The Heart's Invisible Furies

John Boyne's tale of one man's life, all but from conception to death, is a funny, poignant, moving and at times heartbreaking story as much about Ireland as about its lead character, Cyril Avery. From high farce it turns on a sixpence to dark introspection, the literary equivalent of spinning plates, which it achieves with consummate ease and a very deft hand. From the opening paragraph (surely the perfect example of 'how to hook your readers with your very first line') to its final words it makes for compelling reading you both want to devour and yet never want to end.Given the book is written by a gay Irish man there is more than a little to the story that is autobiographical, or at least extrapolated, as the author himself reveals in the touchingly honest afterword. He admits that his success as a writer to date gave him free rein to make of this novel what he has, juggling a range of styles and including a number of issues that are important to him personally. Not that this is to the novel's detriment in any way: it helps tell a full and complex story that will linger in the memory for a long time.As triumphant as the novel is, its very nature dictates that it can never be as satisfying as it perhaps could be. As the narrative shifts forward seven years every 70 pages or so, covering the 70 years in the life of the aforementioned Cyril Avery, it focuses on key events and smaller moments but with far more going unsaid than is written on the page. In this sense, while its cast of characters is memorable and for the most part beautifully drawn, the shifting timeframe means that some are quicker sketches than others. One disappointment for me personally is that we don't really get to know Bastiaan, arguably the most important man in Cyril's life, as well as we ought to. (This coincides with the one section of the novel I felt was the least successfully indulgent, if you like, shining an otherwise admirable spotlight on the AIDS crisis of the 1980s and sacrificing characterisation a little in the process.)Purely in terms of credulity the weak point of the narrative is that it involves a series of unlikely coincidences, with Cyril encountering key characters again and again in his life - which would require less suspension of disbelief if the setting did not change repeatedly throughout, taking the story to other countries and even other continents. It also gives itself permission at times to adopt traditionally filmic elements, which make the story no less satisfying (indeed more so in parts) but rather make it feel like the author is already planning his adapted screenplay for when the novel is turned into a lavish six-part mini-series. The final chapter is the most obvious example of this.These gripes aside, however, I have nothing but good things to say about The Heart's Invisible Furies. From its laugh-out-loud moments via its thought-provoking interludes to scenes and sentiments that gave me pause to be thankful for what I have in life, it made for very rewarding reading. I often say with other books I've read that I would be happy to read them again; with this one I know for certain that I will return to it, hopefully many times.P.S. One question for anyone who's read it and can perhaps set me straight: was it just my imagination, did I miss something or does Cyril's conversation with Mrs Goggin about the aftermath of the events in Central Park not tally with the information given elsewhere in the book? (Twice a trial is mentioned, but Cyril later tells Mrs Goggin that the culprits were never caught.)

Set against seven decades of Irish history, this majestic odyssey of a novel tells the compelling story of one man’s quest to discover his true self and, with it, a place where he can belong. From start to finish, it is an utterly absorbing read: at times shocking and tragic, at others poignant and funny. Boyne’s skillfully balanced narrative will make you weep, and then laugh out loud before the tears are dry on your cheeks. And it will cling, limpet-like, to your consciousness long after you turn the final page.Cyril Avery, the novel’s gay, illegitimate hero, is a triumph of characterization, even for Boyne. Born in the wrong place at the wrong time, Cyril relates his inner and outer struggles with an almost dispassionate fluidity that serves only to heighten the confusion, anger and shame that define his existence. The light touches of often self-deprecating wit are a master stroke, adding an almost wicked playfulness to his otherwise tortured soul. Cyril is a character who effortlessly commands both affection and empathy, first as a boy, growing up in an adopted, loveless home, then as a man, tormented by his sexuality and plagued by tragedy even when he finally finds happiness.The narrative itself has a lovely Dickensian flavor, with a fabulously eccentric supporting cast and a raft of odd coincidences and missed opportunities that in any other context would be deemed beyond the pale. Here, though, as Boyne works his magic and sucks you into his tale, credibility takes a back seat to the sheer enjoyment of the storytelling.And enjoy it I did - all 600 pages. A magnificent, tour de force of a novel.Thanks for reading my review. I hope you found it helpful. You can find more candid book reviews on my profile page.

