The Dublin Literary Award winner is an intense, but satisfying read.
For different reasons, I haven’t read a book since early May. However, during that time I won tickets to the Dublin Literary Awards show, and with that came a signed copy of the winning novel, ‘Idaho’. I already had a copy on my TBR pile, but was perfectly happy to have a second copy, especially as it was signed. So my first book back of my reading hiatus had to be the award winner.
Its one of those books where what happens is not what it’s about. One to set the grey matter to work.
What happens is that a family is torn apart when a mother (Jenny) gets a life sentence for the murder of her daughter (May). An event that also sees her second daughter (June) go missing, and leads to divorce from her husband (Wade). Wade later marries local teacher Ann.We learn about their lives over different time periods, including a look in to a near future (2025). The narrative jumps from person to person, and from time to time. Some of the narrators are tangental at best. There’s even the perspective of a bloodhound.
What it’s about…that’s probably a little harder to nail down. Hardship, memories, friendship, kindness, the stuff of life.
The book is inherently sad. The story is driven by two events, one sudden, a shocking murder, and the other waiting to happen, a slow descent into dementia.
Emily Ruskovich spoke about kindness at the Dublin Literary awards. Although imbued with melancholy this story is populated with moments of kindness. Maybe her speech was what put that in my head, but looking back, they are there. Ann’s whole marriage seems like an act of kindness. The painter guy. Elizabeth, eventually.
If you like your stories to have a beginning, middle and end, with a clear chronological timeline, this book with not be for you. If you like, ‘this happened, then that happened, and finally this other thing happened and we all went back to normal’…nope!
But the story engages, the writing demands a slower read, the style demands more from the reader, but it’s all worth it for a book that will stay with you long after you put it down. I have a sense that Idaho is the type of book you could return to every now and then and find something new to take away from it.
Passing time 