Customer Reviews

A Son Called Gabriel

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Suddenly there are lots and lots of these Irish coming-of-age stories. I suppose it all began with Angela's Ashes. Some of them are mediocre, some are terrific. A Son Called Gabriel is one of the better-than-average ones, and it's author Damian McNicholl's first novel. Kudos.
Set in Northern Ireland between 1964-1978, it follows the struggles of Catholic Gabriel to overcome all the many barriers tossed in his path as he strived to fit into not only his conflicted community but also his family. At the core is Gabriel's awareness/fear of his homosexual tendencies and his efforts to hide/transform/deny the increasing proof to not only himself but to the world at large.
Definitely worth a read.

A Son called Gabriel begins in nineteen sixty-four when Gabriel is in 2nd grade. The boy lives in the small town of Knockburn in Northern Island, a catholic stronghold in a troubled region, where daily life is shaped by two over riding forces: the church and hatred of Protestants. Damian McNicholl has written a lively and spirited story of one boy's journey through adolescence - a boy who is "sensitive" and "different" without really knowing the reasons why. As Gabriel struggles to come to terms with his sexuality throughout a loving, but often brutal childhood, a family mystery is steadily revealed involving his Uncle Brendan, who years ago, surreptitiously joined the priesthood.

Written as a series of vignettes, each chapter paints a portrait of Gabriel's troubled life. Gabriel is taunted and teased by schoolyard bullies, he plays in the "muck" with the senior girls rather than playing football with the boys, he brushes the hair of his sister's dolls, and he gets his first look at a dirty magazine. Later in the story, we witness his anxious ridden preparations for his O level examinations, and his guilty shame about his dalliances with other boys. Aware of his sensitivity at a young age, Gabriel struggles to please his devout Catholic mother, and working class father, while dealing with over-zealous aunties, and competitive cousins.

When older, Gabriel is sent to Saint Malachy, and Irish Catholic School for boys - where boys are expected to be tough, assertive, and where any feminine qualities are an inexcusable sign of weakness. This coincides with Gabriel's teenage years, and his inevitable attraction to men. His guilt-ridden angst becomes more intense, and McNicholl does a great job of conveying the psyche of a tortured, tormented, and conflicted boy. When Gabriel commits the "abomination" - furtive couplings and fumbling with schoolmates - he loathes himself afterwards because he's actually enjoyed it. Torn between his rigid catholic upbringing, and his desire to physically and emotionally be with boys, Gabriel spends many a day churning over his feelings, remaining frustrated and confused. He's wracked with denial, and has days "when doubt as dark as winter nights falls upon his shoulders," he feasts on doubt and intelligence, "and it fills him with an angst, that it had all been a fluke."

McNicholl is a blunt, gutsy writer, with a gift for rough humour. He lovingly peoples his Irish landscape of farms and homes with oddballs, eccentrics, and bawdy children. And Gabriel's observations and digressions on his friends and family are lively and vivid, which makes for incredibly funny and heartfelt reading. The action is constantly seen through Gabriel's eyes, and his insights into the sometimes-confusing adult world around him spark the novel. At times, there are so many aunts, uncles, cousins, and schoolmates, that it's hard for the reader to keep track of them all, and without a focused storyline, the narrative does tend to wander. Some readers may also find that the deep secret revealed at the end of the book is a little contrived, because it takes the focus away from the issue of Gabriel's acceptance of his homosexuality. The dreaded secret doesn't actually accomplish much in terms of closure or character development. But the dry-eyed, earnest and sincere exchanges throughout the story do give the novel an honesty and credibility that makes A Son Called Gabriel an artfully defiant work of fiction. Mike Leonard June 04.

Gabriel is a sweet and loving Irish boy who cares about his family, about right and wrong, and about being a good Catholic. But as he grows toward adulthood, Gabriel quickly discovers being good isn't as simple as he once believed. Contradictions abound. Love one another, unless the other happens to be Protestant. Love yourself for you are made in God's image, unless you are a boy who is drawn to other boys in a way that could only be described as "a mortal mortal sin." Always tell the truth, even though you discover the adults surrounding you are telling you the biggest lie of all.

