There’s already been much art, music, film and drama based around the centenary of the 1916 Rising. This second novel by the acclaimed Dublin author of Beatsploitation is one of the first literary works to seriously examine the subject.
Citizens tells the story of Neil, a disillusioned and directionless Irish 26-year-old, who seeing no future in Ireland decides to join his girlfriend in Canada. Unfortunately, his plans are put on hold following the death of his grandfather, and he stays home to help his grieving grandmother. When she asks him to read his great-grandfather Harry Casey’s recently discovered memoirs (he was a newsreel cameraman during the Easter Rising), Neil further delays his departure on the grounds that the documents may be valuable. They turn out to be valuable in ways he hadn’t anticipated.
Essentially two interwoven stories set a century apart, Citizens skilfully combines a historical tale with razor-sharp contemporary cultural commentary. Well worth reading.