Birchwood (Vintage International)

My John Banville novel for this month is his third, Birchwood. Birchwood is the crumbling mansion on a once-magnificent Irish estate. The protagonist, Gabriel Godkin, is surrounded by an eccentric cast of characters, most of whom are or are going mad. A little over halfway into the book Gabriel, convinced he has a twin sister who was given away at birth (and possibly hinting that the madness in...more

My John Banville novel for this month is his third, Birchwood. Birchwood is the crumbling mansion on a once-magnificent Irish estate. The protagonist, Gabriel Godkin, is surrounded by an eccentric cast of characters, most of whom are or are going mad. A little over halfway into the book Gabriel, convinced he has a twin sister who was given away at birth (and possibly hinting that the madness in the house is hereditary), runs away and joins the circus. It’s out-of-the-frying-pan and into-the-fire, as the characters in the circus are no less nutty than the family from which Gabriel has run away. Perhaps, though, madness in this context is more expected and less destructive... Birchwood is a fantastic novel, similar to Mervyn Peake’s “Gormenghast” books in that the primary set of characters have no real knowledge or understanding of the world beyond the walls. The people who populate this world are abstract ideas to them, defined by their roles on the estate, if at all. Birchwood is a sad novel as well, as like Titus, Gabriel’s foray into the “real” world is almost certainly doomed to failure. At the same time, the book’s very funny, in a dark way, and the last two pages explain everything that’s gone before in a very satisfying way.   hide