Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NOW AN FX LIMITED SERIES STREAMING ON HULU • NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER • From the author of London Falling—a stunning, intricate narrative about a notorious killing in Northern Ireland and its devastating repercussions.
One of The New York Times’s 20 Best Books of the 21st Century • A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of the Century • A Los Angeles Times Best Nonfiction Book of the Last 30 Years
"Masked intruders dragged Jean McConville, a 38-year-old widow and mother of 10, from her Belfast home in 1972. In this meticulously reported book—as finely paced as a novel—Keefe uses McConville's murder as a prism to tell the history of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Interviewing people on both sides of the conflict, he transforms the tragic damage and waste of the era into a searing, utterly gripping saga." —New York Times Book Review
"Reads like a novel. . . . Keefe is . . . a master of narrative nonfiction. . . . An incredible story."—Rolling Stone
A Best Book of the Year: The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, TIME, NPR, and more!
Jean McConville's abduction was one of the most notorious episodes of the vicious conflict known as The Troubles. Everyone in the neighborhood knew the I.R.A. was responsible. But in a climate of fear and paranoia, no one would speak of it. In 2003, five years after an accord brought an uneasy peace to Northern Ireland, a set of human bones was discovered on a beach. McConville's children knew it was their mother when they were told a blue safety pin was attached to the dress--with so many kids, she had always kept it handy for diapers or ripped clothes.
Patrick Radden Keefe's mesmerizing book on the bitter conflict in Northern Ireland and its aftermath uses the McConville case as a starting point for the tale of a society wracked by a violent guerrilla war, a war whose consequences have never been reckoned with. The brutal violence seared not only people like the McConville children, but also I.R.A. members embittered by a peace that fell far short of the goal of a united Ireland, and left them wondering whether the killings they committed were not justified acts of war, but simple murders.
From radical and impetuous I.R.A. terrorists such as Dolours Price, who, when she was barely out of her teens, was already planting bombs in London and targeting informers for execution, to the ferocious I.R.A. mastermind known as The Dark, to the spy games and dirty schemes of the British Army, to Gerry Adams, who negotiated the peace but betrayed his hardcore comrades by denying his I.R.A. past--Say Nothing conjures a world of passion, betrayal, vengeance, and anguish.
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Readers say that Patrick Radden Keefe’s 'Say Nothing' offers an informative and empathetic look at Northern Ireland's Troubles, presenting multiple pe...
My first book of the year. The TV show based on this book is quite spectacular and one of the best TV shows I can recall watching. It makes the book story into a proper story. There we don't jump from place to place we follow the 2 terrorist sisters. I had a harder time getting into the book. The audiobook reader had a thick Irish accent. The book didn't take time to explain the setting and culture of Northern Ireland and I guess one needed to read up on the country first. But after having watched the TV show and a documentary series I finally get everything and the last part of the book made the most sense when all the dots were connected.
We basically follow IRA from the 70's until modern day. The future leader of Sinn Fein and 2 sisters who shot people and planted bombs. The book starts with a Catholic mom murder by IRA members. A tout is a snitch and they get killed. A mom of 10 children is abducted in front of the children by 10 IRA members with and without masks - as I recall from the TV show. The children know who took her and claim she's not a tout. It takes decades to get anywhere and finally understand that one of the sisters shot her. The sisters also drove other IRA members to Ireland to have them executed. For messing with other IRA members or going to the Protestant cops. The sisters planted bombs all over London and were captured while trying to escape via the airport. They sat in prison for some years, but a peace agreement meant that even IRA members who murdered civilians on the street would only get 2 years in prison. The IRA members are now part of society with a main IRA leader who planned murders and bomb attacks being one of the biggest politicians in Northern Ireland denying he was even a member of IRA. One wonders why Catholics are this eager to vote for IRA members. It seems like there would be some smart people somewhere with cleaner records.
The book doesn't really explain much of the underlaying cultural stuff. I get supporting terrorist groups as Gaza is doing just that. But still doing so in peacetime needs a bigger explanation about their traditions, media, political landscape. The TV show was flashy and connected all the confusing storylines I didn't understand in the book. The documentaries are too scared to actually go into any details at all. Makes sense as IRA is known for executing both Protestants and their own. The author had to force stories out of people and they gave him minimum information often just hinting at stuff. IRA members are like the Italian mafia never snitching even though there are terrorist attacks and killings regularly and plenty of money and freedom being offered in return. For now we have a bit of a gist of what happened.
