THE WHORE-MOTHER

by Shaun Herron ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 23, 1973

Shaun Herron -- much and deservedly admired as the creator of Miro in that other genre -- has written a gut-lashing, virulent and in its way inescapable book about the IRA and whereas there have been more reflective (most recently Terence De Vere White) statements about the Troubles, this works on its own terms. Even if it rarely rises above the physical level on which it takes place. The whore-mother is of course Ireland (the sow devouring its own litter) but also more specifically the widow of a writer who takes in a young student, McManus, on the run from the men he once joined and now has turned against. The story's action deals very simply with his escape and the reprisals it engenders (his sister for one -- rape seems to be the inevitable preliminary of death when sexually feasible) and one learns quickly, as did McManus, that perhaps while ""All Irishmen loved Ireland [they] despised the Irish."" It is indeed what someone else has called this single-minded mindlessness and blinkered disregard for human life which has turned the emerald isle crimson and the auld sod into a killing ground diminishing the myth of ballad and legend. Herron's book is sentimental at times, simplistic up to a point, but writ large with strong and implacably genuine feeling.

Pub Date: March 23, 1973

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Evans

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1973

Categories: FICTION