Review: Solace by Belinda McKeon

Solace by Belinda McKeon is set in modern day Ireland while the country is in the throes of economic crisis following the boom years.  Mark Casey is a PhD student at Trinity College in Dublin and is called home frequently to Longford to help his father, Tom, with the family farm. Mark deeply resents being urged back to the farm each weekend but his dislike for farming, like so much else, remains unsaid between Mark and his father. His mother constantly negotiates a careful peace between father and son - gently reminding Mark of his obligation to the family while making excuses to Tom when Mark doesn't make it down from Dublin for another weekend. Mark is away from home but not truly away  - the binds to the farm and family are not easily broken.

While in Dublin, Mark meets Joanne, a trainee "solicitor" (attorney) and they quickly fall into a relationship.  Like Mark, Joanne is from Longford and somewhat estranged from her family.  Although her mother doesn't expect her home each weekend, their relationship, much like Mark and Tom's, is fractured and she is separated from her mother by more than the mileage between Dublin and Longford. In that sense, Mark and Joanne understand each other and are both struggling to live their own lives separate from their families of origin.  Joanne certainly succeeds at that to a greater degree than Mark but she pays the price of total estrangement from her mother whereas Mark is unable to shut his parents out and carries out his obligatory farm work many weekends each month.

The book opens with a scene involving Mark, Tom and a baby girl on the farm - it is clearly post a tragedy but the reader doesn't know what tragedy has occurred or the relationship of the baby to Tom and Mark.  The novel then flashes back and moves slowly towards the tragic event. This keeps the story moving despite it being an otherwise quiet novel. The quietness stems from the persistent tension between the characters - especially Mark and Tom. The two men understand so little about each other but struggle, still, to communicate until it is almost painful to watch. Underneath their resentments and lack of understanding for each other, however, is a desire to connect and a love between father and son which cannot be denied.

My Thoughts
I was introduced to this book during a reading I attended at The Center of Fiction. Belinda McKeon, a young, debut writer from Ireland, appeared with Colm Toibin, one of Ireland's greatest modern writers. Each read from their new novels and talked about how "home" was represented in their novels and the meaning of home in many Irish novels. After reading Solace, I see other parallels between McKeon and Toibin's writing. They both write quiet novels where little may happen on the surface but there is much going on in the mind of the characters as they struggle to understand themselves and relate to those around them.  There is a darkness to their novels generally created by troubled characters steadily moving through life. If Toibin's spare style with characters grappling to understand themselves and move beyond losses great and small appeals to you, pick up Solace.  I am confident this novel will be one of many for the talented writer.