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A Long Long Way

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There have been a lot of great novels published about life in modern Ireland. Many focus on the country's passionate fight for independence from Britain, or the brutal land evictions, or the sadness of having to emigrate to a new land. While there is still a great story or two coming out of these times, none really compares in power and vision to Sebastian Barry's works. Through very colorful and detailed descriptions of everyday Irish life, Barry equips his main characters with a heroic determination to make sense of their troubled lives. While politics, religion, and social mores play the traditional roles of trying to hold the individual back, Barry's protagonists have the courage to persist in their search for their true identity. The results of Barry's literary efforts so far are a series of complex and cautionary tales that describe the vast opportunities and uncertainties awaiting those who go it alone. Barry's "The Long Long Way" is just one such example of his ability to make his characters come alive. Young Willie grows up in a Dublin that is still under British Rule as World War I is about to break out. His parents are Anglo-Irish, and his father works for the British government as a high-ranking police officer. Theirs is a comfortable existence that Barry regularly compares with the urban poor of Ireland living close at hand. Young Willie grows up trying to understand where his loyalties should lie in a divided Irish society. Along comes the war, and he joins the Royal Dublin Fusiliers on the side of the British. It is during this protracted turmoil that Willie comes to see war as a brutally destructive and inhumane force that threatens to destroy everything he holds dear: his family, his girl, and Ireland. Obviously, the British army is using the Volunteers as cannon fodder which forces him to question its legitimacy, but still he soldiers on. As Willie returns home near end of the war in 1918, he realizes that his former life have changed forever. Britain treats him as cannon fodder; his dad rejects his cynicism about the failure of Home Rule; the Irish see him as a traitor to the cause of independence; and his girl has decided to marry someone else. He will now return to the killing fields of Flanders for one more chance to wrestle with his destiny. There are two especially dramatic moments in this story that showcase Barry's brilliance as a writer: one is the trench scene where the Volunteers experience a deadly gas attack and the occasion when one of Willie's army buddies is executed for disobeying a direct order. Both incidents underscore the futility of trying to assert oneself while fighting other people's wars. As usual, Barry has written a novel that goes right to the heart of who we are as humans: the need to define who we are under fire! Great piece of writing that highlights the author's ability to move beyond what is generally accepted as standard Irish literary fare.