Getting Waylaid

With a literary tradition that existed as early as the fourth or fifth century CE, Irish literature is considered one of the oldest in Europe, with only Greek and Latin literature being older. With this longstanding tradition that spanned centuries, Ireland has gifted the world, beyond Guinness and the four-leaf clovers, with some of the most highly heralded and most renowned writers. They are among the most recognized names in the world of literature. This long and enviable list includes revered names such as James Joyce, Irish Murdoch, Seamus Heaney, Maeve Binchy, Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker, and Samuel Beckett. They have written some of the most critically studied literary masterpieces such as Ulysses, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Tristram Shandy, and Dracula. These are among hundreds of volumes deemed as literary classics.

This tradition is being carried on by the new blood of Irish writers. Leading the charge are prolific storytellers Anne Enright, Colm Tóibín, and John Banville whose respective bodies of works have been lauded both within and outside of Ireland. Banville’s The Sea and Enright’s The Gathering won the prestigious Booker Prize. Not too far behind them is a wave of equally talented writers whose works are sweeping readers across the world. To this group belong Emma Donoghue, Sally Rooney, Colum McCann, and Tana French. Indeed, Irish literature has a very deep pool that is brimming with remarkable talent and its continuity has been assured by this ever-expanding pool of brilliant writers.

Another Irish writer making waves in the literary scene is Kevin Barry. A self-described “raving egomaniac”, Barry aspires to be honored by the Swedish Academy someday; he ascribes happiness to the Nobel Prize in Literature. Where literary success is concerned, he is on the right track. In 2011, he published his debut novel, City of Bohane which won the 2013 International Dublin Literary Award. However, his stamp of excellence was already palpable in 2007 when his short story collection There are Little Kingdoms (2007) won the 2007 Rooney Prize for Irish Literature. He would receive more accolades with each new work, including his 2019 novel, Night Boat to Tangier.

“The motions of the alcohol are familiar: the easy warming, the calm sustain, and now the slow grading into remorse. A melancholy hour falleth. As afflicts a gentleman of colourful history. But, if he has nothing else to his name, he has his regrets, and these are not without value to the martyr’s self-portrait displayed in his mind’s eye. I am fifty-one years old, he thinks, and still at least halfways in love with meself. All told you’d have to call it a fucken achievement.”

~ Kevin Barry, Night Boat to Tangier

Barry’s third novel, Night Boat to Tangier was set in October 2018 in a dingy ferry terminal in the Andalusian port city of Algeciras. The terminal was described as “as awful a place as you could muster — you’d want the eyes sideways in your head. It reeks of tired bodies, and dread.” It is from this port that the night boats to Tangier, Morocco depart and dock. It is also at this seemingly awful place that the readers meet the novel’s two primary characters, a pair of Irish men in their early fifties: Maurice Hearne and Charlie Redmond. Both originating from the city of Cork in Ireland, they were self-confessed “flawed fellows”; they were longtime partners in crime. Despite their age, these “fading gangsters” exuded an air of menace.

Maurice and Charlie found themselves at the port in the hopes of finding Dilly, Maurice’s 23-year-old estranged daughter. Three years prior to the story’s present, Dily fled Ireland following the demise of her mother. She then joined a troupe of young travelers who ferried between Spain and North Africa. While they have not seen Dilly for three years, both men have connections that enable them to zero in on her current location. From their latest intelligence, they learned that Dilly has been living the life of a “dreadlocked Rastafarian” in Spain. Both men further believed that on that October night, Dilly would arrive on a boat from Tangier. The pair were hoping to contact her once she arrived at the port, handing out missing person flyers. Dilly was unaware of the two men’s looming presence.

