Himself

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Back at the bar he has an envelope that was given to him by the sisters with instructions to not be opened until the child is grown. When it turns its head Mahony sees that it only has one good eye, the other rests messily on the dog’s cheek. Tadgh, a Loquacious publican, Farrelly, the Puritan widow, Jack Brophy, the upstanding sergeant and Fr. Whether the dead of Mulderrig agree or not it’s difficult to tell, but they begin to look out cautiously from bedroom windows or drift faintly down the back lanes to stop short and stare.

Jess Kidd – Canongate Books Jess Kidd – Canongate Books

I loved ”Himself”, a uniquely beautiful blend of genres, a tale of love and loss, grief, and of secrets kept too long. With a humorous tone, the author, Jess Kidd can bring lightness to the events, with characters being introduced vividly and speedily in a similar fashion to an Agatha Christie mystery.Mahony is scruffy, has a devil may care smile that floors every woman he encounters and oozes charm. Kidd injects ample doses of macabre humor and lyrical description in this memorable story from a strange, bold new voice. Teasing, pirouetting Ida is Mahony’s phantom guide; most notable among the living characters is the marvellous creation of Merle Cauley, a balding, foul-mouthed former actor, who claims to have been the muse of JM Synge. And his trousers are ridiculous: tight around the crotch and wide enough at the bottom to mop the main road. Kidd hasn’t quite found a method of knitting all these different things together in a satisfying way, but the novel fizzes with potential.

Summary and reviews of Himself by Jess Kidd - BookBrowse Summary and reviews of Himself by Jess Kidd - BookBrowse

It’s one of those books that has you smiling as you read, and that you plan to read again very soon. Mahony has moved from Dublin to this nowhere town ostensibly for a bit of peace and quiet but he is in fact there to investigate his mother’s disappearance. Mahoney has other allies, besides those who can’t be seen by everyone, and they are well-drawn and endearing in their own ways. Mahoney, a libertine hippy with flared trousers you could mop a road with, arrives in the ghost-ridden Irish town of Mulderrig (shades of Llareggub). This book has flashes of The Sixth Sense with main character Mahoney (pronounced MAH-hinny by the narrator of my audiobook) who sees the dead, everywhere he goes.He was raised in an orphanage in Dublin and never knew his mother, having always thought he was abandoned. In Mulderrig, Mahony learns, all is not as it seems; the departed prove to be the least of his worries. Cauley stages a play with Mahony as the lead, she hopes it will lead to answers but instead unleashes a hell storm upon Mulderrig. Orphan Mahony has come from Dublin to Mulderrig in County Mayo to try and learn what happened to his mam and who his father is. Cauley, a rather unconventional, wealthy, former theatre actress who is not afraid of much, and who takes Mahoney a bit under her wing.