Flanked by the Atlantic Ocean on the Kerry Head peninsula, Micheál lives in his childhood home, a picture-postcard bungalow which is the final dwelling before the rugged rocks of the headlands. With his sisters flown the nest and his parents dead, Micheál’s solitary life is dedicated to continuing his parents’ work, saving the ‘lost souls’ who attempt to commit suicide by leaping from the clifftops. In Though the Bodies Fall by Noel O’Regan, Micheál’s story of trauma and duty, and his attempt at reconciliation with the past, is told in an atmospheric and strikingly unique Irish debut.
Now middle-aged, Micheál shares the bungalow with his dog, Sammy, the place in almost as much disarray and neglect as his bruised spirit. Aside from a long ago spell of freedom, when university, a career and romantic love intervened, he’s called this place home for most of his life. It’s both bolthole and ball and chain, and O’Regan skips back and forth in time, through Micheál’s recollections and revelations, to piece together the whole extraordinary story.
He was six when the family moved in, seven when he glimpsed his first suicidal ‘visitor’, as his parents insisted on calling them, and twelve when his father’s sudden death was followed by Micheál’s first witnessing of a successful suicide.
His mother and an elderly gentleman, poised on the cliff edge, the man wearing a navy tweed suit and newly polished shoes.
“I’m sorry,” the man said, “…but I really must go”. As if late for a train or an appointment. “I can’t keep her waiting any longer.” And with that he was gone.’
Micheál recalls the man doffing his hat just before he jumped, but his mother says that never happened. Later, at home, she pulls out a bottle of Jameson and pours her trembling son his first whiskey. She’s relying on Micheál to step into his father’s shoes and join her in her work. After all, God has chosen them.
O’Regan’s inspired and intriguing debut throws up many questions about the nature of obligation and its impact on lives. Almost every aspect of Micheál’s life has been affected by his perceived duty to the visitors. He is depressed and neglectful of almost everything except saving suicidal souls, the love of his life has left him, and his relationship with his siblings is dangerously fractured. When the sisters tell him they want to sell the house and land, Micheál must re-examine the events that have contributed to his existence being ‘but a longer form of jump and fall,’ and find a resolution.
In this well-crafted page-turner, O’Regan drip-feeds details and events from childhood to the present day, cleverly hinting at several possible conclusions to the story. The denouement, when it comes, is convincing.
A memorable read from an impressive new Irish novelist.
Though the Bodies Fall by Noel O’Regan is published by Granta Books, 272 pages.
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