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Book Review: The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne

The impression I had of The Heart’s Invisible Furies before reading it turned out to be wrong. I thought it would be bleak, depressing and difficult to read. An Irish Shuggie Bain? That wasn’t the case at all.

The Heart’s Invisible Furies is funny. John Boyne and I clearly share the same sense of humour and I chuckled as I followed Cyril Avery on his journey to find his place in life.

Cyril is born out of wedlock to a teenage mother, who is subsequently cast out from her family and rural community. In Dublin Cyril is adopted by Maude and Charles Avery, an eccentric couple with limited interest in children.

It isn’t by any means a light story and several tragic events take place. But due to the melodramatic style, which the author is using, these events didn’t affect me that much. Generally, I dislike melodrama.

The characters were a varied bunch and not all of them captured my imagination, but especially Cyril’s adoptive parents were original and fun.

“Do you enjoy being a writer, Mrs Avery?” asked Julian. “No, of course not” , she said. “It’s a hideous profession. Entered into by narcissists who think their pathetic little imaginations will be of interest to people they’ve never met.” 

Overall, the characterisation wasn’t deep, with some of the characters bordering on caricatures.

The Heart's Invisible Furies : Dublin
Dublin

Compared to my normal critical approach, I had an uncharacteristically overbearing attitude, both to the melodrama and to the caricatures. What happened? Well, first and foremost, this was just a really good story. Despite the audiobook having same duration as Crime and Punishment, I flew through The Heart’s Invisible Furies in less than a week.

Furthermore, I enjoyed getting snippets of Ireland’s history throughout the novel, which starts in the 1940s and continues all the way up to the present day.

Structurally, there is a shift halfway through or so. All the melodrama takes place in the first half, whereas the tone gets lighter and more humorous during the last half. This is a nice change. Cyril certainly didn’t have an easy childhood or youth. As a gay man trying to navigate in an extremely conservative Ireland and with the prospect of never being able to live a life true to who he is, Cyril’s chances of happiness seemed almost non-existing. But at least he did find some contentment in the later years.

The Heart’s Invisible Furies is well-written, entertaining and humorous despite the serious subject matters. Tragedy and comedy in one package. Not at all what I expected.

Rating: 4 out of 5.
Title: The Heart's Invisible Furies [2017]
Author: John Boyne 
Format: Audiobook, narrated by Stephen Hogan
Genre: Historical Fiction

36 comments

    • Thanks Nicki! The melodrama did deduct from the overall story, but only marginally.

    • Thanks! I know the feeling, this book had been collecting virtual dust on my e-reader for ages, before I finally got to it. 😁 Glad I did!

  7. I absolutely agree with you, tragedy and comedy in one package. I had forgotten about his adoptive parents!

  8. I haven’t tried this novel but I probably had the Wrong impression of what it’s like too. I’m glad you dispelled that. Good to know it’s not a hard read or bleak.

    • Yes, exactly! I probably didn’t read if for a long time, because I suspected it would be too bleak. I was happy to be proved wrong! 🙂

    • Thanks Inge, I love it when a novel takes me by surprise, and this was so different to what I imagined.

  10. Wonderful review, Stargazer💜 A Goodreads friend reviewed this yesterday and was kicking herself for having waited so long to finally read it, citing reasons very similar to yours. I’ve only read one of his books but that one hooked me enough to get this one. Now to fit it in…

    • Thanks Jonetta. Yeah, it’s strange how we sometimes get the wrong impression of a book. Also, it has to be said, that this is a very long book, which probably held me back as well. But I am so glad, I finally got to read it!

  12. This has been on my e-TBR for the longest time and I’ve been meaning to read it! Now I’m gonna bump it up especially after reading your review. I’m okay with a little melodrama 😅 Thanks so much for sharing! Great review, stargazer!

    • Hey!! Hope you are well! It’s been a while since I saw you. 😊 I’m glad to hear that. I thought it was worth the effort, even if it was a relatively long book. Hmm, melodrama is not my thing at all, but I could cope with it here. Thanks!

  13. I think this is my favourite John Boyne novel I recall then buying it for my brother for Christmas and being very encouraging about it. I loved both the story and the historical context and contrast between different cultures that are depicted. He’s certainly become a prolific and confident writer and indeed very funny.

    • This is the first Boyne novel I’ve read, but I could see my self picking up more of his works in the future. I too enjoyed the contrasts between the different cultures, especially the move from Ireland to The Netherlands, which almost felt like moving to a different world completely.

    • You are welcome and you should definitely check it out. It really took me by surprise!

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