Read This Book: THE SPINNING HEART

Brand new on our shelves today is a gorgeous new novel from Ireland that your book club will thank you for discovering, The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan. Ryan’s characters alternate chapters as they describe life in their Irish town in a time of economic downturn. This novel read like classic fiction. Fans of Faulkner will find a lot to love in Ryan’s portrayal of a number of distinctive voices conveying their overlapping stories. This novel won the Guardian Book of the Year Award; two Irish Book Awards: Newcomer of The Year and Book of The Year; and was longlisted for both the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and the Man Booker Prize.

Consuelo highly recommendsThe Spinning Heart: 

“I just finished The Spinning Heart and I thought it was excellent. It does what all great fiction does – tell a specific story to explore what’s universal. Each character has a distinct voice and what I found most interesting is how each perceives themselves and one another. These perceptions reverberate to create a whole picture of this Irish village at a very particular moment. So good.”

Critical Praise for The Spinning Heart: 

“Irish author Ryan’s debut takes readers to the ‘heart’ of hardscrabble life in Ireland in the era after the economic boom and bust of 2008. The novel received Book of the Year honors at the Irish Book Awards. . . . Reminiscent of Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, this book gives readers a story—or rather stories—told from multiple perspectives, each chapter using a different voice. . . . Disturbing and unnerving but ultimately beautiful.” — Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)

“[Ryan] credibly conveys the viewpoints of men and women of all ages in language distinct from one section to the next. . . . [T]his startling debut reads like a modern Irish twist on William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying.“– Library Journal (Starred Review)

“Equal parts mournful and hopeful, the book pays keen attention to the ways lives coalesce and fall apart in time of personal and national crises. . . . Ryan has created a faithful portrait of a time and place in his debut novel, but his truest accomplishment lies in the fact that, though the individual accounts add up to a greater whole, each story stands on its own.” — Publishers Weekly

“The prose is lyrical, and the voices are authentic. Flashes of humor and tenderness shine through as well, as the helplessness and frustration of an era is effectively captured through the lives of these small-town residents.” — Booklist

“While The Spinning Heart‘s form and premise harken to Under Milk Wood and the Spoon River Anthology, its content is uniquely evocative of Ireland, thanks to the cultural archetypes Ryan examines and the contemporary realities and nuances he deftly portrays.” — Irish America

“The recession has hit rural Ireland, and ‘the sky is falling down.” Through 21 different voices, Donal Ryan’s virtuoso debut novel pieces together a fractured portrait of a community in shock. . . . What is so special about Ryan’s novel is that it seems to draw speech out of the deepest silences; the testimony of his characters rings rich and true – funny and poignant and banal and extraordinary – and we can’t help but listen.” — The Guardian

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We’re very excited to have The Spinning Heart on our shelves and hope you’ll take a chance on this extraordinary new book. Find it in our Fiction section and on our website, bookpeople.com.