowers, the reader lives the pain that Donal Ryan has created for his characters.

Reviewed: Strange Flowers by Donal Ryan

Tipperary in the early 1970s is the setting for Donal Ryan's new Booker long-listed novel, a story of loss and an assessment of prejudices which often go unspoken, writes Damien O'Meara.

Book Review • 14 Jun 21

Samuel Beckett: Sonnenberg once told him a joke which he heard years later the Irishman was still trying to translate into French, not long before his death in 1989

Reviewed: Lost Property by Ben Sonnenberg

Son of a wealthy NY art collector, Ben Sonnenberg (1936-2010) spent much time in Europe - Spain, England, France and Greece - while meeting people like Jean Genet and Samuel Beckett. His reissued memoir is a zestfully engaging work.

Books • 20 Aug 20

Elaine Feeney: probably one of the most unconventional Irish books of recent times

Reviewed: As You Were by Elaine Feeney

Elaine Feeney's move from poetry into prose has been eagerly-awaited, and her debut novel As You Were is the curious and inventive piece of work that was expected, writes Aoife O'Regan.

Books • 20 Aug 20

Emma Donoghue (photo Mark Raynes Roberts)

Book review: The Pull of the Stars - Emma Donoghue

The new novel from acclaimed Room author Emma Donoghue follows nurse Julia Power as she works in a maternity ward in Dublin, in 1918, at the height of the Spanish flu epidemic.

Books • 18 Aug 20