Named Book of the Month Club’s Book of the Year, 2017Selected one of New York Times Readers’ Favorite Books of 2017Winner of the 2018 Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award From the beloved New York Times bestselling author of The Boy In the Striped Pajamas, a sweeping, heartfelt saga about the course of one man’s life, beginning and ending in post-war IrelandCyril Avery is not a real Avery — or at … Ireland
Cyril Avery is not a real Avery — or at least, that’s what his adoptive parents tell him. And he never will be. But if he isn’t a real Avery, then who is he?
Born out of wedlock to a teenage girl cast out from her rural Irish community and adopted by a well-to-do if eccentric Dublin couple via the intervention of a hunchbacked Redemptorist nun, Cyril is adrift in the world, anchored only tenuously by his heartfelt friendship with the infinitely more glamourous and dangerous Julian Woodbead. At the mercy of fortune and coincidence, he will spend a lifetime coming to know himself and where he came from – and over his many years, will struggle to discover an identity, a home, a country, and much more.
In this, Boyne’s most transcendent work to date, we are shown the story of Ireland from the 1940s to today through the eyes of one ordinary man. The Heart’s Invisible Furies is a novel to make you laugh and cry while reminding us all of the redemptive power of the human spirit.
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I love the emotional ranges in this book – funny and tragic. If you want to read about the evolution of modern Ireland through the eyes of a gay Dublin man, I highly recommend this novel.
I’m currently reading this for the second time…it’s long and amazingly detailed, but I can’t say enough times how much I love this book. John Boyne’s gift is one that I both envy and am in awe of, and he somehow makes his main character infuriatingly likable while also deeply flawed. If you love historical fiction, this book starts in the 40s in Ireland and winds through several countries and decades. An astonishing and achingly beautiful book! John Boyne
Listening to The Heart’s Invisible Furies on Audible was a treat. This is almost a fictional memoir, tracing the life of Cyril Avery and his mother starting in 1945 when she is booted out of her Irish village by the local priest because she has conceived a child out of wedlock. With skill and charm, Stephen Hogan narrates this book with wonderful Irish accents. John Boyne’s novel is as poignant as it is witty, covering more than 60 years in Ireland.
I would recommend this book to anyone, such a realistic take on life back in a strict up bring in the 1950’s, how it has affected every part of this families life spanning 60yrs traveling from Ireland ,Amsterdam , USA .
Highly recommend reading this book and his others!!!.Also his others…
Excellent writing. A wonderful reading experience!
The writing is what intrigued me the most about this book.
I like all his books very much. They are unusual and page turners
Beautifully written, both heartbreaking and heartwarming.
Guess one could call the book irreverent. The main story involves the size of the boys penises. I will not read anything by this author again.
Boyne is becoming one of my favorite contemporary writers. This history of a gay men in Ireland from 1945 to the present is frightening, poignant, funny and unfortunately, I think, very realistic. Should be on the must-read list of contemporary gay fiction.
Compelling story about a man coming to terms with his identity and the events of his life.
One of the best books I’ve ever read. A real page turner.
I could not get into this story. Sorry I didn’t like it and finally quit reading about 1/3 of the way through.
The Heart’s Invisible Furies chronicles the life and times of Cyril Avery, spanning from his birth in Ireland in the 1940s through to present-day. This book was amazing and reminded me so much of John Irving’s writing style. It covers several controversial subjects in Ireland and in the US, and addresses many important topics. I’m not even sure where to begin without giving it all away. I promise, no spoilers.
Cyril Avery is born out of wedlock to a young 16-year-old girl named Catherine Noggin. She has been denounced by her priest, and her church has cast her out from the community and the only life she has ever known. Catherine heads to Dublin, but she has no way to care for her baby and ends up putting him up for adoption. Cyril is adopted by Charles and Maude Avery, who seem quite indifferent towards their adopted son. They don’t really seem to care what he does, but they are careful to remind him constantly that he’s not a real Avery.
Cyril is an outsider from day one, even in his own home. He meets his best friend Julian at 7 years of age and realizes that his feelings for Julian aren’t just feelings of friendship. Cyril never reveals his love for Julian and this sets the story for the rest of Cyril’s life. He spends the first quarter of his life denying who he is and lying to everyone he knows.
Ireland, at the time, ‘has no homosexuals’ and Cyril has to be very careful about his secret life. When Cyril finally acknowledges who he is, the story really starts to fly because, of course, he must go back and make amends with the people he lied to during the first part of his life.
