A Soldier’s Song - Dónall Mac Amhlaigh (translated from Irish by Mícheál Ó hAodha)
My thanks to @netgalley and @parthianbooks for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review, this book is available now, or at least in the UK!
Reading like a piece of autobiographical fiction, A Soldier’s Song is an ode to life in post-war Galway, of the life of the young men looking for work and purpose. To that end, the author joins the Irish Army, much to the chagrin of some:
‘The army? There’s never any of God’s luck where there’s soldiers,’ says Daideo, gobbing into the fire. The ‘Tans’ came within a whisker of shooting him dead during the Troubles, the same man he’s had it in for soldiers since then – not that I can blame him in fairness.’
For “Danny”, however, the chance to join the army opens up his independence, the chance for him to break out on his own, with a new green uniform and a sense of pride. The book then follows him through his training and the small victories and clashing personalities of Galway and Irish society at the time.
I’m torn on this book, because I think quite a few of my problems with it stem from my own ignorance – I know little about Ireland at this time, its exact relationship with both English as people and language, especially the latter, which comes up frequently in the book. It’s a beautiful translation of the Irish, but the point of the book seems to be to time capsule a way of life, the army style of the 1940s, the nipping out of the barracks for “ a drop of the black” in one of the local pubs, the different characters and interactions of those in the community. Ultimately, this just…. bored me. Not much happens, and any intrigue I had in the concept faltered when there was very little action until the last 30 or so pages.
It’s hard for me to recommend this book, but if you want a portrait of Irish life in an age now past, this will definitely give you that. Don’t expect a page-turner, however.