Nonfiction review: SAY NOTHING (+Discussion questions)

Title: Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe

Book beginnings quote: 

Jean McConville was thirty-eight when she disappeared, and she had spent nearly half her life either pregnant or recovering from childbirth. She brought fourteen children to term and lost four of them, leaving her with ten kids who ranged from Anne, who was twenty, to Billy and Jim, the sweet-eyed twins, who were six.

Friday56 quote:

Stories about the Price sisters began to circulate among British troops stationed in Belfast and to find their way into the accounts of visiting war correspondents. They developed an outsize reputation as deadly femmes fates who would venture into the mean streets of Belfast with an assault rifle hidden "down a bell-bottomed trouser leg."

Summary:

Patrick Radden Keefe's mesmerizing book on the bitter conflict in Northern Ireland and its aftermath uses the McConville case as a starting point for the tale of a society wracked by a violent guerrilla war, a war whose consequences have never been reckoned with. The brutal violence seared not only people like the McConville children, but also I.R.A. members embittered by a peace that fell far short of the goal of a united Ireland, and left them wondering whether the killings they committed were not justified acts of war, but simple murders.

Review: Last year the New York Time published a list of the 100 Best Books of the 21st Century and Say Nothing was in spot #19. I'd never heard of the book before and was intrigued by a book about the Troubles in Northern Ireland so when I saw it on a list of book club kits at my library I checked it out. I confess I knew very little about the Troubles. In fact, I knew so little I didn't even know that the conflict between the Catholics (Republicans) and Protestants (Unionists) was called "the Troubles." I did know a conflict was taking place in Northern Ireland, however, since I went to school in London for a term in 1979 and precautions were in place against attacks and the sheer length of thing, thirty years from 1968-1998. 

My husband and I opted to listen to the audiobook together on a recent long car trip. At first I thought, "oh no, a dense book about this bombing and that bombing" but soon we settled in and found ourselves quite caught up in the details. Keefe uses the McConville case as a starting point for the tale about the violent guerilla war and then continues with the case as the peace treaty is signed and the search for the disappeared people began. In the beginning one gets the feeling Keefe is on the side of the IRA and the republicans' cause. All of the people we meet-- Gerry Adams, Brendan Hughes, and the Price sisters -- are in the IRA. Then, as the story of the conflict goes on, it feels like there is a turn, and one is left wondering what all this guerilla warfare is accomplishing. Finally, as the conflict ends and politic begins, we are left with the understanding of how cruel and heartless the actions within the IRA were. Both Don and I thought the book was brilliant and rated it with 5 stars.

But does a brilliant book necessarily make for a good book club discussion choice? We'll see in a few weeks. I'm worried, though. The book is long, 540 pages, which includes over 100 pages in notes and an extensive index. I've never seen such a well-documented book. One gal I spoke to yesterday said she isn't enjoying the book because it is so repetitive. (Bomb here, explosion there!) I wonder how many gals will read on long enough to get to the part of the book dealing with the murder and everyone's memories? Even though I am not charged with leading the discussion this month I thought I'd try my hand at writing out a few discussion questions.

Say Nothing Book Club Discussion questions/starters:

1. What did you know about the Troubles before reading Say Nothing?

2. Why do you think the author started the book with McConville obduction? How did her disappearance impact her children? Why do you think the neighbors didn't help the children?

3. In a lot of ways Say Nothing was the stories of two women: Jean McConville and Deloris Price. Do you think this was a good way to tell the story of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Use examples.

4. Roddy Doyle, writing for the NYT said Say Nothing reads like a detective novel. Do you agree or disagree and why?

5. After the peace agreement Gerry Adams disavowed his involvement in the IRA. Do you believe him? How does this compare to politics today?

6. How important are oral histories in understanding conflicts? What did you think about the Belfast Project with Boston College?

7. After wars/conflicts should any of the combatants be held accountable? What made feel the most outrage in Say Nothing?

8. Though the opposing sides were Catholics and Protestants did you feel like the Troubles were really about religion? Why or why not?

9. Northern Ireland voted to remain in EU when the rest of UK voted to exit in the Brexit vote of 2016. What did Keefe muse about this fact as he looked at the current uneasy peace in Northern Ireland right now?

10. Say Nothing won a bunch of book awards (National Book Award Nominee for Nonfiction (2019), Orwell Prize for Political Writing (2019), Dayton Literary Peace Prize Nominee for Nonfiction (2020), Arthur Ross Book Award for Gold Medal (2020), National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction (2019), Kirkus Prize Nominee for Nonfiction (2019), Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for History & Biography (2019)) Do you think it was award-worthy writing and research? Why? Why not? What did you think about it's over 100 pages of author's notes and the index? Would you recommend this book to anyone?

11. Compare the opening line (provided above) with the last paragraph of the narrative. Do you think the author did a good job bringing the book around full circle?

Challenges: 

• 20 Books of Summer: this is the 24th book I've read this summer so far.
• Big Book Summer Challenge: 540 pages, 412 pages of text.

-Anne