An Irish Novel to Read in July

Since mid-April I have lost time, and now June is over.  But this Sunday I suggest reading This Is Happiness by the Irish writer, Niall Williams. In early April an orthopedic & literary friend gave me this novel. This week I happily read it … from the first four word chapter: “It had stopped raining” to the 44th chapter, “Electricity was switched on in Fara, County Clare, Ireland.” Rain and electricity are powerful metaphors in This Is Happiness.

The novel opens with three pages of testimonials. The one by Ron Charles of the Wash Post especially resonated. He wrote the novel is comic and poignant in equal measure. And he admitted that if he hadn’t stopped underlining passages, the whole novel would have been underlined.  This was true for me, too, with a blue Le Pen in hand. That’s how intoxicating I found the language. Charles ended by saying, “If you’re a reader craving a novel of delicate wit, laced with raw wisdom, this one, truly, is happiness.”

At 380 pages the novel felt short, absorbed as I was in time travel to rural Ireland, living with memorable characters whose generosity of spirit and expanded hearts was a gift.  I thank Sir William, the orthopedic, for his gift of this novel. “Everybody carries a world.  But certain people change the air about them.  That’s the best I can say.  It can’t be explained, only felt.” (p. 41)

Until next week…for literature I love….Gail