Book Review: Prophet Song by Paul Lynch
Prophet Song by Paul Lynch
My rating: 4.75 of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
On a dark, wet evening in Dublin, scientist and mother-of-four Eilish Stack answers her front door to find two officers from Ireland’s newly formed secret police on her step. They have arrived to interrogate her husband, a trade unionist.
Ireland is falling apart, caught in the grip of a government turning towards tyranny. As the life she knows and the ones she loves disappear before her eyes, Eilish must contend with the dystopian logic of her new, unraveling country. How far will she go to save her family? And what—or who—is she willing to leave behind?
The winner of the Booker Prize 2023 and a critically acclaimed national bestseller, Prophet Song presents a terrifying and shocking vision of a country sliding into authoritarianism and a deeply human portrait of a mother’s fight to hold her family together.
Prophet Song is speculative fiction that takes place in Ireland. Eilish and Larry live normal middle-class lives until one day, the government, run by The National Alliance Party, declares an emergency. Her husband, a high-ranking unionist, is taken away by the government and Eilish has no idea where he is or what happened to him. Her oldest son is in danger of being drafted.
A rebel force rises to oppose the government and the unrest increases. A curfew is imposed. Life becomes bleak and dangerous. People are risking their lives to cross the border and get out of Ireland.
Not only is Eilish trying to protect her four children, but she is also caring for her elderly father who has dementia. If she wanted to leave it would be difficult. Should she even try?
Paul Lynch never states what the emergency is or what the ideology of either side actually is. This makes it easier to imagine that what the government is doing could happen anywhere. In fact, it’s currently beginning to happen in the United States, which makes this book even scarier. This also keeps the focus on the question of, “What would you do if you were put in this situation?” and not on how you feel about the specifics of what the government and rebels think.
A warning: Lynch does not use quotation marks or paragraph breaks. In general, I find a lack of punctuation pretentious and annoying. I’m sure he had his reasons, but I found it much easier to listen to the audiobook because of this.
Prophet Song was one of my book clubs’ pick for June. There was so much to discuss – we discussed it for the entire hour without even hardly referring to the host prepared questions. The conversation just flowed naturally. This is a book that stays with you.
Highly recommended.
