I completed this book as a buddy read with one of my friends and we still cannot stop talking about it months later. My friend convinced her mom and their book club to read it as well, but they had more mixed feelings about it than we did. We watched the Hulu limited series called Say Nothing after we read the book and we highly recommend it! It does cut out a big chunk of the story but still stays very true to the book. We were surprised at how well acted and filmed it was. I even recognized one of the actors who also stars in a few James Bond movies.
Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland is a narrative nonfiction novel centered around The Troubles in Northern Ireland and a mother of ten who was abducted by the I.R.A. during that time. If you want the British version of events this does not touch on that. This book seems confusing at the beginning but the parts blend into one cohesive story by the end. There is an index and my advice is to not be embarrassed to reference it as much as you need.
It was hazardous to pursue such a double existence, in a land where punishment for touting was a bullet in the head and a lifetime of shame for one’s family.
Besides the abducted mother, it centers mostly around Dolours Price and her sister Marian who became entangled in this war by joining the I.R.A and becoming major players in the violence. They used hunger strikes as a way to get their point across; among other things. There is a theme (relating to a certain someone) that runs throughout the book that you will notice the more you read, but I don’t want to spoil it. It is also seen in the limited series. The Irish were desperately trying to get the attention of the British because they were tired of relying on them- they just wanted independence. There are also male characters that are important but the women take the spotlight.
The bombings had occasioned such hysteria that the proceedings were marked by an extreme, almost theatrical devotion to security. The trial was a huge event, attracting widespread fascination. The English public and press became particularly fixated on Dolours and Marian. They were dubbed “Sisters of Terrorism” and depicted as highly dangerous.
Besides giving a narrative on what the Irish were up against, it talks about the feelings of the people involved and the author tried to find out if the people believe that what they did was worth the violence they committed. Northern Ireland is still part of Britain and they were not able to gain the independence they so desperately craved and probably deserve. There has been stability in the region since the Good Friday peace process that stopped the war, but the people are still living with the consequences of what happened.
I do not want to say anything else because it will ruin the mystery of what will unfold as you read it. This is not a hard nonfiction to read in terms of writing style or wording so I do recommend it even if you usually do not like historical nonfiction. You might just become as obsessed with it as we have.
And remember: Whatever you do, Say Nothing.
Book It Babe 