I read this book as a nominated book for the book club I belong to, and its one of the best books I have read for quite a while, its not often that I leave reviews but this is definitely worth reading

If I could have given this 6 stars, I would have. As per all other comments, it's a magnificent journey through the decades. The characters come to life on the page, and move in to your heart. It'll make you angry about the bigotry, lack of humanity, barbaric practices and moronic prejudices of the Catholic church. It'll make you sad about unrequited love. It'll make you laugh and cheer at the sheer determination of strong, solid humans. And like all of John Boyne's work, it'll stay with you long after you've turned the last page.

I laughed out loud at this book, I cried at this book, I love this book.I don't have the words to adequately praise the beauty of this story. Cyril's life story so stunningly told. Believable characters, and situations reflecting the history of the time. The whole gamut of emotions. I have only just discovered John Boyne, but I am so looking forward to reading everything else he has ever written.

This book is brilliant. It is dedicated to John Irving, and I can see why. It reminded me of Irving’s very best work: Owen Meany and The Cider House Rules.It is the story of the life of one man, told against the backdrop of twentieth century Ireland. It is simultaneously heartbreaking, funny and life-affirming. Can’t recommend it enough.

It does go on, this story. There's a lot of skill in this writer, but not a lot of ability to economize and/or edit. It's tale, a saga really, of one Irishman from conception to old age. It's Ireland, too, from its conception as an independent republic after WW1 to the present. Both Cyril and Ireland are the principals, with a supporting cast of Dutch, German, Slovakians, and Brits. Boyne's got humour and when he's funny he's hilarious, but he gets bogged down in far too much structural shenanigans and unnecessary detail that it's a brave struggle to finally make it to end, and even then he has trouble winding it all down. I'd have been hopelessly lost in the time warps and gaps with a lesser writer, so here's to John Boyne for mapping the intertwining of characters and events clearly enough that I kept going, somehow confident he'd get me there. I read via E-book (Kindle), so the temptation to flip through and skip clutches of pages at a time was missed. Boyne likes writing. I wish he liked editing as much.

Cyril Avery’s birth mother was raised with a very strict Catholic upbringing and when it was discovered that she was pregnant and unmarried, she was soon cast out of her family, her church and her town. She gave birth to Cyril and gave him up for adoption. This story tells Cyril’s life from birth to death covering not only his major life events but also world events such as the AIDS crisis and 9/11 along with the ongoing prejudice against gay men. We travel with Cyril from Dublin to Amsterdam to New York and back to Ireland.There are quite a few characters in this book but what I loved was how the author plotted the story so that all the character’s lives intersected at some point. When a new character was introduced, the reader may not know exactly what role they will play in Cyril’s life, but at some point, they will intersect and all will be illuminated.This is a chunky book running approximately 590 pages on my Kindle, however, I became so engrossed in the story that it felt like I got to the end of Cyril’s story too soon.Highly recommend this book – I give it five stars and it is my favorite read so far this year.

This book is a sort of a different read for me. Yes it was something unique from all the other books that I read. This is a book about Cyril, the protagonist who is a homosexual in Ireland. The story begins from 1945 where Mrs.Goggins, Cyril's mother is thrown out of the church and ends in 2015. This explains the length of the book indeed (713 pages). It describes more about Ireland and the lifestyle change of people there way from older days to today. I really was able to discover lots of new ideas from the book. It gave my mind a more broad view on different parts of the world and stuffs. The entire life of Cyril from scratch made me realize that the world is really huge and means more than what we knew. It was really a wonderful experience reading this book. Although it didn't go well for me at first, the subsequent parts where really interesting. The narration was good and kept going smoothly. There were lots of varied characters and yes it requires your effort in keeping track of them. Each people in the books had their own thoughts yet everyone was justified and that is what I like the most of this book. The relationship between Cyril and Alice was my favourite especially specially towards the end. The book was so hilarious and I kept laughing at many places. It was also moving at the same time with lots of loses and sadness happening. It is a book where one could really understand so many things and will love it. I really liked it on the whole.

