Jun 30

Jun 30 The Heart in Winter

About the book

Author: Kevin Barry
Publisher: Doubleday

More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the review.

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Bookshop.org (print) | Libro.fm (audio)

My Review

I absolutely LOVED Night Boat to Tangier, so imagine my excitement to hear that Irish powerhouse Kevin Barry had written not only an American western, but a LOVE STORY. Did it live up to the hype? You bet your bookloving butt it did.

“…And wasn’t it a remarkable turn of events that showed love and death they co-exist in our violent and sentimental world. They might even depend one on the other.”

The story takes place in a small mining town full of Irish immigrants in Montana in 1891, starting on the cusp of winter. Tom Rourke is a bit of a scoundrel who spends his nights flitting between drinks, girls, and opium. That is, until Polly comes to town, complete with her own rough edges. The two quickly fall in love, never mind her brand-new husband, and set off into the mountains toward San Francisco to make a future together. But of course, it could never be that easy.

One paragraph into this book I was hooked, and five pages in I was obsessed. I could spend thousands of pages reading Barry’s prose; he’s just unbelievable on a sentence level. He has a musicality that takes a couple of chapters to settle into, but once you do, you can’t help but bask. I bow down.

I was also so impressed by the way this book felt so Irish and so American at the same time. I was wholly transported into the cold mountain winter in the West, harsh and beautiful both. I rooted for Tom and Polly, I booed the bad guys chasing them, I gasped in all the right places. It was just such a fantastic reading experience.

The only thing I could see keeping it from winning awards is the fact that I’m not sure if this book does much that’s NEW — it’s just extremely excellently done. But sometimes that is enough, yes?

Don’t sleep on this book when it comes out on July 9th!