Haven
In this beautiful story of adventure and survival from the New York Times bestselling author of Room, three men vow to leave the world behind them as they set out in a small boat for an island their leader has seen in a dream, with only faith to guide them.
In seventh-century Ireland, a scholar and priest called Artt has a dream telling him to leave the sinful world behind. Taking two monks--young Trian and old Cormac--he rows down the river Shannon in search of an isolated spot on which to found a monastery. Drifting out into the Atlantic, the three men find an impossibly steep, bare rock inhabited by tens of thousands of birds, and claim it for God. In such a place, what will survival mean?
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Community Reviews
I will agree with one thing the summary -- this is NOTHING like anything she's written before. It is historical fiction -- I did a little digging on the actual area the men attempt to make their own -- but she gives it a twist of why things don't go quite as planned.
The plot is interesting, and I suppose self-explanatory for the religious set up she gives. Three men leave to make their own place away from the sinful world because God has commanded it so. In the Bible, there are many moments where dreams are used to direct God's people in the choices they make -- Joseph (Jacob's son), the Pharaoh, Solomon, Daniel, and Joseph again (Mary's husband). Shakespeare also borrows this guidance of dreams in Macbeth, Julius Caesar, and The Tempest. So the dream set-up is a solid premise. What the novel struggles with is how the "so called scholar and priest" plays out the directive of his dream.
I'm not sure if Donoghue is mocking religion or praising it? Artt, the leader of the trio, is extremely antagonistic taking religious doctrine to extremes even for a monk. His mantra of "the Lord will provide" is akin to the old story of the man trapped in a snow avalanche. (If you don't know it: A man is trapped in a snow avalanche, another guy comes by on a snow mobile and tries to rescue him. Man declines saying "my God will save me." He's offered help three different times. He declines three times and dies. At Heaven's door he ask the Lord, "why did you let me die?" And the Lord replies, "I sent help THREE times.") In my opinion, this is Artt. His willing to wait for what the Lord will provide while doing nothing but praying and copying scripture and doctrine. He's cruel and unjust.
Old Cormac and Trian are much easier to like and understand in this, but it amazes me how long Cormac lets things go on, especially for his age and wisdom. I understand it's part of the novel, but there seemed to me a lack of basic humanity and survival instinct in his character. Trian is complicit and submissive for other reasons, one of which creates an attempt at a twist in the plot, but for me, fell flat; however, Cormac's character seemed to act against his better judgement and it was sometimes hard to reconcile that.
Haven is a tough read, not in terms of the actual reading, but in terms of tension. Donoghue builds a world that keeps you in knots the entire novel -- it never lets go. There are moments of heartbreak and disgust and outright rage as the story progresses.
In terms of writing:
★★★★★
In terms of story, plot, and characters:
★★★
This isn't a novel for everyone. I picked it up because it was set in Ireland. Even though I knew the premise, it isn't what I thought it would be. The journey is long for a short book, and arduous, yet I needed to see it through to the end of the tale.
The plot is interesting, and I suppose self-explanatory for the religious set up she gives. Three men leave to make their own place away from the sinful world because God has commanded it so. In the Bible, there are many moments where dreams are used to direct God's people in the choices they make -- Joseph (Jacob's son), the Pharaoh, Solomon, Daniel, and Joseph again (Mary's husband). Shakespeare also borrows this guidance of dreams in Macbeth, Julius Caesar, and The Tempest. So the dream set-up is a solid premise. What the novel struggles with is how the "so called scholar and priest" plays out the directive of his dream.
I'm not sure if Donoghue is mocking religion or praising it? Artt, the leader of the trio, is extremely antagonistic taking religious doctrine to extremes even for a monk. His mantra of "the Lord will provide" is akin to the old story of the man trapped in a snow avalanche. (If you don't know it: A man is trapped in a snow avalanche, another guy comes by on a snow mobile and tries to rescue him. Man declines saying "my God will save me." He's offered help three different times. He declines three times and dies. At Heaven's door he ask the Lord, "why did you let me die?" And the Lord replies, "I sent help THREE times.") In my opinion, this is Artt. His willing to wait for what the Lord will provide while doing nothing but praying and copying scripture and doctrine. He's cruel and unjust.
Old Cormac and Trian are much easier to like and understand in this, but it amazes me how long Cormac lets things go on, especially for his age and wisdom. I understand it's part of the novel, but there seemed to me a lack of basic humanity and survival instinct in his character. Trian is complicit and submissive for other reasons, one of which creates an attempt at a twist in the plot, but for me, fell flat; however, Cormac's character seemed to act against his better judgement and it was sometimes hard to reconcile that.
Haven is a tough read, not in terms of the actual reading, but in terms of tension. Donoghue builds a world that keeps you in knots the entire novel -- it never lets go. There are moments of heartbreak and disgust and outright rage as the story progresses.
In terms of writing:
★★★★★
In terms of story, plot, and characters:
★★★
This isn't a novel for everyone. I picked it up because it was set in Ireland. Even though I knew the premise, it isn't what I thought it would be. The journey is long for a short book, and arduous, yet I needed to see it through to the end of the tale.
How can two people read the same book & feel so differently about it? My husband dissed the plot & characters, but finished it anyway... I picked it up & was spellbound from the start; putting it down frequently to savor the ever-growing tension among the three characters & to try to guess where the author was going with the plot. Surprisingly, I was correct on several accounts, but held on to a feeling of dread until the last page, still not truly convinced I was inside the character's heads well enough to make predictions about the ending.
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