Jamie O'Neill: At Swim Two Boys & Michael Thomas Ford: Full Circle

I have put these two books together as they are both on the ‘gay fiction’ section of my library but that really is the sole connection - and for one at least, the gay element is only that - an element - although the most powerful and moving element for me.

Full Circle is a quintessentially American gay story and covers gay life, through its central characters from the late 50/early 60’s to the 90’s and so provides something of a journey throgh the American gay experience. But white and comfortably middle-class. The engagement with the characters is…OK but to be honest, none of them, or the minor characters, truly came across as exceptional uniquely characterful individuals. It’s almost more interesting as an historical document.

At Swim on the other hand, is another matter entirely. Its the story of two boys, Jim and Doyler, growing up in Ireland in the early years of the last century and it climaxes with the Easter Rising. While on one level it is a very touching love story as they discover themselves and each other in times when that was utterly forbidden, it is also an historical and social novel that gives a superbly vivid picture of life in Ireland at that time. I see from a note I scrawled in the front that I noted how carefully the Irish speech sound and style is reproduced - which takes a little getting used-to but helps enormously with setting and place.

Its a substantial read but with a dramatic and heartbreaking climax - which one was sort of half expecting but at which one still still then cried ‘ No, it can’t end like this; ist wrong’.