MUSINGS 2022

O’Neill offers a collection of thoughts and reflections on the year 2022.

At the start of this slim work of introspection focusing on the year 2022, the author reminds his readers just how momentous that year was: Russia invaded Ukraine as Republicans were entrenched in seemingly party-wide corruption. Roe v. Wade was overturned. Droughts, hurricanes, and heat domes proliferated, as did homegrown white supremacy movements. Queen Elizabeth II died. O’Neill takes a diaristic approach, adopting the tone of an informed and generally outraged outsider: “I have made my living as a screenwriter for thirty years and I can tell you if you ingested enough mushrooms, aided by a sufficiency of single malt, you might be able to invent some of the cockamamie storylines that played out in this weekend’s NFL quarterfinal playoffs,” he writes in a typical passage, “but no one would buy the script.” A wide array of subjects attract his interest, from sports and politics (the war in Ukraine is a recurring motif) to popular entertainment (including a moving tribute to the comedienne Joan Rivers) to subjects touching on his treasured Irish heritage. As the dates of his entries progress, he reminisces about his beloved mother, the ravages of Covid-19, and the iniquities of the Donald Trump era. The bulleted format, and the author’s considerable writing abilities, will make these reflections gripping reading for all but the most partisan audiences. O’Neill has no patience for bigotry, the denial of science, or armed insurrections aiming to overthrow the United States government; bizarrely, all three of those things have vocal defenders in 2023 America, so his book won’t appeal to everybody. But even detractors should find something to enjoy in the more general humor tackling everything from baseball to bears.

A peppery and unfailingly compelling set of reactions to one calamitous year.