Damian McNicholl's A Son Called Gabriel is a witty, touching and soulful account of one boy's journey toward manhood. It is a riveting book peopled with memorable characters such as loving Granny who pees every day in the rhubarb patch, then wonders why Gabriel always refuses to eat her rhubarb pie. And hard-edged Father, with his oil stained hands and disdain for Gabriel's gentle ways. And the savage Henry, one of many merciless bullies Gabriel must cope with. And Uncle Brendan, a kind priest Gabriel admires even though he knows the family has been hurt and shamed by something his uncle has done in the past, something nobody will discuss. While Gabriel's home is always crowded with relatives and friends, Gabriel finds he must fight his battles alone, especially his ultimate battle with himself. Uncontrollable urges terrify him. What if he were homosexual? A growing dread fills him, for doesn't the Catholic Church condemn gays to hell?

Readers will long to put an arm around Gabriel's shoulders as he fights for the love and peace that his troubled soul so richly deserves and for the realization that he is, in fact a good Irish Catholic boy. A Son Called Gabriel is simply unforgettable.

The novel has an engaging beginning in that everyone can relate to the class bully and the issues it raises. For Gabriel (the young protagonist of McNicholl's sometimes funny, sometimes painful coming-of-age), he questions who is right, his mother or father, in the conflicting advice they offer him regarding how to deal with his nemesis, Henry. As the boy matures, this questioning and analyzing of adult wisdom and hypocrisy occurs frequently and encompasses incidents such as their dealings concerning his pet lamb, the boy's discovery of his Auntie Bernie and Uncle Tommy 'pumping,' his father's business relations with Protestants and simultaneous hatred of them, and Gabriel's sexual awakening with both girls and boys. His life is full of secrets and unanswered questions. This is a universal for all children, but when linked with the discovery that you are different, it is confusing and perplexing, and the author depicts this clearly. As the boy matures, his discovery that he is attracted to those of his own sex crosses the lines of anyone's sexuality, and one cannot help but like and love Gabriel as he struggles with this reality. Gabriel struggles with telling the truth on occasions too, which adds to his humanity.
What I got from this beautiful work of literature is that Gabriel's life was burdened by the duality of life that all human beings face in some kind of variation or another. Uncle Brendan is a wonderful character and the revelation at the end of the book gave obvious strength to Gabriel. The boy realized that he is different yet still a good person and that his inner strength would carry him through life. The tactful treatment of adolescent Gabriel's discovery of sex is a life affirming experience that endears him to readers. Gabriel's strength lies in the fact that he is not going to live a life of secrets and one's hope is that he will be a happy gay adult.
A Son Called Gabriel has a compelling story line and I had much empathy for the main character. It made me reconsider situations that I have encountered growing up. Especially intriguing is the portrayal of the psychology of a young person's perception of "trust" and its impact on a boy's passage to adolescence and manhood. In spite of the many mixed messages and lies that Gabriel encountered during his passage to manhood, he remains a strong and successful person at the end of the tale.

Raymond, J. Aklonis, Lambertville, NJ

In the first sentence of A Son Called Gabriel, Damian McNicholl's narrator tells us, "The choice was school or the big stick and seemed easy to make." At six, Gabriel Harkin knows a beating is painful but finite-dealing with the large and vicious bullies at school will be never-ending. To his dismay, he finds logic must bow to custom: Catholic boys in Northern Ireland must use their own fists to deal with bullies or they are "sissies" and no one in Gabriel's repressive world respects a "sissy-boy." His mother defines the accepted rules of behavior for her family based on, "what the neighbors, priests or relatives think."

Gabriel's sometimes painful efforts to survive in this world are described with sage humor in this moving and witty tale by McNicholl. In a world where he is expected to shine at football and aspire to nothing more than driving a lorry as his father does, Gabriel realizes he is different. He loves books and story-telling. He is told he favors his Uncle Brendan, a missionary priest in Africa. This is ambiguous praise: in a world full of secrets and lies, a "big secret" is attached to Uncle Brendan.

The harsh reality of life in deeply divided and often dangerous Northern Ireland has been captured by McNicholl as seen by a pragmatic boy who has never known anything else. Barbed wire is everywhere but just something to look through or climb over.

McNicholl creates scenes and characters so vivid and memorable in both visual and emotional detail the reader has the sense of having been part of Gabriel's struggle to assert his individuality and grow into the man he is meant to be. I found myself so involved in Gabriel's world the book was hard to put down. I strongly recommend it.