Bog Child is cool view into the past. It has two Irish stories intertwined. The first is the story of Fergus, a young man who lived during the Irish Troubles who finds a bog body. The second is the life of the girl he found. Both of them illustrate Ireland, and both show that heartache and struggle are universal. I really loved how real both of them felt. Dowd is a master at giving the reader the information they need but still making her twists a surprise. I loved learning more about Ireland during the 60's and felt like the issues were well handled. The only thing I actively didn't like is the ending. Not that it was bad, it just that the plot points were pretty intense and the ending didn't give me as the reader enough space to feel that they were over, or had at least moved on. I happened upon this book when it was listed in my Goodreads recommendations. I recognized the author from another book I had read a while back, a story which she conceived, but did not live long enough to complete. That book, A Monster Calls, cowritten by Patrick Ness, was one of my favorites, so I was eager to see what else Ms. Dowd had written. And Bog Child, same as the previously mentioned book, did not disappoint me. Bog Child is a coming of age story set in Ireland in 1981, at a time of political unrest, when several members of the Provisional IRA and Irish National Liberation Army went on a hunger strike in prison, demanding the status of being labeled as political prisoners as opposed to being labeled as common criminals. In the story, eighteen year old Fergus McCann has a brother, Joe, suffering in this position, refusing to eat until his demands are met, even if it means dying in prison for the cause. But the focus of the story is on Fergus, from the moment he and his uncle discover in the bog near his home what appears to be the body of a female child. As the identity and history of the body come to light in increments, Fergus is haunted by her presence in his dreams and waking hours, almost as if she is reaching out to him to make herself known to him. At the same time, he is struggling with the pangs of first love and of having to choose where his loyalties lay amid the political turmoil of his country and the turmoil at home, despite him wanting to remain neutral, which as time progresses, no longer seems an option. Same as in Dowd's other story, she has captured the pain of growing up amongst its joys. She has displayed much sensitivity in this book, portraying Fergus' struggles, but in a sparse, no nonsense, unsentimental manner that made it that much more profound. And the descriptions of the Irish countryside, its beauty in sharp contrast to the ugliness of despair that lay beneath it at that time, were moving. I'm glad that I had a chance to read this sad, but ultimately inspiring novel, thanks to Goodreads listing it for me.
What do You think about Bog Child (2008)?
Moving scene at the end about moving away to Uni for first time
—prettylions
Very solid book about the Troubles in Ireland.
—hcyrus