The Heart’s Invisible Furies is narrated by Cyril in increments. His life story is rife with violence, aggression, desire, hopes, fear, tragedy, and survival. Boyne does an impressive job of making Cyril likable, funny, and very matter of fact at times. The cast of characters that support Cyril throughout the story of his life are all memorable with great depth to each character.
Amongst the backdrop of a super conservative and ultra religious Ireland, we learn about its obsession with the church and the country’s denouncement of its gay community. We are taken to Amsterdam where gay life is much more liberal before heading to New York City in the midst of its AIDS crisis. Boyne ends his story by taking us back to Dublin and a more modern Ireland that is moving forward with recognizing gay rights and legalizing gay marriage.
There wasn’t one thing I didn’t love about this book! What a terrific read! The characters are all amazing. I loved all the random little coincidences that happened between Cyril and his birth mother, and I especially loved all of the literary references. Despite covering some very grim topics, Boyne writes with humor, grace, and talent. This author is one to watch. I look forward to reading more of his work.
Best Takeaway Quotes
“If there is one thing I’ve learned in more than seven decades of life, it’s that the world is a completely fucked-up place. You never know what’s around the corner and it’s often something unpleasant.”
― John Boyne, The Heart’s Invisible Furies
“It was a difficult time to be Irish, a difficult time to be twenty-one years of age and a difficult time to be a man who was attracted to other men. To be all three simultaneously required a level of subterfuge and guile that felt contrary to my nature.”
― John Boyne, The Heart’s Invisible Furies
“I’ve always believed that if women could only collectively harness the power that they have then they’d rule the world.”
― John Boyne, The Heart’s Invisible Furies
“Every man is afraid of women as far as I can see,” said Julian, displaying an understanding of the universe far beyond his years. “That’s true,” she said. “But only because most men are not as smart as women and yet they continue to hold all the power. They fear a change of the world order.”
― John Boyne, The Heart’s Invisible Furies
“A line came into my mind, something that Hannah Arendt once said about the poet Auden: that life had manifested the heart’s invisible furies on his face.”
― John Boyne, The Heart’s Invisible Furies
Here is the deeply compassionate and humor-filled life story of an Irish man, beginning at the age of six until he reaches old age.
Cyril Avery is the sensitive, intelligent and gay protagonist, whose life spans dramatic shifts in the rights of gay rights.
Born just after World War II, Cyril comes of age in Ireland during the 1950s and 1960s, when the country was dominated by conservative clergy– full of hypocrisy and quick to demonize unwed mothers, divorce, and even a whisper of homosexuality.
As he matures, snapshots from Cyril’s life show us the furtive underground of gay sex, the considerably more open city of Amsterdam, and New York City as the AIDS epidemic unfolds. And when an older Cyril ultimately returns to Ireland, he finds a society more accepting of alternate lifestyles.
Surrounding Cyril are some of the most distinctive and fascinating (though somewhat odd) characters you could ever want to meet: a chain-smoking novelist who considers professional success equivalent to disaster; her philandering husband determined to avoid taxes despite repeatedly getting caught; a pregnant teenager humiliated by and kicked out of her small town but determined to make her own life; and a beautiful charmer using his looks in the pursuit of serial sexual conquest.
But what is most remarkable to me about all Boyne’s characters is how believably they grow and change over time. So often authors create characters that age, but never change. But the people in this novel do change over time. They grow wiser and kinder, more honest, and more able to accept responsibility for their own actions and to forgive others. And Cyril gets even funnier!
The book is long, but you won’t be tempted to skim. Because every page of this one is a gift. I SO wish I could meet Cyril Avery!
This is my first book by this author. But I will definitely be looking to read more.
Absolutely beautiful life story of a character you want to stay with beyond the last pages. I would recommend this to anyone (unless you have a heart of stone).
Funny, tender and heartbreaking, this book grabbed me from the very first sentence and didn’t let me go until the final page. Cyril Avery is unforgettable.
A sad tale of one man who grows up in a time and in a country where being gay is looked upon with such distaste and even criminality. The bigger story is how one can go through his life and miss ever opportunity for happiness and try to get continue on finding out that some people in similar life circumstances seem to find an easy way to deal with it. Its a story about friendship, loneliness, and in the end looking back on life and trying to find a bright spot no matter what age you are.
The author of The Boy in Striped Pajamas wrote another tour de force that tugs at your heartstrings, forcing readers to examine their own values and judgements. A man who was adopted by upper-class yet eccentric parents discovers he is a homosexual in post-World War II Ireland. At this time homosexuality was forbidden and punishable by hard labor. The man must navigate his way through life with his secret while struggling to find stability and happiness.
Looking at Ireland in a time of extreme discrimination because of the church’s power. Extremely revealing of a gay man’s life from childhood through death.