83 of 83 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A heartbreaking tale that rewards the reader's patience, May 10, 2003
Let's start off by saying this book may not be for everyone--but it should be. I'm not referring here to the fact that its three lead characters are gay, since "At Swim, Two Boys" is so much more than "a gay novel" and since, while often sensuous, it is hardly erotic. Instead, the efforts of many readers may be thwarted by O'Neill's challenging and lyrical prose, the Irish brogue and street slang, the invented Latin derivations and oh-so-clever puns. After 50 to 75 pages, though, the reader's patience is well rewarded. Once you accustom yourself to the pattern of the prose, the context provides clues to even the most unfamiliar words, and I found the book difficult to set aside. (A little advice: after you pick up the cadence of the dialect, you may well want to go back and read those beginning pages again. The second time around revealed some wonderful passages and pivotal characterizations that flew right over my head initially.)
Set during the year prior to the Easter Rising in 1916, the novel focuses on two 16-year-old boys, Doyler and Jim, and their families. The main characters are finely portrayed, and (as others have noted) they successfully arouse the reader's sympathies. But O'Neill adds a memorable supporting cast: Jim's aunt, a doddering, whiskered crone who always seems far more aware of what's going on than one is led to believe; Eva MacMurrough, a rich patron of Irish rebel causes who is flustered by her nephew's Wildean tendencies; and, for comic relief, Jim's father, a pretentious wannabe who always manages to be in exactly the wrong place at the wrong time.
The most nuanced portrayal is that of the Anthony MacMurrough. Once may quibble over whether he is a pedophile: textual clues place his age in his early- to mid-20s; Doyler, his "rent boy," is 16. (If he were straight, such a relationship would be lawful and accepted in many states and most countries.) Legality aside, though, one cannot deny he is a sexual predator, and it's difficult not to detest his narcissism and self-rationalizing hedonism. But, as the novel progresses (and here I am necessarily vague in order not to give anything away), he gradually and subtly realizes that such encounters are not the road to happiness. He ultimately redeems himself, learning to find fulfillment by sharing his love rather than taking his way. But to claim that MacMurrough is a "mentor" to Doyler and Jim misses the point: he learns far more from the boys than they learn from him.
A lesser author would be foolish to tackle so much: Irish nationalism, sexual orientation, Catholic guilt, alcoholism, class identity, unwed pregnancy, unionism and socialism, the burden of tradition, Joyce and Wilde and Flann O'Brien. O'Neill's success is his enviable ability to weave together all these topics so seamlessly while fashioning a unique and lyrical voice and spinning a page-turning, heartbreaking yarn.
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71 of 72 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A straight reader's response, May 27, 2002
By A Customer
This is easily the best novel I've read this year. Anyone who can't relate to the universal, and universally appealing, themes that O'Neill treats in this ambitious work simply isn't reading with either an open mind or an open heart.
This is not a "genre" novel; it's outstanding writing by any standards one could think to apply. The story is tightly crafted, rich and complex, and the characters are unforgettable. And yes, as some reviewers discovered to their chagrin, a number of them display the moral ambiguity so characteristic of our species.
I gave this novel to my wife when I finished it, and recommended it to my (also straight) 22-year-old son. If you love fine writing and aren't obsessed with hating those whose sexual orientation puts them in the minority, you'll be deeply moved by this novel.
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67 of 72 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Pal o' me heart, so he was.", April 29, 2002
The tragedy of this book is that thoughtful people who might overwise read it may not because they perceive it as a "gay" novel, whatever that means. This is a gay novel in the way BELOVED is a black novel or PORTNOY'S COMPLAINT is a Jewish novel. A book that anyone who loves serious literature should read, it has all the things I look for in a good novel: an involved plot, wonderful character development and beautiful language. If you believe the old fashioned novel is dead, At SWIM TWO BOYS should convince you otherwise. It actually feels like a 19th century novel in its epic quality. Yes, the three main characters are gay; and this book is as good as any-- perhaps better than any with gay characters I can recall. Almost 600 pages long-- you will be amazed at how quickly the pages fly by-- the novel is set in Ireland in 1915 and 1916. The three main characters, two teenage boys, Jim and Doyler and an adult, MacMurrough, become as real to you as your friends and family. These characters possess a resilience and courage that will make you care for them desperately. Ultimately they will break your heart.
Mr. O'Neill's prose is fine indeed. One example: there is a wonderful scene when MacMurrough watches Jim leave him. "A terrible fear shook him, a fear for his boy and what the future might hold. Lest he should stumble and the crowd should find him. For we live as angels among the Sodomites. And every day the crowd finds some one of us out. . . There is no grand mistake. Aristotle wrote something that Augustine got wrong that Aquinas codified in law. . . What hates is madness. There's no reason, only madness. . . Who but a madman could revile this boy?" This is NOT the love that dare not speak its name.
Words used to describe this novel sound trite: "honor," "optimism," "friendship," "patriotism," "love." We can only hope Mr. O'Neill does not take 10 years to write another novel.
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