Book of the Month - By Kathleen Thorne

A Long Way Home
By Sebastian Barry

Published by Faber and Faber
Cost € 10.50

The first world war in all its misery and cruelty stalks the pages of A Long Long Way. That was the war in which Europe sacrificed its youth to the strategies and brutalities of people who had scant regard for the men who suffered unspeakable tortures in the trenches.

Sebastian Barry tells this story through the experiences of his fictional character, Willie Dunne. Willie is a Dublin boy. He is the only son of an RIC man caught up in the tensions of Dublin during the fight for independence. Family loyalty is to the crown and they have no sympathy for the 1916 insurgents whom they see as creating havoc on the streets of Dublin.

Willie fails to become a policeman because of his short stature. This flaw, for such was how his father views it, is not an inhibiting factor in his joining the British Army. He joins up for idealistic reasons. "He knew he must play his part."

After his training in Fermoy he is sent to England and from there to France. Initially he experiences great joy in seeing new places. He has time to think while being transported to the war, and is filled with a kind of euphoria about the noble enterprise he is embarking on. His platoon leader is Captain Pasley from Wicklow, near where his father came from. Willie makes friends amongst his comrades-in-arms.

Disillusionment comes quickly. First "a hand of fear dipped into his stomach." Then in the trenches "there was the roaring of death and the smallest thing was a man." "The yellow fog" is a truly terrible experience for Willie and his comrades. It takes the life of Captain Pasley who fails to realise "it was a filthy gas sent over by the filthy Boche to work perdition on them."

Father Buckley is Catholic chaplain to the Irish. He is a man of absolute devotion and loyalty to his work. "The men liked him as they would perhaps a beloved aunt." Like so many of the others, his sheer bravery is astonishing. In his role as chaplain he acts like a thread uniting so many awful events and personal stories.

There is the tragedy of Jesse Kirwan who refuses to obey orders. For this he is cruelly punished and is executed at dawn for his insubordination.

Women also figure in this book. We see them in the light of war and its effects on them. We get to know Willie’s sisters, who are such an important part of his life. We learn about his girl friend, Gretta, whose love for him is tarnished by the treachery of one of his comrades-inarms. We also catch a glimpse of Mrs Pasley, the mother of Captain Pasley. And then there is the Belgian woman who suffers horrendously in the midst of war.

This is a balanced book. Even though it exposes us to the horrors of the trenches and all that World War I visited upon those involved, it is balanced by convincing characterisation. It explores the complexities of family relationships. It comments on the role of religion in such terrible events. It depicts human nature in both its glory and its depravity.

In other words there is a lot more to A Long Long Way than just a portrayal of one of history’s most evil events.

Back to Chill-out Homepage »