en-US Wed, 30 Apr 2025 00:19:58 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg AuthorBlogPost25714814 Wed, 30 Apr 2025 00:19:58 -0700 /author_blog_posts/25714814-the-secret-scripture-by-sebastian-barry-bookreview Review7266106404 Tue, 29 Apr 2025 08:59:08 -0700 /review/show/7266106404 Stuart gave 5 stars to The Secret Scripture (McNulty Family) by Sebastian Barry
bookshelves: literary
Sebastian Barry has written one of those rare books that portray emotion without sentiment, diametrically opposed views with neutrality, and complex events in a manner easy to follow. Nevertheless, I was moved to tears on more than one occasion, and therefore rather pleased I was reading in private.
The hypocrisy of religion is described without rancour, enabling the reader to come to detached conclusions. Most of us in the UK are aware of the hideous regime of the Catholic nunneries that robbed women in Ireland of their children in the earlier years of the previous century. Cruel, insensitive, uncaring institutions legitimised by the Catholic church’s wish to both make money from the sales of infants and spread fear and imposed religious obedience on women who were officially treated as second class citizens.
The other institutions of the time that dealt with those who were either legally insane or branded as such for the convenience of their overbearing relatives were equally devoid of empathy for their victims for many years.
Both those institutions are depicted here with a skill that allows the reader to form opinions devoid of authorial influence. This lets us form our own views on the personalities who represent so many aspects of life in such a society. We are able to read and empathise without being preached at. I’m not sure I could have managed such delicate balance given the nature of the subject and its protagonists. As an atheist, I have long held a very poor opinion of the clergy of almost all religious organisations, so my exposure to the inherent barbarity merely served to underscore that view. I suspect some of those with any form of deep faith may struggle to accept what they are told here, but that would have nothing to do with the author’s presentation of the story and everything to do with their indoctrination.
The two parallel stories are told with such honesty, such impartiality, such truth that readers will empathise with all that occurs here. We are introduced to terrorists, murderers, lovers, adulterers, carers, steadfast parents, doctors, priests and nuns, adventurers, and cowards here. And all are given motives for their actions and beliefs.
The denouement is difficult but so wonderfully apt that the book can be closed after the final page with a deep sense of satisfaction.
]]> AuthorFollowing108828480 Tue, 29 Apr 2025 08:58:25 -0700 ReadStatus9366512796 Tue, 29 Apr 2025 08:56:15 -0700 /review/show/7512224221 Stuart started reading The History of Art: Pre-History to Avant-Garde by no-author
]]> ReadStatus9342960364 Wed, 23 Apr 2025 08:02:25 -0700 /review/show/7512239700 Stuart wants to read Essential Van Gogh by Cutts Josephine
]]> ReadStatus9342958236 Wed, 23 Apr 2025 08:01:40 -0700 /review/show/7512238176 Stuart wants to read The Great Age of British Watercolours 1750-1880 by Andrew Wilton
]]> ReadStatus9342956701 Wed, 23 Apr 2025 08:01:09 -0700 /review/show/7512237084 Stuart wants to read What Great Paintings Say: Old Masters in Detail by Rose-Marie Hagen
]]> ReadStatus9342952998 Wed, 23 Apr 2025 07:59:57 -0700 /review/show/7512234442 Stuart wants to read Essential Pre-Raphaelites by Lucinda Hawksley
]]> ReadStatus9342951539 Wed, 23 Apr 2025 07:59:29 -0700 /review/show/7512233355 Stuart wants to read Pierre-Auguste Renoir 1841-1919: A Dream of Harmony by Peter H. Feist
]]> ReadStatus9342947139 Wed, 23 Apr 2025 07:58:03 -0700 /review/show/7512230135 Stuart wants to read The Lives and Works of the Pre-Raphaelites by Michael Robinson
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