Redemption

Days Without End by Sebastian Barry

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Sebastian Barry's 'Days Without End' was long listed for the Man Booker last year, but nothing about the plot summary had persuaded me to purchase it: the 1850s, the US army, the Indian Wars, the Civil War. None of it sounded like my bag. But then - and this is one of the many joys of conversations-about-books - I met someone who put it at the top of their Best Reads for 2017 and so I decided to give it a go.

I was gripped from the first word to the last. Yes, the setting is mid nineteenth century America and the gory context of those warring years, but the heart of the tale is the relationship between the two hard-bitten young Irish fighters who find themselves brothers-in-arms on the other side of the Atlantic. Never have I read such devastatingly shocking and compelling war scenes (in War and Peace I skipped all the battle bits, they were so dull!), but more compelling still was how the humanity of the two protagonists, Thomas McNulty - who narrates the story - and John Cole shines through their harrowing experiences.

'Epic, lyrical and constantly surprising,' said one critic, 'humorous, compassionate, true,' said another, and I could not agree more. The narrative voice of Thomas McNulty is a delight. Barry takes us deep inside his main character's head and heart where, somehow, innocence is never quite lost. We are swept along by McNulty's lilting natural prose, caught up in all his humour, hopes and terrors as well as his astonishing and instinctive ability to dig deep into reserves of courage when those whom he loves - John Cole and the dear orphaned Indian girl they take into their care - are threatened. The waging of war by both men is merely to earn a living, not from any blood-lust. Driven from Ireland by the potato famine, fighting has, ironically, become their only option for the struggle to stay alive.

By the end of page one the reader wants that struggle to succeed as much as the characters themselves. For in Barry's capable hands it is the goodness of the hearts of his protagonists that stands out and wins us over. As with all the best literature, this is because the narrative resonates far beyond its ostensible subject matter. 'The Days of Our Lives' may track the stories of two Irish mercenaries fighting battles on foreign soil, but it is about nothing less than the epic fight of good and evil, and the power of love to redeem us when all else has failed.



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