Fionnáin reviewed Eureka Street by Robert McLiam Wilson
Review of 'Eureka Street' on 'GoodReads'
3 stars
McLiam Wilson's last book, written in the mid-1990s, is a good portrait of Belfast at the point of transition, when the peace process was well underway and the city (and country of Northern Ireland) was moving out of its violent 30-year war. The book follows two main characters, a narrator and his friend, who live standard working-class lives in the port city. It has the wry humour and the perfectly pitched matter-of-fact-ness that is so typical of the city of Belfast.
Some of the tone is very dated, particularly with the male-centred story, the poorly developed female characters, and the strangely off-temperature treatment of characters who are not heterosexual or white. The satire is also a bit too hammy - Seamus Heaney (named Shague Ghithoss in the book) gets what seems a very unfair personal attack throughout, and even when the delivery is nicely wry (for example, the "Just Us" …
McLiam Wilson's last book, written in the mid-1990s, is a good portrait of Belfast at the point of transition, when the peace process was well underway and the city (and country of Northern Ireland) was moving out of its violent 30-year war. The book follows two main characters, a narrator and his friend, who live standard working-class lives in the port city. It has the wry humour and the perfectly pitched matter-of-fact-ness that is so typical of the city of Belfast.
Some of the tone is very dated, particularly with the male-centred story, the poorly developed female characters, and the strangely off-temperature treatment of characters who are not heterosexual or white. The satire is also a bit too hammy - Seamus Heaney (named Shague Ghithoss in the book) gets what seems a very unfair personal attack throughout, and even when the delivery is nicely wry (for example, the "Just Us" political party is a mistranslation of Sinn Féin's Irish name, and a pun on "justice") it can be laid on too thick.
Still, the book is very funny and is one of the best portraits of Belfast as a city that I have read.