The Heart's Invisible Furies: John Boyne

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Being gay in Ireland in the 1950's and beyond was not simply frowned upon. Decriminalisation didn't happen until 1993. When Cyril finds himself in an intolerable situation, he does what his mother did before him - he gets out. This second section of the book, (broken into three parts - Shame, Exile and Peace), was for me, the most satisfying. Through chance and coincidence (and there are many in this book), he makes a new life for himself, first in Amsterdam, then in New York. No, of course not, she said. “It’s a hideous profession. Entered into by narcissists who think their pathetic little imaginations will be of interest to people they’ve never met.”Boyne brings notable Irish author Brendan Behan into the tale for a short romp. “Was everything you said in your book true?” asked Julian. In Borstal Boy, I mean. Novelists often write about writing and Boyne has a bit of fun with the subject. Maude Avery, Cyril’s adoptive mother holds a dim view of her profession. “Do you enjoy being a writer, Mrs Avery?” asked Julian. I enjoyed writing those, but was also nervous that people would think there were too many. I decided the best way was to have so many coincidences, that clearly, I had intended them. It felt right to me.”

The story begins with a teenage girl named Catherine who is pregnant and not accepted by her family or church any longer. It’s the 1940’s in Ireland and she’s exiled and expected to start a new life elsewhere, which she does. After her baby is born, she gives him up and he’s adopted by a couple named Charles and Maude Avery. They name him Cyril and he loves his adoptive parents very much, but he doesn’t receive the love he deserves from them and he’s consistently told, “You’re not a real Avery.”High drama. There’s action out the kazoo. The drama never stops, yet (mostly) it does not seem over the top. Love, death, longing, deceit, secrets, violence, sex—all the biggies come into play here. The Catholic Church has not been known for embracing homosexuality, or sexuality except as it relates to bearing children to those happily wed with the blessing of the Church. It is in 1945, this era in Ireland, where sixteen year-old Catherine is exiled from her church by their priest, the same priest, who it will later be discovered had fathered two children by two women. One in Drimoloeague, one in Clonakilty. The same Father James Monroe denounces Catherine as a whore and bans her from returning to this town with the congregation looking on as he drags her past the graveyard, giving her an hour to be gone. Forever. I had never considered myself to be a dishonest person, hating the idea that I was capable of such mendacity and deceit, but the more I examined the architecture of my life, the more I realized how fraudulent were its foundations. The belief that I would spend the rest of my time on earth lying to people weighted heavily on me and at such times I gave serious consideration to taking my own life.” This book is brimming with life in all its messy permutations. Sadness and joy, sorrow and pain, friendship and love and eventually peace and forgiveness. This is a big sprawl of a novel, a huge undertaking but we meet many along the way, all adding additional insight into the story. Life's coincidences also abound and some of the happenings are surprising. This book got into my heart and under my skin. The dialogue is outstanding, often humorous, seemingly like a comedy of errors and my favorite part of this book. Not sure yet if this will be my favorite book of the year but it is definitely my favorite of the month. The best thing: I borrowed this book from the library too so it’s like killing three birds with one stone.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for sharing this book with me in exchange for an honest review. Loved by the woman who couldn't keep him and tolerated by the people who raised him, Cyril Avery's story is one of trying to hold on. For dear life. To people, to hope, to the desperate need to belong. A story of holding on to anyone and anything. Not easy when you don't feel like you belong anywhere. I got to travel to various continents. There were three locales, all fleshed out, and the life in each one was rich.Who is he? This is the central, burning question concerning the character Cyril Avery in John Boyne's ambitious and deeply moving new novel The Heart's Invisible Furies. Avril Hoare was enthralled. Boyne is glad that his career has built slowly, and gained momentum. Highly respected abroad, he loves his writing life, and can’t stand reading interviews of young writers who claim to hate it. I’m not sure what it was about my appearance that made me seem like a pubescent rapist but for some peculiar reason I took this as a compliment.”

John Boyne's The Heart's Invisible Furies is epic, cinematic, poignant. It lingered long after I read the final words. It is a story of Ireland from the 1940's to the present day. It broke my heart in places, it pieced it together again in others. Though full of well-crafted characters, it is essentially the story of one man's search to find out who he is and where he belongs. This article was amended on 5 July 2021. Cyril’s childhood friend is Julian, not Maurice, Woodbead. Told in seven-year increments, in 1952 we are introduced to young Cyril Avery, the adopted son of Roger and Maud Avery. Cyril is but a lad of seven years, and is taught to stress to others that he is the adopted son of Roger and Maud. This is the year that young Cyril will meet Julian, who will become his friend, his roommate, and the first boy that Cyril loves. Both Julian’s parents and Cyril’s adoptive parents are fairly well off. Cyril’s adopted mother is an author of some fame, not that she seeks fame, she can’t abide the thought of it. Cyril's only friend was a boy named Julian, who Cyril had been in love with since they first met. As the boys grew older, Cyril's feelings only intensified. However, he didn't reveal his feelings to Julian or anyone else.

He stops holding his breath. But his past isn't done with him, even if he is done with it. Maybe he is anchored after all? To borrow from the title of Carson McCullers' famous work, the heart is indeed a lonely hunter - and Cyril never stops searching, he never gives up. I love his sensitivity, humility, and ability to express emotion, but this book marks a shift into sheer brilliance. The foreshadowing is great. There are lines like this one: “…and in that moment I made the biggest mistake of my life.” I love it when I’m set up like that. Of course I’m dying to find out what he means. Instantly and completely. I’m panting. Cyril, the main character, was a huge disappointment to me. He was initially a likeable little boy, struggling to come to terms with his blossoming homosexuality in a hetero Ireland where "homosexuals don't exist". Somehow, though, he becomes a selfish, self-pitying, covetous adult, who only seems able to focus on his own troubles.