Book Review: "Strange Flowers" by Donal Ryan

Did I know what this book was about before I started reading it? No. Had I heard of the author before? Also no. Did I enjoy it? Absolutely. Donal Ryan's Strange Flowers is one of those moving books that is simply beautiful in its writing. I felt myself being carried away by the lyricism in the language, the poetry in the atmosphere and the storyline which tells us about a cast of characters we cannot ignore. If you're looking for a modern masterpiece of emotional drama and turbulence, then this is probably one that you want to pay attention to. It is absolutely brilliant.

Moll is a twenty-year-old girl at the start of the book who lives with her parents: Paddy and Kit. One day, she simply disappears without warning. She doesn't say anything or get kidnapped, she takes the bus and leaves to never return. Paddy is absolutely distraught and most of this is told through the third person limited perspective of following him around as he comes to terms with why this has happened. Of course, the writing is emotional and heartbreaking and yet, the mood doesn't change when five years' later, without any climax or even a build-up to one - Moll returns home to her parents. Donal Ryan tells this story without jittering the reader about in their feelings, but pulls out these long, drawn out scenes of heartbreak and unease. It is just achingly beautiful.

When Moll returns there are obviously questions about where she has been. Slowly she starts to reveal the story - but not the whole thing. In the town though, someone has followed Moll back and he's turned up knowing who she is. A black man named Alexander Ellwood - a kind, brilliant human being who is deeply in love with Moll. Moll though has not been entirely truthful to her parents in stating that she didn't really like him all too much. At the end of the day, she married him whilst away. Donal Ryan's presentation of Moll as this woman who holds back painful information sort of hits with women everywhere. The idea of being the people pleaser so nobody will be upset with you is an almost universal experience for us. When the truth is finally revealed, we even find out that there is a child involved. His name is Joshua.

The book takes place over many years and Moll and Alexander's story is really the epicentre of it. It is set at a time in which rural Ireland was not exactly the best place to be a person of colour, but it is also a transition point where it was beginning to get better. Alexander's story is absolutely heartwrenching and emotional and the influence he leaves on his son is simply wonderful storytelling. Donal Ryan has created something very special in the way that these characters are connected to each other. We go through the different characters, following them part way through the difficult decisions in their lives and the author writes their internal thoughts with a poetic hand. Some of the images as well are simply gorgeous even though they are littered with sadness. Images of death and dying, the silent trembling of telling a child how his father has been in an accident and won't be coming home and the way in which the women of the story hold their quiet resilience in the face of great tragedy.

I was quite surprised at how much I enjoyed this story because when I had read a bit of the summary I was kind of a bit put off by it. These are the book that often leave us with something - the ones we didn't expect to hit us in certain ways. The story of Moll, Alexander, Paddy, Kit and Joshua is something to be admired and even though it is not all resolved by the end, there is something that lets the story almost continue in a way, as if we can see it keep going on into the future. Donal Ryan again, has created something very special with this story and I absolutely loved it.

All in all, I think that more people need to read this book. The story is incredible, the writing is gorgeous and the chapters echo that biblical undercurrent which runs through the resilience underscoring the personalities of the novel.