962. At Swim, Two Boys

At Swim, Two Boys
Jamie O'Neill
2001
Around 565 pages

Luckily, the List assigned At Swim-Two-Birds, just so we would get this pun. I'm always down for a queer romance, but must we channel James Joyce when we do it?

At Swim, Two Boys tells the love story of two young men, Jim Mack and Doyler Doyle (in case you needed a reminder they are Irish). In 1915, the two meet in Catholic school. Jim is quiet and the victim of molestation by the priest, and is impressed by Doyler's more rebellious nature. Their relationship grows as the boys are increasingly pressured to join the Irish Citizen Army and fight for their country.

I felt like we had seen all of these characters before and O'Neill didn't necessarily do anything new with them. I thought the events of the novel were a little too neat and predictable to be true to real life, but he did provide a satisfying end to the story. 

Not my favorite style, but a decent read.  

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

Adapted into a play and a dance interpretation. 

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