Ordinary Decent Criminals

by Lionel Shriver

From the Orange Prize-winning author of WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN comes a bold and savage story of the intersection of politics and human relationships, set in turbulent Northern Ireland.

Having abandoned Philadelphia for the life of an international nomad, Estrin Lancaster has a taste for hot spots. She now finds herself in Belfast, a city scarred by twenty years of ritualised violence.

As the former purveyor of his own bomb-disposal service, Farrell O’Phelan courts the company of destruction. Technically a Catholic, he shuns allegiance of any kind.

For these two, normal life is anathema; love is a trap. What ensues is an affair between two loners who are beset with a fear of domesticity and a hunger for devastation.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

498 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 24, 1993

About the author

Lionel Shriver's novels include the New York Times bestseller The Post-Birthday World and the international bestseller We Need to Talk About Kevin, which won the 2005 Orange Prize and has now sold over a million copies worldwide. Earlier books include Double Fault, A Perfectly Good Family, and Checker and the Derailleurs. Her novels have been translated into twenty-five languages. Her journalism has appeared in the Guardian, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and many other publications. She lives in London and Brooklyn, New York.

Author photo copyright Jerry Bauer, courtesy of Harper Collins.

Reviews

[Gail Addis]

At first I found it strange that LS was writing in such depth, and with such insight about the Troubles, but she has lived in Northern Ireland.
Not an uplifting book, but then, what would you expect from her?

[Leo Robertson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh deary me! I can't really recommend this.

Shriver's novels come in two varieties from my experience: the tightly plotted (Double Fault, Big Brother, Kevin) and the all-out ramble (A Perfectly Good Family, this.) And she maintains that all her novels have the same quality so until I've read all of them apart from The New Republic that doesn't look that great, just ward off the bigger ones.

There was this one female character and I don't think she got off the bed the entire time. I don't mean to say she was having sex all the time, she was just always lying down on a bed.

There were some cool insights but I doubt they'll last, so bathed in the meandering and tepidity of so many of the other sections.

And the essay at the end is like, 'At thirty I used to punish myself for endurance's sake and think that life was only exciting if I aimed directly at misery. Now that I am older and wiser, this is bullshit.' Uh.... that was always bullshit.

If Shriver had Scrivener, that might've livened 'er earlier novelser. But with all that effort to re-type or whatever, my novels probably would've read the same way back when. "I'm not cutting this! It took me five days to type and I'm not doing it again!"

[Han Whiteoak · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book grew on me. I found it difficult to get into at first, possibly due to not knowing enough about Northern Irish politics and the Troubles. The prose style in the beginning seemed opaque, which surprised me as I've always enjoyed Lionel Shriver's writing. I couldn't figure out which characters I was supposed to care about. To be honest, the only reason I persevered through the first hundred pages was that Lionel Shriver is one of my favourite authors.

However, I'm glad I didn't give up. Around page 100, I began enjoying the book a lot more. I started to relate to Farrell and Estrin and wanted to know what would happen to them. I think if there had been more sections about these two characters in the early sections and less time spent on Constance and Roisin, the novel would have been easier to get into.

I enjoyed spending time with Estrin in the middle and later parts of the novel. Based on the author's notes in the back of the edition I read, I think she wrote a lot of herself into Estrin. To a large extent, I lost interest in the political stuff going on and wanted to focus solely on Estrin. I was very eager to find out what she would decide to do.

As a result, I was kind of annoyed to come away from the book feeling like Farrell had been given the last word. Lionel Shriver describes Estrin as the protagonist, but my impression was that Farrell ended up hogging the limelight. While he's an interesting character, he's also rather irritating. I wanted this novel to be Estrin's story, but ultimately I think it was his.

[Beth Ann]

DNF. My TBR pile is too big and this book was too dense with terms and history that bogged me down so I’m moving on.

[Laura Hogensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do you enjoy long winded, multi-layered, multi-POV novels about fractured people and countries and the dualities that we all carry within ourselves and how these "bits" can contribute to one's complexity and fascination but also can completely undermine any sort of lasting human relationship? WELL I DO. I don't know what kind of genre this is, but this novel is reminiscent of "A Perfect Spy", "The Untouchable", and a handful of other books that I am too excited to remember right now. ODC will be a novel that you will either love or hate. You will either be entirely captivated by Shriver's ability to capture a person in all his/her complexity and contradiction and write AT LENGTH AND IN GREAT DETAIL about such a person's normal existence. Or you will be completely bored and put off by this and say what is the actual point of this novel? I can honestly say, though, that this novel was revelatory. Shriver is an absolute master at creating characters that you love and hate in one breath. I identified with Estrin and Farrell and was exasperated by them and was touched and then angry and then crying. This novel is EXQUISITE and I haven't even gotten to the part where Shriver folds in Northern Ireland and its own fractured people/geography/politics. This novel has been recently republished and is hard to find, but if you find it, please read it. Or who knows, maybe you will be one of the people I gift it to...

