The Mysterious Mind of John Egan/A Book Review of Carry Me Down

The year is 1972. John Egan is an eleven year old boy living with his parents in his grandmother's country cottage in a small Irish town. The family setting, the time and the small town background can deceive you into guessing that this is going to be a warm and comforting family tale full of nostalgia, a perfect pick me up for a lonesome rainy afternoon.  It's anything BUT comforting, however.  I was utterly tense with anticipation throughout the time of reading the book. 

The story is narrated in first person by John Egan.  The language is simple yet an implication that something dark and mysterious is happening just beneath the surface is omnipresent.  Something about this family is not right. 

The first scene is in the kitchen where John and his parents all sit around the kitchen table reading their respective books.  John is satisfied that they have a pantry full of food and can eat as much as they like.  The family cat Crito nurses her newborns in a nearby cupboard.   The Guinness Book of Records is John's favourite and he owns a copy of every volume.  John ponders over the various people whose names are listed on the book and hopes one day he will do something that no body else have done before and he too will leave his mark like the hundreds before him who did not want to be forgotten. 

This scene does not prepare us for the gut wrenching cruelty that will take place a few pages on.  Without revealing the actual incidence, I will say this much that this was almost physically painful to read about.  It is one of those details that you can't bear to read anymore about and still can not put it down because the curiosity about the turn of events surpasses the shock and horror.  This is also when John first starts to believe that he has a gift for lie detection.

Carry me Down is M J Hyland's second novel and this was short listed for the Booker prize in 2006.  She was born in Ireland and spent a few years of her childhood in Dublin.  Hyland grew up in Melbourne, Australia.  Reviewers have often referred to her as the author of telltale details.  This book is a fine example of these details.  Her language is lucid and the story flows on seamlessly (not letting on that Hyland at times spends one whole week writing a single paragraph!).  The simple way of telling the tale, however, does not interfere with the complexity and the depth of the story itself. 

Hyland vividly portrays John Egan, an intelligent boy wiser beyond his year and an uncanny ability to notice small details.  He is a misfit amongst his classmates and often tends to make people uncomfortable. Carry me down is a deeply involving and un-putdownable book.  A must read for anyone looking for something original and different.