A Son Called Gabriel

by Damian McNicholl

Hardcover, 2004

Status

Available

Call number

813

Genres

Collection

First Edition

Publication

CDS Books (2004), Hardcover, 343 pages

Description

Set in the hills of Northern Ireland in the 1960's and 70's, A Son Called Gabriel is a deeply felt and often funny coming-of-age novel that is ultimately unforgettable. Gabriel Harkin, the eldest of four children in a working-class family, struggles through a loving yet often brutal childhood. It's a turbulent time in Ulster, and in the staunchly Catholic community to which Gabriel belongs, the rigid code for belief and behaviour is clear. As Gabriel begins to suspect that he s not like other boys, he tries desperately to lock away his feelings, and his fears. But secrets have a way of being discovered, and Gabriel learns that his might not be the only one in the Harkin family.

User reviews

LibraryThing member Alirambles

I kept forgetting this book was fiction and not a memoir. It reads like a memoir. (I think it's a memoir disguised as fiction, but don't tell Gabriel's, I mean Damian's, family's neighbors that.) The names are all changed, and probably he added some fictional bits to make it more interesting. But,

besides the facts mirroring the author's life, irrelevant details find their way into the narrative. Things that only matter to people because it's the way it really happened, not because it moves the plot forward. For example, if you were writing a novel you wouldn't think to yourself, "Let's see, I only have 3 examples of my protagonist's schoolmates teasing him unmercifully and calling him a queer, I'd better stick another one in here." You'd figure you'd gotten your point across. But in a memoir, the author thinks, "Oh, yeah, and then there was Joe Schmoe in 8th grade--can't leave that one out. What a jerk."

I like to go in knowing which I'm reading, so the fact that it's labeled fiction and written like memoir was distracting. I'd find myself thinking "why is he telling us about his aunt's fiance who doesn't even appear as a character, when his aunt isn't even in this scene?" and then I'd decide it was because it was really a memoir and settle back into reading.

As memoirs go, it's very well written. I'd probably give it 4 stars, if it were billed as a memoir. As fiction, it only gets 3 from me, but I'd definitely read a work of true fiction by this author, if he writes one.

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LibraryThing member severina

Half-way through the first page you know you are in another place, another time, and it all feels real to you. The cadence of the language just takes you there, and *without* using dialect or dropped letters or anything else to do it. That's fine writing, my friends.

Gabriel also always comes across

as very human, very real, as do the family that we see through his eyes, and I enjoyed the book. Because the writing is so wonderful, and the character is so real, I wanted to enjoy the book *more* than I did. But there are a couple of plot points that I feel dilute Gabriel's story. I think it would have been more powerful had the writer strictly stuck with a coming-of-age type story, instead of throwing in the additional 'trauma'. (I don't want to reveal anything here, because I don't want to ruin the story for anyone who hasn't read it!)

I'll definitely be keeping this one in my collection to re-read.

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LibraryThing member CarolynSchroeder

This is a beautiful coming-of-age story that centers around a Catholic boy's struggle to recognize and accept his homosexuality amidst a turbulent Northern Ireland in the 1960s-1970s. It is sad, wise and at times, pretty raunchy. The writing is great, it really made me feel like I was there in

Ireland, during that time. The characters are so well developed and despite quirks, I easily and quickly grew to care about them. While the author could have easily fallen prey to bashing on the Catholic church and such, he makes you understand more than inflame. I think his handling of such enormous topics was sensitive, interesting and open-minded. However, I think the novel could have used some editing, some themes, like Gabriel's struggle to succeed in school and his battle with his homosexuality, seemed to play out endlessly ~ very repetitive. It could have been tightened up quite a bit. But overall, that is a small complaint. I enjoyed the reading, the learning and the place and time. I do recommend this book, but the sexual content is rather graphic, so one must be okay with that.

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LibraryThing member jwhenderson

This is a gentle story narrated by young Gabriel Harkin, the son of the title, who lives in Northern Ireland during the 1960s and 70s. A young boy in 1964 when the novel begins, his story is one of growing up during the time of the "troubles" which provide a subtle background for his personal

experience of dealing with his own homosexuality. He does well enough in school, but is not a scholar, and from the beginning he does not fit in either at school or at home. The novel traces his gradual discovery of why this is, and his homosexuality is only one of the reasons. How he deals with his growing awareness of his sexuality is one source of suspense in the story. At the same time his family gradually prospers financially even as the violence of the "troubles" grows ever more menacing in the background. This novel is quiet and understated, but it has just the right tone for the story. There is additional suspense primarily due to a subplot regarding Gabriel's Uncle Brendan who is away from home at the beginning of the story. He returns and the result of that event along with the growing political clamor provides sufficient action to keep the reader interested until Gabriel's story comes to its climactic close.

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