Round-up of reviews in France

My editor at Albin Michel has sent this along — a round-up in translation of what has been said about Red Sky in Morning in the French national press… “The most astonishing first novel of the year. At the point of writing, already among the greatest talents of Irish literature” — Julien Bisson, Lire (France) “The art of the storytelling is so impressive, the writing so poetic, painful and beautiful at the same time, that it makes for a unique reading experience” — Bruno Corty , Le Figaro (France) “The language is rich, sophisticated, lyrical and violent at the same time… a first novel worthy of Cormac McCarthy, Saul Bellow, John Banville, Colum McCann, Vladimir Nabokov, or authors of such legacy.” — Emmanuel Romer, La Croix (France) “The new guard of Irish letters never ceases to fascinate with its visionary power. To these names must immediately be added Paul Lynch, because his first novel is simply masterful — André Clavel, Le Temps (Switzerland) Nothing is missing in this transcontinental western, written by a master of landscape and light” — Véronique Rossignol, Livres Hebdo (France) “This first novel by an extraordinary writer has received a tremendous reception in the Anglo-Saxon world. The bet is that he will be as successful in France, where such talent will not fail to burst into the open” — Sophie Royere , Lemagazine.info (France) “A dark poetry infuses this first novel of sound and fury. A young writer promised to a brilliant future” — Le Journal du Dimance “In a few words: the craftsmanship of a great stylist” — La Quinzaine Littéraire “The beauty of his writing imbued with lyricism is dazzling” — Elle “Influenced and nourished by a past more mythical than historical, “Red Sky in Morning” is as contemporary a novel as it can be. Its rhythms and its visions, and its suspense, come from our age’s visual and cinematographic culture. With its mixed influences, its shattered geography which opens on the beginnings of America and modernity, this novel blends irreconcilable temporalities” — Le Monde de Livres “There is in Paul Lynch’s writing a kind of lyrical and poetic fever which transcends everything, including the most harrowing scenes. Red Sky in Morning takes us on such a journey that when we come to the end, we feel like we have dreamed it all” — Les Echoes “An amazing first novel, strikingly beautiful, with a nervous pace that takes the reader on an unforgettable journey” — PAGE “Clear and intense as a tragedy, the novel reveals in Paul Lynch an incredibly talented Irish writer” — Trois Couleurs

The Black Snow reviews

Reviews for The Black Snow are starting to appear. The latest is from Theo Dorgan at The Sunday Times who calls the book “masterful” and “a considerable achievement”.

Says Dorgan, “Lynch is masterful. Layer by layer he teases out character and context, alternating action and reflection to get to the essences of Barnabas, Eskra and Billy, the growing horror of their plight, their interlinked tragic destinies…. This is a considerable achievement in itself, and if the story were told plainly and simply we would have a story that John McGahern, say, or Frank O’Connor in one of his colder moments could have written.

“The triumph of this book is the uncanny uses to which Lynch puts language. Prose is more often concerned to reassure us that the world is manageable and intelligible than it is to face up to the cold truth that life beyond our immediate hearth is largely mysterious and beyond our powers of comprehension. Prose writers who can ground us in what we know while opening our minds to the vast unknown are few. In our time the name that springs most readily to mind is Cormac McCarthy… we can add Paul Lynch to a short list. In paragraphs that have the icy precision of prose poems, he opens the world out into halls of space and time that will send shivers through your blood…. I read this book sentence by sentence, sounding the words to myself, savouring the pleasure of the writing. It is the writing itself, not the bare circumstances of the story, that nerves us to face the cold place to which Lynch, with uncanny mastery, conducts us.”

Meanwhile, The Sunday Business Post says, “The Black Snow underlines the extent of Lynch’s dazzling prose gifts”, and calls the book “a terrific contemporary example of the art form”.

“Lynch is a born storyteller, wonderfully conveying textures, atmospheres and smells… He very effectively captures the ravages of a more pastoral scene of devastation, and in the process, manages to reinvent the pastoral novel in a daring and nuanced way. Lynch already shows all the signs of being one of the most exciting new talents in Irish literature.”

In a short review, London’s Metro, said The Black Snow is “hewed from granite-like, starkly poetic prose” and calls the book “a tough and sinewy tragedy”.

In the Guardian, Hugo Hamilton calls the book “raw, savage… tender”. “Lynch has an impressive gift for storytelling. As the separate strings of the novel are tightened and pulled together into an assured ending, this becomes a version of Donegal that has not been written before. The Irish vernacular is here, in all its intonation, but it almost sounds like a distant, musical echo of itself, as though the language in which the story is being told has travelled across the plains of America, through many other time zones, before taking root again in the native soil.”

In The Irish Times, Eilis NoDhuibhne calls the book, “powerful, rich and ornate”, and says Barnabas is “a classic tragic hero”. “The striking talent of its author is his ability to reinvent the English language and use words as no one has before… There is a magic to this kind of writing”.

This article will be updated as reviews come in.

Superb reaction to Red Sky in Morning in France

The French translation of Red Sky in Morning — «Un ciel rouge, le matin» — was published last week by Albin Michel and launched at the Centre Culturel Irlandais. My translator Marina Boraso has done an incredible job — she told me it was the most difficult book she has ever had to translate — but the reviews so far in the French national press are incredible.

This is what they have to say, in English translation, with more reviews in the days to come…

“Entering the world of Paul Lynch requires some concentration, but the storytelling is so big, the writing so poetic, beautiful and painful at the same time, it is worth the effort” — Bruno Corty , Le Figaro

“The language is rich, sophisticated, lyrical with a pervasive and extreme violence which rests in the details… a first novel worthy of Cormac McCarthy, Saul Bellow, John Banville, Colum McCann, Vladimir Nabokov, or authors of such legacy.” — Emmanuel Romer, La Croix

“The most astonishing first novel of the year. At the point of writing, already among the greatest talents of Irish literature” — Julien Bisson, Lire

“The new guard of Irish letters never ceases to fascinate with its visionary power. To these names must immediately be added Paul Lynch, because his first novel is simply masterful — André Clavel, Le Temps

Nothing is missing in this transcontinental western, filmed by an ace of light” — Véronique Rossignol, Livres Hebdo

“This first novel by an extraordinary writer has received a tremendous reception in the Anglo-Saxon world. The bet is that he will be as successful in France, where such talent will not fail to burst into the open” — Sophie Royere , Lemagazine.infoSuperb reaction to Red Sky in Morning in France