[B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read again and again

One difficult book to read but as poetic as it is frustrating. Shriver has much to say, as she honestly admits, and what she had to say is delivered with machine gun accuracy. Suffering for suffering's sake is so Catholic. Righteousness and bigotry so Protestant. One gets a huge dose of both in this book. Not too mention more about the Irish Troubles than one ever cared to know, yet compelling enough to keep watch all the way to the conference and beyond. This is the one book I will probably read several times in order to absorb all what Shriver has revealed and shared. My own journey similar in some ways, word for word; yet, more complexity than even I have created in my own world.

[Tricia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't really enjoy this book. It is only that I always finish books that I start that kept me going. I did have to read other books around it as the story was pretty drawn out.

I thought the ended redeemed it a bit so that bumped up the score a bit.

[Brady Dale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having listened to many interviews and commentaries with Lionel Shriver over the years and found her a distinctly non-conformist mind, I have been curious to read one of her books for a while.
I have liked books based in the turmoil of being Irish in the 20th century for a long time too so I guess that's why I picked this one.
This book is about that, but it's really a love story. Which is a struggle for me, but she renders it in a compelling fashion.
Anyway, I learned more from her glossary at the end of the book about the conflict in Northern Ireland than I have from anyone's reporting on the matter (though God only knows how well I have read any of that).

[Di · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh dear. This is terrible. Acres of purple prose. Eye-wateringly awful sex scenes that go on and on. Endless introspective agonizing about the characters' psyches. Appallingly overwrought similes. Her excellent knowledge of the Troubles in Ireland is buried in all this dross. Along with The Female of the Species, this is an early work that did not deserve reprinting. It looks as though Shriver had a lot of silliness to get out of her system before she became the writer I wholeheartedly admire. I have all her other books. The latest, Should We Stay or Should We Go, is so brilliant that when I'd finished reading it I immediately reread it from the beginning.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Parts of this book were brilliant, parts were unintelligible if you don't have a background in Northern Irish politics, and some bits were repetitive and unnecessary. The characters were complex and interesting, though a bit over explained at times. The ending was confusing. I probably needed to read it rather than just listen as, if O'Phelan was having an affair we knew about with Roison, I missed it. If that was just part of the 1-2 punch at the end, it was just weird. The whole ending was very dissatisfying.

[sally davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took me ages to read this - wasn't sure for the first half, as it was pretty slow and ponderous, but loved it by the last quarter or so. Miserable characters in a miserable setting, but (is that a 'but'?) beautifully written. Could've done without some of the sex (as the characters in the book would probably not have said) but the characters were nicely drawn, and the setting appropriately claustrophobic.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting and confusing, as someone who doesn't know much about "the Troubles". I thought it was a very vivid depiction of the conflicting nature of a place in upheaval, how it can be simultaneously terrifying and exciting and ordinary. For people who like drama life in such a place as Northern Ireland can be utterly compelling.

[georginagem · Rating 4 out of 5]

i had been shuffling fitfully through this book for a couple of months... yesterday i grabbed it at the half way mark and powered through to the end. glad i did.

[Alison Offerdal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written, engaging characters - Lionel Shriver never disappoints!

[Nita Wilkes]

Unusual book. I found the plot a little disjointed but I also couldn't put it down. Not the typical book I tend to read but I did enjoy it.

[Andrew Corsini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lionel Shriver's book about the Troubles is not without its long philosophical passages and needless love scenes, but it had a decent vibe and was not without some insight.

[Craig Peters · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF

[Shannon L · Rating 2 out of 5]

On the lower end of stories with a love affair set against the background of the Troubles I’ve read this year (2!)

[Gregory Cartwright · Rating 2 out of 5]

Struggled with this one. Just didn’t like the characters enough I think.

[Sara Goldenberg · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not her best.

[J.C. Ferguson · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF

[Sammy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was the first novel I have not been able to finish. I reached the midpoint and could not read further because the novel was that disinteresting to me.

The novel was drawn out and the characters were all the same shallow and distant person albeit with different histories that brought them there. The other 2 Shriver novels I read were fantastic (except the end of "Big Brother" I am still angered by) but this novel was sub-par for the brilliant author.

I recommend her other work but not this novel. 2 stars because it was well written albeit a story I found disinteresting.

[Lori · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up this book after friends suggested I read other novels by Lionel Shriver, as it was the only one on the library shelf, and did something while reading I have never done -- I skipped a bunch of pages in the middle of the book. What I found most tedious were the conversations, which were more like back and forth monologues. No one talks to another person in such lengthy paragraphs! The ending did have a bit of a twist, so it was worth finishing.

[Ida · Rating 3 out of 5]

This picked up after I had almost given up about half-way through, but the characters were difficult to relate to and seemed more like charicatures than real people. The plot in the final part of the book was interesting, but it took too long to get there. Still, quite a few beautifully written sentences that stood out and provided the three stars I gave this.

[Kelly · Rating 1 out of 5]

I almost never quit a book, but I simply could not finish this.

[Sandrine · Rating 3 out of 5]

The characters were not very likeable and a little difficult to relate to. Divided people in a divided region reveling in their suffering. The writing style, though it provided some beautiful descriptions, was a bit heavy and difficult to read due to the local jargon and slang. It picked up after I had almost given up about half-way through and the plot in the final part of the book was interesting. Some beautifully written sentences, nice reflections and interesting setting.