- Culture
- 05 Apr 16
Book Review: A Slanting Of The Sun Donal Ryan
Since the release of his acclaimed first novel, The Spinning Heart, Ryan has established himself as one of Ireland’s most talented writers.
In this collection of short stories, A Slanting Of The Sun, his many gifts are foregrounded — chiefly his ability to delineate the human capacity for selfishness and greed, as well as love and mercy. Standouts include the titular story, about a fatal robbery on a farm, and ‘Aisling’, the tale of a man going through a series of emotions as he watches his ex-girlfriend with her new partner.
In ‘The Squad’, meanwhile, a revenge pact made between friends has fatal consequences, and in ‘The Passion’, the developing relationship between a young man and the mother of his dead ex-girlfriend is explored.
Ryan chronicles loss, anger, forgiveness and desire with a skill few writers could hope to match.
_Anne Sexton
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