Review of Books

From “Pelican Song,” about a grown daughter unable to extricate her mother from a life of domestic abuse that she has repeatedly chosen, to “Rome,” about a young girl becoming increasingly party to her father’s infidelities, the stories often revolve around the devastating theme of children suffering for the indiscretions of the grown-ups that surround them and dictate their realities.
– Kara Rota (148 pages / Black Cat, an imprint of Grove/Atlantic, Inc. / $15.00)

Simultaneously a thriller, mystery and romance, Darling Jim began when author Christian Moerk found an old newspaper clipping describing the mysterious murders of three sisters and their aunt in their suburban Dublin home. Moerk decided to transform the gruesome event into an otherworldly love tale, weaving the tradition of Irish storytelling into his characters’ lives as well as his own narrative.

Beginning in the coastal town of Malahide, the novel delves head on into the horrific discovery of the corpses. However, only two of the sisters’ bodies are found. The third Walsh sister, Fiona, has vanished, leaving in her wake a diary that tells of an intense romance that is far from over. To complicate matters, the local mailman discovers the diary just as an alluring stranger, Jim, shows up in town. The Walsh sisters are strong enough to resist Jim’s charms, but are they in too deep when they begin to uncover his past?

Moerk keeps the mystery going by slowly unfolding the story through entries from the sisters’ diaries. With rich, detailed language that envelops the reader from the first page, Moerk’s unique spin on Irish mythology combines the grisly with the magical for a suspenseful read.
– Aliah O’Neill (288 pages / Holt Paperbacks / $15.00)

Larry Kirwan, frontman of Black 47 and author of Green Suede Shoes, returns with Rockin’ the Bronx, another story of the Irish experience in America, this time through the eyes of Sean Kelly, a recent immigrant who comes to the Bronx in search of his girlfriend Mary. What he finds, based on Kirwan’s lurid descriptions, is an urban wasteland: the Irish stronghold on Bainbridge Avenue is barely a comfort in this utterly bizarre landscape, full of garbage, crime, and violence. Kirwan’s choice to set the novel in the early 80s increases the general tension of the story; among the novel’s many tribulations are the death of Bobby Sands, the destitution of drug addiction, and the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, all amid the struggle to survive in a place far from its idyllic status across the Atlantic.

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Nster.com