While waiting for Dilly’s appearance, the two men loitered around the terminal, interrogating every dreadlocked traveler they met. After all, they have mastered the art of intimidation. It was at this juncture that the narrative took the readers to the mid-1990s when the young Maurice was in a long-term relationship with a fellow Irish named Cynthia. It was around this time that Maurice and his best friend, Charlie, commenced their long careers in crime. With the help of a Spanish woman named Karima, they started smuggling drugs, particularly Moroccan hashish, to Ireland through the ports of Spain; the port was then a familiar territory for the two men. It was a lucrative enterprise and the two men soon started earning a fortune. Meanwhile, Cynthia became pregnant with Dilly.

The story then alternated between the present and the past. In the present, they ruminate on their past as they await the arrival of Dilly. Meanwhile, their memories plunge the readers into the time when they started losing money. The illicit drug market started to decline with the arrival of the new millennium. The two friends’ drug enterprise, once thriving, was now falling apart. Their situation was exacerbated by the fact that neither man was a wise investor. They were dreadful spenders. It did not help that their friendship was falling at the seams. One night, Maurice, out of the blue, attacked his best friend for reasons not apparent at the onset. It was a mystery that unfurled as the story moved forward.

“She sensed older presences as she walked. She knew by a cold stirring that here they had made their fires, and here their cattle had grazed, and here they ate periwinkles and oysters from the shell, and they had this burning salt on their lips, and felt this old rain, and made their cries of love and war, and roamed in hordes; their little kingdoms here were settled, and disassembled; by night, in our valley, the wolves had bayed.”

~ Kevin Barry, Night Boat to Tangier

On the surface, Night Boat to Tangier markets itself as a work of crime or caper fiction. It jetted between Cork, Barcelona, Malaga, London, and Cadiz. However, as one digs deeper, what was slowly unveiled was a complex character study. In the guise of a gang story, Barry’s fourth novel takes the readers into the minds of Maurice and Charlie to capture a plethora of subjects and themes. The first and the most palpable of these subjects, of course, was the element of crime. The book takes the readers to the dredges. Amorality and immorality were prevalent. We read about violence and even infidelities. In the underground world of criminality, moral compasses were non-existent. The characters willfully enter into illicit sexual affairs that challenge their relationship. Is there such a thing as an honor among thieves?

The novel was an evocative rendering of how a lifetime of criminality of violence can take its toll. But even in the darkest recesses of the heart, blossoms goodness and the insatiable desire to become a better version of ourselves. This was the case for Maurice. Following the birth of his daughter, he wanted to become a good father. However, this conscious desire for change was stymied by his and Charlie’s growing addiction to drugs. The series of unfortunate events created a chasm between Maurice and the people he loved. The collapse of these relationships led to Maurice setting off for Spain where he lived a life of a drifter. The pull of becoming a better person was still strong. He eventually returned to Ireland to rebuild his life and reconnect with the people he left behind.

Night Boat to Tangier, then, transforms into a compelling story about finding the meaning of life. Loss and grief were evocatively captured in the story. The novel astutely abounds with elements of existentialism; at one point, Maurice finds himself struck by paranoia and is even admitted to an asylum. These affectionate elements were riddled with the examination of dysfunctional families and friendships. As it dives deep into the intricacies of family life, what emerged is an affectionate story about what it means to be a father. Vividly woven into this lush tapestry of madness and, at times, morbidity was a compelling story about love. But even love is complex. Love has the capacity to build and destroy.

The novel’s wonderful elements were deftly woven together by Barry’s raw but lyrical language. Irish writers, after all, have a rich tradition, for their lyrical storytelling. There was a certain depth to his language. He masterfully steered the story with his adept shifts in tones, further complementing it with his use of the vernacular. The slang and Gaelic language added a layer of authenticity while keeping the dialogue dazzling. His descriptions were vivid, creating an atmospheric story while, at the same time, capturing the landscape of the male psyche. It was sublime storytelling as he was able to keep the story taut. He was able to fuse maudlin scenes with humor while, at the same time, weaving tender moments with shocking scenes.