John Boyne always takes you into places of emotional intensity but this book, for me, was the most intense journey of all. It covers the time from 1945 to 2015 and you realise what the huge changes over those times mean for the homosexual community, especially the one in Ireland, dominated as it was by the Catholic priests whose own tormented sexuality blighted the sexuality of others.Homosexuals have been hurt by rejection, shame, self-hatred and the cruelty and violence of others. John Boyne portrays the way that casual words flung out in humour can wound others. His main character, Cyril, never fully flourishes as a person because of the harshness of the times that he lives in, but neither is he vanquished.There is light humour and bitter humour mingled in with the gently lilting Irish speech in this wonderfully written book which carries you along from beginning to end.

There’s something Proustian about this book, an author’s first person account of trying to organize his life within a complex, hurtful and autocratic society (in this case, Ireland, from the 1940’s till today). And, undeniably, the last chapters constitute the equivalent of Proust’s Time Regained, where every character from the book, dead or alive, is trotted out one more time for a last appearance and resolution of his/her life (or death), from now on.Deeply touching, at times uproariously funny, at other times, profoundly tragic or even as melodramatic as only the Irish can be, this book serves it all up in lively scenes and beautifully crafted dialogues that carry you along from one surprise to the next. And even if some of these surprises are a little over the top, the « Irishness » of the book lets you believe them.No wonder, the readers of the New York Times voted this their favourite book, in 2017!

A masterpiece, it is. Humorous, beautifully written and achingly sad. It's well built characters never fail to stir the strings in your heart. The protagonist's story becomes yours and when that happens, you know the book's one of favorites.

Una de las mejores novelas que he leído, sino la mejor. Por contenido podría haber sido una obra demasiado cruda y dramática si el autor no la hubiese complementado con su genial sentido del humor. Arrebatadora en muchos momentos, llena de pasajes inolvidables, tremendamente rica en cuanto a situaciones y contextos, pues recoge toda una vida. Absolutamente recomendable.

This book shows how a religion's underlying loving philosophy can be twisted by the demented actions of flawed men. It takes you on a tragi-comic journey which will have you in tears of laughter and sadness - sometimes at the same time - as a young boy struggles to accept and reveal his sexuality in Ireland's bigoted and often violent society and finds that he has allies where he least expects them.

The start was great but then I found it slow, extremely predictable and, sorry, a little boring. I’ve read the reviews and they are all amazing so I realise I must have missed something. Sad, lonely lives that all somehow came together perfectly throughout the story, to finish with a happy ending for all.