We basically follow IRA from the 70's until modern day. The future leader of Sinn Fein and 2 sisters who shot people and planted bombs. The book starts with a Catholic mom murder by IRA members. A tout is a snitch and they get killed. A mom of 10 children is abducted in front of the children by 10 IRA members with and without masks - as I recall from the TV show. The children know who took her and claim she's not a tout. It takes decades to get anywhere and finally understand that one of the sisters shot her. The sisters also drove other IRA members to Ireland to have them executed. For messing with other IRA members or going to the Protestant cops. The sisters planted bombs all over London and were captured while trying to escape via the airport. They sat in prison for some years, but a peace agreement meant that even IRA members who murdered civilians on the street would only get 2 years in prison. The IRA members are now part of society with a main IRA leader who planned murders and bomb attacks being one of the biggest politicians in Northern Ireland denying he was even a member of IRA. One wonders why Catholics are this eager to vote for IRA members. It seems like there would be some smart people somewhere with cleaner records.
The book doesn't really explain much of the underlaying cultural stuff. I get supporting terrorist groups as Gaza is doing just that. But still doing so in peacetime needs a bigger explanation about their traditions, media, political landscape. The TV show was flashy and connected all the confusing storylines I didn't understand in the book. The documentaries are too scared to actually go into any details at all. Makes sense as IRA is known for executing both Protestants and their own. The author had to force stories out of people and they gave him minimum information often just hinting at stuff. IRA members are like the Italian mafia never snitching even though there are terrorist attacks and killings regularly and plenty of money and freedom being offered in return. For now we have a bit of a gist of what happened.
Wow, well admittedly I had no idea what this book was really about before I started reading it, which is my tendency.
I admit now that I was far more naive of the contents than I'd like. I knew nothing about North Ireland's completely bonkers street warfare and the intense hatred between Catholics & Protestants. Considering that it was before my lifetime and I'm from the American South where we have our own big problems with ingrained prejudices and corruption, I guess that shouldn't be surprising. So it was Very educational for me.
Still, though I went into this book blind, I was expecting more... True Crime. In the traditional sense, I guess, and with more details about Jean McConville. This surprised me if nothing else.
I admit now that I was far more naive of the contents than I'd like. I knew nothing about North Ireland's completely bonkers street warfare and the intense hatred between Catholics & Protestants. Considering that it was before my lifetime and I'm from the American South where we have our own big problems with ingrained prejudices and corruption, I guess that shouldn't be surprising. So it was Very educational for me.
Still, though I went into this book blind, I was expecting more... True Crime. In the traditional sense, I guess, and with more details about Jean McConville. This surprised me if nothing else.
I'm new to this author but I would like to read more of his work. Narrative nonfiction is one of my favorite genres and I don't think everyone who attempts it does the stories they write justice. Say Nothing left me reeling with amount of information about Northern Ireland, the troubles and the prominent members of the IRA.
The Troubles did feel like a time of war and immense division among those in Northern Ireland. It's hard to believe these things were happening in the late seventies into the early nineties. I understand the fear, frustration and desire to liberate themselves from British oppression. I also understand the motivations behind the members wanting to join to fight for their country... but when does independence mask the greed for power, control and influence?
"Just following orders" doesn't give the victims, their families and those soldiers consciousness any closure. The past always lingers in the present day.
And Jean's case... with all the buried secrets left behind by the IRA, there was so much riding on the truth about her death, it seemed.
Readers kind of get an answer about her death but it was bittersweet.
The Troubles did feel like a time of war and immense division among those in Northern Ireland. It's hard to believe these things were happening in the late seventies into the early nineties. I understand the fear, frustration and desire to liberate themselves from British oppression. I also understand the motivations behind the members wanting to join to fight for their country... but when does independence mask the greed for power, control and influence?
"Just following orders" doesn't give the victims, their families and those soldiers consciousness any closure. The past always lingers in the present day.
And Jean's case... with all the buried secrets left behind by the IRA, there was so much riding on the truth about her death, it seemed.
Readers kind of get an answer about her death but it was bittersweet.
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