“The peninsula ran its flank along the line of the coast road. The mountain absorbed the evening light and glowed morbidly. A roadside grotto showed the blue virgin. For the souls of the vehicular dead. By ten the moon was visible and drew her strangely. A vivid, late-summer moon. A xanthic was the word moon. She stopped the car and buzzed the window to hear the breath of sea; a strimmer vexed late in a high field; somewhere too the vixen screamed. On the ribs of the sea the last of the evening sun made bone-white marks. The hills for their part vibrated royally. It was close to night and oh-so-quiet again”

~ Kevin Barry, Night Boat to Tangier

Beyond the writing, one of the novel’s finer elements was Barry’s characterization. He crafted two flawed but equally complex individuals. While they were both terrible individuals, owing to their personal histories, they were both deeply absorbing characters. They are deeply masculine characters but this belied their capacity to love and be tender. There was, however, no redemption arc for the two men. Dilly was also imbued with a strong personality. She drew intrigue and while she narrated some portions of the story, her appearance was fleeting. The story had a fixation on the story of Maurice and no space was provided for Charlie’s or Cynthia’s story.

Night Boat to Tangier‘s flaws, however, did little to undermine the message it conveyed. It is a compelling story that explores a plethora of subjects, with an emphasis on the consequences of a life lived in criminality, violence, and addiction. Despite the pall that hovers above the story, it was brimming with humor and hope. It was also an absorbing tale about the complexities of relationships, between lovers, parents and children, friends, and even one’s self. Longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2019 and recognized by the New York Times Book Review as one of 10 Notable Books for 2019, Night Boat to Tangier is a compulsive story that explores the contours of human nature through two flawed men.

Book Specs

Author: Kevin Barry
Publisher: Anchor Books
Publishing Date: July 2020
Number of Pages: 255
Genre: Literary

Synopsis

In the dark waiting room of the ferry terminal in the sketchy Spanish port of Algericas, two aging Irishmen – Maurice Hearne and Charlie Redmond, longtime partners in the lucrative and dangerous enterprise of smuggling drugs – sit at night, none too patiently. The pair are trying to locate Maurice’s estranged daughter, Dilly, whom they’ve heard is either arriving on a boat coming from Tangier or departing on one heading there.

This nocturnal vigil will initiate an extraordinary journey back in time to excavate their shared history of violence, romance, mutual betrayals, and serial exiles. Rendered with the dark humor and the hard-boiled Hibernian lyricism that have made Kevin Barry one of the most striking and admired fiction writers at work today, Night Boat to Tangier is a superbly melancholic melody of a novel, full of beautiful phrases and terrible men.

About the Author

Kevin Barry was born in 1969 in Limerick, Ireland. He lived a peripatetic life during his youth, traveling to and living in different cities such as Cork, Santa Barbara, Barcelona, and Liverpool. In Cork, Barry worked as a freelance journalist and wrote a column for the Irish Examiner. He was also keen to become a writer, even purchasing a caravan where he spent six months writing. It was for naught, with Barry calling his initial work a terrible novel.

This, however, did not stop Barry from pursuing his dream; he was a self-described “raving egomaniac” who dreams of being awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. He kickstarted his literary career in 2007 with the publication of the short story collection There are Little Kingdoms. The book won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature. In 2011, he published his debut novel, City of Bohane, a book that was warmly received by both readers and literary pundits alike. In 2013, the novel won him the International Dublin Literary Award. His 2015 novel, Beatlebone, won the 2015 Goldsmith’s Prize and was also nominated for the 2017 International Dublin Literary Award. His third novel, Night Boat to Tangier was longlisted for the 2019 Booker Prize. His latest book to be published was That Old Country Music, a short story collection published in 2020.

His stories and essays have also appeared in publications such as The New Yorker and Granta. He is also an editor of Winter Papers, an arts and culture annual. In October 2010, he was the Ireland Fund Artist-in-Residence in the Celtic Studies Department of St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto. He also works as a playwright and screenwriter. Barry is currently residing in County Sligo, Ireland.