I had a feeling John Boyne may have put his heart and soul into this book, though I had little idea how so. The blurb is intentionally vague, we know Cyril has been adopted and that the book is about his struggle with coming to terms with his identity.The last novel of his that I read was The Boy in Striped Pyjamas, a moving story set during WW2, seen through the innocent eyes of Bruno, the eight-year-old son of the commandant at a German concentration camp.In The Heart’s Invisible Furies, a title taken from a quote by Hannah Arendt, the German-born American political theorist:“A line came into my mind, something that Hannah Arendt once said about the poet Auden: that life had manifested the heart’s invisible furies on his face.”we meet 16-year-old Catherine Goggin, sitting quietly in church in a small Irish village of Goleen in County Cork, as she is about to be denounced and humiliated in front of the entire congregation, then thrown out of, not only the church, but her home and the village, for bringing shame on the community.The story is narrated through the voice of her not-yet born son, the boy that we come to know as Cyril Avery; he will be adopted and raised by Charles and Maude Avery, after Catherine travels to Dublin and takes up employment in the tea room of the Dáil Éireann (House of Representatives), where she is given a chance by the manageress, and eventually becoming that herself.The book is divided into different parts, each covering a significant chunk of Cyril’s life, initially in Ireland, then a period in Amsterdam, time in New York and finally coming back to Ireland.Cyril finds it extremely difficult within his family, his school and his culture to be himself. Through his inability to be and express himself, we see how oppressive a culture can be against anything or anyone who dares to step outside the acceptable norm, highlighting the extreme hypocrisy that therefore must exist, as humans by their very nature are not clones of each other, they are born and exist in more than just binary variations.In this first part, as Cyril is growing up, John Boyne makes something of a parody of his life, in particular in relation to his adoptive parents, who continually insist on reminding him that he is not a real Avery, and Cyril himself, so used to hearing this, will correct every person who uses the word mother or father, by inserting the word ‘adoptive’ to be sure they too understand.“I always called them Charles and Maude, never ‘Father’ and ‘Mother’. This was on Charles’s insistence as I wasn’t a real Avery. It didn’t bother me particularly but I know it made other people uncomfortable and once, in school, when I referred to them thus, a priest punched me around the ears and told me off for being modern.”The first time we read this, it seems sad, but the continual repetition makes it comic, and it is a tool that Boyne uses, perhaps to soften the effect of what must have been quite a soul-searching book to write, as he reaches deep into his own life experiences to create the life of Cyril.At the age of seven, he meets Julian, the son of a lawyer who is helping his father stay out of prison for tax evasion, they will become best friends."But for all that we had, for all the luxury to which we were accustomed, we were both denied love, and this deficiency would be scorched into our future lives like an ill-considered tattoo inscribed on the buttocks after a drunken night out, leading each of us inevitably towards isolation and disaster."While the novel focuses on Cyril’s attempts to survive in a world hostile to his natural inclinations, his experiences highlight the struggle that so many people encounter, unable to live their lives openly and honestly without the fear of rejection and violence.Boyne peels back the layers of Irish inclinations and attitudes in the 20th century and shows how destructive this closed mindedness is on the lives of anyone who crosses an imaginary line of acceptable ‘being’. The contrast with how Cyril is able to live his life in the Netherlands, shown through the carefree Bastiaan, who has known no such bigotry in his life experience is revealing.It’s hard to say too much about the novel without giving away spoilers, except to say that this astonishing novel is a courageous, honest attempt to show how the way we conform to society and culture’s expectations, against our own nature’s can be so harmful to so many and it makes us wonder how life might be, if we lived in a more utopian world, where tolerance reigned supreme.Boyne admits the comic form isn’t one he’s indulged in before and he has deliberately avoided writing anything personal in his novels until now.“Perhaps Cyril Avery is everyone I might have been, that I am, that I amn’t, and that I might be yet. The desire to fall in love and to share one’s life with someone is neither a homosexual nor a heterosexual conceit. It’s human. We’re all suckers for a pretty face or a kind heart. What else can we do but keep hoping that the right person will show up?” John Boyne

Absolutely loved this book one of the best reads of the year. Every character, situation conveyed itself into an incredible storey line. Truly didn’t want it to come to and however with everything in life there has to be closure.

Love this author and always happy to see another new book from the pen of John Boyne. Cyril Avery is a character I cannot forget and certainly can relate to. I discovered John Boyne when I came across his book A History of Loneliness.

Extremely funny and preposterous at the beginning, the book becomes much more serious and tragic as it progresses. I don't normally appreciate crude language but here it's necessary for the story and I didn't find it offensive. Cyril Avery is brought up by adoptive parents who don't really seem to know what he's doing there and are always assuring him that he's 'not a real Avery' and he has to call his adoptive parents by their first names; unheard of at the time. The story of his life from birth to death gives a poignant insight as what it was like to be a gay man in Ireland in the 60s and lays bare the hypocrisy and cruelty of the Catholic priests. The best book I've read for a long time.

From 1940’s to present day. Follows the life of a gay man in repressive Ireland, his adoptive parents, his great loves, his mother and circle of family and friends. His years in Amsterdam and New York add great interest before he returns Ireland to make peace with key figures throughout his life. Sad, powerful and redemptive. A very good read indeed.

Such a gorgeous, tenderhearted account of a gay man's life and how systemic bigotry, discrimination and homophobia shaped his decisions, actions and deeds.